Motor Racing / Shav Glick : Tom Kendall Closes In on Unprecedented Two IMSA Titles

Tom Kendall was 2 years old when the International Motor Sports Assn. held its first race in 1969. In the intervening 17 years, more than 60 IMSA champions have been crowned in the multifaceted national road-racing series--but no one has ever won two titles in the same year.

Kendall, who won’t be 20 until Oct. 17, will probably win two before his birthday.

The 6-foot 5-inch teen-ager from La Canada Flintridge will win the GTU championship Sunday if he finishes ninth or better in the Columbus Ford Dealers 500 in Ohio. And he will win the Firehawk endurance series if he finishes seventh or better in the six-hour race Sunday, Oct. 12, at Riverside International Raceway.

Kendall’s record for finishing would indicate that IMSA can wrap up both championships for him. His lowest finish in 30 races, other than two he did not finish, is seventh place. Driving a 5-year-old Mazda RX-7, he has won four GTU races, and driving a Nissan 300ZX Turbo with Max Jones of Long Beach, he has won three endurance races.

Last weekend, with no race on his schedule, he and Jones accepted a ride in a Corvette in the Sports Car Club of America’s Playboy endurance series at Mid-Ohio, a sort of busman’s holiday.

“It didn’t seem right to go without a race,” Kendall said, laughing. “I’m really enjoying the racing and I want to get as much experience as possible, so it’s hard for me to turn down a chance to learn something about a different car.”

Between races, Kendall attends classes at UCLA, where he is a junior majoring in economics, and suffers the indignities of a fraternity pledge in the Sigma Nu house.

“The toughest part sometimes is getting my professors to believe I’m really a race driver when I miss classes,” Kendall said. “I’ve flown back East about 20 times this year, and that means I’m heading for the airport right after classes Thursday and flying home Sunday nights. That doesn’t leave much time for studying, but I’ve been lucky, winging it with the help of friends who take notes for me.

“It’ll be great next week, though, when all I have to do is drive out to Riverside.”

The Riverside race, however, will pose an unusual problem for Kendall. He and Jones, 31, who is the car owner and team manager, have been co-drivers in every Firehawk race and, as such, should be deadlocked in points.

“Our plan has been to be co-champions,” Kendall said. “But because of a freak situation two weeks ago in Watkins Glen (N.Y.), I have one more point than Max. One point is given for the fast qualifier and we had been trying to stay away from the pole so we would stay tied, but the weather was foggy and damp at Watkins Glen and my lap--which I didn’t think was near fast enough--held up for the pole.

“So now I have one point more than Max and we have to work extra hard to get the car set up at Riverside so he can get the pole and get back in a tie with me.”

Kendall is the youngest driver in a family of racers. His father, Chuck, is a longtime sports car race driver who was co-driver of the winning BMW M-1 in 1981 at Sebring and Road America, and competed on the West Coast for many years. He has been inactive this year but plans to be running in Sports Car Club of America events next year.

Last year, in four long-distance IMSA races, Chuck, Tom and older brother Bart, 21, shared driving duties in an RX-7. They finished second at Riverside and Sebring, seventh at Miami and eighth at Sears Point.

Tom’s mother, Claire, is not a race driver, but she attended Bob Bondurant’s competition school at Sears Point three years ago when Tom was there.

“I told the boys I wanted to go to driving school so I would better appreciate what they did, so they sent me up there for a Mother’s Day present,” Mrs. Kendall said. “It was a lot of fun, but that’s as close to racing as I want to get.”

Mrs. Kendall is also the one who insists that her son get his education, even if he is about to become a national driving champion.

“I told him he can’t be a stupid race driver,” she said. “He has to be a smart one.” SPEEDWAY BIKES--The Great Speedway Reunion, featuring stars of the past, will close the regular season Friday night at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa. The all-scratch program will feature former two-time world champion Bruce Penhall in a match race with Dennis Sigalos, who has not raced since breaking his ankle three years ago at the American Speedway Final in Long Beach. Sigalos was runner-up to Penhall in the 1982 world championships. The program is a charity affair for the benefit of the Adam Walsh Foundation. . . . Sam Ermolenko, the only American to reach the World Finals this year, will ride tonight at Ascot Park’s South Bay Stadium in a final tuneup for next Saturday night’s United States championship races at Costa Mesa.

OTHER CYCLES--The Thundernationals, for professional riders from top fuel to funny bike, will be held Sunday at the L.A. County Raceway in Palmdale. Favorites include Larry McBride, who has clocked 7.3 seconds on a Suzuki for the quarter-mile run, and Elmer Tret, who has done 7.13 on a Kawasaki. . . . When Bubba Shobert, two-time American Motorcyclist Assn. champion, won the Sacramento Mile last week it was his ninth Grand National win of the season, breaking a 32-year-old record of eight in a single season set in 1964 by Joe Leonard. Shobert will collect a $65,000 bonus for winning the championship. . . . The Continental Motosport Club’s Trans-Cal motocross season will move into Carlsbad Raceway for event No. 5 this weekend with qualifying Saturday and racing Sunday. . . . The American Road Racing Assn. road racers will run Sunday at Willow Springs Raceway.

DRAG BOATS--International Hot Boat Assn. leader Steve (The Sting) Hess, a Reno lawyer, will be challenged by Glendora restaurateur Mel Kerby in the In ‘n’ Out Burger Fallnationals this weekend at the Puddingstone Reservoir in San Dimas. Hess is the record-holder for blown alcohol hydros at 190.27 m.p.h. More than 150 drag boats in 16 categories are expected to qualify Saturday, with racing Sunday at 11:30 a.m. . . . Also this weekend, there will be an open meet at the Sunshine Marina in Bullhead City, Ariz., dedicated to Billy (The Kid) Todd, who was killed in a racing accident two weeks ago on Lake Castaic. Featured in the promotion by Tim Parisi will be 53-year-old Jackie Cunningham of Simi Valley, one of the sport’s leading female drivers. Cunningham is a two-time national champion who was voted top jet boat driver of 1983.

STOCK CARS--The four-track Western States championship series will be run at Ascot Park in a 100-lap race Sunday night for limited sportsman and pro stocks. Ascot leader Ron Meyer, who finished fifth on the asphalt in last week’s opening race at Saugus, will be favored on his home track’s half-mile dirt oval. . . . A 150-lap factory stock enduro will highlight the next-to-last Saturday night show at Saugus Speedway. Also on the program will be a destruction football derby. Saugus will close its season Oct. 11 with a United States Auto Club super-modified race, plus a Western Racing Assn. vintage car event featuring Cal Niday, 72, and Walt James, 63. . . . The richest race in Cajon Speedway history, the $24,000 open competition Miller 100, will be run Saturday night at the El Cajon track. Winston Racing Series champion Mike Hagerman is defending champion. . . . Ron Esau of Lakeside clinched the NASCAR Southwest tour championship with his win last Sunday at Willow Springs. One race remains, Nov. 15 at Riverside International Raceway.

SPRINT CARS--Rookie driver Clark Drake, who was seriously injured in a one-car accident last Saturday night at Ascot Park, has regained consciousness and is recovering from a severe concussion. . . . Eddie Wirth’s eighth win--and third in a row--last week moved the defending California Racing Assn. champion past Mike Sweeney into second place in the standings. Brad Noffsinger holds a substantial lead, however, 2,952 points to 2,721. . . . Two-time USAC champion Rich Vogler and two-time World of Outlaws champion Sammy Swindell are entered in this weekend’s GP Classic at Baylands Park in Fremont. There will be a 20-lap main event Friday night and a 40-lapper Saturday night.