Long Beach Grand Prix Notebook : Mario Offered to Pick Up Oscar

Mario Andretti almost received an Oscar Monday night--for Paul Newman, the co-owner of his car.

Newman was in New York editing the last takes of “The Glass Menagerie,” which he directed, and was unable to attend the Academy Awards.

Andretti, already in Long Beach for Sunday’s Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, said: “I light-heartedly volunteered to accept it for him because I felt so strongly that he’d get it (for ‘The Color of Money’). Paul loved the idea.

“Unfortunately, we found out that the academy has a very strict rule that only academy members can accept awards.”

Newman missed his big moment as an actor and also will miss today’s 4 p.m. opener of the Bendix Trans-Am series, in which he finished 18th last season while driving in only 6 of the 13 events. But he’ll be on hand to watch today and Sunday.

Actor Perry King, who has played good guys and bad guys, will join the latter for today’s 1 p.m. Toyota pro-celebrity race.

Because he has raced in amateur events since winning the celebrity division last year, the former “Riptide” star will start 30 seconds behind with the pros, which is fine. He likes bad guys best.

“In ‘I’ll Take Manhattan’ I got to play a bad guy after seven years,” he said Friday. “When I started out I was kind of a professional psychotic. I did a lot of that stuff, and I love it. The most enjoyable roles are when you run the scene . . . you’re the cause of trouble.”

King said he intended to cause no trouble today.

“I’m just out here to have fun,” he said.

This time he’ll be starting alongside regulars Dan Gurney and Parnelli Jones, who seem to be going on forever.

“I’ve watched ‘em,” King said. “If it’s possible, I think they’re better than they were. So smooth. So clean.”

King, one of several celebrities turned on to racing by this event, drove in the SCCA’s GT5 series for the smallest full-race sedans last year, winning four of his six races.

“I got to race only half the season but got third place in the regionals,” he said. “I won my class in everything I finished.”

He was asked whether, in his fantasies, he would rather win an Oscar or an Indy 500.

“What a tough choice,” he said. “They’re both probably a long way away from me right now. I love racing, but I think of it as a hobby. Acting is my first priority. I’m too old and not good enough to ever be a pro (driver), but I think I am good enough to enjoy it as a hobby.”

Juan Manuel Fangio II of Argentina, a celebrity by name the day he was born, will drive as a pro.

Fangio’s uncle is the legendary five-time Formula One champion of the ‘50s. Most recently, Fangio, 30, has driven a GTO Celica Turbo for Gurney’s Toyota IMSA team, but he aspires to drive Indy cars rather than follow the world tour in his uncle’s tracks.

“It is very difficult if you have to travel too much,” Fangio said.

He was only 2 when his uncle retired from racing after the ’58 season, but the name helped him later.

“It’s very important, the name, because my uncle, he left a lot of open doors,” Fangio said. “I can go and talk with everybody, and everybody listen.

“But at the same time you must work very hard. If the people see you are there just because you have a name, the same door is closing behind you and you never can come back to open it.”

Although actor Richard Dean Anderson (“MacGyver”) missed the media day last week and hadn’t seen the track, he was the top celebrity qualifier Friday, averaging 58.003 m.p.h.

“The miracle was that I didn’t crash,” he said. “The worst thing was when I finished the (driving) school last week, they had a couple of sprint races and I won one, so I’m hooked.”

Anderson said “a fan” put a red carnation on his windshield before practice Friday.

“It could go on a grave,” Anderson said.

Jones led the pro qualifiers, averaging 59.824 m.p.h., just ahead of Gurney.

“It’s really who gets the best car between us,” Jones said.

Some celebrity views: Actor Tony Dow (“Leave It To Beaver”): “I still can’t figure out how to get by anyone. Maybe I’ll see if my horn works.”

Former baseball player Bobby Grich: “This is one of the greatest things I’ve done in my life. My pulse maxes out. I’m always on the brink of losing it, but I love it.”

An all-star Indy car race, similar to NASCAR’s Busch Clash for season pole winners, was added to the CART-sanctioned season Friday.

The Marlboro Challenge, a $730,000 race for pole winners and race winners, will be held Oct. 31, in Miami--the day before the season ending race at Tamiami Park.

The race, which will have a minimum of 10 cars, will be a 75-mile sprint on the narrow road circuit. Starting positions will be determined by a drawing.

The first-place prize of $200,000 will be larger than any race on the Indy car schedule other than the Indianapolis 500, a situation that did not sit well with PPG Industries, which bankrolls the $1.2 million driver championship fund.

“We are concerned about priorities that permit the sum to exceed not only the purse for the official Miami race but that for any other official race on the CART schedule,” said James P. Chapman, director of racing for PPG.

“We also have reservations about the locale of the event because of its potential for diverting attention from the race at Miami and the year-end battle for the championship.”

Both of the last two seasons have ended with the championship at stake at Miami--between Al Unser and Al Jr. in 1985 and Bobby Rahal and Michael Andretti last year.

Times staff writer Shav Glick contributed to this story.