Al Holbert Is Denied Again at Riverside--on Next-to-Last Lap

Al Holbert has been coming to Riverside International Raceway almost since it was built in the late ‘50s.

He watched his father, Bob, win here. And he has been here every year since the International Motor Sports Assn. came to Riverside in 1975.

He has won 47 Camel GT races, more than any IMSA driver in history. He has won at every IMSA track except Riverside.

He finished second here in 1979, 1982, 1983 and 1984.

He has often said that the one race he wanted most to win was at Riverside.

Sunday, in what probably was the final IMSA race at Riverside, Holbert was second again.

Holbert led more laps than any other driver but, at the end of nearly three hours, he had to sit and watch as wily John Morton ran down Holbert’s partner, Chip Robinson, on the next-to-last lap to win the 10th Los Angeles Times Grand Prix of Endurance.

After 309 miles on a breezy Sunday that couldn’t decide whether to be cool or warm, the Jaguar of Morton and Hurley Haywood beat the Porsche 962 of Holbert and Robinson by 2.7 seconds.

It was a particularly sweet win for Jaguar owner Bob Tullius, as the other $200,000 team car had crashed during practice here last Tuesday.

The super quick Corvette and Nissan were gone when the Jaguar began to slowly make up time on the front-running Porsche that had won the 24 Hours of Daytona. The Corvette lost its turbocharger and the Nissan shredded a tire and crashed.

When the two prototypes made their last pit stop on lap 92 and both made driver changes--Robinson for Holbert and Morton for Haywood--the Porsche was 29 seconds ahead.

The longer the race went, the faster Morton seemed to be running down Robinson. With 10 laps remaining, the margin was down to five seconds.

The Jaguar had never led in the race when Morton made his first bid to pass Robinson three laps from the end. He pulled alongside as the cars entered sweeping Turn 9 and the two ran as if they were glued together until Robinson pulled the Porsche ahead as they exited the turn.

Morton had learned his lesson. On the next time around, instead of sticking to Robinson’s bumper, Morton backed off as the cars exited Turn 7 onto the back straightaway. This enabled him to gather up speed and take a run at the leader.

He made the pass as the two cars entered Turn 9.

“I felt like a bully taking advantage of a cripple,” Morton said as he explained that he knew that the Porsche was having tire problems.

Holbert, watching from the Lowenbrau pits, buried his head in his hands. He knew it was probably inevitable that his car would lose, but he couldn’t bear to watch.

“Obviously, we’re disappointed,” said Holbert, who is the Porsche Motorsports Director of the United States. “But I’m more disappointed for Chip (Robinson). Unfortunately, he’ll take the brunt of losing.

“We knew the tires were a problem all weekend, but we didn’t know the engine would be down on revs (RPMs). It’s a hard pill to take, but we’re just going to have to do it better.”

Robinson revealed that when he took over with 30 laps remaining that the Porsche had lost 500 revs, and that toward the end the tires had no bite.

“His (Morton’s) tires were better and the Jaguar had no engine problem.”

This was the third straight race this season in which Holbert and Robinson have finished second.

Robinson, 33, was in sort of a can’t-win situation.

The team he was trying to hold off, Tullius’ Group 44, was the team he drove for last season. And the team he is driving for this season in Indy car events.

For Morton, 45, and Haywood, 38, two veterans of IMSA, it was their first win since 1985. Morton’s last win, in fact, was in the Times Grand Prix of that year when he and Pete Halsmer edged Jim Busby and Rick Knopp in the closest finish in IMSA GTP history.

“The one two years ago wasn’t quite the same as this,” Morton said. “That one was a little bit staged. This one sure wasn’t.”

The first and second cars in 1985 were identically prepared BF Goodrich team Porsches.

“This is the first time I ever cried because I was happy,” Morton said. “It means so much to me to win at Riverside, especially if this really was the last race, because it’s been my home course since I went to driving school here in 1962.”

Haywood, who won the 24 Hours of LeMans in 1977 and 1983, had never won before at Riverside. This was his 26th Camel GT win, however, making him the third all-time winner behind Holbert (47) and the late Peter Gregg (41).

Two youngsters, Darrin Brassfield and Wally Dallenbach Jr., were third, and defending champions Rob Dyson and Price Cobb fourth, both in Porsche 962s.

Jeff Kline of Malibu and Don Bell of Rolling Hills finished sixth in a Pontiac Fiero to win the Camel Lights class.

As expected, the Nissan, driven by Elliott Forbes-Robinson, and the Corvette, driven by Sarel van der Merwe, shot into the lead at the start.

Forbes-Robinson, another Riverside veteran whose father was the track’s first general manager, led the first four laps before being passed by Van der Merwe.

Holbert was running third, keeping the leaders in sight, with the Jaguar back in seventh position.

The Nissan was the first to drop out when the 125 m.p.h. laps apparently caused the left rear tire to shred, sending Forbes-Robinson crashing into the wall on the first turn.

The impact broke Forbes-Robinson’s shoulder blade and collarbone. The right side of the Nissan was demolished.

Van der Merwe and his replacement, Doc Bundy, continued to lead off and on for 54 laps until the Corvette pitted on lap 62 and never left the pits. The problem was diagnosed as a broken turbo.

This put Holbert in the lead for the first time with Haywood and the Jaguar second--but far back.

The lead never changed again until Morton came up on Robinson as the two cars approached Turn 9 and lap 121.

“I tried to stay right behind him so he wouldn’t know what I was doing,” Morton explained. “I didn’t want him to have a chance to move over and block me.

“I wanted to pop out and be alongside him before he knew what I was doing.”

Which is exactly how it happened. And Robinson knew he had no chance to recover.

“The car was pushing so badly, I could barely get through Turn 9,” Robinson said. “His tires had a bite and mine didn’t.”

Haywood, observing from the pits, lauded Morton’s move.

“John made a great move,” the Florida driver said. “It’s hard to get position for an inside move, but that’s where you want to be on Turn 9 because the cars have a tendency to move up in the turn. It was a great piece of driving.”