GTO-GTU Race : Cord Holds Off Riggins for Win; Newman Crashes With 7 Laps Left

Pole-sitter Chris Cord spun his Toyota Celica on the first lap, dropped to the rear of the field, then came back to win the 300-kilometer GTO-GTU race Sunday at Riverside International Raceway.

It was the first Camel GTO win for Cord, 46, grandson of the founder of American Airlines and the Cord Motor Co.

Cord had a 25.8-second lead erased with seven laps remaining when Paul Newman’s Nissan hit the wall on Turn 9, bringing out a yellow flag. This enabled Jack Baldwin, Tommy Riggins and Tom Gloy to close up behind him.

Only three laps around the 2.54-mile course remained when the green flag came out and a mad dash for the finish ensued. Cord, who had several slower cars between him and his pursuers, took advantage of his opportunity and got the jump on them. By the time he reached the start-finish line, he had a five-second lead.

Meanwhile, Riggins, a two-time Kelly American series champion from Jacksonville, Fla., got around Baldwin and set sail after Cord. As Cord exited Turn 6 on the final lap, Riggins had his Chevy Camaro tucked in on Cord’s rear bumper.

Cord, who had not realized that his lead was gone, managed to hold Riggins off through the final two miles and finished 9/10s of a second ahead.

“Honestly, I didn’t see Riggins behind me,” Cord said. “I only had partial contact with (my crew) on the radio. All at once, he was there. I almost had a heart attack.”

Gloy finished third in a Ford Mustang, and Baldwin, who led 57 of 73 laps, was fourth in a Chevy Camaro.

Amos Johnson of Raleigh, N.C., finished ninth and won the GTU class. He beat out defending series champion Tom Kendall of La Canada in a battle of Mazda RX-7s.

Cord, who started on the front row with his Dan Gurney Toyota teammate, Willy T. Ribbs, got off ahead in the race up the hill to Turn 6, but when he started to straighten out and head down the backstraight he did a 360-degree spin.

Every car in the race passed him before he got turned around and back on the pavement.

“The apex (going) on the backstraight was very, very slippery,” Cord explained. “The combination of the tires not being warmed up enough and my being a little anxious led to a point of driver error there.

“It was a very low moment. I was really angry at myself. A little later, when I saw Willy pushing his car and I was in the back, I thought this is a heck of a way to start a race. We had two cars in front and then two in the back.”

Baldwin led the first few laps after Cord spun, but Ribbs had moved ahead on the eighth lap. Two laps later, Ribbs slowed to a stop in Turn 9 with transmission problems.

At that time Cord was in 23rd place.

“The race wasn’t going according to script,” Cord said. “After Willy had mechanical trouble, I said we’re going to have to do something here. I was lucky to get back into contention. The traffic was terrible, but I had a break when a yellow flag helped me make up some ground.

“It was probably one of the sweetest victories I’ve ever had because it was in my backyard, and it’s in Dan Gurney’s backyard, too. I couldn’t be more happy than to have won here.”

Cord is an investment broker who lives in Beverly Hills.

He collected $11,500 after averaging 100.505 m.p.h. for 185 miles. He had the day’s fastest lap, 111.241 m.p.h., on lap 4 when he was trying to catch up.

Cord also picked up another $1,500 and the Norelco Drivers Cup for the outstanding performance in the race.

The win was Cord’s sixth since becoming an IMSA driver in 1975, and his first since 1985 when he won at Daytona in the season finale.

Newman, driving the Newman-Sharp turbocharged Nissan 300ZX and in his first race since winning an Oscar, had a tough day on the slippery track.

On the 26th lap, while running second behind Baldwin, Newman spun in Turn 6 and caused a few hearts to stop when his car sat sideways in the turn as cars careened around him on either side.

Riggins, in particular, made a spectacular move through the dirt to avoid Newman.

Newman pitted for new tires, which dropped him back to 13th place, a lap behind the leaders. He had battled back to sixth place before hitting the wall on Turn 9.

“I’m not sure what happened,” Newman said. “The brakes seemed to give at the entrance to Turn 9. The car lurched and I went into the wall.

“We fought an under-steer problem all day. I can’t even recall how many times I felt I was off the track. The car was capable of winning, but it just wasn’t our day.”