Motor Racing : The Bennets Are a Driven Family

The San Pedro husband-wife team of Wayne and Denise Bennet, who scored an unprecedented sweep of a United States Auto Club midget racing doubleheader two weeks ago in Ventura, will attempt to repeat the feat Sunday night at Ascot Park.

Wayne won his first main event of the Jolly Rancher Western States series, driving Ron Weeks’ Cosworth to victory after point leader Sleepy Tripp flipped his car. In the three-quarter midget main event the same night, Denise drove Jim Boone’s Plating TQ to her second win. Denise won her first USAC race last March 27 at Ascot when she led all the way in the TQ feature.

Wayne is second, behind Tripp, in the full midget standings and Denise is third, behind Dennis Hart of Ventura and Ricky Gray of Sepulveda, in the TQs. Denise, who drives in both classes, is also eighth in the full midgets.

Tripp won last week’s Western States race at Raven Raceway in Tucson, his sixth in 10 starts, and pulled 29 points ahead of Bennet, 342 to 313. Bennet finished sixth in that race and his wife was eighth.

Accomplishing the unprecedented is nothing new to the Bennet family. Wayne and Denise met when they were 8 and both were racing quarter-midgets at a track in Phoenix. Each won a quarter-midget national championship, Wayne when he was 10, in 1966 at Tulsa, and Denise four years later at Columbus, Ohio.

Their son, Steve, became the third member of the family to win a national title when he was 6. He won his class championship in the 1983 quarter-midget nationals at Colorado Springs. Steve is still racing quarter-midgets regularly at Pomona.

Wayne and Denise also won Arizona driving championships before moving to San Pedro four years ago. Wayne won the sprint car championship in 1977, 1980, 1982 and 1983, the same year Denise won the state midget championship.

“Having all of us racing makes for a good family relationship,” said Wayne, who builds sprint car engines for Ron Shaver Specialties in Torrance. “Whenever Denise and I go on the road for a race, Steve brings his quarter-midget along and races, too.”

In addition to Ascot’s Sunday night doubleheader, the TQs will race Friday night at Ventura Raceway and the full midgets will race Saturday night at Visalia.

Robby Flock of Industry, last year’s Western States champion, dropped off the regional circuit last week to race in a 50-lap national championship midget race at the Indianapolis Speedrome. He won, nosing out USAC champion Rich Vogler, and the next night, at Hales Corners, Wis., Flock led the first 19 laps before giving way to Vogler. Flock later dropped out with engine problems.

What price, commercialism? The R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., which convinced NASCAR that its Grand National series should be renamed the Winston Cup series, has gone one step farther.

A checkered flag has been symbolic of victory in racing since the days of Barney Oldfield, but not in the Winston, an all-star race held at Charlotte. N.C. For that race, starter Harold Kinder waved a white flag with a Winston logo across its face for winner Dale Earnhardt.

SPEEDWAY BIKES--Southern California riders, headed by national champion Bobby Schwartz, will get in their final tuneups this week for the Nissan American Speedway final, Saturday night June 13, at Long Beach Veterans Stadium. Schwartz, who has dominated Southland races since electing to remain here instead of race in the British League, will be challenged by five Americans who have been racing in England--Shawn Moran, Kelly Moran, Sam Ermolenko, Lance King and Rick Miller. Only five will qualify at Long Beach for the Overseas Final July 5 at Bradford, England. The World final will be Sept. 5-6 at Amsterdam. . . . There will be racing tonight at Ascot Park, Friday night at Costa Mesa, Saturday night at Victorville and Wednesday night at San Bernardino’s Inland Speedway.

OFF ROAD--The Baja Internacional, fifth race of the eight-race High Desert Racing Assn.-SCORE International series, will start Saturday morning in Ensenada with more than 250 competitors. Racing will start at 6 a.m. over a 416-mile course that crosses the northern quarter of Baja California from the Pacific Ocean to the Sea of Cortez and return. Favorites include Corky, Scott and Mark McMillin, Ivan Stewart, Spencer Low, Frank Arciero Jr., Jack Johnson, Rod Hall, Walker Evans, Roger Mears and Manny Esquerra.

SPRINT CARS--The Swindell brothers, Sammy and Jeff, will drive this weekend in the 7-Up Summer Nationals at Baylands Raceway Park in Fremont, a $26,000 event for winged sprint cars. Sammy, a former World of Outlaw champion, was first alternate in the Indianapolis 500, and Jeff worked on A. J. Foyt’s crew. The night before the 500, Jeff won the 100-mile United States Auto Club dirt car race at the Indianapolis Fairgrounds. Qualifying will be held Friday night, with the 40-lap main event Saturday night. . . . The California Racing Assn. will be at Manzanita Speedway in Phoenix Saturday night.

STOCK CARS--Former track champion and point leader Dave Phipps will be favored Saturday night in the 40-lap NASCAR sportsman race at Saugus Speedway, with Dean Johnson expected to lead the way in the stocker race. Hobby stocks and jalopies will race Friday night at Saugus. . . . The Norris Racing Team of Mark Norris and John Borneman are tearing up Cajon Speedway in a pair of black No. 99 cars. Norris has won five Winston Racing Series super-stock races and Borneman has won six sportsman events. Each will be trying to protect his season lead Saturday night.

SPORTS CARS--The California Sports Car Club will hold the third in a series of championship races this weekend at Riverside International Raceway. . . . The Champion-Camel Grand Prix at Mid-Ohio Sunday marks the halfway point of the IMSA season, which will end Oct. 25 with the Southern California Grand Prix at Del Mar. Defending GTO champion Tom Kendall of La Canada has a 22-point lead over fellow Mazda RX-7 driver Amos Johnson. Kendall’s Mazda was built in 1981 for Jim Downing and Mid-Ohio will be its 97th race. It has won 21 of them--5 with Downing at the wheel, 10 with Jack Baldwin driving, and 6 with Kendall driving.

ALSO AT ASCOT--The CMC will conduct its weekly motocross Friday night, and a truck pull is scheduled Saturday night.

DRAG RACING--Alcohol-burning funny cars will be featured Saturday night at the L. A. County Raceway in Palmdale, with the third round of the VW Challenge Cup Sunday.

NEWSWORTHY--Dennis Wood, former owner of Phoenix International Raceway, was presented the Marchese Award for “outstanding dedication to the sport of auto racing” before last Sunday’s Miller American 200 at Milwaukee.