Motor Racing : If You Want to Watch Richard Petty Sunday, Get to Riverside Early

Members of the Richard Petty Fan Club and other followers of stock car racing’s King Richard had better arrive early Sunday if they want to see their hero drive in the Budweiser 400 at Riverside International Raceway. Or else they will have to wait until ESPN shows the race on tape delay.

Petty, still hurting with two broken ribs from a crash May 31 at Dover, Del., will drive only once around the twisting road course--the parade lap.

Joe Ruttman, who left Upland seven years ago as the United States Auto Club stock car champion to live in North Carolina and drive in the National Assn. for Stock Car Auto Racing, will do all the racing in Petty’s No. 43.

Ruttman will qualify it Friday, then take over from Petty before the green flag drops Sunday and drive during the race. Petty will move into the TV booth and help analyze the race, including how his own car is faring.

The ploy is designed to continue Petty’s endurance record in NASCAR Winston Cup races. The seven-time national champion has driven in 463 consecutive races and under NASCAR rules, the driver who starts the race--NASCAR considers the parade lap the start--is considered the official driver and collects all the points toward the driving championship.

The same scenario was played out last Sunday in the Miller 500 at Pocono where Ruttman qualified, Petty drove the parade lap and Ruttman climbed in and raced until the engine blew on lap 173. Ruttman was uninjured when the car slid in its own oil and smacked the wall. He finished 29th.

The Pocono race was Ruttman’s only Winston Cup appearance this year. He was left without a ride when car owner Kenny Bernstein dropped him in favor of Morgan Shepherd.

“I am honored to help out Richard and Petty Enterprises in any way I can,” Ruttman said. “I don’t know of a race driver in the world who would not do handstands for the chance to drive the Petty car at least once in his career. I’ll drive it as long as they want to keep the Petty string alive.”

Ruttman worked with Dale Inman, Petty’s cousin and team manager, in 1981 and 1982 when Inman was crew chief for Jim Stacy’s team.

Although Ruttman has not driven much in NASCAR, he has been busy on the race track this season. He won the last two races of the Bruce Patrom Dirt Race of Champions series at Albany-Saratoga Speedway in Malta, N.Y., and Stateline Speedway in Jamestown, N.Y. Those victories gave Ruttman the lead in the series he won last year, driving modified and pro-stock cars.

Ruttman, who now lives in Franklin, Tenn., is also directing Carcal Motorsports, a promotional firm designed to test market major sponsorships in NASCAR racing.

Four cars apparently weren’t enough for Rick Hendrick, the Charlotte car dealer who already had Darrell Waltrip, Tim Richmond, Benny Parsons and Geoff Bodine in Sunday’s race before adding a fifth car.

Jim Fitzgerald, who drives a turbocharged Nissan with Paul Newman in the Trans Am series, will be in the Hendrick Motorsports No. 51 Chevrolet Monte Carlo.

“The number (of the car) probably at minimum states Fitzie’s age,” Hendrick kidded his driver. Sports Car Club of America archives reveal that Fitzgerald, who is the chief instructor at the Road Atlanta Driver Training Center, is 64, although he himself lists his age as “eternally youthful.”

This will be his second NASCAR race. Last year at Riverside, Fitzgerald drove for Bobby Wawak and after qualifying 36th, dropped out early with mechanical problems.

West Coast drivers, including the track’s winningest driver, 59-year-old Hershel McGriff, will be racing this weekend at Riverside along with the Winston Cup stars. McGriff, defending Winston West champion, has won 14 races at Riverside.

McGriff will be in the 400-kilometer--that’s 250-miles--main event Sunday, but besides competing for the big prize, he will also be running for West Coast points against the likes of Chad Little, Sumner McKnight, J. C. Danielsen, Ruben Garcia and Bill Schmitt.

This will be the second race of an eight-race series. McGriff won the opener at Sears Point Raceway.

The Von’s 200, seventh race of the NASCAR Southwest tour for Grand American cars, will be run Saturday. The 48-lap race of 125 miles will start at 2 p.m.

Ron Esau of Lakeside and Duke Hoenshell of Orange, winners of last year’s two Riverside races for Grand American cars, will both be in the race. The series leader is Roman Calczynski, former Saugus Speedway champion from Sepulveda, who has two wins and a 54-point margin over Mike Chase of Bakersfield.

Open-wheeled Formula Russell cars, powered by Mazda engines, will open Sunday’s program with a 25-lap race at 10:15 a.m.

Norman Breedlove, son of Craig Breedlove, former land speed record-holder, is an instructor for the Jim Russell school at Riverside and will have specialized knowledge of the twisting 2.62-mile road course. Ken Petersen of Sausalito, who won Formula Russell races at Laguna Seca and Sears Point, will be trying to win his third in a row.

Qualifying for the Budweiser 400 will start at 3:30 p.m. Friday, with the race starting at noon Sunday.

SPRINT CARS--John Redican, 42-year-old Cadillac service manager from Hollywood, is on a trophy dash hot streak. Redican has won a record five straight dashes and will go for No. 6 Saturday night at Ascot Park. He will also be after his third straight Parnelli Jones Firestone/California Racing Assn. win on the half-mile clay oval. . . . Brad Marvel has retired from CRA racing. . . . Car owner Frank Lewis is putting on a benefit for Lisa Newell, whose husband Roger was killed in an accident last month at Ascot Park. The benefit will be held July 8 at the Torrance Marriott. Tickets are $20.

STOCK CARS--The big modifieds will run 40 laps to headline Saturday night’s Saugus Speedway program. An ego challenge will start the show at 6 p.m. Hobby stocks and jalopies will run Friday night at Saugus. . . . Mark Norris of Lakeside is nearing Cajon Speedway’s oldest record as he goes for his sixth straight win on the 3/8-mile paved oval in El Cajon. The record is seven, set by Russ Bullen in 1966 and tied by Ed Hale in 1982.

MIDGETS--Rusty Rasmussen, with successive wins at Visalia, Ascot and Santa Maria, will try to become the first USAC Western States driver to win four consecutive main events Sunday night at Ascot Park. He and Sleepy Tripp are the only winners of three straight. Also on the program will be a three-quarter midget main event featuring George Ito, Denise Bennet and standings leader Dennis Hart.

SPEEDWAY BIKES--Bobby Schwartz, the United States champion frustrated at not qualifying in the American Final because his cycle threw a rod in his first heat, will go back to weekly competition tonight at Ascot Park, Friday night at Costa Mesa, Saturday night at Victorville and Wednesday night at San Bernardino. Mike Faria and Rob Pfetzing, who both qualified for the next round of the world championship series, will also continue riding locally. . . . Opening round of the $10,000 Budweiser series will be Saturday night at Speedway USA in Victorville.

MOTOCROSS--The start of the Coors Superbowl of Motocross at the Coliseum, instead of being down along the front straightaway as in past years, will be 30 rows up in the peristyle arches, giving the June 27 races a downhill start. . . . The CMC will run its weekly program Friday night at Ascot Park.

SPORTS CARS--Jeff Kline of Malibu became the first Camel Lights driver to receive the Norelco Driver’s Cup after his winning performance at Mid-Ohio. Kline took over his Pontiac Fiero GTP from Don Bell in third place and finished in front by 22 seconds. . . . Max Jones of Long Beach, driving a Nissan, won the SCCA’s Racetrack Challenge at Portland. Glenn Harris of Camarillo was seventh in a Mazda.