Motor Racing : Mears Hopes Good Fortune Continues in Off-Road Race at Coliseum
For the first two years of Mickey Thompson’s Championship Off-Road Gran Prix series, the dominant name in the mini-pickup division was Roger Mears of Bakersfield. The next two years of the series he would just as soon forget.
It wasn’t until earlier this season at the Rose Bowl that Mears and his Electromotive-built Nissan finally snapped a long losing streak.
Mears will attempt to keep his good fortune alive Saturday night at the Coliseum against strong factory teams from Toyota, Mazda, Chevrolet, Dodge and Ford.
Although his limited appearances in the series this year have eliminated him as a contender for the championship, Mears could be instrumental in determining the outcome of a close race.
According to the 40-year-old veteran, his being out of the points race is no big deal.
“One of the things I learned from my dad when I first started racing was going for points can cause more problems,” he said. “His theory, and it’s a solid one, was that if you concentrate on doing the best you can in each race, the points will take care of themselves.”
Nevertheless, going into Saturday night’s eighth round of the series, the point battle is about as close as it can get. Mazda’s Glenn Harris holds a one-point edge on teammate Jeff Huber, 222-221. In third place is Chevy’s Danny Thompson at 200, with Dodge’s Walker Evans next at 197.
Next is Toyota’s Ivan Stewart, and he leads Toyota’s trio of himself, Frank Arciero Jr. and defending series champion Steve Millen. Team Toyota also leads the manufacturers’ race by 46 points over Mazda.
Mears is hoping that the third time will be the charm for him in the Coliseum.
“The past couple of years, we have had bad luck at the Coliseum,” said Mears, who has been involved in two controversial incidents in the last two races there.
In 1985, Mears was going for his fifth straight Thompson win when he was blocked by another driver in the last lap and was nipped at the wire.
“I still get mad about that when I think about it,” he says.
Last year, he was knocked unconscious when the seat on his truck broke in one of the rough sections of the track.
“I don’t remember much about that night, except that I didn’t win,” he said.
Even so, Mears is looking forward to Saturday night’s race.
“The truck is working exceptionally well and I think we should be a favorite to win,” he said. “We have learned a few more things about this new truck since the Rose Bowl and Kingdome races.”
Another driver who has been absent from the series recently, Sherman Balch of Fremont, Calif., will be Mears’ teammate Saturday night. Balch, incidentally, is the defending champion, having escaped a multi-car pileup early in the race last year and posting an easy victory.
“While last year’s win was nice, with the wreck I think some thought that it was a fluke,” Balch said. “I would like to prove it wasn’t.”
Balch will drive the car Mears drove last year, but it has been completely rebuilt.
Although the trucks are the star attractions, the Coliseum races will be pivotal in several other classes.
One is the four-wheel ATV division with Jimmy White leading Don Turk by one point, 195-194. Marty Hart is third with 183 and Gary Denton is next with 180.
Other close races include the Ultrastocks where Ken Kazarian leads Tim Maples, 218-193. Both drive Volkswagen Sciroccos. In the super 1,600 single-seaters, Frank Arciero Jr. has a 55-point lead over his brother Albert, but the next four drivers Jerry Whelchel, Bob Gordon, Greg George and Tommy Croft are separated by only five points. A similar situation exists in the Odyssey class with Ron Pierce leading Don Archibald, 185-149, but only 16 points separate the next seven drivers.
The 250cc Ultracross motorcycle class has the widest point span with Jeff Matisevich the leader.
Racing will begin at 7:30.
Three and a half hours of nonstop motorsports Sunday will make up the first Motor Extravaganza that will climax the weekend at the Coliseum.
Sunday’s event will feature drag racing, side by side mud bog racing, a battle of monster trucks and races for four-wheel ATVs and Odysseys.
Four classes will compete in the drag races over a 200-foot dirt strip. The drag racing cars will be attached to retrieval cords to help them stop at the end of the strip. Mud bog races will be held at the opposite end of the stadium. First of the 37 scheduled races will start at 1 p.m.
SPRINT CARS--Rip Williams, who became the 10th driver to win a Parnelli Jones/California Racing Assn. main event last Saturday night at Ascot, will try for a repeat in this Saturday night’s 30-lapper. Williams, driving the Jack Gardner-owned Shrike that carried Brad Noffsinger to the championship last year, survived two early red-flags and finally held off Bubby Jones, his brother-in-law, who came from 10th to second. It was William’s 12th CRA victory. Noffsinger’s fifth-place finish enabled him to trim series leader Mike Sweeney’s lead to 99 points, 2,185-2,086. Sweeney was sixth last Saturday. Jones is third with 1,989.
SPEEDWAY MOTORCYCLES--Bobby Schwartz and Mike Faria, expected to be the leading riders on the 1987 Team America, face each other one more time tonight at Ascot Park’s South Bay Speedway. Schwartz has won 12 of 15 scratch mains at South Bay, but one of his losses occurred last Thursday at the hands of Faria. Schwartz’s other losses this season were dealt by Faria and Sam Ermolenko, who is riding in the British Speedway League. Friday night, the same cast moves back to Costa Mesa after a week off for the fair and then on Saturday they will race at Speedway USA in Victorville. Schwartz will be going for his fourth straight victory at Victorville. His third came last Saturday in Round III of the National Championship Series as he won all five of his races. . . . On Sunday, Americans Kelly Moran, Ermolenko and John Cook will compete in the Inter-Continental Final. The top 11 riders will advance to the World Speedway Final Sept. 5-6 at Amsterdam, Holland.
STOCK CARS--Saugus Speedway will hold a 100-lap open-competition race for NASCAR sportsman cars with local favorites Dave Phipps, Rusty Parr and Bob Oliver taking on a host of drivers who normally compete at Ascot Park, Orange Show and El Cajon speedways. Street stocks and Figure 8s will share the program. Saugus will be dark on Friday night. . . . With a little luck, Ron Meyer improved his chances for a lofty finish in the Pacific Coast Region’s Winston Racing Series final standings with his fifth victory of the season and his fourth at Ascot last Sunday evening. Meyer will try to improve his point lead and standings in the Winston Series this Sunday night when the Curb Motorsports Winston Series continues at Ascot. Meyer picked up last week’s win when leader Marcus Mallet spun out on the 25th lap of the 30-lap feature. In addition to the pro stocks, the Bombers, Figure 8s, Hobby cars and Mini-Stocks also will join the program, all running for double points. Also on the program is a chain race starring Billy Altfather and Robert Rice. . . .El Cajon Speedway will feature NASCAR super stocks, sportsman stocks, street stocks and bombers Saturday night.
ROAD RACING--Ground has been broken for the course that will host the first Southern California Grand Prix in October at the Del Mar Fairgrounds in Northern San Diego County. The 1.6-mile course which will play host to the final race of the International Motor Sports Assn. GT series on Oct. 25-26 will be inaugurated a week before the Grand Prix with vintage car races on Oct. 16-18.
MOTOCROSS--A pair of events in the Continental Motosport Club’s Dodge California Summer Series with the CMC racers in action Friday night at Ascot Park and at Perris Speedway on Sunday.
INDY CARS--A so far unsuccessful struggle to make Roger Penske’s PC-16 cars competitive on the Championship Auto Racing Teams circuit has cost designer Alan Jenkins his job with the Penske team. Replacing Jenkins will be Lola designer Nigel Bennett, whose job it will be to begin work on a PC-17 chassis for the 1988 season. Although the team will continue working with the PC-16, all three Penske drivers, Rick Mears, Danny Sullivan and Al Unser, will be in March cars for the Aug. 2 Marlboro 500 at Penske’s Michigan International Speedway.
