Motor Racing : Press Drives His NASCAR Failures Away

After 2 1/2 years on the NASCAR Southwest Tour, Dan Press of Frazier Park had only five second-place finishes and a trunk full of misfortune to show for it.

Mechanical failures, crashes. . . . you name it, Press has had it.

Press, in fact, had almost had it with the tour.

“Oh, hell, I try not to remember all the bad things,” said Press, a crowd favorite among Saugus Speedway’s Modified division drivers. “It’s just been kind of tough. Sometimes you get in a rut like that and it’s hard to break.”

No one could have blamed Press had he decided to leave his car in the garage last Saturday instead of pressing on to Stockton for the 25-mile Spears Manufacturing stock car race at Stockton “99” Speedway. It turned out to be gasoline well-invested.

Press, 39, who was not even among the top 25 in the tour points standings, finally put an end to his frustrations by winning the 100-lap race in dramatic fashion over fellow former Saugus track champion and tour points leader Roman Calczynski of Sepulveda.

After a 35-lap dogfight, Press made a daring pass and went on to post a one-second victory and pocket $2,618. Calczynski, who has a tour-high three wins and eight top-five finishes, probably reasoned that a Highway Patrol officer would pull him over before his old friend would overtake him.

“He’s been running the tour races, he just hasn’t had a lot of luck,” Calczynski said. “If anybody was overdue for a win, he sure was.”

Press, whose crew made a major chassis change just minutes before time trials for the $19,423 race, started in second position and found himself challenging Calczynski, who started 17th and zoomed into the lead after 40 laps.

Press pulled even with an inside move on a turn on Lap 75 and then assumed the lead for good on the first turn of Lap 79.

“We were basically rubbing door handles for about four laps straight,” Press said. “I noticed that he was having a little trouble keeping his car down in (turns) one and two. He just bobbled a little bit, which gave me a chance to get inside.”

Press’ win avenged a loss to Calczynski in the Miller American 100 at Saugus in June.

Southwest Tour continues: Despite failing to hold the lead at Stockton, Calczynski improved his lead in the standings from two to 63 points over Troy Beebe of Modesto.

“It’s not over yet,” Calczynski said.

But it looks pretty good. Race No. 14 in the 19-race series, a 25-mile dash at Silver State Raceway in Carson City, Nev., takes place today. It will be the first Southwest Tour event on the -mile oval since the track was redesigned and repaved earlier this year. The result should be considerably faster lap times.

“I think it will go a second or so faster,” Calczynski said. “It was in pretty rough shape. They’ve kind of widened it on one turn, so the car can kind of glide up.”

Calczynski set the one-lap record two years ago with a time of 13.832 seconds (65.07 m.p.h.).

Also competing at Carson City will be Ron Hornaday Jr. of Palmdale, who is currently fifth in the points standings. Included in the top 25 are Mark Perry of Saugus (15th), Bob Lyon of Newhall (16th), Mike Kanke of Granada Hills (17th), Jim Thirkettle of Sylmar (18th) and Chuck Pittenger of Northridge (22nd).

Driving for dollars: Charlie Holguin of Newbury Park had to be hotter than a spark plug. After traveling all the way to Sonoma for the Firestone Firehawk Challenge last Saturday, Holguin, 25, was knocked from contention in the 100-kilometer sports car race on the first lap when a major wreck occurred directly in his path.

“The crash was right in front of the track and I was right in the middle of the track,” Holguin said. “Right away it put me about 17th.

“Considering everything, I was lucky. I could have been in the accident.”

Holguin avoided the wreckage and stepped on the gas. Although he had lost plenty of ground, he rallied for a seventh-place finish.

“Seventh place is $900,” he said. “I figure every car I passed was worth about 100 bucks.”

Midgets return: Full- and three-quarter-size U. S. Auto Club midgets headline Saugus Speedway’s schedule tonight with their second and final appearance of the season.

The midgets’ noisy, but well-received, show at Saugus in May was the first since the mid-1960s.

Sleepy Tripp of Costa Mesa is the leader in the full-size midgets points race.