Motor Racing : Hanauer Hopes to Turn It Around in San Diego

Veteran hydroplane driver Chip Hanauer is hoping that a fast finish will salvage a season that has had only a couple of high spots and plenty of disappointments.

The late effort will begin this weekend when Hanauer, the defending champion and qualifying record-holder, will drive his Miller High Life boat in the Miller High Life Thunderboat Regatta, the next-to-last event of the season, Sunday on Mission Bay in San Diego.

Hanauer has had mixed success in recent years at San Diego.

Two years ago, a saltwater problem caused his turbine-engined boat to fail to finish a heat, and that failure cost him the championship in a season during which he had won five races.

Then last year, he won a record sixth straight Gold Cup event after setting a world speed record in qualifying, 155.979 m.p.h.

So far this season, the 34-year-old Seattle driver has won twice including his seventh Gold Cup race at Evansville, Ind.

“The season hasn’t gone like we would have wanted,” Hanauer said. “But we are coming back to the two events we won last year (San Diego and Las Vegas, Sept. 25) so I am optimistic. If we can do well in those two again, it will have been a pretty good season.”

For this year’s race, Hanauer and crew are making another major change.

“We’ve decided to return to our newer boat for San Diego,” Hanauer said. “Last year, we went to our older hull before San Diego and it paid off. Now, we’ve taken the best aspects of the old boat and combined them with the newer hull and I think we are ready to get back on the winning track.”

Although he hasn’t driven the newer boat as much, Hanauer isn’t exactly a stranger to it, having won the Gold Cup title with Miss Circus Circus.

Both the Miller High Life and Miss Circus Circus, with John Prevost driving this weekend, come from La Mesa resident Fran Muncey’s unlimited hydroplane operation in Seattle.

Although Hanauer is the defending champion and record-holder, he probably doesn’t figure to be the favorite in Sunday’s race.

“I think you have to say that Bernie Little’s boat (Miss Budweiser) is the one to beat,” Hanauer said. “They have really got everything together.”

Hanauer also has a feeling that his speed record could be in jeopardy when qualifying begins Friday on the 2 1/2-mile oval course, named for the sport’s all-time winner Bill Muncey.

“San Diego and the Tri-Cities course at Pasco, Wash., are the two courses where most of the records are set,” Hanauer said. “Where a lot of courses on rivers have long straightaways and sharp turns that cut speed, both Mission Bay and Tri-Cities have big corners. You may not go quite as fast on the straights, but the turn speeds are very high and that is what makes a record.

“I expected a 160 m.p.h.-lap at Tri-Cities, but it didn’t come about. It is certainly possible here if weather and water conditions are good.”

Sunday’s race and next week’s at Las Vegas also will determine the driver’s championship, with Scott Pierce of Miss Pringles holding a 6,169-5,921 lead over Miss Budweiser pilot Tom D’Eath, who replaced injured Jim Kropfeld and has won the last three races. Miss Budweiser leads Miss Pringles in boat points, 6,721 to 6,169.

Fourteen boats are entered, six of them turbine-powered, and Hanauer says that the chances of a turbine winning are excellent, even though they have won only three of eight events held in saltwater since 1984.

“From the cockpit, there is no difference in driving the boat in salt or fresh water,” he said. “The only problem is the turbines. You have to give them enough air to run cool and yet keep out the saltwater. It take a special kind of induction system, and all the teams have been working on it and have made huge strides in reliability.

“The saltwater caused a compressor stall in the turbine in 1986 and cost us the championship,” Hanauer said. “A friend, Derrick Rogers, who is an employee of Boeing, helped us last year by designing an air-intake system for the engine. That plus the addition of an engine specialists’ firm, Stewart and Stevenson, has enabled us to beat the saltwater problem.”

Qualifying will be run Friday and Saturday, with the first heat race scheduled for noon Sunday and the final expected to begin about 4:15 p.m.

MOTORCYCLES--The final speedway qualifying event that will determine the makeup of the U.S. Nationals is set for Friday night at the Orange County Fairgrounds, also the site of the Oct. 15 national meet. After four of the five events, Bobby Schwartz is the leader with 80 points, only 4 shy of perfect, since 21 points are available at each meet. Second is Steve Lucero of Riverside with 74, followed by Dubb Ferrell, 52, and Richmond’s Eddie Ingels and defending champion Brad Oxley at 40 each. The top 14 will join Sam Ermolenko and Robert Fetzing, who qualified at the North American final at Long Beach in June. . . . Tonight Schwartz will go for his 10th victory of the season and the 31st of his career at Ascot Park’s South Bay Speedway.

One of racing’s more grueling events, a 24-hour endurance race for motorcycles, will be run Saturday and Sunday when about 40 teams of riders begin the round-the-clock grind on the 2.5-mile Willow Springs race course in Rosamond at 1 p.m. When the checkered flag falls at 1 p.m. Sunday, the winning team will have covered more than 2,000 miles at an average speed of near 84 m.p.h. Four or more riders will alternate at the controls, changing riders and refueling about every one to two hours.

Team Suzuki of Canada, and Vance and Hines Racing of Rancho Dominguez, Calif., are the leading contenders this year. Both teams use Suzuki GSXR750 machines. Mike Harth of Roswell, Ga.; James James of Baton Rouge, La.; Russ Paulk of St. Louis and Wes Cooley of Yorba Linda are the Team Suzuki riders. Randy Renfrow of Fredericksburg, Va.; Joe Pittman of Portland, Ore., Mitch Boem and Nick Ienatsch of Van Nuys, Peter Carroll of Costa Mesa and Dave Zirkle of Lomita make up the Vance and Hines team.

Continental Motocross Club will race Friday night at Ascot Park and again on Sunday at Sandhill Ranch in Brentwood, in the Trans-Cal fall series. . . . With three races left, including Ascot Park on Sept. 24, Scott Parker leads defending champion Bubba Shobert and Chris Carr in the battle for the American Motorcyclist Assn. Grand National Championship and the No. 1 plate that goes with it. Shobert won last Sunday’s mile race at Syracuse, N.Y., but was disqualified when his bike turned up light in the postrace inspection. Shobert, who already has won the Camel Pro Series and the $100,000 first prize in that series, is challenging the disqualification and, should he get his 20 points back, would be the leader.

SPRINT CARS--With the final of the Budweiser American Sprint series set for Saturday night at Ascot Park, it figured that John Redican, the 1987 champion, would return to form. Redican won last week for the first time since his series victory last year. The 43-year-old Chatsworth driver also ended the track monopoly of Lealand McSpadden, Ron Shuman and Mike Sweeney in the Parnelli Jones-California Racing Assn. since May 21, as well as McSpadden’s winning streak of five. He finished third, with Shuman second and Sweeney fourth.

STOCK CARS--Saturday night will be Fan Appreciation Night at Saugus Speedway with the NASCAR modifieds and sportsman cars completing their final point races of the season. It also could mark one of the last appearances of the modifieds, which are rumored to be on their way out because of high expenses and short fields. Friday night, the hobby and foreign stocks and the jalopies will race on both the oval and Figure 8 courses.

While Saugus is debating the end of its high-dollar division, El Cajon Speedway will hold the final event Saturday night in its super-stock division, which will compete in a 40-lap final. The demise of the supers was not unexpected because of rising costs and dropping car counts. Also racing at El Cajon Saturday night will be the sportsman cars, which will replace the supers next year as the featured division, and the final destruction derby of the season.

Ron Meyer, Paul Estrada and Marcus Mallett will continue their season-long battle at Ascot Park Sunday night when the NASCAR pro stocks compete. Estrada needs a first or second to keep Meyer from clinching the season title. . . . Meyer finished fifth and Mallett seventh in the NASCAR Winston Racing Series Pacific Coast Region standings. Ed Sans of Santa Clara edged Bobby Hogge of Salinas for the top spot. . . . Hobby and foreign stocks will race Friday night at Ventura Raceway.

MIDGET CARS--Sleepy Tripp, the standings leader in the United States Auto Club’s Western States series, will shoot for his 16th victory when the group makes its first appearance at the Tulare Country Fairgrounds Saturday night. A 30-lap main event will headline the program. Tripp took victory No. 15 last Sunday night after a 17-lap battle with Robby Flock, who finished second. Rusty Rassmussen, who had won his first race of the year the night before at Ventura, was third.

OFF-ROAD RACING--About 30 local drivers will challenge the series regulars Saturday when the Mickey Thompson Off-Road Gran Prix series makes its first visit to Mile High Stadium in Denver. Toyota drivers Steve Millen and Ivan Stewart, ranked 1-2 in the Grand Sport Truck standings, will try to cut into the Team Mazda margin in the manufacturers’ race. Glenn Harris, with three wins, and Rod Millen, Steve’s brother, and Jeff Huber make up the Mazda team. Also entered are the Jeep team of Walker Evans and Al Arciero. Roger Mears is the only Nissan entry.

DRAG RACING--More than 400 sportsman drivers will compete in this weekend’s National Hot Rod Assn. Pacific (Division 7) races at Los Angeles County Raceway in Palmdale. It is the fifth of six Pacific Division races and carries a total purse of $90,950 plus points toward the division championship. Competition will be held in all eight NHRA sportsman classes--top alcohol dragster; top alcohol funny car, competition, super stock, super gas, stock, super competition and super street. Qualifying will be held Friday and Saturday with eliminations starting at noon Sunday.