IMSA Grand Prix of Southern California : Ribbs Barely Holds Off Pruett for GTO Victory at Del Mar
A day earlier, Willy T. Ribbs compared his race driving rivalry with Scott Pruett to Frazier and Ali, who once staged, “The Thrilla in Manila.”
Saturday, before a crowd of 17,500 at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, they staged an exciting finish, Ribbs holding off Pruett by half a car-length to win the the International Motor Sports Assn.’s GTO event of the Camel Grand Prix of Southern California.
It will be difficult for the GTP field to match this race in the main event at 1:45 p.m. today.
When they pulled into the pits after the hourlong race, Ribbs climbed out of his Toyota Celica Turbo and ran over to Pruett’s Lincoln-Mercury XR4Ti to . . . what, punch Pruett, as he had done once before?
This time Ribbs grasped Pruett’s hand and shoulder and said, “You are one tough son of a gun.”
Fittingly, though Pruett already had clinched the GTO driving title, Ribbs overtook Pruett in the final media vote to win the Norelco Driver’s Cup and a $10,000 bonus for the second straight year.
Ribbs also won $10,000 for winning the race; Saturday’s Norelco vote was worth another $1,500, and he added $7,500 by moving from fifth to third in the final GTO standings--a day’s work worth $29,000. Pruett earned $7,000.
They may not see one another for a while. Ribbs, 29, will move up to GTP with car builder Dan Gurney next year, and Pruett, 28, will advance to Indy car racing by joining the Truesports team, replacing Bobby Rahal.
Pruett said he also would like to drive some GTP races, so the rivalry could continue.
Ribbs averaged 69.801 m.p.h., well off Chris Cord’s winning speed of 77.243 a year ago, partly because of the slippery track and partly because 6 of the 44 laps, from Nos. 25 to 31, were run under a full-course yellow flag because of Charly Godecke of Vancouver, Canada, crashing his Porsche Carrera.
Before that, Pruett and teammate Pete Halsmer had jumped pole-sitter Ribbs at the start. Ribbs, who said afterward that the XR4Ti’s had opted for “sticky” tires to handle the slick track, dropped to fifth, then passed everyone except Pruett once his tires heated up.
Pruett seemed uncatchable. Ribbs closed within 2 1/2 seconds, but Pruett had stretched it to 9 1/2 seconds when the yellow came out.
“I was glad the yellow came out,” Pruett said. “(The car) had started popping and missing the lap before.”
His crew solved the problem by changing an electrical box, but Pruett knocked over a plastic pylon leaving the pit and was flagged to come in for a penalty stop-and-go.
Still under yellow, he then decided to change tires and stopped a third time.
When the race went green again, Greg Pickett of Alamo, Calif., led in his Corvette, with Pruett in fourth place 4 1/2 seconds behind Ribbs, who also had pitted, with several lapped cars in between.
Ribbs squeezed between the wall and Pickett to take the lead on Lap 35, but Pruett was charging. Within 4 laps he was on Ribbs’ rear bumper, but Ribbs never gave him a chance to pass.
As they came down the final straightaway, Pruett moved to the inside, then alongside Ribbs, but couldn’t quite nudge his nose in front.
Rahal, the 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner, has continued to moonlight in IMSA’s GTP series since becoming an Indy car star.
So, is he having any fun this weekend?
“No, I’m not,” Rahal said as he babied his Goodwrench team Corvette through final tuneups for today’s 2-hour main event. “The track surface is just atrocious. I’ve never been on a race track as dangerous as this one.”
Rahal qualified 11th in the 28-car field that will compete for $140,000 in first-place prize money, richer than any Indy car prize except for the Indy 500 itself.
Three weeks ago the track was sealed with a sticky, oily substance to fill cracks and prevent the surface from breaking up under racing pressure. But with the weather cool and overcast, the gunk seeped to the surface to produce a 1.6-mile skating rink with 10 tricky turns.
John Nielsen of West Germany crashed one Jaguar in practice Saturday, but Jan Lammers of the Netherlands put the other on the pole by turning 86.579 m.p.h. in qualifying after the GTO race.
GTP champion Geoff Brabham Nissan is fourth at 84.434, followed by teammate Derek Daly, 83.712.
