Motor Racing / Shav Glick : Trio of Big Winners Try to Stop Shuman in 48th Turkey Night Race

Only four drivers in the history of the United States Auto Club have won 100 or more USAC-sanctioned races.

Three of them--Rich Vogler of Indianapolis, Mel Kenyon of Lebanon, Ind., and Ron (Sleepy) Tripp of Costa Mesa--will be at Ascot Park tonight for the 48th running of the Turkey Night Grand Prix, a 100-lap national championship midget car race.

Vogler, with 149 wins; Kenyon, with 117, and Tripp, with 109, will all be trying to close in on the all-time leader, A. J. Foyt, who has 158.

Vogler last week clinched his fifth USAC national midget championship with a win at Hanford Speedway, and Tripp has already won his fourth western regional title in 6 years. Curiously, neither has ever won a Thanksgiving night race on the half-mile dirt oval at Ascot.

Tonight will be Vogler’s 12th attempt and he has finished in the top 10 only three times.

“I think maybe the reason I haven’t won is because usually I’ve been involved in the championship and had to worry about points,” Vogler said. “This year I was lucky enough to win the championship early so now I can concentrate on Ascot.

“I’ve won 13 races in Greg Willke’s car this season and I’ll have it Thursday night so that makes me feel good. It’s a solid car and if we finish, we usually win. In practice Tuesday night, we ran close to the track record so maybe this is the year we can win. I’m sure looking forward to it.”

Tripp, who has been trying nearly every year since 1975, has finished second twice.

Both Vogler and Tripp, however, are working on record paces this season.

Vogler’s win at Hanford was his 16th in a USAC midget national, one shy of the single-season record set by Kenyon in 1966.

The Turkey Night race, which was first won in 1934 by Bob Swanson at Gilmore Stadium, is one of the two classics of midget racing. The other is the Hut 100 at Terre Haute, Ind., and Vogler has won that 6 times.

Tripp, who won national championships in 1975 and 1976 before deciding to remain closer to home and run the regional series, has won a record 19 races this year. Six of them have been at Ascot, but all were on the quarter-mile oval rather than the longer one being used tonight.

Kenyon, a 7-time USAC midget champion, won his first Turkey Night GP at Ascot in 1963 and also won in 1975, when the race was held at Speedway 605 in Irwindale.

Despite the appearances of Vogler, Tripp and Kenyon, however, the favorite will be Ron Shuman, the sprint-midget driving veteran from Tempe, Ariz.

Shuman has won 6 times, including last year, and has led 632 of the 800 laps in 8 of the last 9 races he has entered. He won 4 in a row from 1979 through 1982, then won again in 1984. In 1986, he led 99 laps before losing the lead to Warren Mockler when a tire went flat. He missed the 1985 race after crashing during time trials.

Tonight’s race will also offer an interesting comparison of engines. Cars driven by Vogler and Tripp will be powered by Cosworths. Shuman, Kenyon and 1983 winner Kevin Olson of Rockford, Ill., will have Pontiac engines in their cars. Shuman won with the recently developed Pontiac powerplant in last year’s race.

MORE MIDGETS--Both the USAC Jolly Rancher Candies national and western states regional series will end Saturday night with the 40-lap Quaker State finale on the 3/8-mile Imperial Raceway, 3 miles north of El Centro in Imperial. Most of the drivers in the Turkey Night GP are entered, including former Imperial Raceway winner Robby Flock and defending champion Rick Hood. A special 10-lap race will match former USAC champions before the main event.

MOTOCROSS--The final round of the Continental Motosport Club’s Fall Finale series will be held Sunday at Carlsbad Raceway. . . . Also set for Sunday is round Round 4 of the Western USA championship series at Perris Raceway.

BAYLANDS RACEWAY--After 30 years as Northern California’s busiest racing facility, Baylands will hold its last event Sunday, a free-for-all stock car race. Promoter David Vodden’s racing landmark will close then to make way for development by the land’s owner, the Southern Pacific Co.

STOCK CARS--Ken Bouchard of Fitchburg, Mass., edged Ernie Ervan of Modesto for NASCAR rookie-of-the-year honors in the closest points battle in Winston Cup history. Bouchard, who will collect $15,000 as No. 1 rookie, nipped Ervan, 242 points to 239. Former CRA sprint car champion Brad Noffsinger of Huntington Beach finished third.

CAR SHOW--Toyota drivers Willy T. Ribbs and Ivan Stewart will appear with their cars Friday at the Long Beach International Auto Show at the Long Beach Convention Center. Ribbs will be on hand from 1 to 3 p.m., Stewart from 7 to 9 p.m.