Motor Racing / Shav Glick : Fast Run by Dobson for New Indy Team a Highlight of Phoenix Opener

It was no surprise when Rick Mears and Danny Sullivan filled the front row for last week’s Indy car race at Phoenix. And it was no surprise that Chevrolet engines were in five of the first seven cars on the starting grid. Or that one of the two non-Chevys was Bobby Rahal’s with the new short-stroke Cosworth.

But who was the guy sitting in the No. 3 spot, right behind Mears and alongside former world champion Mario Andretti?

Dominic Dobson, that’s who. And if the name’s not familiar, it might be because it was only the second oval race of his career.

The car, a 1988 Lola with a year-old conventional Cosworth long-stroke engine, was almost as surprising that far up in the field of mostly new equipment as was Dobson. The team, Bruce Leven’s Bayside Motorsports, is completely new to Indy car racing.

Dobson and the team will be more at home this week in the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, a street race along the bayshore across from the Queen Mary.

Dobson, 29, is a graduate of sports car ranks and was a senior instructor at the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving when he was 20. Leven and the Bayside team are veteran International Motor Sports Assn. campaigners with endurance race victories at Daytona and Sebring with drivers such as Klaus Ludwig, James Weaver, Hans Stuck and Sarel van der Merwe.

“To me, car racing is car racing,” Leven said. “Although my crew hadn’t done an Indy car race before Phoenix, except for a couple of mechanics, they have lots and lots of experience. My guys have worked on everything. I brought one of them over from being a mechanic on my garbage trucks. The guy can build anything.”

Dobson, after qualifying third at Phoenix, was running sixth on the 30th lap when he clipped the rear of a slowing car and was sent spinning into the wall.

“The driver (Jean-Pierre Frey) should have been black-flagged for going too slow,” Dobson said. “I had already lapped him three times and when I started my pass on the outside, he moved up and slowed dramatically. I hit the brakes real hard, but I just nicked him and that was enough to start me spinning.

“Despite what happened, realistically it was a successful weekend. I wasn’t intimidated by the oval and I’ll tell you, it was quite a thrill sitting there looking up the tailpipes of guys like Mears and Sullivan.”

Although the car was not damaged seriously, Dobson will be in another Lola when practice starts Friday at Long Beach.

“I’ll be more at home, from a driver’s standpoint, this week than I was at Phoenix,” he said.

Dobson’s only previous oval race was last year’s Indianapolis 500 when he set a rookie qualifying record of 210.096 m.p.h. He completed 145 laps and finished 18th after being sidelined with coolant problems.

In 1986 he was named Indy car rookie of the year although he raced only on the road circuits. He started nine races in the Leader Card March prepared by veteran A. J. Watson. His best finish was an 11th at Meadowlands.

This is Dobson’s first year as a team driver. In the past, he ran his own operation, usually on a shoestring.

“It’s great to be able to come to the track and just concentrate on driving. With my own team I was always looking for sponsors, trying to get tickets, doing hospitality and trying to keep the team together,” he said. “Last year, I had just one chassis and one engine, so I had to be awful careful every time I went out on the track.”

The situation changed this year when Dobson was signed by Leven to drive on both his IMSA and Indy car teams.

“The opportunity arose when we talked with our sponsors at Texaco and they decided to expand our IMSA operation into Indy cars,” Leven said. “(Team manager) Walter Gerber went to several races to watch Dobson before we decided to go with an up and coming driver.

“I’m not in the least bit sorry. Dominic is a good kid and can drive.”

Said Dobson: “Being involved with Bayside in the IMSA program has helped me get miles behind the wheel and that’s what counts most. I’ve driven more since January with Daytona, Sebring, testing both the IMSA and the Indy car, and then at Phoenix, that I did the last two years put together.”

MIDGETS--Rich Vogler of Indianapolis, seven-time United States Auto Club champion in sprint cars and midgets, finally won his first race at Ascot Park last week after 12 years of trying. This afternoon, in the second event of the ESPN Speedworld Caterpillar series, he will try to repeat against a strong field that will include veteran West Coast campaigners Ron (Sleepy) Tripp and Tommy White. Racing will start at 5:30 p.m. for live TV.

Three-quarter midgets will get two Ascot Park outings this weekend as they share tonight’s billing with the full midgets and come back Saturday night as part of the Winston Racing Series stock car program. Featured will be Kara Hendrick, 19, of Chino, who became the second woman to win a USAC TQ main event last week at Ascot. Denise Bennet, formerly of San Pedro, won three races in 1987. Kara’s twin brother, Kenny, will be driving an Olds Toronado Saturday during the Trans-Am race of the Long Beach Grand Prix weekend.

MOTORCYCLES--Wayne Rainey of Downey is the leading rider in world 500cc road racing standings heading into the season’s third race Sunday at Laguna Seca Raceway. Rainey has two seconds, to Kevin Schwantz of Houston in Japan and to Wayne Gardner of Australia in Australia. Defending champion Eddie Lawson of Upland is third.

Bobby Schwartz will be going for his 100th speedway main event victory this week since returning to the United States from the British Speedway League in 1986. He will be racing tonight at Ascot Park, Friday night at the Orange County Fairgrounds and Sunday at Victorville. Greg Hancock, 18, of Costa Mesa, emerged as a major challenger last week when he barely lost the main event and then came back to win the handicap final at Costa Mesa.

The Continental Motosports Club will open its stadium motocross season Friday night at Ascot Park. . . . The Dirt Diggers will hold their 16th annual Dinosaur Scrambles for four-stroke cycles Sunday at Glen Helen Park in San Bernardino. On the opposite side of the park, the California Racing Club will hold a motocross.

STOCK CARS--Competition in the 22-week NASCAR Winston Racing Series will start Saturday night at local tracks. At Ascot Park, the only area track in the Pacific Region, former track champion Ron Meyer and Marcus Mallett are expected to vie for honors. Both have two races this year, but none count for Pacific Coast Region points until this week.

Other area facilities--Saugus Speedway, Orange Show Speedway in San Bernardino and Cajon Speedway in El Cajon--will race Saturday nights as part of NASCAR’s Sunbelt Region. The champion in both regions will be determined by the driver’s best 20 finishes during the 22 weeks through Sept. 10. . . . Street stocks will race Friday night at Ventura Raceway.

SPORTS CARS--The Groff brothers of Northridge, Michael and Robert, scored a rare double victory last week at Phoenix. Michael won his fourth American Racing Series event and Robbie won his third Super Vee. Both won from the pole. Michael will attempt to repeat his victory Sunday during the Long Beach Grand Prix, but Robbie will be a spectator as there is no Super Vee race on the program.