Young Turks of the Track : Tired Old Dirt Raceway Enjoys a Resurgence as It Faces Its Demise

The roar from stock cars careening around the quarter mile at Ascot Raceway did little for Mike Kirby’s headache.

Kirby, a Long Beach resident, has been one of the hottest newcomers on the California Racing Assn. sprint-car circuit the past year and a half. He has also shown a propensity for racing pro stocks, bomber ovals and figure-8s in a career that is nearly a decade old. But on a recent Sunday evening, as he sat on a bale of straw in the windy infield at the Gardena track, he was not sure he wanted to race anything again except figure-8s.

“I’m not going to race today. No way,” he said about that night’s stock car card. He was still reeling from the previous night, when problems with his sprint car forced him out of the main event.

Still, Kirby, who grew up in nearby Carson, wanted it known that he is capable of driving just about anything, and he changed his tune about driving that night several times.

“If I want to drive (stocks) I will,” he asserted. “I can race those things if I have to.”

Young Home Boys

Kirby, 26, is a versatile driver, but he is just one of Ascot’s promising young home boys. The group, which includes P. J. Jones of Rolling Hills Estates (full midgets), Frank Pedregon of Gardena and Sean Birmingham of Torrance (three-quarter midgets), and Chris Laney of Gardena (stocks, bomber ovals and figure-8s), is part of the reason the tired, old Gardena track is experiencing a revitalization less than 18 months from its final event. The land it sits on, roughly a triangular lot where the Harbor, San Diego and Artesia freeways meet, is slated for development once the lease with the raceway’s owner, Agajanian Enterprises, expires in 1990.

Ironically, the number of competitors at the track has increased over the past two years after about a decade of decline, according to Executive Vice President Ben Foote. About 117 cars of various types run there on any given Sunday.

“In the sprints alone, it was not uncommon 10 years ago to have at least 50 cars running,” Foote said. “In the mid-’80s we had 30 to 32 cars. Now on most nights we have 40 to 45, about the most of any association in the country.”

Foote attributes the rise in new, young drivers to a variety of factors. In the midget class, he said, the allure of racing under the national banner of the United States Auto Club is important to younger drivers. USAC became involved with Ascot a few years ago.

“For the young guys, I think there is enthusiasm for running with a national organization,” he said.

Racing for Fun of It

Foote also said that the type of events offered at Ascot, like Enduro racing, attract a lot of drivers who just want to race for fun and then later take up the sport seriously. Laney began his career in Enduro, which features street cars modified only with a roll bar for the driver’s protection.

“I think racing for fun appeals to the younger guys,” Foote said.

Ascot’s demise is not news around the track, but it certainly does not set well with the youth invasion. “We just want to race,” Pedregon said.

As for Kirby, he has had good reason not to run pro stocks recently. A fiery crash May 20 took the life of fellow sprint-car racer Jeff Bagley, the 1988 Rookie of the Year. In addition, Kirby’s misfortune in the main event later that same night caused speculation that his sprint sponsor was considering canceling the remainder of the season if problems with the car were not corrected quickly.

Kirby has had his best days at sprint tracks other than Ascot and track officials say he would have little trouble hooking up with another racing team. Kirby ran second at Hanford, in the San Joaquin Valley, and set a track speed record in Tucson over the Memorial Day weekend.

A slow starter, Kirby is the oldest of the younger drivers. He did not qualify for a sprint main until his ninth time out last season. But since then he has recorded some impressive finishes, including third in a major national event two weeks ago in Knoxville, Tenn. He won Ascot’s novice figure-8 title in 1981 and the overall figure-8 crown in 1987. He was Most Improved Driver last year in quarter-mile sprint-car racing.

Jones, 20, is among the youngest successful drivers at the track. He began his career in go-carts and won more than a third of all his races. He began racing midget cars late in 1986 but was still voted USAC Rookie of the Year. In 1987 he finished fifth in overall points in USAC midgets. He is the eldest son of 1963 Indy 500 winner Parnelli Jones.

Pedregon, 25, spent most of his youth in the pits for his father, Frank, a top-fuel drag racer at famed Lions Drag Strip in Wilmington. In 1980 he raced diesel trucks, then switched to dirt carts in 1983. A year later he won the Grand National title on pavement. He set a record of eight consecutive main event victories in 1986, then moved up to three-quarter midgets. He has been seen on ESPN TV’s recently concluded Thunder Series from Ascot, and on May 4 finished third in the full midget main.

Trained as a Mechanic

Birmingham, 21, was the USAC three-quarter Rookie of the Year in 1988 after five top-10 finishes. An auto mechanic by trade, he began racing motocross when he was 6. In his late teens he was on the pit crew for the late driver Roger Newell. Newell was involved in a fatal accident at Ascot and that convinced Birmingham to start out in the three-quarters. He says he plans to return to sprint cars in a couple of years.

Laney, 20, is perhaps the hottest driver of the youth movement right now, despite opening the year with three blown engines in his first three events. A first-place finish April 30 in the pro stocks “hiked his chances for Rookie of the Year honors,” according to the Winston Racing Series News.

Laney is running about even in points with another talented racer, Tony Zaffino of Carson. Zaffino was last year’s Rookie of the Year. Laney’s efforts are a family affair. Brother Paul owns the race car, his fiancee, Karla Kirby (Mike Kirby’s sister), helped pay for the motor and brothers Mark and Brett serve as his pit crew. “All the money I’ve got is in this car,” Laney said. On the night Kirby chose not to race, Laney finished fourth in the pro stocks, fifth in the bomber oval and first in the figure-8.

Good Future Prospects

All of the young Turks of the track appear to have futures, no matter where they race when Ascot is closed.

“Almost all drivers would race anything just to get a ride,” Birmingham said.

They won’t have to beg, it appears. Ascot’s reputation, coupled with their success here, is expected to get them rides elsewhere when the track closes.

“We think Ascot is one of the premier leaders in racing, particularly in the area of promotion,” said Chris Boals, national field representative for the National Assn. of Stock Car Racing, during a recent visit to the track.

Ascot has been a proving ground for many top auto racers. Ten of the 33 racers in last month’s Indianapolis 500 have raced at Ascot. In 1988, 14 of the drivers at Indy had performed at Ascot in their careers.

Of the home boys, Jones probably has the greatest chance at moving on to Indy cars. In fact, he says that following in his father’s footsteps is a goal. “This is a steppingstone where you learn the basics,” he said of the dirt track at Ascot. “You make a mistake here, it’s not going to hurt you.”

Damp Odor of Dirt

Pedregon likens Ascot to his home. It is a unique place, he said, right down to the damp odor of the slick track and the brown adobe mud that clings to shoes.

“When you are at Ascot, you know it,” he said.

Jones agrees.

“Ask anyone in the United States (who knows racing) about Ascot and they will tell you that this is one of the premier dirt tracks in the nation.”

Laney calls the Ascot oval “a driver’s track,” and says racers who compete here often fare better in out-of-town races. Kirby’s road record seems to verify that.

But even with this year’s live Thursday night ESPN coverage, which concluded June 1, Ascot has suffered from a lack of exposure, and the youthful drivers say that has hurt their image.

Said Jones: “The crowd factor has hurt. We just can’t get L.A. people to go to the races. There are so many other things to do here.”

Boals says there is no doubt each of the young drivers would receive more attention in areas like the Midwest and South, where all forms of racing are highly popular.

“These guys would be heroes in small towns,” he said.

Late afternoon rays from an orange sun cast shadows onto the mud-stained billboards around the track as Kirby remained in the infield. No, he would not race today, he said once again. Maybe he would work in the pits. He could race. He just did not want to.

When all the cars were off the track, he negotiated the muddy surface and jumped over the retaining wall, disappearing into the pits. He would not race, but there would be other times, just as there had been before.