Del Mar, Saratoga Race to Neck-to-Neck Finish

As a sporting controversy, it may not reach the volume of debate engendered by comparisons of Mantle and Mays, or Payton and Brown, or Magic and Larry Bird.

But the question of which track offers the better brand of summer racing--Del Mar or Saratoga--has been known to occupy many a liquid hour among the horse-race set.

Now Andrew Beyer, track writer for the Washington Post, has ventured a point-by-point comparison. His verdict: Saratoga, if your only concern is animals running counterclockwise around an oval; Del Mar, if your desires are somewhat broader.

The track at Saratoga Springs in Upstate New York gets the nod for quality of competition and race-track facilities, but Del Mar wins for climate and off-track entertainment. Overall ambiance is a photo finish.

Beyer says he enjoys Del Mar’s “relaxed, unfrantic atmosphere that contrasts with Saratoga’s intensity.” But he has two gripes with the turf near the surf.

One is the paucity of nearby drinking establishments. He finds Bully’s in Del Mar “a dark and dreary place.” Beyer’s second beef is the condition of the Del Mar facility, which he rates as “inexcusable.”

“A track that handles $7 million a day in betting should be able to afford a cosmetic coat of paint,” he wrote, “an adequate number of television monitors in the grandstand and a few other amenities.”

Spring Valley Dream

Political notes:

- A group in Spring Valley is planning an incorporation drive. Its cry: Better recreation programs and tighter zoning than under county government rule.

- The Rev. Billy Falling, the fundamentalist minister who tried to block “Death of a Salesman” from being read aloud in classrooms, may run for the high school board of education in Escondido.

- The local chapter of the National Women’s Political Caucus has backed Bob Trettin against Councilwoman Abbe Wolfsheimer.

The caucus, which rarely backs a man against a woman candidate, endorsed Wolfsheimer four years ago but this year preferred Trettin’s ideas on child care and the homeless.

Handoffs to Handouts

When he went to court in San Diego, Marlin Oliver Briscoe was a common defendant with an uncommon history.

He pleaded guilty last month to possession of crack cocaine and was sentenced to 120 days in Camp West Fork, the county’s honor farm outside Ramona, where he will undergo drug rehabilitation. It’s standard treatment for first offenders who admit guilt.

Briscoe, 43, was disoriented and slurred in speech when arrested near midnight in a seedy part of downtown last May. He was unemployed and living in a cheap hotel.

It’s been a long time since his glory days as a star quarterback for Omaha University and then nine seasons with five teams in the National Football League.

When he was drafted by the Denver Broncos, he received considerable media coverage as the only black quarterback in the NFL. Later he shifted to wide receiver, including part of a season with the Chargers.

After leaving the NFL in 1977, he was an assistant football coach at the University of Colorado, a car salesman, a math teacher and construction worker. He told a probation officer that he began using crack after his divorce in 1982.

Just how far Briscoe had tumbled became apparent when Times staff members began comparing notes in the wake of Briscoe’s sentencing: No less than nine had been hit up for money by Briscoe in the last year.

The pitch, delivered in or around the downtown Imperial Bank Building where The Times has its office, was often the same: I’m Marlin Briscoe, down on my luck, I need money for gas or a car part, I’ve got to get my daughter back to my ex-wife in L.A.

All but one of the nine came across with money. The highest offering was $20.

Briscoe also asked reporters from other newspapers for money, including one for a San Diego paper who was assigned to cover Briscoe the day he appeared in court.