Gentlemen, Start Your Griping : Auto Racing: The Grand Prix is back for its third year in Del Mar, but not by unanimous popular demand.

Chris Pook understands that never will he be able to run for mayor in this seaside community, but at least now he can stroll through town without feeling like Frank Lorenzo at an Eastern Airline union meeting.

“Everybody thought the worst, the absolute worst about me and what I was doing,” Pook said. “They thought there would be terrible trouble.

“They thought that we’d be raping their people.

“They thought that we’d be pillaging their homes.

“They thought the noise we’d be making would break all of their windows.

“They thought our cars would be grease-laiden and emit foulness in the air that would never go away.

“They thought we’d scare away their cats and dogs, and they’d never come back.

“I know it sounds crazy, but that’s the furor it caused.”

So just what triggered these fears that had residents bolting their doors at night and protecting their wives and children from this gruesome intrusion?

Chris Pook just happens to be the man who was bringing a Grand Prix race to the Del Mar Fairgrounds.

Pretty disgusting, huh?

“Well, after we had that first race (in 1987) and no one was raped, no homes were pillaged, no windows were broken, we did not have greasy junkers and none of the cats and dogs ran away,” Pook said, “we finally were recognized for presenting a highly professional event while recognizing the need for quality of life.”

The Camel Grand Prix of Southern California, back for its third year beginning today at the Del Mar fairgrounds, indeed is starting to be accepted . . . well, at least tolerated, by this community.

There are no billboards in the city denouncing the event. There were no protests by citizens at the Coastal Commission hearing approving the race for 1989. Even the mayor herself, Brooke Eisenberg, one of the race’s harshest critics, is beginning to warm up to the event.

“I wouldn’t exactly say the community has adopted it as an event they look forward to,” she said, “but I think we’re accepting it because it has no other option.”

Jim Ferguson, president of the Greater Del Mar Chamber of Commerce, said: “I just think the people of the community have come to realize it’s not the evil entity they thought it could be. I think the perception was that this was going to be a noisy, dirty event that is attended by drunken motorcycle gangs.

“The truth has come out that it is a very wonderful event that is attended by racing enthusiasts from all walks of life. I think it’s widely accepted now.”

Well, let’s not get carried away here. As much as the folks at the Grand Prix, local hotels and businesses would like everyone to believe that the Grand Prix is deeply entrenched in the community, there still remains plenty of others who would just as soon turn this event into a nice, quiet go-cart race.

Yeah, they know that the Grand Prix claims to bring an estimated $16.1 million to the local economy. They quietly admit that perhaps they did allow their imaginations to run wild. But accept this event with open arms? You’d have a better chance of receiving approval to build an adult bookstore.

“I know I’m not staying around town to see the damn thing,” said Harvey Furgatch, a millionaire developer who lives about 1,000 feet from the track. “I’ve got to get away from that noise. If the noise lasted only 10 seconds or something, it might be tolerable. But not when it’s that loud, constant, humming sound all day. It’s pretty ridiculous when you have to leave your own home because of the noise.

“We had a good fight going at one time, but no one seems to care anymore. When it comes to a choice between money and the neighborhood, they chose money. It’s not the first time the government has intruded.

“I’ve already sent suggestions to the government and fair board. I said if you think this race is so good, then why don’t you move the Grand Prix next to the governor’s mansion.”

Furgatch still is waiting for his response.

The noise, resident Hal Friedland says, actually doesn’t bother him nearly as much as the principal of the matter. After all, he’s 75 years old and has worked at airports for 52 years, including seven years of working with jets.

“So my hearing’s a little impaired,” he said.

But there’s nothing wrong with his vision, and Friedland hates what he’s seeing.

“The general option is that it’s not as bad as we envisioned,” Friedland said, “but still it’s a terrible thing. What’s worse is that we’ve given up the fight.”

It was in 1986 that the Grand Prix first decided to invade Del Mar, but the city filed a lawsuit against the fair board, and the delay resulted in a cancellation. But when the fair board threatened to secede from the city and keep the $800,000 it pays it annually as host of the fairgrounds, Del Mar suspended its lawsuit, and the race was given the green flag beginning in 1987.

“That’s when I think people gave up the fight,” Eisenberg said. “They saw no benefit in the opposition.”

Said Friedland: “What good was it to fight anymore? We found out later that the governor has stock in the Grand Prix race company. The Governor appoints officials of the Coastal Commission. And his law firm represents the Grand Prix.

“Come on, what chance do we have? If I had known that, I never would have helped put up a fight to begin with. It was a lost cause. What good is a fight when the governor is behind all this?”

Well, actually, according to Pat Formby, the campaign treasurer and accountant for the governor’s office, George Deukmejian owns only stock in the Long Beach Grand Prix. The only connection, according to Raymond Saatjian of the fairground board of directors, is Pook’s involvement with both races.

“It’s a pity and a shame to have the governor’s name dragged through this,” Saatjian said. “To say the governor is involved, or has intervened, is a big shame and a lie. He could care less. The governor has a small interest in limited partnership in the Long Beach Grand Prix, and that has nothing to do with the Del Mar Grand Prix.”

It’s unfathomable to outsiders how one little race can create such a furor and divide a city, but as Pook is beginning to understand, you have to know Del Mar.

This is a community, as councilman John Gillies is fond of saying, “where there is not a lot to do, and we would like to keep it that way.”

This is where townfolks speak of La Jolla, their neighboring city to the south, as if it were the Bronx, belittling their very existence.

Of course, remember, this too is the city where they once had an anti-smoking proposal on the ballot. No, not a smoking ban in restaurants or public places, but in the entire city.

It’s a city that watches development proposals closer than women watch two-week-old babies, and once even tried to implement a plan that would reduce Camino del Mar, their main business street to a single lane in each direction.

There are more citizen groups with unpronounceable acronyms than gas stations, and if your view of the ocean ever is impeded, just pick up the phone and dial the Vegetation View Blockage Committee.

Folks here still like to talk about the time a few years back when a Hollywood studio wanted to film part of its movie in Del Mar. The townspeople were excited and anticipating the event until they found out that the studio wanted to film a car crashing off a bridge into the pristine San Dieguito Lagoon.

The city council balked. The producer promised to pay the city $20,000 for the possible damage to the lagoon.

Eisenberg’s reaction: “It’s like raping a woman and then paying to have her hair done.”

Hollywood took a hike.

As Lew Hopkins, who was mayor of Del Mar at the time, said: “Del Mar doesn’t need the prestige of the movies. We’ve already got plenty of prestige.”

So now you get the picture of what Pook and the Grand Prix has endured since coming into town?

“But it’s getting better, I know it’s getting better,” Pook said. “We keep making more friends, and we’re trying not to make this just a race, but a happening.

“I know we feel considerably more comfortable, and I think our opponents feel considerably more comfortable. They can sit and discuss things with us, rather than fire cannon shots from afar.”

And just to show there are no hard feelings, the Grand Prix has offered everyone within a 3,000-foot radius of the track free alternative entertainment for the three-day event.

Let’s see, now, today, residents can hop on a bus and go to Julian for the apple festival where they’ll also receive $5 for lunch. On Saturday, there’s an outing planned at Seaport Village. And Sunday, they can go to the Wild Animal Park.

“Of course, we also offer two free tickets for each household, too,” Pook said. “And we’re finding out that more and more of those people are choosing to use those tickets.

“You know, once they give us a chance, they’ll like us. We’ve got more in common with them than they think.

“We drive expensive cars, wear designer jeans and have Gucci shoes, too.”

GRAND PRIX FACTS WHERE: Del Mar Fairgrounds, 20 miles north of San Diego at the Via de la Valle exit off Interstate 5.

WHEN: Today, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m. to 3:45; Sunday, 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

ADMISSION: Three-day reserved tickets available from $44-$60. Sunday reserved from $28-$39. Three-day general admission tickets for $20. Friday general admission $5, Saturday $10, Sunday $15.

OUTLOOK: Four of the five driving championships in the International Motor Sports Assn. (IMSA) will be decided on the final event of the Camel GT series. There is a possible record purse of $360,000--maybe more, depending on the results of Camel’s point fund payoffs.

In the grand touring prototype (GTP) cars, Chip Robinson has a four-point lead over Geoff Brabham. In the grand touring engines under three liters in displacement (GTU), Bob Leitzinger holds a 19-point lead over Amos Johnson. Wally Dallenbach trails Pete Halsmer by just three points in grand touring engines over three liters in displacement (GTO).

And in Camel Lights, Scott Schubot has a 14-point lead over Charles Morgan and 20 over Jim Downing. Schubot has won seven of 12 races this year and has finished in the top five 10 times.

The 1.62-mile course, which has 10 turns, is located entirely within the Del Mar County Fairgrounds and adjacent to the thoroughbred horse racing facility.

HISTORY: Last year’s Grand Prix was won by Jaguar teammates Jan Lammers of the Netherlands and Martin Brundle of England. They walked away with $145,000--the biggest single payday in sports car racing history.

Dan Marvin won the Camel Lights race, Willy T. Ribbs the GTO, Tom Kendall the GTU and Jeremy Dale won the Barber-Saab race.

In 1987, Monte Carlo’s Jochen Mass edged Oscar Larrauri to win the first Del Mar Grand Prix in his Porsche 962.