MOTOR RACING / BRIAN MURPHY : Operating Expenses Figure to Climb for Van Blargan Following Crash

Talk about psych jobs.

Tracy Van Blargan, a Camarillo dentist who doubles as a driver in three-quarter Midget race cars in his spare time, offered a rather interesting proposition to his fellow drivers before racing got under way last Saturday at Ventura Raceway.

Van Blargan, 32, known for his sense of humor, sent a pre-race message to promoter Jim Naylor to read over the public-address system to a near-capacity crowd of 2,300.

To the winner of the three-quarter Midget main event, said Van Blargan’s message, goes a free root-canal job.

A free root-canal job? Gee, thanks, Tracy, his fellow drivers must have thought. We’d rather have our bodies tied to the back bumper of a demolition-derby Chevy.

Van Blargan smiled in the pits.

“With my luck,” he told his crew, “I’ll probably win.”

Wishful thinking.

In attempting to qualify for the main event, Van Blargan suffered a tooth-rattling spill as his car flipped several times during a crash in a semi-main event race. An ambulance took Van Blargan away, but he insisted that he was OK. Dentists, after all, know all about pain.

“It knocked the wind out of me,” Van Blargan said. “I was dazed but conscious. They kept asking me who the heck I was.”

After a fall like that, could Van Blargan answer?

“Heck, yeah,” he said. “I was passing out my business card.”

Add root canal: As for the root canal, Van Blargan’s offer still stands.

Catch was, the winner of the main event was 19-year-old Cory Kruseman of Ventura, the points standings leader.

Take one guess who Kruseman’s regular dentist is.

Water hazard: Will Harper of Tarzana has been driving so consistently in Saugus Speedway’s Sportsman division this year that it was strange to see him receive a black flag--an order to pull into the pit--in last Saturday’s 40-lap main event.

But it was one of those nights for the defending Sportsman champion and current points leader. With Harper firmly in control of fifth place, a “racing incident”--as Harper diplomatically termed it--led to a strange turn of events.

On Turn 3 of Lap 29, Harper put his foot to the brake and found, much to his consternation, that there were no brakes. His foot went straight to the floor.

His car tangled with one driven by Dave Phipps of Simi Valley and the bang-up eventually involved Keith Spangler of Northridge and Larry Woodside of Saugus.

After the tie-up, Harper radioed his crew that he had a broken brake line. So when Harper reached his pit, the crew was ready. Basically, says Harper, they eliminated one of the rear brakes to get him back on the track.

However, his troubles weren’t finished. It turns out that a fan belt had broken on Lap 29, but neither Harper nor his crew was aware of it.

The engine overheated, blowing water all over the track when Harper resumed racing. As a result, Harper was black-flagged by the officials since his car was now a hazard.

Tough night.

Add Harper: Although Harper finished 14th to pick up two points, his points lead was shaved to 41 when John Cran of Reseda won the main event to move into second place.

“I’ve always said that the only comfortable lead is a 52-point lead,” Harper said. “Because then you could have two no-shows, and somebody would have to win two main events just to tie you. And that’s unlikely.

“Definitely, a lead is better than no lead. I didn’t have the lead last year until the final night.”

As for his car, which had a rough induction into summer, Harper remains confident.

“We did a few things to get back the edge,” Harper said.

Motocross wrap: Mike Kiedrowski of Canyon Country finished the 1990 American Motorcyclist Assn. Supercross Series in fourth place in the standings with 285 points. Kiedrowski’s homecoming last Saturday at the Los Angeles Coliseum in the 250cc super challenge was a successful one as he placed third, ahead of another local favorite, Johnny O’Mara of Simi Valley.

O’Mara finished fourth.

For his efforts, Kiedrowski, the 1989 125cc champion, earned a $10,000 bonus.

The race at the Coliseum was the finale in the 18-race circuit. The final points standings saw O’Mara finish 11th (195 points) and Erik Kahoe of finish Saugus 18th (57 points).