Saugus Crowd of 6,134 Watches Winakur Score a Surprising Victory

Saugus Speedway staged a Fourth of July racing program Wednesday night, a special midweek departure from the normal Saturday night routine. And Rick Winakur of San Gabriel was in a holiday mood before an overflow crowd of 6,134.

A regular in the Street Stock division at Saugus, Winakur decided on Sunday that he would dust off his 1969 Chevelle, a car that had gone unused for more than a year, and give the Hobby Stocks a try .

“I just brought it out to play with it,” Winakur said.

He plays to win. Starting in the second position, Winakur took the lead from Oliver Aguilar of Sun Valley on Lap 3 and cruised unchallenged to victory in the 25-lap oval main event.

“It’s just fun, that’s all it is,” Winakur, 35, said. “If you’d have seen (the car) on Sunday . . . . I had to put it all back together.”

Winakur said that the car was last raced in June of 1989, providing quite a challenge in rebuilding. But rebuild Winakur did, begging a question: Will he race Hobby Stocks in the future?

“No,” Winakur said with a smile. “I’ll still run Street Stock.”

Aguilar executed a strong pass of Bob Vigil of Lancaster on Turn 4 of the final lap to finish second.

But Winakur wasn’t through after that race. He doubled his fun by winning the 15-lap Hobby Stock Figure-Eight main event, a race he won by attrition more than anything else.

Kerry Mulligan of Granada Hills led early but pulled into the pits on Lap 3, giving up the lead to Richard Smith of Reseda. But after one lap Smith was forced to the back of the pack for failing to recognize a red flag.

From there, Auggie Iannolo of Canoga Park took the lead and appeared to be headed for victory until Lap 15, when he slammed into Gerald Gledhill of Reseda, who had stalled.

Winakur, who was racing in second, moved by for the win. James Kusch of Sepulveda took second, and Neil Conrad of Arcadia took third.

“They gave it to me,” Winakur said. “That was fun. That was a kick.”

In the most crowded Jalopy race of the year at Saugus--20 cars-- Smith blazed past Mulligan on the back straightaway of Lap 14 and ran away from the field to win the 15-lap oval main event.

Mulligan had taken the lead with an aggressive pass of Jim Leighton of Woodland Hills on Lap 11, forcing Leighton off the track. But Mulligan’s lead would last only three laps. Mulligan finished second while Jerry Carfley of Mission Hills took third.

In the eight-lap Mini Stock main event, points standings leader Garrett Yamada of North Hollywood took advantage of a spin-out by leader Rock Ake Jr. of Moorpark on Lap 2 to take a lead he would never surrender.

Rudy Sandoval of Van Nuys finished second and Jeff Walker of Newbury Park was third.

The Hobby Stock oval fast-heat race was won by Ed Whitton of Lancaster, who started on the pole and led all the way. Conrad finished second.

Likewise, Mike McAtee of North Hollywood started on the pole and was never passed to win the Hobby Stock Figure-Eight trophy dash.

In the trophy dashes, Conrad won the Hobby Stock Figure Eight while Smith won the Jalopy dash.

Shannon Flavin of West Hills won the Hobby Stock oval trophy dash and Ed Fuller of Carson won the Jalopy trophy dash.