MOTOR RACING : Blind Navigators Will Show Drivers the Way in Braille Rallye

A special rally that pairs a navigator who can’t see the road with a driver who can’t read the instructions will be held Saturday.

The event is the 1990 Braille Rallye in which blind and partially sighted youngsters take charge of the navigation for a four-hour, 80- to 100-mile sports car road rally.

Working as a team with a sighted driver, each navigator must read the complicated driving instructions written entirely in Braille.

The navigators range in age from 10 to 30 and will come to Los Angeles to compete from Braille Institute of America centers from Santa Barbara to Rancho Mirage.

All Braille Rallye speed requirement instructions are specifically kept at or just slightly below posted speed limits, and all rules, laws and regulations must be adhered to.

Acting as the directors of the 1990 event are Terri Holloway and Don Hume, veterans of many rallies and other automotive events. Long Beach MG Car Club members will work the start/finish area and the check points along the route.

The Braille Institute of America is a nonprofit organization that has served the Southern California blind community since 1919.

The event will start at the Braille Institute Youth Center, 3450 Cahuenga Blvd., Los Angeles. The official starting line festivities and introductions of the Rallye teams are scheduled from 8:30 to 10 a.m., with the first car taking the green flag at 10:01.

Among the celebrity drivers are Hal Needham, film director and stunt coordinator and former NASCAR racing team owner; Michael Champion, actor; Victor Ivanov, the leading stuntman in the Soviet Union; Danny Thompson, stadium off-road racer; and Graham Wilkie, British downhill speed skier.

Leamon Stansell, 26, is the only person ever to participate in the Braille Rallye as both navigator and driver.

Stansell, who owns a home-remodeling business, has been legally blind--partially sighted--since birth. He says he has been a “car nut” all his life, adding: “That’s why I started navigating in the Braille Rallye seven years ago. I just love cars.”

Special glasses allow Stansell a chance to drive. He’ll be driving a Porsche 914 that he restored.

“We feel this event is very worthwhile,” said Ron Daniels of Chevrolet, the sponsor of this year’s rally. “These kids who navigate in the special event can tell a Camaro from a Corvette just by touch. They are as intense and interested in cars as any young people are.”

The United States Auto Club Western States midget series will make its third consecutive start on a paved track Saturday night when the group competes at Saugus Speedway’s one-third-mile flat oval.

Joining the full midgets will be the USAC three-quarter midgets for a doubleheader program. Veterans Ken Nichols and Sleepy Tripp, winners at El Cajon and Carson City, Nev., respectively, head the field.

They’ll be challenged by Page Jones, 17, the youngest of Parnelli Jones’ two racing sons. Page Jones, who recently scored his first victory in a full midget at Las Vegas, finished second to Tripp at Carson City. His older brother, P.J. Jones, finished third behind Nichols and Tripp at El Cajon after setting the fast time.

P.J. Jones will be missing from Saugus, racing instead in the American Racing Series at the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, N.J., as part of the CART Indy car series. Page Jones will also compete in the three-quarter midget portion of the program. He is in fourth place in the TQ standings. The midgets will go 30 laps in their main event; the TQ cars will go 20.

SPRINT CARS--A new points leader and a new winner will be on hand when the California Racing Assn. sprinters return to Ascot Park Saturday night. Brad Noffsinger is the new leader, having finished fourth Saturday night at Santa Maria when old leader John Redican settled for 12th. Noffsinger, the 1986-87 CRA champion, leads the standings by 2,391-2,387. Also in the title chase are Rip Williams, with 2,315 points, and defending champion Ron Shuman with 2,287. Bill Von Helmolt won at Santa Maria, his first victory in CRA competition after nine years of trying. Von Helmolt held on narrowly after early leader Lealand McSpadden had trouble.

SPORTS CARS--Nissan teammates Geoff Brabham and Chip Robinson will continue their battle for the points lead in the International Motor Sports Assn. GTP standings Sunday in the 300-kilometer California Camel Grand Prix at Sears Point Raceway, near Sonoma. Robinson closed in on leader Brabham by winning the Camel Continental VII race at Watkins Glen, N.Y., earlier this month and could take the lead with a victory. Don Devendorf’s Nissan Performance Technology team has 48 IMSA wins, only two short of the record held by the late Al Holbert, whose cars won 50 times in 1974-78. . . . IMSA announced that its GT Champions banquet will be held at the La Jolla Marriott Hotel on Nov. 12, the night after the season-ending Grand Prix of Greater San Diego at the Del Mar Fairgrounds.

STOCK CARS--Marcus Mallett, who had car problems for the second consecutive program, will try to get back on the winning track in Sunday’s Winston Pro Stock races at Ascot Park. Bill Meyer took advantage of Mallett’s misfortune and scored his second main-event victory in a row--even though he finished second. Original winner Jimmy Powell was disqualified when he refused to allow his car to be inspected afterward. Bomber oval, Figure 8 and mini hobby cars also will be on the program. . . . Ed Hale, who scored one of the narrowest victories of the season last Saturday night, will try to continue his battle to wrest the points lead away from Dennis Woolridge in Saturday night’s Winston Racing Series sportsman program at Cajon Speedway in El Cajon. Hale’s victory was his fourth of the year, tying him with John Borneman for the lead in that category. Woolridge has only two victories, but a series of top-five finishes has given him a 20-point lead over Hale. Woolridge finished fifth last Saturday night. Street stocks, modifieds and bomber stocks will also be on the El Cajon program. . . . NASCAR hobby stocks, Figure 8s and jalopys will share Saturday night’s Saugus program with the USAC midgets. . . . Dirt cars, late models and hobby cars will compete Saturday night at Santa Maria Speedway. . . . Street stocks will race Friday night at Ventura Raceway.

MOTORCYCLES--England’s Phil Collins, the “wrong way” lend-lease speedway rider, will try for his second consecutive scratch victory tonight at Ascot Park’s South Bay Speedway when he faces track points leader Mike Faria and runner-up Bobby Schwartz. . . . Most of the same cast will compete Friday night at the Orange County Fairgrounds. . . . Round 7 of the Miller High Life F/1 Grand Prix will be held Saturday and Sunday at Willow Springs Raceway in Rosamond. . . . The Continental Motorsport Club will hold its regular Friday night racing program at Ascot Park. Sunday, the action will move to Barona Oaks for Round 9 of the 1990 Summer Series. . . . Motocross racing also is scheduled Sunday at Glen Helen OHV Park in San Bernardino. . . . Ventura Raceway will feature Coors/Kawasaki motocross racing Saturday night. ATV quads and off-road buggies will share the program.