MOTOR RACING : Southwest Standings in a Jam

If the NASCAR Southwest Tour points standings get any closer, a traffic cop might be needed to sort things out.

And Valley-area drivers are right in the thick of the closest points race in Southwest Tour history heading into tonight’s Coors Light 100 in Roseville, Calif., positioning themselves for the final stretch run.

Consider: 47 points separate the first-place driver, Doug George of Atwater, Calif., from Palmdale’s Ray Hooper Jr., in fifth.

Ahead of Hooper, and eyeing the top spot, are M. K. Kanke of Granada Hills and Ron Hornaday Jr. of Palmdale. Both Kanke and Hornaday own runner-up finishes at All-American Speedway, the site of tonight’s race.

The checkered flag tonight will mark the halfway point of the 1990 Southwest season.

Looking for clues as to the eventual winner? In 1986, 1987 and 1989, the points leader coming out of Roseville has gone on to win the title.

Clean bill of health: Tonight at Saugus Speedway, Sportsman Division racing will resume after a two-week hiatus. In the division’s previous race, a large accident sent Keith Spangler of Northridge to the hospital.

But Spangler, driving his familiar No. 37, will be burning down the straightaway when the green flag is waved.

Spangler’s medical report sounds painful: a strained neck, a cervical strain, a bruised back and bruised ribs.

“Oh, yeah,” he said. “I still am sore today. The doctor said it would be a good month or so before it all goes away.”

Spangler took a week off work to rest and heal before receiving a doctor’s clearance on Wednesday.

Spangler said that his car’s front frame was bent badly and that the vehicle needed major body work. But Spangler and his crew will have the ride ready for tonight.

“It’s just one of those things,” he said of the accident. “It happens to everybody at least once.”

Any apprehension?

“If you want to race, you either fix it or you quit,” he said. “So we fixed it.”

Add Spangler: The driver said that he has viewed the replay of the accident a few times. A videotape shows that Spangler’s car was hit hard at both ends.

“It didn’t look too good,” he admitted. “Every time you see it, it doesn’t make you feel too good.

“I saw it a couple of times, and that’s all I need to look at it.”

For the record: After making quite a splash with his two apparent Hobby Stock main-event wins early this month at Saugus Speedway, Rick Winakur of San Gabriel was disqualified in both events.

Post-race inspections revealed an illegal engine in the car Winakur drove, making him the second Hobby Stock driver in the past three weeks to be disqualified. Jim Gunnarson of Reseda also had a win taken away after post-race inspections.

The official winner of the 25-lap oval main event becomes Oliver Aguilar of Sun Valley. In the 15-lap figure-eight main event, Jim Kusch of Sepulveda was awarded the victory.

This and that: Bill Sedgwick of Van Nuys continues his impressive driving on the Winston West tour, winning the Motorcraft 500 at Evergreen Speedway in Monroe, Wash., last week. Sedgwick is the series points leader with 871. Bill Schmitt of Redding is in second place with 795. . . . Will Harper of Tarzana, the Sportsman points leader at Saugus, is 13th in the Sunbelt Region standings. . . . Neal Conrad of Arcadia and Jim Kusch of Sepulveda have changed places atop the Hobby Stock Division at Saugus, with Conrad now holding a slim lead, 161-158.