MOTOR RACING ROUNDUP : Unser Splashes to Rain-Shortened Victory

Al Unser Jr., who earlier in the day signed a three-year contract extension with the Galles-Kraco team, overcame terrible track conditions to win Sunday’s rain-shortened Molson-Indy at Toronto.

“I’m relieved to win and relieved it’s over,” Unser said after taking the lead for the final time on the 54th lap and running away from the rest of the 27-car field. “We didn’t have enough cars out there at the end to keep a groove going.

“I couldn’t hear the pits on my radio, but I was talking to them and I told them about three laps from when they called it, ‘The race is over. They need to shut this thing down before I put the car into the fence.’ ”

Unser led the final 40 laps on the 1.78-mile, 11-turn temporary circuit winding through Exhibition Place and onto Lakeshore Boulevard.

Rain began two hours before the race, which started under a caution flag. Conditions became progressively worse and officials of CART, the Indy-car sanctioning body, finally decided to stop the race after 94 laps, nine short of the scheduled distance.

It was the third victory of the season and the 12th career triumph for Unser, 28. He averaged only 75.997 m.p.h. and won $138,908.

Michael Andretti, who had won three of the last four races, led early in the 167.32-mile event but lost time during an early pit stop and ran second in the battle of Chevrolet-powered Lolas, crossing the finish line 37.8 seconds behind.

A burp from his car tested Geoff Bodine’s nerves a lap from the finish, but his gamble on fuel paid off at Long Pond, Pa., with his second NASCAR victory of the year.

“My heart stopped,” Bodine said after winning the AC Spark Plug 500, after a caution flag prompted a 2 1/2-mile sprint to the finish. “But then it took off. I looked at the fuel pressure--that’s the only indicator we have--and it bounced up. It never gurgled again, so I just held my breath.”

Ken Ragen’s spin with four laps left let Bodine conserve fuel during the caution period. After a cool-down lap following his victory, Bodine’s 22-gallon tank held only six-tenths of a gallon of gas.

All but Harry Gant among Bodine’s nearest challengers had made late pit stops.

The race got back to green for the final lap, and Bodine easily held on when Gant ran out of gas behind a lapped car and Bill Elliott could get only within 1.29 seconds.

Bodine, who won April 29 at Martinsville, Va., recorded an average speed of 124.103 m.p.h. and won $58,500 on the tri-oval at Pocono International Raceway, where he also won in June of 1988 as his fuel was running out.

Rusty Wallace finished third, followed by Dale Earnhardt and Davey Allison.

Darrell Waltrip, nursing a broken left leg from a crash July 6, started his 500th career NASCAR race. As planned, he left the car on the second lap for relief driver Jimmy Horton, who finished 20th.

Belgian Guy Renard was killed in a 24-hour endurance race at Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium, when his Toyota Corolla crashed into the railings, collided with two other cars and exploded in a ball of fire.

Organizers said Renard, 27, lost control of his car shortly after midnight and spun into the railings before turning back onto the track. There, the car was hit by two other competitors before exploding.

Canadian Paul Tracy won the Toronto leg of the 1990 American Racing Series, his seventh victory in eight starts.

The Scarborough, Canada, native started next to pole-winner Ted Prappas on the front row, but took the lead on the second lap of the 42-lap event and held the lead for the rest of the way.

Tracy, who earned $17,000, averaged 86.538 m.p.h. on the 1.78-mile, 11-turn road circuit.

Tommy Houston overcame a poor qualifying effort by charging through the field and banging past Chuck Bown with 26 laps left to win the Coors 200 Busch Grand National race Saturday night at South Boston, Va.

The victory, worth $9,609, was the fourth of the season for Houston and No. 23 of his career.

He averaged 80 m.p.h., a record on South Boston Speedway’s .357-mile oval.