MOTOR RACING : Phipps Pools His Cars Along Road to Points Title

Call it A Tale of Two Cars, both of which give Dave Phipps of Simi Valley the best of times.

When Phipps shot out of the pits last Saturday night and onto the track at Saugus Speedway to warm up for the Winston 100, he did so in a car that looked decidedly different from the sportier bodies of competitors’ autos.

True, Phipps, at 42, is one of the elder statesmen of the Sportsman division. But does that mean he has to drive an old man’s car?

No. The catch was that Phipps’ familiar No. 08 was painted onto the body of a 1986 Buick Regal--the same car Phipps had raced to Sportsman championships in 1987 and 1988. But not the same car that Phipps has been racing this season.

So what happened to Phipps’ 1989 Camaro? Had he sold it and gone back to the Buick for sentimental reasons? Had he totaled it while drag racing on Winnetka Avenue?

Or was Phipps demonstrating the impressive versatility of owning and racing two Sportsman cars? Certainly, the last option is the most likely. And it is versatility that has brought Phipps to the brink of challenging for another Sportsman division points title. Besides, drag racing down Winnetka went out with soda jerks and clean air.

In any event, Phipps raced the Buick to a solid third-place finish last Saturday. Tonight, he very well could be back to racing the Camaro. The point is, Phipps is the only Sportsman driver out there, at last check, with two working cars from which to choose.

It was in the spring of 1989 that Phipps, coming off back-to-back points championships in the Buick, decided that he had better get a new ride--and fast--to keep up with what he called “the new technology.”

So he bought the Camaro. But instead of selling the Buick, Phipps decided, “for tax reasons,” to keep his old car. He has not made a wiser decision in his racing career.

Phipps’ strategy was to race the Camaro and use the Buick for tinkering with ideas and engines. “I wanted to try some things on my own,” he said. “(Friend and engine specialist) Richard Wirsching said, ‘Why don’t we make up an engine with these certain ideas and put the engine in the Buick and not have to mess with our racing?’ ”

Add Phipps: In the meantime, the Camaro raced well; Phipps won six main events in it. Its fastest qualifying time (16.82 seconds) beat the Buick’s fastest time (17.10). But 1989 was to be Will Harper’s year as Harper took Phipps’ points crown. Now, in 1990, the two occupy the top two rungs on the points ladder. Phipps, meanwhile, feels confident with two cars in his camp.

He raced the Buick last Saturday because of some trouble in getting the Camaro ready. That, now, is his option: If his experimenting with the Camaro isn’t finished by Saturday, he races the Buick. If the Camaro is ready, the Buick can stay in the garage as a “test vehicle,” in Phipps’ words.

“They’re both excellent cars,” Phipps said. “I would hate to sell that old car, ‘cause I know I’ll have to end up racing against it. I could use the money, but that’s not why I’m racing. It’s turning out that this is really convenient.”

Reeling in the leader: Competition on the NASCAR Southwest Tour continues at breakneck pace after Granada Hills’ M. K. Kanke made a nice move last Saturday in the Spears Manufacturing 100 at Stockton’s 99 Speedway.

Kanke finished a strong second to move within 16 points of tour leader Doug George of Atwater in the tightest points race in Southwest history. By finishing seventh, George lost nearly half of his previous points advantage.

Just 22 points separate third-place driver Bryan Germone of Sebastapol and fifth-place driver Ray Hooper Jr. of Palmdale.

The Southwest Tour will hit Saugus Speedway on Sept. 8.