MOTOR RACING : World Title Stays in Family as Rainey Succeeds Lawson

Wayne Rainey of Downey continued Southern California’s domination of motorcycle road racing when he won the Czechoslovakian Grand Prix last Sunday to clinch his first world 500cc championship.

Rainey, with seven victories in 13 races, succeeds his Kenny Roberts-Team Yamaha teammate, Eddie Lawson of Upland, who won two years running. Lawson, who was injured while practicing for the U.S. Grand Prix last April at Laguna Seca and missed most of the season, finished third behind Rainey and former world champion Wayne Gardner in the race at Brno, Czechoslovakia.

Rainey was assured the championship when Kevin Schwantz, the only rider with a mathematical chance of catching him, crashed on the second lap. Schwantz, of Houston, won five GPs this season.

The world title climaxed a career that began when Rainey was 5 and his father, Sandy, built him a minibike. By he time he was 9, Wayne was racing at Saddleback Park.

“Dad built the bike from the ground up, paint job and all,” Rainey recalled. “Mom did the leathers, and my little sister, Renee, led the cheering. My job was to keep the bike polished and do the racing.

“It’s kind of funny, looking back. One of the first guys I remember racing against was Eddie Lawson, and here we are, 20 years later, teammates and both world champions.”

Curiously, it was an injury to Lawson 10 years ago that led to Rainey’s switch from flat-track racing on dirt at tracks such as Ascot Park to asphalt racing on the road.

“Eddie was riding for Kawasaki and got hurt at Riverside, and recommended me to take his place,” Rainey said. “That gave me a taste of the road and I liked it. Best of all, though, I won some races and it got me a deal with Kawasaki to ride superbikes in 1982 with Eddie as a teammate.”

Lawson won the championship, but Rainey won the next year and earned himself a ride on the European Grand Prix circuit with Kenny Roberts on a 250cc Yamaha. In 1986, he decided to return home and ride a superbike for American Honda. He won six of nine races but finished second to Fred Merkel.

The next year, 1987, was a turnaround as he won the superbike championship with three victories to five for Schwantz. In 1988, he joined Roberts again on the Yamaha 500cc world championship team and finished third. Last year, he moved up to second, so it seems only natural that he is first this year.

Ron Shuman cleaned the table with three victories last week at Ascot Park, but the Arizona veteran needs all the luck he can muster to win his third straight California Racing Assn. sprint car championship. Shuman is 82 points behind Brad Noffsinger and 43 behind second-place John Redican as the season heads into the stretch.

Saturday night, in the Chevy/ Geo Labor Day Sweepstakes, Shuman will have an opportunity to pick up added points if he can repeat his victory of last year, since the race is 50 laps instead of the weekly 30.

Shuman won the 30-lap main event and the Dura Light match races last Saturday night and came back Sunday to win the United States Auto Club midget feature.

SPRINT CARS--Winged cars of the World of Outlaws will invade Southern California this weekend for races Friday and Saturday nights at Santa Maria Speedway and Sunday night at Bakersfield Speedway in Oildale. Entries include Steve Kinser, nine-time Outlaws champion and this year’s leader; Bobby Allen, surprise winner of the Knoxville Nationals two weeks ago, and Doug Wolfgang and Sammy Swindell, winners of nine races each this season.

STOCK CARS--The NASCAR Southwest Tour, led by Mike Kanke of Granada Hills, will be at Orange Show Speedway in San Bernardino Saturday night for the Coors 100, race No. 13 in the 18-race All-American Challenge series for late model stock cars. The 6-foot-6 Kanke leads even though his Pontiac has not won a race or led any laps. However, eight of his 12 finishes have been in the top 10, and he is ahead of Doug George of Atwater, 1,783 points to 1,781. George has won three races.

Lyn Pherigo, who has been associated with Saugus Speedway since 1973, is producing his 400th consecutive program for Saturday night’s Winston Racing Series sportsman, street stock and Figure 8 show. Pherigo is planning to retire at the end of this season. . . . Winston Racing Series sportsman cars will also run Saturday night at Cajon Speedway, and pro stocks will go Sunday night at Ascot Park. On Labor Day night, Ascot will also hold a 150-lap International Enduro for foreign and domestic compacts. . . . Street stock racing will resume Friday night at Ventura Raceway after two weeks off for the Ventura County Fair.

SPEEDWAY BIKES--Three Southern California riders--Shawn Moran of Apple Valley, Rick Miller of Reseda and Ronnie Correy of Fullerton--will compete Saturday in the World Speedway Final at Bradford, England. . . . National champion Bobby Schwartz was barred from racing last Sunday at Speedway USA in Victorville after an altercation with a security guard, but he will be back this week for racing tonight at Ascot Park’s South Bay Stadium, Friday night at Costa Mesa and Sunday at Victorville.

SPORTS CARS--The California Sports Car Club will hold national and regional championship races Sunday and Monday at Willow Springs Raceway. Sunday’s regional program also includes the Toyota super production unlimited stock car series. Monday will be all SCCA national races.

LAND SPEED--Al Teague of San Gabriel completed his sweep of the A, B and C Streamliner records at Bonneville Salt Flats when he ran 389.372 m.p.h. in his single-engine, two-wheel-drive machine to erase the late Mickey Thompson’s A record of 354.330. The record was set during a SoCal Timing Assn. meeting.

INDY CARS--In a move that may place Championship Auto Racing Teams in a battle against Formula One’s world championship season, CART officials announced that the 1991 Indy Car schedule will begin with a race in Australia. The March 17 event at Surfers Paradise, Queensland, will be CART’s first venture outside North America. The rest of the 16-race schedule will be similar to this year’s slate, except for the Detroit Grand Prix, which was not rescheduled because of uncertainty of the availability of downtown streets.

MOTOCROSS--Eric Geboers and Rick Johnson were the big winners in last Sunday’s world 500cc Grand Prix at Glen Helen Park, but the most impressive performance may have been the third-place finish by Marty Tripes in the vintage race--or at least by the Yamaha that carried Tripes’ 275 pounds around the hillside course. Tripes, winner of the first Supercross race in the Coliseum, is arguably pound for pound the best motocross rider in the world. Tripes didn’t beat riders half his age, but he certainly beat some famous ones half his weight. Only two trim riders, Goat Breker and Gary Jones, finished ahead of the San Diego heavyweight.

Making quick use of the course Roger DeCoster laid out for the world championship at Glen Helen, the Continental Motosports Club will hold a Trans Cal Nationals there Monday. Also at Glen Helen Sunday, there will be a Double Cross Grand Prix over a three-mile course that uses both dirt and pavement. . . . The CMC will also run a night race Friday at Ascot Park.

DRAG RACING--The Nostalgia Drag Racing Assn. will conduct vintage racing Saturday and Sunday at Bakersfield Raceway, formerly the Famoso drag strip.

NECROLOGY--Dan Quella, crew chief on Andy Granatelli’s Novis at Indianapolis in 1963 and ‘64, died of a stroke in a Marina del Rey rest home. He was 86.