MOTOR RACING / SHAV GLICK : Sullivan to Seek Ride, Porsche toEnd Teamas CART Lineup Shuffled

Danny Sullivan is the odd man out in Roger Penske’s plans for 1991, and Porsche is out of Indy cars altogether.

Those two long-rumored developments became official Wednesday, muddling the lineup for next year’s Championship Auto Racing Teams season.

Rick Mears and Emerson Fittipaldi will remain on the Penske team, but Sullivan, who won the 1985 Indianapolis 500 and the 1988 PPG Cup national championship in his six years with Penske, is looking for a new ride, thus ending Penske’s ambitious three-car-team experiment after only one season.

The Penske team, with five Indianapolis 500s and five national championships since 1981, fell on hard times this year. With three drivers, Penske has won only two races: Mears in the season opener at Phoenix and Sullivan at Cleveland.

“There has been a definite strain on the team, but I wouldn’t say it was because of having three drivers,” Sullivan said. “I would say it was because we aren’t winning. I really believe that if Roger’s sponsorships had stayed in place, he would have stayed with three cars next season.

“It was strictly a business deal as far as Roger and I were concerned. He was great to me. We had no falling out or harsh words. It just came down to sponsorship. Pennzoil was leaving, so there would be two cars with Marlboro colors. Rick (Mears) is Roger’s driver as long as he wants to race, and Emmo (Fittipaldi) has been with Marlboro since 1974, so that left me the odd man out.”

Porsche, which got into Indy car racing in 1985 under the late Al Holbert’s direction, announced from its North American headquarters in Reno that its involvement would end with the Laguna Seca race Oct. 21. This would leave team drivers Teo Fabi and John Andretti looking for another ride, too.

In yet another Indy car development Wednesday, the new Jim Hall-VDS Racing team announced that it would be sponsored by Pennzoil, which had been Hall’s sponsor before he retired from Indy car racing in 1982. Both Sullivan and Fabi are considered candidates for Hall’s car, which will be a Lola chassis powered by a Chevy Indy engine.

“I’ve talked almost daily with Hall, but nothing’s been decided,” Sullivan said. “It’s just one of a number of options in front of me, and I’m sure I’m just one of the options open to Hall. I definitely plan on staying in Indy cars, though, despite what I’ve read about me being considered for a ride in a Group C Peugeot or a stock car in NASCAR. Neither one has ever contacted me. In fact, I didn’t even know Peugeot had a Group C car.”

The Hall-VDS car will be managed by Jim Hall II, whose karting school in Ventura will continue under the direction of his wife, Annie, and General Manager Carol Smith.

Sullivan also has talked with Pat Patrick about replacing Roberto Guerrero on the Alfa Romeo team. That would unite Sullivan with his longtime sponsor, the Miller Brewing Co.

“There’s a lot of talking going on between a lot of people at this time of the year,” Sullivan said. “Some might lead to something, some might not. It’s too early to say right now, but I hope to have my 1991 plans sewed up as soon as possible.”

Porsche’s announcement came as no surprise. It had been expected since the factory announced last year that it would produce and support a 3.5-liter engine for the Arrows team in Formula One beginning next year.

Derrick Walker, manager of the Penske team before he left two years ago to run the Porsche Indy car project, may put together his own team and continue to develop the Porsche engine. Walker would like to retain Andretti as his driver, but Andretti has also been talking with Texaco-Havoline as a possible replacement for Dominic Dobson on Bruce Leven’s team. If that materialized, it would put three Andrettis under the same sponsorship umbrella. Mario and Michael Andretti are Texaco-sponsored on the Carl Haas-Paul Newman team.

BOAT RACING--International Outboard Grand Prix tunnel boat racing returns to Southern California this weekend for the Old Quaker Paint Championship GP at Puddingstone Lake in San Dimas. Former motocross and off-road racing star Scott Gillman of Orange will be contesting defending champion Bill Seebold of St. Louis for the No. 1 spot in champ boats, the premier class in tunnel boat racing. Gillman, who won at St. Louis and finished second in Winnipeg, Canada, in the most recent races, is only 175 points behind Seebold in third place. Steve DeSouza of Lynnwood, Wash., is second. If Gillman wins Sunday’s 50-lap event and Seebold finishes third or worse, Gillman could move into first place. Time trials and qualifying heats Saturday will set the fields for Sunday’s championship races in three classes.

The championship of the Unlimited Racing Commission’s HFC Hydroplane Series will be decided Sunday between Tom D’Eath, in Miss Budweiser, and defending champion Chip Hanauer, in Circus Circus, in the Las Vegas Silver Cup on Lake Mead. D’Eath holds a 173-point lead with 800 points at stake in three heat races and the season’s final championship race.

SPRINT CARS--The World of Outlaws, with their big-winged sprint cars, will make their final appearance at Ascot Park this weekend, with nine-time series champion Steve Kinser back in the spotlight. Kinser missed last year in an abortive attempt to create a rival organization, but this year he came back and picked up where he left off. Kinser has won 21 of 54 main events, including last week’s $50,000 Chico Gold Cup for the eighth time, to earn $292,105 in Outlaw purses. Brent Kaeding, the Northern California champion, poses the biggest West Coast threat to the traveling group. He has three second places--at Santa Maria, Bakersfield and San Jose--during the Outlaws’ West Coast swing. Qualifying and a 20-lap main event will take place Friday night, with a 30-lap main event Saturday night.

While the Outlaws are at Ascot, the wingless cars of the California Racing Assn. will run Friday night at Manzanita Speedway in Phoenix and Saturday night at Tucson Raceway Park.

STOCK CARS--Marcus Mallett will continue his bid to to win the Ascot Park championship in Sunday night’s NASCAR Winston Racing Series sportsman main event. . . . Pony, bomber stock and Grand American modifieds will run their final race at Cajon Speedway Saturday night. . . . Santa Maria Speedway will close its season Saturday night with a 250-lap factory stock enduro. . . . Street stocks will be featured Friday night at Ventura Raceway and Saturday night at San Bernardino’s Orange Show Speedway.

MOTORCYCLES--The Lake Elsinore-based Team Suzuki has clinched its sixth Western Eastern Roadracers’ Assn. endurance series championship by winning 10 of 11 events, but it still has one major hurdle to clear: the 24-hour race at Willow Springs Raceway. The team, founded as Team Hammer in 1980 by John Ulrich and Bruce Hammer, considers the desert course its home track and will be trying to change its luck this weekend when the Del Amo 24-hour race is held on the twisting road course. Ulrich and Hammer, the team’s original riders, are both retired from competition--Hammer in a wheelchair after a racing accident in 1982 and Ulrich as team manager since 1986. Mike Smith of Canton, Ga., and Kurt Hall of Hilton Head, S.C., are the lead riders on a team that also includes Southern Californians Wayne Cooley and Don Canet. The twice-around-the-clock race will start at 3 p.m. Saturday.

The California State speedway championships will be held Saturday night at Glen Helen Park in San Bernardino. Speedway racing is also scheduled tonight at Ascot Park’s South Bay Stadium and Friday night at Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa.

MIDGETS--Saugus Speedway will play host to a United States Auto Club doubleheader Saturday night featuring full midgets in a 30-lap main event and three-quarter midgets in a 20-lap feature. The program will also include hobby stock, Figure 8 and jalopy races.

DRAG RACING--Corvettes will be featured Sunday at L.A. County Raceway in Palmdale. . . . Pro gas motorcycles and the final Firestone points race will share the program Saturday night at Bakersfield Raceway.

SPORTS CARS--The 13th annual Yokohama Pacific Coast Road Racing Championships, with more than 300 amateur drivers from 12 states, will be held this weekend at Sears Point Raceway near Sonoma. There will be practice and qualifying Friday, followed by more qualifying and four feature races Saturday and six championship races Sunday.