MOTOR RACING / SHAV GLICK : The Ironman’s Most Incredible Season

When the late Mickey Thompson dubbed Ivan Stewart “Ironman” for driving solo the length of the Baja California peninsula and winning the Baja 1,000 in 1976, he had no idea how well he had named the off-road racer from Alpine, Calif.

Stewart was only 31 then.

Now, in the next 10 days, Stewart, 45, will complete the most remarkable season for an individual since the sport emerged in the 1960s.

Saturday night, in San Francisco’s Candlestick Park, he will win his third Grand National stadium truck championship in the Mickey Thompson Off-Road Gran Prix series by simply showing up with his Toyota pickup. Stewart, who also took the title in 1983 and ‘84, has won four of nine races and holds a 76-point lead over Chevrolet driver Danny Thompson.

A week later, he will be in Ensenada to start the Baja 1,000, which this year has been shortened to 667 miles in the interest of fuel conservation. Stewart has already clinched the Class 1 for unlimited single-seat vehicles as well as the overall championship involving all classes.

No one has ever wrapped up the overall title of the SCORE/High Desert Racing Assn. before the final race.

Stewart did it by driving his Cal Wells-prepared Toyota to victories in the Parker 400 in January, the Nissan 400 in March, the Nevada 500 in September and the Gold Coast 300 two weeks ago. He also won his class in six of the seven events on the desert racing schedule.

He has finished all 2,450 accumulative miles--every mile of every race--in the SCORE/HDRA season and averaged 53.69 m.p.h. All while driving solo.

“The competition Ivan has in the unlimited class is unbelievable, and that just makes his accomplishment this year that much more impressive,” said Danny Cau, HDRA president. “He is one of the greatest drivers that this sport has ever seen, and we’ve seen a lot of great ones. What Ivan has done this year--and he’s still got the Baja 1000 left--is something I doubt will ever be matched again.”

Stewart drives hard in stadium races, hard enough to have led Toyota to eight consecutive manufacturers’ championships, but his heart lies with desert racing.

“You drive 12 minutes in a stadium race and 14 to 15 hours in a race like the Baja 1,000,” Stewart said. “There’s no comparison. Desert racing wins hands down for me. Stadium racing is only an imitation of the real thing.

“In the stadium truck, you stomp on the gas and keep your foot down as long as you can. There’s really no tactics. You go as hard as you can.

“In the desert, you have to be smoother, more considerate of your equipment, and you have to always be ready to deal with unexpected elements, like cows on the road, boulders, silt, Mexican ranchers in slow trucks going different directions, washouts that weren’t there when you did your pre-running, and even artificial hazards set by the (spectators) to add to their enjoyment of the race.

“Most important is trying to get back to the finish line in one piece. The challenge, the adventure, the excitement is still there for me after 18 years.”

Stewart credits an intense testing program for developing both a bullet-proof race truck and his physical and mental conditioning. For the Baja race he has already spent six days in Mexico, going over stages of the race course, and he plans two more days there after the San Francisco stadium race.

“There is one stretch, about 100 miles, that we haven’t run before,” he said, “and I’ve gone over that three times to check where the dangerous ditches are and to register mental landmarks. It’s easy to get confused on a stage where you’re not familiar, and I don’t want to get lost.

“When we pre-run, we average about 30 m.p.h., about half what we’ll go in the race. Of course, in the desert, there are places where you can go 100 across dry lakes, and other spots in the rock piles where you’re lucky to average 10. That’s what makes it so challenging, the different problems you face.”

In addition to pre-running, Stewart tests the truck on a special course outside Barstow for mechanical glitches, and one in Las Vegas where his Yokohama tires get their ultimate test.

“Our idea at both places is to put as much stress on the equipment as humanly possible and drive until something breaks or the tires go flat,” he said. “When something breaks, we fix it and try to break it again. When it doesn’t break, we know we’ve done our job. The same with tires. We run over the rock pile hour after hour until one goes flat. Then the engineers take it and study what happened, and we put on another tire and go back.

“We did such a good job testing that we haven’t had to put a wrench on the car the entire (racing) season.”

Even that isn’t all the edge Stewart takes. He recently started training three times a week at a gym in San Diego, working on weights, exercising and riding a stationary bike.

“When you’re bouncing and thrashing for hours at a time, it pays to be in shape, especially for the critical time late in the race,” he said. “I credit my conditioning for winning the Gold Coast 300 because toward the end I just kept pressuring Bob Richey until I got by him, and I think the main reason is that he was getting tired.”

Actually, Indy 500 driver Bernard Jourdain was driving the final lap in Richey’s Porsche-powered buggy and he was forced to stop and give the wheel back to Richey because of exhaustion.

Stewart’s next goal is to drive in the Paris-to-Dakar rally, an 8,000-mile odyssey that lasts three weeks.

“Most race drivers have Indy or Daytona or LeMans as their ultimate ambition,” he said. “Not me, I want to try Paris-to-Dakar some day.”

Solo? The Ironman just smiled at the thought.

STOCK CARS--Mark Martin and Dale Earnhardt will bring their down-to-the-finish battle for the Winston Cup championship to the desert Sunday for the Checker 500 at Phoenix International Raceway. After 27 of 29 races, Martin holds a 45-point lead over the three-time champion. Also on the Phoenix program Saturday will be the final Southwest Tour race, with unheralded Doug George of Atwater, Calif., needing only to finish 32nd or better to win his first championship. George has only seen the one-mile oval on television. Added to the usual West Coast entry list are Winston Cup veterans Darrell Waltrip, Dick Trickle and Ken Schrader.

Gary Smith, 22, son of four-time Winston West champion Roy Smith of Canada, won the Great American race last Thursday that ended Cajon Speedway’s 1990 season.

SPRINT CARS--Rip Williams will continue his late-season attempt to win his first California Racing Assn. championship when the wingless sprinters return to Ascot Park Saturday night. The Yorba Linda driver has won two in a row to take over second place, 34 points behind defending champion Ron Shuman.

MOTORCYCLES--The American Motorcyclist Assn. will name its professional athlete of the year at the annual awards banquet Saturday night at the Hyatt Newporter in Newport Beach. Candidates include three world champions--Wayne Rainey, 500cc road racing; John Kocinski, 250cc road racing; and Donny Schmit, 125cc motocross--plus all 1990 national champions.

Classic dirt bikes will be featured Saturday at Hansen Dam Park in Pacoima as a memorial to Ted Boody, who was killed in a race at Ascot Park in 1988. The event will be known as AMA Dirt Day, and among the bikes on display will be a replica of the 500cc Triumph Twin that Sammy Tanner rode to his first national championship in 1959. Tanner, Ed Kretz Jr. and Skip Van Leeuwen will be present.

MOTOCROSS--The Continental Motosports Club will hold its 22nd annual Night Nationals at Ascot Park Friday night, which will be the final motocross at the track. Mike Bell, a former CMC champion, and many other former riders, are expected to attend. . . . The White Bros. veterans world championship will be held Saturday and Sunday at Goat Breker’s Perris Raceway. More than 700 riders, 25 or older, are expected. Amateurs will race Saturday, professionals Sunday. There also will be a Vintage Iron Invitational race for bikes manufactured before 1974. Among the entries are former national champion Donnie Hansen, Rich Thorwaldson, Bruce McDougall and Bryar Holcomb.

DRAG RACING--The Winston Finals wasn’t the only victory last week for Ed McCulloch. The veteran funny car driver from Hemet also was a member of the winning team in the Winston/National Hot Rod Assn. golf tournament at Mountain Meadows. McCulloch’s hot putter was a major factor. The final round was McCulloch’s last in Miller colors, as the brewery recently announced it is quitting drag racing.

The Nostalgia Drag Racing Assn. has scheduled an Irwindale Reunion this weekend at the L.A. County Raceway in Palmdale.

INDY CARS--Danny Sullivan, 1985 Indianapolis 500 winner and 1988 CART PPG Indy car champion, will drive an Alfa Romeo for the Pat Patrick team next season. The announcement ended speculation about Sullivan’s future that began when he was dropped from Roger Penske’s team after six years. Patrick will have a new Lola powered by an Alfa Romeo engine. Sullivan replaces Roberto Guerrero, who was let go by Patrick. . . . Al Unser Jr., newly crowned Indy car champion, will drive a Chevy Spice in the Camel Grand Prix of San Diego on Nov. 11 at the Del Mar Fairgrounds.

INJURY REPORT--Steve Eklund, the 1979 AMA national champion, remains in a comatose state in a nursing home in San Jose after suffering head injuries on June 17 in the Albuquerque Mile.

Formula One driver Alessandro Nannini, whose arm was severed in a helicopter crash last month, has had the arm reattached, but doctors say it is too early to know how much use he will have of it. . . . Formula One driver Martin Donnelly, injured during the Spanish Grand Prix, has regained consciousness and has been taken off a respirator, but his condition remains serious.