MOTOR RACING / SHAV GLICK : Unser, Earnhardt Lead All-American Drivers

Al Unser Jr. and Dale Earnhardt, champions of America’s two most prestigious racing series, head a group of 12 drivers named to the 1990 Auto Racing All-American team, selected by the American Auto Racing Writers and Broadcasters Assn.

Unser, the Indy car champion and son of a former winner, was named for the fifth time, and Earnhardt, the NASCAR champion, earned his fourth berth.

Unser, who was named American driver of the year, started the season by winning the Long Beach Grand Prix and never relinquished his lead in the PPG points race that ended with the 28-year-old New Mexico driver winning his first Indy car title.

Earnhardt, 38, who lost the Daytona 500 when a cut tire slowed him on the final lap, won nine races en route to his fourth Winston Cup crown. He also took the International Race of Champions over Unser.

Another second-generation driver, Michael Andretti, was selected along with Unser in the open-wheel category. Andretti’s father, Mario, was named to the first team eight times, and Al Unser Sr. was named six times.

Mark Martin, who led the Winston Cup standings most of the year before losing to Earnhardt in the season’s final two races, became stock car racing’s second representative.

Road racing selectees were Geoff Brabham, for the third year in a row after winning his third consecutive International Motor Sports Assn. Camel GT championship driving a Nissan, and Tommy Kendall, 24-year-old UCLA student from La Canada who won the Sports Car Club of America’s Trans Am series in a Chevrolet Beretta. It was Kendall’s third time on the team.

Steve Kinser, who returned to the World of Outlaws after a year’s absence to win his 10th winged sprint car championship, was an easy choice in the short-track category. The nine-time All-American selectee won 27 of 66 Outlaw main events, including the season-ending race at Ascot Park that gave him seven victories in the final 10 events.

The other short track honoree was Jeff Gordon, 19, the youngest driver selected after winning the United States Auto Club midget championship. Gordon also won several sprint car races, including the California Racing Assn. season finale at Bakersfield’s Mesa Marin Raceway. Twice, he won both ends of a sprint-midget doubleheader, in June at Salem, Ind., and in November at Winchester, Ind.

Drag racing selections were Joe Amato, top fuel champion, and John Force of Yorba Linda, who tied a funny car record by winning seven National Hot Rod Assn. final rounds. Force, driving an Olds Cutlass, also won the Winston Invitational and the Big Bud Shootout and was top qualifier at 10 events. Amato joined Don Garlits and Shirley Muldowney as the only three-time NHRA top fuel champions.

Two outstanding season-long performances were rewarded when Ivan Stewart of Alpine, Calif., and Paul Tracy of Canada were selected in the at-large category. Stewart, 45, became the first off-road driver to win both the Mickey Thompson stadium series and the SCORE/High Desert Racing Assn. championship in his Toyota trucks in the same year. The Ironman, as he is known, won four desert races, plus two more class championships and also won a record five stadium main events, including the prestigious Anaheim Stadium opener and the Rose Bowl.

Tracy, 21, dominated the American Racing Series by winning nine of the 14 races. Tracy’s performance earned him a ride on the Truesports Indy car team.

Force, Gordon, Stewart and Tracy all were named for the first time.

The 12 will be feted Saturday night at the association’s 21st All-American team banquet at the Burbank Airport Hilton Hotel. The winner of the Jerry Titus Award, which goes to the team’s driver of the year, will be announced.

SPEEDWAY BIKES--Another Southland race track is about to close. The Long Beach Veterans Stadium oval, called “the best quarter-mile speedway track in the world” by the British racing newspaper Speedway Star, will hold its final race on March 2. The American Speedway Final, normally held in June to determine the five U.S. riders who will contend for the World Individual Final, has been moved up to that date because construction will start March 4 on an all-weather running track at Long Beach. The Veterans Stadium oval, which has been the only world-class speedway facility in the country, was the site of the 1985 and 1987 World Team Cup championships. The weekly Friday night speedway season at the much smaller Orange County Fairgrounds track in Costa Mesa will start on March 9. Two other small tracks, Glen Helen in San Bernardino and the Victorville Fairgrounds, will open later. The March 2 event is the only one scheduled at Long Beach before it closes.

TRUCKS AND TRACTORS--The eighth annual U.S. Hot Rod Grand Slam of Motorsports, featuring truck and tractor pull championships and monster truck racing, will be held Saturday night and Sunday afternoon at Anaheim Stadium. Brian Carson, a stunt driver from Simi Valley, will attempt the “world’s longest auto flight” at both shows. Carson, strapped in a one-of-a-kind 3,000-pound sedan, will race up a 40-foot-long ramp and attempt to sail over two 18-wheel tractor trailers parked end-to-end and land on a group of derelict cars.

MOTOCROSS--The second round of the Continental Motosport Club’s Golden State Nationals will be held this weekend at Sunrise Cycle Park, two miles north of Adelanto on US 395. Sportsman riders will compete Saturday, professionals Sunday, starting at 11:30 a.m. each day.