OFF-ROAD RACING : Roger Mears Stretches Fuel in Anaheim Win

It took two restarts and an additional eight laps of racing before Roger Mears could claim the mini pickup truck class championship Saturday night in Mickey Thompson Off-Road Championship Gran Prix.

The crowd of 54,119 fell short of capacity and was well below last year’s crowd of 64,948, the biggest crowd attending an event in Anaheim Stadium for 1990.

Mears, driving a red, white and blue Nissan, started at the pole position and took the lead in the 12-lap feature race that was stopped after one lap when Walker Evans’ Dodge flipped on the front straightaway and the engine caught fire.

Mears took the lead on the restart, but the race was stopped again when Ivan Stewart buried the nose of his Toyota in the man-made course, flipped and was slammed by Roger Mears Jr.

Mears, who said he worried about running out of fuel before, again took the lead and reached the checkered flag for only the third time in the past two years.

“I thought somebody was waving a Toyota flag out there,” Mears joked. “I think I had just enough fuel. I went over three little berms and the engine cut out twice at the end.”

Stewart, who won last year’s series championship with five victories, finished second in a Toyota V-6, and Danny Thompson, driving a Chevrolet, was third.

“We were obviously off a little on the suspension, but the truck has a lot of potential,” Stewart said.

Stewart’s new teammate, former American Rally champion Rod Millen, finished fifth, giving Team Toyota an early lead in the Manufacturers’ Cup championship. Toyota has won the manufacturers’ title for eight consecutive years.

Danny Rice of Denver was a surprise winner in the 1600cc dune buggy class. Rice was running a distant fourth going into the final lap but moved up three places when leader Bob Gordon stalled 200 yards from the finish line and Mitch Mustard and Frank Arciero Jr. collided on the final turn.

Other winners included Tommy Croft of San Diego in the UltraStock class, Mark Ehrhardt of Hemet in the ATV class, Greg George of Alta Loma in the Oddessy class and Tommy Clowers of Santee in the 250cc motorcycle race.