MOTOR RACING : Pasadena Driver Gets Career Boost at School in France

One of Europe’s most prestigious racing prizes for aspiring drivers is to be named the Pilote Elf at the Winfield School in France.

Alain Prost, Patrick Tambay, Didier Pironi and Eric Bernard, all Formula One drivers, are former winners of the annual competition. Jean Alesi, Ferrari’s newest hopeful, didn’t make it.

Richie Hearn, 20, a kart driver from Pasadena, is the 1991 Pilote Elf, and as a reward for beating out more than 200 candidates, he will campaign for the French Formula Renault championship this year. If successful, the Elf team is committed to sponsoring Hearn for another five years in Formula Three, Formula 3000 and, hopefully, into Formula One.

“I was planning on driving in the Barber Saab series this year, but when I heard about the Winfield School I decided to try it because I thought it might be harder to get a sponsor for Barber Saab than it would be to go to France and win,” Hearn said before leaving last week on his Formula Renault odyssey.

He will drive--expenses paid--in 14 races, all in France, starting April 14 in Nogaro and ending Oct. 14, also in Nogaro. The team is based at the Paul Ricard circuit, home of the French Grand Prix, on the Riviera.

Between 1982 and 1989, Hearn raced karts. He won seven Grandnational championships in two- and four-cycle carts, plus numerous regional titles.

“I had gone about as far as I could do in karting,” Hearn said. “It got so wherever I raced, I was the guy to beat, and I was sort of running out of competition. I loved karting, and my experience in karts helped me at the school.

“Driving different tracks in a kart made it easy for me to learn the portion of the Paul Ricard track, about 1.1 mile, that we used. And after running over 100 (m.p.h.) at Willow Springs, sitting only an inch off the ground, I was comfortable with the speeds we ran.”

The cars used at the school peaked out between 130 and 140 m.p.h.

“The biggest difference was that I had never raced a car with a shift,” he said. “And in the corners, I had to learn to take it easy on the gas because the cars have no wings. I learned early on that the most important thing was to be smooth. The instructors didn’t put up with wild driving, no matter how fast you went.”

Hearn was introduced to karting by his father, Richard, who raced Corvettes with the Sports Car Club of America and now runs a kart shop in Arcadia. His mother, Christy Jeffries, also raced. For the last six years, Richie raced for the Mike Manning Karting team of Northridge.

“I was phased into racing when I was 9,” Richie said. “From my first race, I think I’ve been obsessed with it. I played a little soccer when I was in high school, but I never had much time or interest for anything but racing and working on my kart. I always put karting ahead of everything--chicks, weekend parties, other sports, everything.”

Hearn enrolled in the Winfield School at the suggestion of a mechanic friend who had lived in France. He and two karting buddies, Kim Williams of Arcadia and Waqar Meyers of Glendora, made the trip together last October.

“I’d never been to Europe before, much less to France to race,” Hearn said. “For the first four days, we never lapped for time but we were scrutinized closely for every shift, every bobble, every little mistake we made.

“After four days, some of us got certificates of merit and were invited to the next session, where we each did 10 laps at speed. Our times were compared to 10 laps by Roland Reiss, the English-speaking driving instructor, in the same car. Everything was against the clock. There was no racing each other, but the times were checked.

“My time was 0.12 (of a second) off the instructor’s time and the next fastest student was .24 off his time. That got me invited back for the final selection, with three guys from France and one from Switzerland, on Thanksgiving Day.”

The finalists practiced for three days, all in sunshine. On the day of the final exam, it rained. The school brought in a panel of judges that included Formula One drivers Jacques Laffite, Erik Comas, Bernard, Tambay and Henri Pescarolo, plus several busloads of French journalists.

“We each had 10 laps on the track alone, but the judges only counted the fastest five,” Hearn said. “I had never driven in the rain before, so my whole objective was to keep the car on the race track. I spun once in the chicanes, but I went clear around and kept on going.”

Hearn’s time was a second a lap faster than any of the others’ and he was proclaimed Winfield’s Pilote Elf.

“I couldn’t believe the pressure,” he said. “I’m sure it was worse on the French drivers. The pressure from the media was tremendous, just like it is at a Grand Prix. And knowing you had five laps that might determine your entire future of racing was pretty heavy.

“I feel I was lucky that no one was here with me. Some of the French kids who didn’t do so good really got chewed out by their dads, just like some kids get it in Little League.

“I really felt sorry for Christophe Dantoing. He’s the nephew of Rene Arnoux and was supposed to be the big favorite. But the farther along we went, the slower he got. He had so much pressure on him that he tried too hard and fell apart.”

Racing Notes

HONORS--Ray Wilkings, Saugus Speedway promoter and general manager, was named national stock car race promoter of the year at an industry workshop awards dinner last week at Daytona Beach. Wilkings had received regional honors as Far West promoter of the year in 1988 and 1990. . . . Cary Agajanian, former president of now defunct Ascot Park, received the Hugh Deery award at the same affair for “outstanding contributions to short track auto racing.”

OFF ROAD RACING--Ivan Stewart has won more main events in the Mickey Thompson Off-Road Gran Prix series than any other driver, but he has never won before his hometown fans at San Diego’s Jack Murphy Stadium. Stewart, defending Grand National truck champion from the San Diego County village of Alpine, will be out to remedy that when Round 2 of the 10-race series is held there Saturday night.

Tom Koch, a veteran desert racer from Ridgecrest, will start first in the High Desert Racing Assn.’s Nissan 400 (formerly Mint 400) on March 2 at Las Vegas International Speedway. Koch, who drives a Porsche-powered Chenowth, won the 1985 Fireworks 250 and the 1988 Parker 400.

SPRINT CARS--The World of Outlaws will open their 1991 season this weekend with races Friday night in Yuma, Ariz., and Saturday night at Imperial Raceway, near El Centro.

Steve Kinser will open his bid for an 11th Outlaw championship in the last 14 years. Dave Blaney, winner of the final Midwinter Championships last year at Ascot, and Bobby Davis Jr. 1989 Outlaws champion, are expected to be Kinser’s chief challengers.

DRAG RACING--The National Hot Rod Assn.’s Arizona Nationals, which were postponed last Sunday because of track conditions at Firebird Raceway at Chandler, Ariz., will be held Sunday.

STOCK CARS--The Toyota Budweiser super production series for unlimited stock cars will get under way Sunday at Willow Springs Raceway. The California Sports Car Club also will hold regional championships during the weekend. . . . Dirt racing for street stocks and open comp cars will be held Sunday at Willow Springs Stadium. MISCELLANY--Don Johnson, of “Miami Vice” and offshore powerboat racing fame, will speak at the International Sports Summit at the Beverly Hilton next Wednesday. Johnson, a director of the Offshore Powerboat Tour, will speak on “Sports Event Marketing and Emerging Sports Events.”