MOTOR RACING : Three Veteran Drivers Face a New Challenger

Ivan Stewart, Walker Evans and Roger Mears--drivers in their 40s and 50s--have dominated the Grand National Sport Truck class since it became the main attraction in the Mickey Thompson Off-Road Championship Gran Prix series in 1983.

Rob MacCachren, who will turn 26 Sunday, says it’s time for youth to be served.

Ford, for whom MacCachren drives a Jim Venable-prepared Ranger, agrees. Stewart, 45, the defending Grand National champion, drives a Toyota. Evans, 52, winner of the most recent race in San Diego, drives a Dodge. Mears, 43, winner of the season opener in Anaheim, drives a Nissan.

“I thought I had the race won at San Diego before my right front tire pulled away from the rim and let all the air out,” MacCachren said. “I led 10 laps before the tire went down and Evans passed me. Then Stewart and Rod Millen (another Toyota driver) got by me on the last lap.”

Had MacCachren won, it would have been his first stadium victory and Ford’s first since 1985, when Jeff Huber won at San Bernardino’s Orange Show Stadium.

MacCachren, who left a job in Las Vegas as a valet parking lot attendant to become a professional race driver, will be after that elusive first victory Saturday night when the third round of the 1991 season will be held in the Rose Bowl.

“I’m optimistic after the way the truck ran at San Diego,” MacCachren said. “I was fast qualifier and moved up from 13th to finish fifth in both heat races, and I thought I had the main event won until the tire started going flat.

“There was one corner where all the weight landed on the right front wheel and all the pounding pulled the bead lock loose. It wasn’t too difficult to drive the flat (tire) in a straight line, but there were three right-hand turns that I could barely get around.”

MacCachren’s best finish in two previous seasons had been a third at the Coliseum in 1988, driving a Jeep for Evans. He was replaced on Evans’ stadium team after three races last year by veteran Glenn Harris.

Racing in the Mickey Thompson series was a natural progression for MacCachren, who built a reputation driving single-seat buggies and big Class 8 trucks in the desert. In 1982, after winning seven of 11 races and the SNORE (Southern Nevada Off-Road Enthusiasts) series championship in a buggy, the Nevada Motor Sports Assn. named him rookie of the year. He also won the SNORE championship in 1985 and 1986.

In 1989 and 1990, driving a Jeep Comanche for Evans, MacCachren won consecutive class and Mini-Metal championships in the SCORE/High Desert Racing Assn. series. He switched this year to Venable’s team in the desert, too, and drives a seven-liter Ford F-150 in SCORE/HDRA events. The next race is the San Felipe 250 April 7 in Baja California.

“I had grown up on desert racing, from the time I was 7 or 8 years old watching my dad race buggies, so I felt more comfortable in long-distance racing than I did when I started driving in stadiums,” he said. “At first, it seemed like I was in a tunnel and everything was all cramped, but now I’m getting to really enjoy the stadiums. There’s more wheel-to-wheel racing and fender-banging.”

MacCachren hopes to follow the path of last year’s Venable driver, Robby Gordon, into road racing and on into Indy cars or NASCAR. Gordon, 22, of Orange, has been racing sports cars and Winston Cup stock cars this year and next season plans to race in Europe with his career aimed at Formula One.

“When I got the offer to drive for the Ford Rough Riders team with Jim Venable, I knew it would be a great opportunity for me,” MacCachren said. “That’s how Robby got his chance. I’ve been to three driving schools, so when I get a shot at road racing I think I’ll be prepared.”

Today’s practice at the Rose Bowl has been canceled by rain, but Mickey Thompson Entertainment Group officials say Saturday night’s program will go on, rain or not.

“We’ve never had to race in the rain, but it couldn’t be worse than it was one year in the Superdome in New Orleans,” MacCachren recalled. “It had rained all week and the dirt had been stored outside, so when they brought it inside it was so wet we couldn’t practice on it. They mixed in a bunch of lime, but that only made it worse.”

MacCachren will have a new driver to contend with in the Rose Bowl along with the regulars such as Stewart, Evans, Mears, Harris and Millen. Greg George of Alta Loma, one of off-road racing’s most versatile drivers, will make his truck debut in one of Danny Thompson’s factory-supported Chevrolets. George will replace Larry Ragland, who broke a shoulder blade during the San Diego race last month.

George, 31, has won 14 Mickey Thompson main events--seven in UltraStock, three in Super 1600 and four in Superlite competition, including the first two rounds this year.

INDY CARS--A.J. Foyt has confided to friends that his foot injuries will not be healed sufficiently for him drive at Phoenix on April 21, as he had planned. However, Foyt insists he will be ready for his 33rd consecutive 500.

LONG BEACH--Retired racing legends Jody Scheckter, Jack Brabham, Dan Gurney and Parnelli Jones will race against entertainment personalities in the 15th annual Toyota Pro/Celebrity race April 13, the day before the Long Beach Grand Prix Indy car race.

MOTOCROSS--The American Motorcyclist Assn. has requested a 1993 date for the Motocross des Nations for Glen Helen Park in San Bernardino. Five-time world champion Roger DeCoster, who produced the successful U.S. 500cc Grand Prix last year at Glen Helen, would be the promoter. Austria also has bid for the event, known as the World Series of motocross.