Motor Sports : Season Openers at Area Tracks : Track Officials and Drivers Modify Racing Program : Saugus Speedway: New division offers a cost-efficient way to increase speed and excitement.

Dave Phipps of Simi Valley is expecting to bump into a few old friends tonight at Saugus Speedway.

“It’s gonna be great,” he said. “A lot of spinning out and bumping sides.”

Gary Sigman of Carson would just as soon shake hands and avoid any additional contact.

“We do too much of that,” Sigman said. “And you’re going to see some cars upside-down.”

Both will be driving Grand American Modified cars tonight when that division makes its debut at Saugus Speedway. The track’s 52nd season of racing will officially begin at 7 p.m.

Tonight also will mark the opening of the Sportsman and Street Stock divisions on the one-third-mile paved oval. Most of the talk, however, centers on the new, unusual-looking Grand American Modified cars, which are sort of an “open-wheeled stock car,” according to Saugus racing promoter Ray Wilkings.

The cars have been raced in the Midwest for years and recently moved west to tracks in El Cajon and in Arizona. That prompted Wilkings to bring the new series to Saugus. The lightweight, full-bodied, open-wheeled compact passenger cars promise to move almost as fast as an average Sportsman car. But the Grand American Modified, with driver, weighs about 2,500 pounds, nearly 700 pounds less than a typical Sportsman car.

“It’s not going to be (as) fast as the Sportsman in the turns,” said Sigman, who, along with Phipps, is one of the dozen or so “guinea pigs” expected to race the model tonight. “But in the straightaway. . . . man, it’s really fast.”

Speed is only one of the appealing aspects of the Grand American Modified division. A healthier bottom line is another. In the increasingly high-tech, high-cost world of stock car racing, the Modifieds offer a less expensive way to race.

Phipps says the economical advantages are twofold: First, there is an engine-claim rule in this division. That means if you finish in the top four, another competitor can claim your engine for just $425. Thus, a smart racer won’t waste too much money on his engine.

“My (Grand American Modified) car has a standard street engine from the 1970s,” Phipps said. “It could run unleaded gas. It’s been hopped up a little bit . . . but the Sportsman division has gotten to be extremely expensive. Every year, the cost of everything goes up.

“I’ve been trying to race out of my own pocket, and I’ve had some help with sponsors, but nothing to foot the whole bill. And I’m at the point where I just don’t want to spend $30,000 to $40,000 to race.”

Secondly, the tires on the Grand American Modified are street-legal treaded tires as opposed to the racing-slick tires used on Sportsman cars. So, as Phipps points out, a racer also won’t spend a lot of money hopping up his engine because any excess power would be wasted on a tire that doesn’t offer the traction and strength of a Sportsman tire.

“The motors, relatively speaking, are real inexpensive,” Sigman said. “And there’s plenty of motor for a car so extremely light.”

But while Sigman and Phipps appear impressed with the prospects for Grand American Modified racing at Saugus, other racers are reserving judgment. As a result, only 10 to 12 drivers should be racing Modifieds tonight. But Sigman predicts that by midsummer the class will have grown considerably.

Phipps says he will race even if he is the only one out there.

“It’s going to be very, very exciting to drive,” he said. “There’s a lot more power than traction so it’s going to take a lot to keep them straight. It’s gonna be great.”

The summer racing season at Saugus figures to be marked by more than just the debut of a new division, however. A wide-open race for the Sportsman division points championship is likely to take place in the absence of two-time defending champion Will Harper of Tarzana, who has landed a Southwest Tour ride and leaves behind him an evenly matched, talented field of Sportsman racers.

Drivers to watch include:

Phipps: The longtime Saugus veteran has won two points championships and is still going strong after finishing second behind Harper last season. On experience alone, Phipps probably would have to rate as odds-on favorite to win another championship.

Keith Spangler, Northridge: Spangler, 21, finished fourth in last year’s points standings and had 11 top-five finishes in 1990.

Sigman: Another Saugus veteran, Sigman finished fifth in last year’s points standings. Sigman will be dividing his time between Sportsman and Grand American Modified this year. “I think racing the Modifieds will give me a little advantage,” Sigman said. “It will give me some idea of what the track is like on any given night.”

John Cran, Reseda: Cran’s four first-place finishes ranked second to Harper’s five in 1990, though car trouble prevented him from finishing higher than sixth in last year’s standings.

Rodney Peacher, Sepulveda: Peacher, nicknamed “the Rodent,” was consistent in 1990, five top-five finishes earning him seventh place in the standings. Peacher won the 1990 “Hard Charger” award.

Pat Mintey Jr., Quartz Hill: Another driver looking to make a name for himself Mintey, 24, turned in eight fast times last year and set the track qualifying record of 16.62 seconds in 1990.

Lance Hooper, Palmdale: The 1990 rookie of the year, Hooper is another young racer to watch. Two second-place finishes helped him to finish ninth in the 1990 points standings.

Craig Rayburn, Simi Valley: The “Iron Man” is giving up his Street Stock ride after winning the 1990 championship to concentrate solely on the Sportsman division. The first driver at Saugus to place in the top 10 in both divisions, Rayburn also won three trophy dashes in 1990.

In the Street Stock division, Rayburn’s departure leaves Reseda’s Dave Blankenship as the top returning driver in that division. Blankenship had five fast times in 1990 and finished just 13 points behind Rayburn. Also returning is third-place finisher Ed Horst of Canoga Park.