MOTOR RACING / SHAV GLICK : Kendall’s World Turned by Crash Into Tire Barrier

The way Tommy Kendall’s star was shining, it sometimes seemed too good to be true.

Not yet 25, the driver from La Canada was generally considered one of the finest prospects in the country. It seemed no matter what type of car he raced, he was a winner. In five years as a professional, he won five series championships.

He has a degree in economics from UCLA, was engaged to wed fashion model Caroline Kreefft on Aug. 31 and his engaging smile and effervescent personality makes him a delight to be around.

Then last Sunday, in a sweeping high-speed turn on a race track in Upstate New York, Kendall’s dream world was shattered--at least temporarily.

Driving a prototype Chevrolet Intrepid sports car, Kendall smashed head-on into a barrier at Watkins Glen, the impact breaking his right leg in two places, his left ankle and pulverizing his right ankle.

One reason the leg injuries were so severe is that Kendall is 6 feet 4, and there is no place to bend inside the tight cockpit.

He was in surgery for more than nine hours, mostly while Dr. Terry Trammell pieced together his right ankle with wire, bolts, rods and screws in the injured race drivers’ house of magic--Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis.

Kendall will remain in the hospital for two weeks, then must stay off his feet for three months at his parents’ home in La Canada before returning to Indianapolis for six months or more of rehabilitation.

The wedding, for which invitations were to have been mailed Monday, has been postponed until spring.

“I want to be able to dance at my own wedding,” Kendall told his fiancee, who is with him at Indianapolis, as are his parents, Chuck and Claire Kendall, and his brother Bart, also a race driver.

The accident occurred near the midpoint of the Continental VIII, a 150-minute timed International Motor Sports Assn. Camel GTP race.

Kendall was leading when he pitted on Lap 53, relinquishing the point to Geoff Brabham. Eight laps later, Kendall came out of the backstretch at about 140 m.p.h. as he entered Turn 5. At that point, a forged wheel hub on the left rear snapped, the wheel flew off and the car did a 360-degree spin.

When the exposed axle dug into sod, it literally hurled the car across a stretch of grass as if it had been flung from a slingshot, straight into a tire barrier.

“Our engineers estimate the centrifugal force from the whipping action may have speeded the car to as much as 180 (m.p.h.),” said Jack Bodnar of the MIT racing team, which owns the car.

At impact, the car broke apart as it is designed to do--and diffused the force so that Kendall’s upper body was not damaged by whiplash.

“Tommy never lost consciousness and was lucid all the time,” Bodnar said. “He even took off his helmet himself, waved to the crowd and his first words to the IMSA Porsche safety crew were, ‘Tell my mom I’m all right.’ He didn’t have a scratch on him above his legs.”

The entire front of the car was missing, but the remainder was so mangled that crews had to cut the roll bars off to get Kendall out. He was taken to the infield care center, then airlifted to a hospital in Sayre, Pa. After X-rays were taken and Kendall was stabilized, he was flown to Indianapolis.

Trammell began surgery at 2 a.m. and did not complete the reconstruction until 11:30.

“Tommy’s hanging in there,” his brother Bart said late Wednesday. “He’s not taking any phone calls yet, but he’s doing pretty well. The biggest problem for the rest of us is finding a place to put all the flowers.”

Chevrolet officials said that there will be no immediate replacement for Kendall, because they do not have another car. Wayne Taylor, his teammate, will continue to drive the other Intrepid in the remaining four races.

“We will have a new car ready for Tommy whenever he’s ready,” Bodnar said. “We hope he’ll be able to drive in the season opener next year at Daytona.”

Even though he missed the first two races, Kendall is fifth in GTP points. He did not win a race, but was fast qualifier at West Palm Beach, Fla.; Lime Rock, Conn., and Mid-Ohio. His highest finish was second at Miami, where he was 0.7 seconds behind Raul Boesel’s Jaguar.

Kendall also drove in a NASCAR Winston Cup race at Sears Point, where he was leading when he tangled with Mark Martin and finished fourth.

Last January, Kendall was honored for the third time on the racing writers’ All-American team after winning the Sports Car Club of America’s Trans-Am championship with six victories in 15 races. He had won awards in 1986 as champion of both the Camel GTU and Firestone Firehawk endurance series and in 1988 when he won his third GTU championship.

Motorsports Notes

OFF ROAD--The 20th annual Fireworks 250, a High Desert Racing Assn. event, will be held Saturday near Barstow. It is the fifth of eight races in the HDRA/SCORE series. The start-finish line will be at the Sidewinder exit off I-15, a few miles south of Barstow. Defending champion is Walker Evans, in a Dodge truck.

PIKES PEAK--The 69th annual Race to the Clouds, a 12.5-mile race up Pikes Peak, is scheduled for this morning in the mountains west of Colorado Springs. Roger Mears, a two-time winner, will drive a propane-powered Nissan 300ZX twin turbo in the super showroom class and then will head for Barstow where he will drive his King Cab truck in the Fireworks 250. Also entered in both events is Frank (Scoop) Vessels. He is driving an Eagle Talon at Pikes Peak and a Nissan truck in the desert.

Motorcycles will return to Pikes Peak for the first time since 1981. Larry Roeseler, a six-time winner of the Baja 1,000, injured his right hand when he fell in practice but was able to qualify his Kawasaki for today’s dash up the hill. Roeseler also plans to race in the Fireworks 250.

MIDGETS--United States Auto Club western regional championship races for full and three-quarter midgets will be held tonight at Cajon Speedway in El Cajon. Sleepy Tripp will continue his chase of the late Rich Vogler’s USAC record of 163 victories in all types of cars. Tripp has 135, all in midgets, but his winning streak of three was stopped last week by Keith Rauch at Lakeport, Calif. Defending series champion Jay Drake of Val Verde is the three-quarter points leader.

POWERBOATS--Scott Gillman of Orange came from behind and won Round 2 of the Bud Light International Outboard Formula One series last Sunday on Oregon’s Willamette River. Gillman started last after failing to post a qualifying time because of electrical problems.

STOCK CARS--Saugus Speedway will top off a special July 4 program with fireworks and a destruction derby tonight after hobby stock and Grand American modified main events. On Saturday night, Saugus will continue its weekly schedule with NASCAR Winston Racing Series sportsman and street stocks. . . . A fireworks show is also slated tonight at Orange Show Speedway in San Bernardino after stock and modified pony car races. Sportsman and street stock bombers will race Saturday night at Orange Show.

Other Saturday night racing includes late-model and modified stocks at Bakersfield’s Mesa Marin Raceway, NASCAR sportsman and street stocks at Cajon Speedway and late-model dirt cars at Santa Maria Speedway.

MOTORCYCLES--An American Road Racing Assn. 100-mile Grand Prix, plus a program of sprint races, will be held today at Willow Springs Raceway. . . . Short track races are also scheduled tonight at Santa Maria Speedway. . . . Regularly scheduled speedway scratch and handicap programs will be run Friday night at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa, as will a match race between U.S. champion Mike Faria and former champion Bobby Schwartz.