MOTOR RACING : Robinson Sits in Driver’s Seat for Title

Chip Robinson came to the final race of the 1989 International Motor Sports Assn. Camel GTP season at Del Mar leading Geoff Brabham by four points. Brabham won the championship.

This year, Robinson comes to the final race at Del Mar leading by three points over Brabham, his Nissan teammate.

“This is a totally different situation,” Robinson said as he prepared for Sunday’s Camel Grand Prix of Greater San Diego, a 1-hour 45-minute race over a 1.6-mile circuit laid out in the parking lot of the Del Mar Fairgrounds. “The team was smaller then, and the whole emphasis was on Geoff winning and Nissan winning the manufacturers’ championship.

“I had been hired to help Geoff win, but when Nissan sewed up its title early, (team manager) Kas Kastner said we could go for it in the final race. Geoff finished second and won the championship when I failed to finish, but from the outset, I perceived the season as being his.

“This time it is different. I have my own engineer for the first time, and in my own mind I am driving much better than ever before. I am going to approach the race as though Geoff was 100% fit and ignore the points. I plan to do the best job I can do and not worry about what the other drivers are doing. That way, I hope to keep the pressure from getting overwhelming.”

Brabham, who has won the last three IMSA championships and led most of this season, was injured in an accident Aug. 22 while practicing at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis. He still is undergoing therapy for compression fractures of two vertebrae and four broken ribs, but he proclaimed himself fit after a test last week at Firebird Raceway, near Phoenix.

“I got in the car for the first time since the accident, and the good news is that I didn’t feel much worse after driving than I did before I got in the car,” Brabham said. “I want to make it clear that while I am back and will race, I am not 100% physically. I lost about 16 pounds after the accident and have gained back part of it, but it’s very tough to do any kind of stamina exercise like running or weightlifting with sore ribs.”

Brabham has been fitted with a special driver’s seat by Nissan Performance Technology, Inc., that wraps around his body to protect his back and ribs.

“When Geoff gets in the car on race day and puts his hands on the (steering) wheel, you can’t ever count him out,” Robinson said. “But he is only a 10th of the competition. Camel GTP racing has become so competitive, it is totally different from the way it was three or four years ago.

“It used to be that there was one dominant car, like the Porsche the year (1987) I won the championship, and the Nissan the last couple of years, but that’s not the case this year. You have Davy Jones and the Jaguar in the hunt for the championship, and although they’re not championship contenders, the Chevy Intrepid, the Spice and the Toyota all have a solid chance to win at Del Mar.”

Jones, winner of five races, the most of any Camel GTP driver this season, trails Robinson by 10 points. The maximum number of points available to one driver at Del Mar is 25, including 20 for a victory and bonus points for winning the pole, turning in the fastest race lap and leading the most laps. Brabham, who won 10 of 13 races in 1988, nine of 15 in 1989 and five last year, has won only once this year. Robinson has won two races.

At stake are a $150,000 bonus from R. J. Reynolds for winning the championship and $130,000 for the race winner.

“Another thing to remember,” Robinson said, “is that the Nissans historically do not do good at Del Mar. The track is so tight and narrow that it favors lighter cars, such as the Intrepid and the Toyota, and our cars are probably the heaviest in the race. We have more power, but Del Mar isn’t a power track, and the lighter cars brake better, a big advantage on a course with 10 tight turns.”

Juan Manuel Fangio II won last year in one of Dan Gurney’s Toyota Eagles, and he will be joined this weekend by Rocky Moran. Wayne Taylor, who won the pole for the 1989 Del Mar race, drove an Intrepid to victory through the streets of New Orleans in June. Taylor’s teammate, Tom Kendall, will be at Del Mar but only as a spectator. The UCLA graduate is still recovering from injuries he suffered at Watkins Glen, N.Y.

Jones will have a new Jaguar teammate in Formula One driver Martin Brundle, who won the 1988 Del Mar race as well as the 24 Hours of Daytona in a Jaguar.

Spices will come in two types, Chevrolets for Jeff Kline and Brian Bonner and Pontiacs for John Paul Jr. and Jim Adams.

“This could without a doubt be the most exciting IMSA race ever. There is so much competition between so many drivers,” Robinson said.

“I am looking forward to it with more confidence than ever before, because I believe that I have never driven better under pressure, either chasing or being chased. I credit that to a new lifestyle which keeps me more relaxed than in past years. This season, instead of flying home to New Jersey between races, I have lived in a bus, driving from race to race and staying most of the time in national parks.

“It has given me a refreshed outlook before every race, and that, coupled with the experience of another year and having my own engineer, makes me a more confident driver. The way I look at Sunday’s race, this points championship is mine to win or lose because I’m in the lead. I am going into Del Mar with my mind set on winning the race. That’s how I won at Topeka (Kan.) and Lime Rock (Conn.), so that’s how I’ll approach this one.

“Topeka is a very tight course, much like Del Mar, and although I couldn’t keep up with the leaders most of the race, I was in a position to win when Davy (Jones) and Wayne (Taylor), the two leaders, went off course with 20 laps remaining. Davy got back on the lead, but I was able to reel him in and win the race.

“At Lime Rock, I got the lead after Taylor and Kendall tangled and Davy drove into a lapped car, and I managed to hold Fangio off when he challenged me at the end. My Nissan is definitely better suited for longer, high-speed courses, but I proved we can win on tight ones like Topeka.

Qualifying for GTP cars is Saturday at 2:30 p.m., with the main event Sunday at 2:45 p.m.

MOTORCYCLES--Mike Faria of Colton will defend his U.S. Speedway championship Saturday night at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa against a field of 19 qualifiers. One British League rider, Rick Miller, is returning to run against the California contingent that includes former champions Brad Oxley, Bobby Schwartz, Steve Lucero and Alan Christian. Each rider will compete against every other rider in a series of 20 four-lap heat races. Billy Hamill had planned to return from Europe to race for the national championship, but his British League team, Coventry, would not release him from a race commitment.

Defending champion Scott Parker and Chris Carr will conclude their battle for the Camel Pro series title Saturday night in the Sacramento Mile at the Cal Expo Fairgrounds. Parker leads his Harley-Davidson teammate by four points going into the season’s final race. If Carr wins in Sacramento, Parker would have to finish third or worse for Carr to win the championship. All Parker needs is to finish ahead of Carr for his fourth consecutive title.

STOCK CARS--Winston West and Southwest Tour drivers will compete in a three-day speed carnival at Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield. Racing will start Friday with a Skoal Bandit late model stock car feature, plus qualifying for the Winston West. The Goodwrench 200, featuring Southwest Tour leader Rick Carelli, will headline Saturday evening’s program. The Sunday afternoon program includes main events for the 40-lap, $73,000 Winston West and super modified races. Veteran Joe Ruttman and hometown favorite Mike Chase are scheduled to drive. Four drivers, Bill Sedgwick, defending champion Bill Schmitt, Butch Gilliland and 1986 champion Hershel McGriff, are only 116 points apart with two races remaining--Sunday at Mesa Marin and Nov. 2 at Phoenix.

Celebrities such as Mark Harmon, James Garner, Chuck Norris and Parnelli Jones will compete Saturday night at Saugus Speedway in the third Reid Rondell Stunt Foundation’s 150-lap enduro race. Each car will have two drivers, with competition consisting of two 75-lap races. Proceeds go to the foundation, which provides assistance for stuntpersons and their families who face hardships from accidents on the job. Reid Rondell was 17 when he was killed in 1984 while working on a TV stunt.

The Coors 100, third race of the NASCAR Western States Challenge, will be held Saturday night at Cajon Speedway in El Cajon. The series will conclude on Oct. 27 at Las Vegas Speedway. . . . Street and modified stocks will race Saturday night at Orange Show Speedway in San Bernardino.

MIDGETS--Sleepy Tripp and the rest of the U. S. Auto Club’s western regional series drivers will race Saturday night at Mesa Marin Raceway along with the stock car program. The three-quarter midgets will be at Lake Perris Speedway for a 30-lap main event Friday night as part of the 46th annual Farmers Fair. Jay Drake leads Frank Deiny, 558-538, with Gary Schroeder at 534 in the TQ standings.

DRAG RACING--More than 400 cars are expected at Bakersfield Raceway this weekend for the championship final of the Firestone/TNN sportsman bracket series. Time trials begin Friday and continue Saturday with final eliminations Sunday.

OFF-ROAD--The Gold Coast 300, final event of the High Desert Racing Assn. season, is scheduled Saturday from Jean, Nev., 30 miles south of Las Vegas. Lyn St. James, holder of the women’s closed-course record of 212.577 m.p.h. set at Talladega, Ala., in 1988, will make her off-road debut in a Ford F-150 pickup as part of the BF Goodrich Rough Riders team.