Giving a Good Performance : Grand Prix: Actor Robert Carradine bumped from pole, but says he’s got touch for racing.

If Robert Carradine blows a line on a movie set, the director just re-shoots the scene.

But if Bobby Carradine blows a line on the race course at 110 m.p.h., then Robert Carradine has a big problem.

Carradine is starting in the second row for today’s Bridgestone Potenza Supercar Series at the Camel Grand Prix of Greater San Diego.

Having starred alongside John Wayne, Lee Marvin, Walter Matthau and Dennis Hopper, Carradine might be best known for leading the “Revenge of the Nerds.” He also appeared in “Coming Home” and “The Long Riders,” but he is as accomplished behind the wheel of his Lotus Esprit Turbo SE as he is in front of the camera.

“There are certain people who are supposed to be race car drivers,” Carradine said, “and I’ve got that. I’ve got that thing that makes me have to race. I have to do it.”

And he has done it very well. He won a sailboat race at summer camp when he was 10, began racing go-carts when was 11 and has been racing cars since 1976. He won his first professional race, in Holtville, and his last race, an Sports Car Club of America World Challenge race at Elkhart Lake, Wis.

“The thing about racing that appeals to me is your destiny is in your own hands at that moment,” Carradine said. “I won a race in the Lotus at Road America, and I won it. And that’s it. You can’t do better.”

It’s kind of like Carradine’s recent cable performance in “As Is,” for which he won an Ace Award for Best Actor.

The second-youngest son of actor John Carradine couldn’t do much better Saturday. He was the pole-sitter with five minutes left in the 30-minute qualifying window at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, only to be knocked to the second row in the final minute when Hans Stuck established a series course record of 72.972 m.p.h. in a Porsche 911 Turbo. Carradine qualified third (72.660) on the 10-turn, 1.6-mile course, behind teammate Doc Bundy and ahead of another actor teammate, Michael Brockman.

Carradine has balanced both careers, but not without second thoughts.

“Inevitably, at some point in the racing season, there’s a direct conflict,” he said. “I can’t tell the movie people why I can’t be there because they wouldn’t let me go.”

So he acts. But all things being equal, he would race. But racing only pays the mortgage on his house in Colorado. Acting pays for the family, the obligations, the lifestyle and the house in the Hollywood Hills.

“I know he has goals and aspirations to other levels,” said Bundy, a former GTP driver for Corvette. “He’s not unrealistic. Given the right circumstances, I think he could progress up into the next levels of racing.”

Bundy said Carradine’s strengths are his lack of fear, his concentration, his feel for the car and his quickness. Oh, and he has no lack of confidence.

“(Lotus) could sell the seat for more than they’re paying me,” Carradine said. “They could bring money in every weekend, but I don’t think they could win with a guy that’s buying a ride.”

Carradine said he knows his name has helped his second career, but it’s not responsible for it.

“It relies more on talent,” he said. “Today in qualifying, I was the fastest car for most of the session, and you can’t fake that.”

Between the green and checkered flags, there’s little tolerance for acting.