MOTOR RACING / SHAV GLICK : Hot Amato Stays That Way With Bakersfield Run

Joe Amato is as close to winning his fourth world top-fuel championship as he could be without actually having it, but the defending champion is taking no chances.

When the 27th annual Winston Final at the Pomona Fairplex was postponed because of rain last weekend, Amato took his Valvoline top fueler to the old Famoso strip north of Bakersfield for a series of test runs. On Monday, he had an unofficial run of 4.850 seconds--quicker than his national record of 4.876 set last March in Gainesville, Fla.

“Naturally, we’d like to have run last week,” Amato said. “Waiting a week means just seven more days of anxiety, but we were pleased with the way the car ran at Bakersfield. We were mainly working on new technology geared to next season.”

Kenny Bernstein also tested Tuesday, but could manage no better than 5.05.

The two will be back at Pomona on Saturday for two more qualifying runs and the Budweiser Top Fuel Classic, in which Amato also is defending champion. In six runnings of the Budweiser, which matches the top eight drivers in a series of eliminations, Amato has won five, including the last four in a row.

It pays $50,000 to the winner, and with the $150,000 Winston champion’s bonus he is almost sure to win, Amato, the businessman racer from Old Forge, Pa., will have a big two-day payoff.

Bernstein, who is not yet in the field of 16 for Sunday’s eliminations, must become the No. 1 qualifier, win the top-fuel final and set a national elapsed-time record if he expects to beat Amato. And even if he does all that, Amato still must lose in the first round for Bernstein to win.

“It’s not a likely scenario, but stranger things have happened--like Minnesota and Atlanta winning the big league pennants,” Bernstein said. After two runs, the Newport Beach driver is 17th.

Amato and Bernstein aren’t the only top-fuel drivers contesting for the event championship.

Don Prudhomme, from Granada Hills, is coming off a victory over Bernstein in the Chief Nationals final two weeks ago in Texas, and Prudhomme’s Friday qualifying run of 4.935 seconds has him No. 1 at the moment.

Lori Johns, who has taken over Shirley Muldowney’s title as the world’s fastest female racer, and Tom McEwen, who drives for Boston Red Sox slugger Jack Clark, have won races this season and are capable of winning another.

Frank Hawley, who has been driving Darrell Gwynn’s dragster since the Miami racer was paralyzed in a crash last year in England, will be making his final appearance this weekend. Hawley plans to return to operating his drag racing school in Gainesville, Fla., full time and will turn the driving chores over to Michael Brotherton next year. Brotherton, who has been Gene Snow’s crew chief this season, is not racing this week.

And Pat Austin, the racer from Tacoma, Wash., who scored drag racing’s first double by winning top-fuel dragster and alcohol funny car titles on the same day at Topeka, Kan., will be trying for another double. He is off to a good start after qualifying his Oldsmobile-powered alcohol funny car in the No. 1 spot with a 6.014 second run last Friday. He is seventh among top-fuel qualifiers.

Qualifying will resume at 8 a.m. Saturday, with the first round of the Budweiser Classic at 11 a.m. Final eliminations start at 11 a.m. Sunday.

Racing Notes

STOCK CARS--Dale Earnhardt can win his fifth Winston Cup championship by finishing one place behind Ricky Rudd--or better--in the Pyroil 500 Sunday at Phoenix International Raceway and then showing up for the season finale Nov. 17 in Atlanta. . . . Not so defined are the Winston West and Southwest Tour championships, both of which will be determined this weekend at Phoenix. Bill Sedgwick of Granada Hills holds a 49-point lead over four-time champion Bill Schmitt of Redding, Calif., in the Winston West competition. Schmitt edged Sedgwick by a point last year at Phoenix. Rick Carelli, Ron Hornaday Jr. and Jon Paques have a shot at the Southwest Tour title in Saturday’s GM Goodwrench 300. A 19th-place finish or better for Carelli will give the Denver driver his first championship, but the field will be invaded by Winston Cup veterans Darrell Waltrip, Ken Schrader and defending race winner Dick Trickle.

INDY CARS--Newly crowned PPG Cup driving champion Michael Andretti and his father, Mario, will switch engines next season. The Newman-Haas team announced it was leaving the all-winning Chevrolet by Ilmor for a new slim-line Ford Cosworth. The Ilmor Chevy was used by every winning CART team the last two seasons. Also making the switch are Eddie Cheever and the Chip Ganassi team. The joint project with the British-built Cosworth marks Ford’s first participation in Indy car racing after a 20-year absence.

Italian Nicola Marozzo won his first American IndyCar Series race in a stretch duel with defending champion Bill Tempero in the Los Angeles Grand Prix last Sunday at Willow Springs. The Unser cousins, Johnny and Robby, finished third and fourth, respectively.

Jovy Marcelo, Toyota Atlantic series champion from the Philippines, came within 0.3 seconds of Arie Luyendyk’s track record at Firebird Raceway, near Phoenix, in his Indy car debut. Marcelo was driving Walker Motorsport’s Lola-Cosworth, which was campaigned last season by Willy T. Ribbs.

MOTORCYCLES--The second annual American Motorcyclist Assn.’s Dirt Day is scheduled Saturday at Hansen Dam Park in Sylmar. Among those scheduled to participate are Don Emde, 1972 Daytona 200 winner with the bike his father, Floyd, rode when he won the same race in 1947; Sammy Tanner, who won the first AMA race at Ascot Park, with a replica of his 500cc Triumph Twin; and Skip van Leeuwen, with the 600cc Triumph which dominated T.T. racing at Ascot in the 1960s.

The White Bros. world veterans’ motocross will be held Saturday and Sunday at Goat Brecker’s Perris Raceway. More than 800 riders, all 25 or older, are expected for a series of age-group races. Sunday’s professional race will be for riders 30 and over.

OFF ROAD--Veteran Walker Evans has clinched the drivers’ championship in the Mickey Thompson Gran Prix stadium series, but the manufacturers’ title will be at stake when the season ends Saturday night in the Oakland Coliseum. Toyota has won eight consecutive championships but is trailing the Dodge team of Evans and Glenn Harris by 19 points. Ivan Stewart and Rod Millen will drive for Toyota.

RALLY--Former world motocross champion Danny LaPorte of Redondo Beach, riding a Cagiva, won the 10-day Pharaoh’s Rally in Egypt after taking the lead for keeps on the fourth day. LaPorte, who nearly lost his life in an accident during last year’s Paris-to-Dakar Rally, finished nearly 19 minutes ahead of Frenchman Stephane Peterhansel, who won the Paris-to-Dakar. LaPorte is the first American rider to win the Pharaoh’s.

SPORTS CARS--The Cal Club will hold an SCCA regional championship this weekend at Willow Springs Raceway. Finals are scheduled Sunday. . . . Bryan Herta, the Barber-Saab series champion from Los Angeles, finished 11th among 155 entries in his European racing debut in the Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch, England. He and Bobby Carville, who finished 23rd, brought the United States a seventh-place finish out of 19 nations represented in the Formula Ford World Cup. . . . Randy McDaniel of Orange won the United States Auto Club’s Formula 2000 race last week at Willow Springs with a wire-to-wire performance.

KARTS--Glen Helen Park in San Bernardino will be the site of the final Speedway Kart races Saturday evening. Former champion Mike Guger will drive series champion J Hicks’ twin-engine backup car in the unlimited class.