MOTOR RACING / SHAV GLICK : Off-Road Teams Go in Different Directions

After seven years of partnership, with one champion and one set of rules in off-road racing, SCORE International and the High Desert Racing Assn. have split for the 1992 season.

With the number of competitors and factory involvement dropping because of economic conditions, the split will offer opportunities to run for one championship in fewer races. Essentially, SCORE will operate in Mexico, plus one race in Parker, Ariz., and the HDRA will run its events in California, Nevada and Utah.

Each will have a cornerstone race, the Nissan (formerly Mint) 400 for HDRA, and the Baja 1000--the race that launched the sport--for SCORE. The Nissan 400, which starts and finishes near Las Vegas, will be March 14-15. The Baja 1000, which is scheduled to run from Ensenada to La Paz, is Nov. 12-14.

“Many of our racers are employed in the construction and automotive industries, which have been hit particularly hard by the recession,” said Sal Fish, SCORE president. “From the sizes of the entry fields this year, it was obvious that many were stressed by having to compete in (so many) races to have any chance at all to win a championship.”

The HDRA also will conduct the third annual Desert Championships closed-course event Sept. 18-20 at Willow Springs Raceway.

“We will inaugurate a new championship, the HDRA U.S.A. Cup, which will incorporate four of our regular races, plus a new event in the Dixie National Forest in southern Utah,” said Danny Cau, HDRA president. HDRA’s opening event is the inaugural Southern Cal 500, Jan. 12, in Lucerne Valley. Other races are the Nevada 500, May 9-10, in Pahrump; Fireworks 250, July 4-5, in Barstow; Brian Head Color Country Runoffs, Aug. 14-16, Brian Head, Utah, and the Gold Coast 300, Oct. 3, at Las Vegas.

SCORE will open its schedule Jan. 24-26 with the Parker 400, followed by the San Felipe 250, April 24-26; Baja 500, June 5-7, and the Baja 1000.

Former Indy 500 winner Parnelli Jones will drive a Ford Ranger in the four SCORE races, replacing the retired Manny Esquerra on the Stroppe Motorsports team.

Doug Fortin Jr. of Jamul, Calif., is defending HDRA/SCORE champion after winning the Class 10 and overall titles in the eight-race series.

After watching former funny car compatriots Kenny Bernstein and Don Prudhomme move into top fuel two years ago and attain remarkably quick success, Ed McCulloch will follow suit when the National Hot Rod Assn. season opens next month with the Pomona Winternationals.

McCulloch, last remaining member of the original group of funny car drivers who started the popular drag racing class in the late 1960s, will drive a top fueler for car owner Larry Minor of Hemet. McCulloch will switch rides with young Cruz Pedregon, who will move from top fuel to funny cars.

McCulloch has won 18 national funny car events, including the U.S. Nationals five times between 1971 and 1990.

SPRINT CARS--The non-winged sprinters of the California Racing Assn. will return to pavement racing next year after being a dirt track organization for more than 10 years. On the 1992 schedule are races at Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield, Madera Speedway and Cajon Speedway in El Cajon. Outside of a few races in 1989, all CRA competition since 1978 has been on dirt. The season will open Feb. 1 on the clay half mile at Manzanita Speedway in Phoenix.

STOCK CARS--Bill Elliott was voted most popular driver in NASCAR for the sixth time and showed his appreciation by turning over the deed to three houses and more than an acre of land to the Dawson County Board of Education in Dawsonville, Ga. The property donated by Elliott is adjacent to land owned by the school district. Louise Walls, head of the district Board of Education, was Elliott’s English teacher in high school.

Ray Elder, who gained fame as the Racing Farmer from Caruthers, Calif., is planning a comeback at age 49. Elder, a six-time Winston West champion, has been testing in hopes of driving in the Daytona 500 on Feb. 16.

DIRT CARS--Jeff Gordon, the youngest driver to win a United States Auto Club Silver Crown series, will limit his 1992 champ dirt car program to one race--the Skoal Bandit Racing Copper World Classic at Phoenix International Raceway on Feb. 2. Gordon, who was 20 when he won the championship, also won last year’s Phoenix race. He plans to concentrate next year on NASCAR’s Busch Grand National series, in which he was rookie of the year this season.

COLLECTOR CARDS--The latest fad in sports memorabilia has come to motor racing. Track Pack, Inc., has a 48-driver set called “Yesterday’s Heroes” that includes David Pearson, Cale Yarborough, Fred Lorenzen, Ned Jarrett, Benny Parsons and Tim Flock. Also included are rare cards of Jim Roper, winner of the first NASCAR race, June 10, 1949, and Louise Smith, known as the “first lady of stock car racing.” And Pro Set has a 130-card set of National Hot Rod Assn. drag racers that includes drivers, crew chiefs, racing officials and cars.