Cost-Conscious Drivers Buying Into Grand Ams : Motor racing: Low-expense division in second season at Saugus gains popularity as Sportsman tabs skyrocket.

Dollars and sense have always weighed heavily in the decisions of stock-car racers.

Spending too many of the former usually does not make a whole lot of the latter--especially when weekly operating expenses often exceed the amount of nightly winnings. And the economy continues to lag in the slow lane.

All of which has not escaped the increasing number of drivers at Saugus Speedway who have steered themselves and their pocketbooks into the track’s Grand American Modified division. Last season, the so-called Grand Ams made their debut with 11 racers taking to the one-third-mile paved oval in unusual-looking, noisier-than-heck, open-wheel stock cars.

This season, the field has more than doubled. At least 23 entries are expected Saturday night in the division’s season-opening main event. NASCAR Sportsman and Pro Stock oval and figure-eight main events also highlight the official opening-night agenda.

Grand American Modified cars are far more affordable than Sportsman cars, yet are faster and more exciting to drive than Street Stock cars. Simply stated, it is the consummate class for upwardly mobile, yet financially strapped racers at low-budget short tracks all over.

“It is the fastest growing class of cars in America,” NASCAR promoter Owen Kearns said. “The trend started in Iowa in the early ‘80s for the same reasons that it’s getting big out here: The price of competing in serious racing has just gotten astronomical.”

In the past three years, Grand American Modified divisions have sprung up at tracks in Stockton, Shasta, El Cajon and Las Vegas. Grand Ams will make their debut at Ventura Raceway this season.

More than 20 of NASCAR’s 92 Winston Racing Series tracks in the Midwest, Southwest and West feature Grand American Modifieds. “Five years ago,” Kearns said, “I doubt there were five.”

Leading the Grand American pack at Saugus is three-time Sportsman champion Dave Phipps of Simi Valley. Last season, as one of the division’s pioneers, Phipps sped to five main-event wins in 12 starts to claim the inaugural division championship. Phipps continued to compete in the Sportsman division, finishing eighth in the season’s points standings.

But this season, for the first time since Jimmy Carter was President, Phipps, 43, will not be running a Sportsman car. For Saugus fans, that is as good an indicator as any that Grand American Modifieds have made a strong impact.

“I don’t have the money other guys have and I cannot find a sponsor with cash,” Phipps said. “The cars have become too expensive to operate. When you start spending 30, 40, $50,000 a year, it’s beyond me.”

A typical Sportsman car, by most drivers’ accounts, costs between $30,000 and $40,000. An engine alone starts between $10,000 and $12,000 and can run much higher. Phipps said his 1991 Chevy Lumina Sportsman is for sale at an asking price of $10,000, without an engine.

A Grand American Modified can be purchased for as little as $10,000--with engine. Phipps said he paid $6,000 for his car one year ago. Dave Blankenship of Reseda, last year’s Street Stock champion and among the Grand Am newcomers this season, said his car is worth about $10,000.

“I would just as much like to be in a Sportsman car,” said Blankenship, 33, a two-time Hobby Stock and Street Stock champion. “But I can’t afford it.”

Yet the new Modifieds, which weigh about 700 pounds less than a typical 3,200-pound Sportsman, sacrifice little in the way of speed.

“I can see why the guys want to drive them,” Saugus promoter Ray Wilkings said. “Dave Phipps let me drive his one day and I put in about 30 laps. They’re a kick to drive.”

Grand American main-event winners pocket only $300 compared to $500 paid to Sportsman winners. But the comparatively low cost of maintenance of the Grand American Modifieds more than makes up the difference.

Phipps said that his garage is filled with parts he can apply to his engine, while repairs on his Sportsman car were usually pricey.

An engine-claim rule in the new division helps keep costs down. If a driver finishes among the top four in a main event, another competitor can buy his engine for $450. Thus, the incentive to drop a bankroll under the hood is less.

Conversely, many drivers consider the Sportsman class a steppingstone, which has triggered an escalating financial battle between competitors hoping to attract the attention of a sponsor.

Last season, two-time Sportsman champion Will Harper of Tarzana parlayed his success at Saugus into a ride on the NASCAR Southwest Tour, NASCAR’s second-most lucrative racing endeavor on the West Coast. Previous Saugus drivers, including Dan Press, have done the same.

Those who cannot keep up financially might as well go home.

Or go Grand Am.

Drivers to Watch at Saugus

The names of three divisions have changed--more for cosmetics than anything--but, for the most part, the drivers have not.

This season at Saugus Speedway marks the debut of the Pro Stock division, formerly titled Street Stock. In turn, last season’s Hobby Stock division has been renamed Street Stock and the Jalopy division is now Hobby Stock.

A look at the likely leaders of the pack in each of six divisions follows:

* Sportsman: Lance Hooper might be ushering in a new era. With the departure last season of two-time defending champion Will Harper, now on the NASCAR Southwest Tour, and the departure this season of three-time champion Dave Phipps, Hooper, 24, of Palmdale, clearly is the driver to beat as he tries to defend his 1991 championship.

Hooper, the division’s rookie of the year in 1990, shot to the top of the standings last season with seven main-event wins in 19 starts. This season, Hooper has transplanted his engine from a 1991 IROC Camaro into a 1992 Pontiac Trans Am.

“We’ve torn the car down and checked everything there is to check,” Hooper said. “I feel good. I’m going to go out and drive every lap as hard as I can.”

Among those expected to be on Hooper’s bumper are Gary Sigman of Carson, Russ Beckers of Sepulveda and Doug Renno of Canoga Park.

Sigman, one of the track’s most consistent entries over the past four years, had one win among 14 top-five finishes last year and should remain among the top drivers, especially in the absence of Phipps, who will race exclusively in the Grand American Modified division.

Beckers and Renno, both of whom competed in the Street Stock division last season, return after staging a heated battle for rookie-of-the-year honors. Beckers, despite failing to win a main event, claimed the trophy by finishing fourth in the points standings. Renno won four main events and finished tied for sixth with Rod Johnson of Canyon Country.

* Grand American Modified: Few were surprised when Phipps, a 12-year track veteran from Simi Valley, won the division’s inaugural track championship last season. Now that he no longer is dividing his time between Modified and Sportsman divisions, Phipps can concentrate on defending his title.

“I expect it to be tougher this year,” said Phipps, winner of five of 12 main events last season. “A lot of the guys did a good job driving last year and they were learning.”

Dave Blankenship of Reseda, last year’s Street Stock champion, makes his debut and should challenge Phipps. Blankenship, who has won two Hobby Stock and two Street Stock titles, has been successful at every level he has raced.

Jim Marlewski of Simi Valley (third last season) and Sigman (fourth) return, and Rusty Parr of Newhall and Gary Ebeling of El Monte are the most promising of 12 new entries.

* Pro Stock: The points race for this division’s championship always is tightly contested and this season’s battle should be no exception with 80 entries--most of any division--and the departure of Blankenship, division champion in 1988 and 1991. Four returnees--Scott Dinger of Simi Valley, Brian Kelley of Arleta, Rip Michels of Arleta and Ed Horst of Reseda--finished within 20 points of Blankenship, who won the title in the season’s final race.

Dinger won only one main event last season but placed among the top five enough times to finish five points behind Blankenship and earn rookie-of-the-year honors. Mark Miller of Panorama City, who ran away with last season’s Hobby Stock championship, joins the grid.

* Street Stock: The closest competitor to Miller last season was Richard Ingram of Hesperia, who finished 49 points behind. Any of several drivers could win the title. Among the favorites is Russ Wolff of Glendale (third last season). Bart Bartholomew of North Hollywood, last season’s Jalopy champion, is among the newcomers.

* Hobby Stock: It is anybody’s race. The top returnee is Dick Leighton of Pacoima, who finished 70 points behind No. 3 Bartholomew in fourth place. Rich Ocheltree of Van Nuys, 10th last season, won last week’s season-opening main event and set a qualifying record with a one-lap time of 19.87 seconds.

* Mini Stock: Rock Ake Jr. of Moorpark, who fashioned a Mini Stock championship at Ventura Raceway in 1989, did the same last season at Saugus, where he now races exclusively. Ake’s five main-event wins last season were enough to help him finish 18 points ahead of Gerry Meilke of Ventura, who also returns. This season, Ake will pilot a front-wheel-drive Ford Escort, an experimental gamble, according to Ake, who finished sixth Saturday in the season-opening 25-lap main event.

Gregg Symonds, 71, of Agoura Hills (fourth last season) also returns.