MOTOR RACING : They’ll Mix It Up With Celebrities at Long Beach

The Unsers, Andrettis, Mearses and Rahals--headliners in this weekend’s Indy car race through the streets of Long Beach--are far from being the only racing entertainment planned for the Toyota Grand Prix, which begins Friday.

Three professional races and a pro-celebrity event are programmed around the $1-million Indy car race.

After a day of practice and qualifying for all classes Friday, there will be main events Saturday for the pro-celebrities and Sports Car Club of America Trans-Am sedans, along with the final qualifying session for the Indy cars. The pro-celebrity race, featuring entertainment and racing personalities, will be 10 laps as drivers such as Craig T. Nelson of “Coach,” Tim Allen of “Home Improvement,” Ian Ziering of “Beverly Hills, 90210,” Richard Grieco of “21 Jump Street” and Larry Drake and Amanda Donohoe of “L.A. Law” try to keep from being run down by professional drivers Parnelli and P.J. Jones, Joe Amato and Rod Millen. The pros will start 30 seconds behind the others.

The most intriguing entry in the pro-celeb race might be Mike Bealmear of Westport, Conn., who paid $28,000 at the Toyota charity ball for the purpose of fulfilling what he called “a boyhood fantasy come true.” Bealmear and the 16 other drivers will be in identically prepared Celica GT-S Liftbacks. Each will earn $2,000 on behalf of “Racing for Kids,” with the money going to the Children’s Hospitals of Los Angeles, Long Beach and Orange County.

Scott Sharp, defending Trans-Am champion from East Norwalk, Conn., will be out to become the first repeat series winner since 1986 when Wally Dallenbach Jr. won two in a row. Sharp, whose father Bob is a former SCCA champion and owner of the Trans-Am driven by Paul Newman, won six races last year in his Duracell Camaro.

His chief challenger was expected to be Ford driver Dorsey Schroeder, the 1989 champion from Roush Racing, but Schroeder will be replaced at Long Beach by Robby Gordon of Orange. Gordon, who will drive an Indy car later in the season, finished second to Steve Millen in a GTO-GTU race last year.

Chrysler is returning to the Trans-Am after more than 20 years with a team featuring the Archer brothers, Bobby and Tommy, in factory-backed Daytonas. Other prominent Trans-Am favorites include Jack Baldwin, Sharp’s Camaro teammate; Les Lindley of Anaheim and Stuart Hayner of Yorba Linda, both also in Camaros.

The Firestone Indy Lights, a training series for would-be Indy car drivers, will showcase the stars of tomorrow in the Texaco System 3 Challenge, a 75-mile race that will precede the Indy car main event. A Toyota Atlantic championship race for open-wheel formula cars will follow the feature race.

Adrian Fernandez of Mexico, the reigning Formula 3 champion of Mexico, will be favored in the Indy Lights race after his impressive debut last week in Phoenix where he beat a strong field that included former champion Tommy Byrne of Ireland and local favorites Robbie Groff and Bryan Herta of Los Angeles and David Kudrave of La Canada.

Russell Spence of England, winner of the first two Atlantic races, will be after No. 3 against 1990 champion Mark Dismore, who drove Indy cars last year before being injured at Indianapolis; Chris Smith of Palos Verdes Estates, son of racing engineer Carroll Smith; Steve O’Hara of Mission Viejo, an eight-time karting champion; Jordan Harris of Malibu, third-place finisher last week at Phoenix, and Joe Sposato of Arcadia, the 1985 Pacific Coast champion in Formula Atlantics.

MIDGETS--Former United States Auto Club champion Russ Gamester will be after his second victory in the ESPN Saturday Night Thunder series this week at Ventura Raceway. Gamester, of Peru, Ind., won the opener last week by taking the lead on the final lap from veteran Ron Shuman, the four-time California Racing Assn. sprint car champion who has shifted his emphasis to midget races this season.

SPEEDWAY BIKES--After one of the largest opening-night turnouts in recent years, the weekly speedway season at Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa heads into its second week with a full card of scratch and handicap races Friday night.

MOTOCROSS--Any thoughts that Jean-Michel Bayle was getting complacent after sweeping every U.S. series least year were dispelled when he swept all three 25-minute motos of the U.S. Grand Prix last Sunday at San Bernardino’s Glen Helen Park. Second in the opening race of a 12-race season was Jeff Matiasevich, followed by Billy Liles and defending world champion Georges Jobe.

DRAG RACING--The Nostalgia Drag Racing Assn., featuring 1974 and older vehicles, will hold its fourth annual March Meet at Bakersfield Speedway on Saturday and Sunday. The meet was moved to April in hopes of getting better weather. Time trials are Saturday with eliminations Sunday. . . . The SoCal Pro Gas Assn. will open its 14th season Saturday with a points race at Los Angeles County Raceway in Palmdale.

Don (Big Daddy) Garlits, 60, who built a revolutionary top fuel dragster in hopes of becoming the first 300 m.p.h. driver, will debut the car April 23-26 in the Southern Nationals at Atlanta. However, his bid will come too late as Kenny Bernstein broke 300 with a 301.70 m.p.h. run last month at Gainesville, Fla. Garlits was the first to exceed 250, in 1975 at Ontario. . . . Boston Red Sox slugger Jack Clark has decided to park his much-publicized top fuel dragster until he can find financial backing for his team.

STOCK CARS--Sportsman, Grand American modifieds and mini stocks will run Saturday night at Saugus Speedway with a train race closing the show. . . . Cajon Speedway will open its regular weekly Winston Racing Series schedule Saturday night with Chuck Miinch back to defend his sportsman crown. . . . The Coors Silver Bullet series opens Friday night at Ventura Raceway for street stocks, mini stocks and modified minis.

SPRINT CARS--World of Outlaws veteran Doug Wolfgang, a five-time winner of the Knoxville Nationals, is in the intensive care ward of the Kansas University Medical Center’s burn center after an accident during practice last Friday at Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City. Wolfgang was burned over 30% of his body, mostly his legs and hands, but the major concern is the possibility of his contracting pneumonia because of the amount of fumes and chemicals he might have inhaled.

NECROLOGY--Dick Troutman, 70, a renowned Southern California sports car builder, died recently of heart failure at his home in Murrieta. Troutman, who worked with Frank Kurtis building midget racers and Indy cars, later teamed with Tom Barnes to create the original Scrabs for Lance Reventlow and did prototype work for Jim Hall on front-engine Chaparrals.