MOTOR RACING / SHAV GLICK : Peak Driving Effort Is Required

Race drivers live on the edge, that ever-changing millisecond between losing control of their car and driving as fast as their car is capable. The edge is where races are won--and lost.

Pikes Peak offers the ultimate challenge in driving on the edge. The “edge” there can also mean the edge of a thousand-foot precipice.

“Where else can you drive a little more than 12 miles, climbing from 8,000 feet to over 14,000 feet, and all you have to do is memorize 156 turns where there are no guardrails to keep you from going off,” explained Roger Mears, a three-time winner.

Mears and his son, Roger Jr., will be among more than 40 drivers who will test their skills and nerve July 4 in the 70th running of the Chevrolet Pikes Peak Hillclimb on the twisting mountain road west of Colorado Springs, Colo.

“It’s the most unique and terrifying event I’ve ever been involved in,” said Mears, one of racing’s most versatile drivers who has won in sprint cars, super vees, desert dune buggies, off-road stadium trucks and has driven in two Indianapolis 500s.

“It kind of haunts you,” he said. “You wonder, after each year, why you go back, but there is an appeal there that you can’t set aside. It’s like racing as fast as you can on a tabletop without going off the edge.

“I approach the hill as if there was a wall there, even though I know there isn’t. I don’t like to hit walls so I drive with that thought in mind. I don’t know any race, other than maybe Indy, where you hold respect for it the way you do Pikes Peak.”

They don’t keep records of cars going over the edge at Pikes Peak, but old-timers recall two memorable instances.

In 1962, Slim Roberts missed a hairpin near the top and flipped over a precipice and tumbled 100 feet down the cliff. The car appeared headed for the bottom of the canyon when it caught on a boulder jutting out from the mountain wall. Rescuers lifted the car--with Roberts still in it--back to the road with ropes and chains.

Bobby Unser Jr., a third-generation hill-climber, went off in 1978 and his car was caught by a thick stand of pine trees. Unser managed to crawl to safety, but the car had to be hauled out of the trees by a military helicopter.

Just in case, there are six ambulances, 15 doctors and 150 flagmen on hand during the race. In this year’s race, the two Mears will be driving propane-powered twin-turbo Nissan 300ZX cars in the showroom stock division.

“Propane is a clean burning fuel, but it’s taken a bum rap for being a weak fuel and we want to show that it can perform as well as any other fuel and still keep the air clean,” Mears said. “Junior proved it can go fast when he set a speed record last year at Bonneville (Salt Flats) and we want to show what it can under race conditions on the hill.”

Roger Jr. drove the Nissan 218.181 m.p.h. at Bonneville for what is believed to be a world record for a propane-powered vehicle.

“We tested as hard as we could on a road in Jawbone Canyon, near Tehachapi, and the Conoco people were very happy at the way the propane performed. Ak Miller (a longtime propane developer and pioneer Pikes Peak racer) converted the twin turbos to run on propane and he’ll be there to make sure everything’s running smooth.”

Pikes Peak will also mark Hyundai’s first involvement in American motorsports when Rod Millen, internationally renowned rally driver from New Zealand and Newport Beach, drives a 1993 Scoupe Turbo in the showroom stock division. Millen is a two-time winner and holder of the open division record of 11 minutes 51.37 seconds in a 1991 Mazda RX-7 set last year.

After Pikes Peak, the Mearses and Millen will turn their attention to the July 18 Mickey Thompson Off-Road Gran Prix in the Coliseum in stadium trucks. Millen, who drives a Toyota, has won three races and is the points leader.

Briefly

MIDGETS--The 52nd annual Turkey Night Grand Prix, premier race of the United States Auto Club season, will be held at Bakersfield Speedway on Nov. 26, it was announced by co-promoters Cary Agajanian and Ben Foote. After 30 Thanksgiving nights at Ascot Park, the race was moved last year to Saugus Speedway, an asphalt track, following the closure of Ascot. Because the race has been traditionally run on dirt, the move was made this year to the newly enlarged dirt track in Oildale.

Three-quarter midgets will return to Ventura Raceway Saturday night to share top billing with IMCA modifieds and California dwarf cars. Rick Hendrix leads TQ drivers with 321 points.

STOCK CARS--With Rick Carelli’s once seemingly insurmountable lead in NASCAR’s Southwest Tour now down to four points after back-to-back engine failures, the stock car series reaches its halfway point Saturday night at Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield with a 100-lap main event. Carelli has 1,227 points to 1,223 for Ron Hornaday Jr. and 1,217 for Doug George, defending series champion. Carelli and George won two previous races at Mesa Marin this year.

Pat Mintey Jr., a front-running winner last week, will try to make it three victories in a row Saturday night in the Winston Racing Series sportsman main event at Saugus Speedway. . . . Street stocks and bombers will race Saturday night at Orange Show Speedway. . . . Cajon Speedway will feature sportsman drivers and a destruction derby Saturday night. . . . Street and mini stocks will race Friday night at Ventura Raceway. . . . The first round of the Kragen California Late Model Series is Saturday night at Santa Maria Speedway.

SPRINT CARS--Defending California Racing Assn. champion Ron Shuman’s return to the series has netted consecutive wins at Mesa Marin and Bakersfield Speedways and the Arizona veteran will be going for three straight Saturday night when the CRA returns to Bakersfield.

Four Southern California personalities were inducted posthumously to the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Iowa. They include Alex Morales, owner of the famed Tamale Wagon cars; Earl Gilmore, car owner-sponsor and owner of Gilmore Stadium; Ronnie Allyn, journalist, historian and publicist for Agajanian enterprises, and Arthur Pillsbury, builder of the Beverly Hills board track and director of the Mobilgas Economy Run.

MOTORCYCLES--The last regular-season program of speedway racing at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa will be held Friday night along with sidecars. The track will be closed until Aug. 7 because of the Orange County Fair.

SPORTS CARS--The California Sports Car Club will hold regional championship races Saturday and Sunday at Willow Springs Raceway. Also at Willow will be a Toyota Super Production Grand Prix.

DRAG RACING--The Nostalgia Drag Racing Assn.’s Black Gold series will feature old-time dragsters Saturday and Sunday at Bakersfield Raceway. Street-type vehicles are limited to 1974 and older.

NECROLOGY--Michele Greenhill, known professionally as Mike Hamilton, was publicist for SCCA and Cal Club sports car races in Palm Springs during the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, died of cancer last week. A memorial service will be held at 7 p.m. Monday at the San Clemente Pier.