MOTOR RACING : Whelchel Is Having Good Off-Road Run
Veteran off-road car builder Nye Frank named his latest creation Chubasco, which means hurricane in Spanish. The name is appropriate, as driver Jerry Whelchel of Mission Viejo has blown away the opposition in his last two races.
Whelchel and Chubasco compete in the Super 1600 class of the Mickey Thompson Off-Road Gran Prix and will be looking for a third consecutive victory Saturday when the fifth round of the series is held in the Coliseum. First race is at 4 p.m.
Super 1600s are the direct descendants of the old dune buggies that pioneered Baja desert racing. As they became more sophisticated, they were called desert buggies, and when they moved into stadiums they became Super 1600s. They are powered by rear-mounted 1,650cc engines, usually Volkswagens or Toyotas.
For the last decade, nearly every Super 1600 chassis was a Chenowth until Frank and Whelchel decided to build their own car in Frank’s garage in Idylwild.
“So many things have changed in racing since Chenowth designed their car that we felt we could do a more advanced job,” Whelchel said. “We took off the suspension and torsion bars and replaced them with water-cooled air shocks. We put in rear inboard disc brakes and we have an automatic transmission. In all, we lightened the car 215 pounds from the old Chenowth.”
The results have been dramatic. After failing to qualify for the main events at Anaheim and San Diego, Whelchel came back to sweep the card at the Seattle Kingdome by qualifying first and winning both the heat and main event. At Dallas he qualified fifth, but dominated his heat and the main event.
From 25th position after the first two events, Whelchel has climbed to a third-place tie with Marty Hart of El Cajon and trails leader Mitch Mustard of Arvada, Colo., by only 35 points. Mustard has 145, Frank Arciero Jr. of Laguna Hills 141, and Whelchel and Hart 110 each. Five races remain.
Whelchel, 31, has two special reasons for wanting to do well in the Coliseum. First, he and Arciero are tied for all-time stadium Super 1600 victories with 13, so a Coliseum victory would make him No. 1 in the class. Second, he has never finished a race in the Coliseum since Super 1600s were first run there in 1985.
“I’ve done everything but win the main event, and I can’t tell you why,” Whelchel said. “I’ve been fast qualifier and I’ve won heat races, but something always happens to me in the big one.
“Two years ago, after we had put in our automatic transmission, I had won my heat and was running side by side with Frank Arciero going down the front straightaway in the main event when we came to that little left turn just before going up to the peristyle. I got a little wide and clipped a barrier and broke my front end.
“Last year, I had electrical failure in the heat race and didn’t qualify.
“We’ve been testing the new car a lot and I hope everything holds together Saturday night. It’s been three months since we’ve raced, so I don’t know how much homework the other guys, especially Mustard and Arciero, have done.”
Frank and Whelchel test on their own track, built to simulate Anaheim Stadium’s course, on a 70-acre site near Perris.
Whelchel, who has been racing since he was 14 when he replaced his father, Bryce, in the family buggy, competed in both desert and stadium races until this year. Last year, he won the SCORE San Felipe 250 and the La Rana Lucerne 250 in the desert.
“I’d still be racing in the desert, but the guy retired who ran my team and I was left without a sponsor,” Whelchel said.
Motor Racing Notes
OFFSHORE BOATS--Bob Nordskog, 79, founder of the Pacific Offshore Power Boat Racing Assn. and a pioneer in offshore racing, has suffered a massive stroke and is hospitalized in “guarded” condition, according to a family spokesman. Nordskog only last month won the Marina del Rey Race for Sight. . . . The Long Beach Rum Run, a POPBRA race started by Nordskog in 1968, will be held Sunday. The 113.6-mile race--from Long Beach to Catalina and back twice--was inspired by the rum runners who roamed the coastal waters off Long Beach during Prohibition. Boats will start at 10 a.m. just outside Alamitos Bay.
MOTOCROSS--Damon Bradshaw showed class Saturday night when he showed up in the press box to be interviewed after a disappointing fifth-place finish that cost him his first Supercross championship. The teen-ager from North Carolina is in the final year of his contract with Yamaha and has been approached by several other manufacturers for next year. Among the rumored offers is one from Honda to replace 1991 champion Jean-Michel Bayle, who is leaving Supercross to ride a road-racing bike.
The Coliseum has an $8-million state-of-the-art scoreboard but instead of giving fans results, the Mickey Thompson Entertainment Group used it only for advertisements and gratuitous thank-you messages last Saturday. Not once were results shown, either during or after a race.
The United States, which has already lost a Formula One auto race and a world motorcycle road race, now is losing its world 500cc motocross. Promoter Roger DeCoster will present a national championship race in its place next year at Glen Helen Park, near San Bernardino. He said exorbitant fees demanded by the world sanctioning body prompted his decision.
MOTORCYCLES--The Lake Elsinore-based Team Suzuki Endurance became the first team to win the 24 Hours of Nelson Ledges race four times with its victory last weekend in Ohio. The team included Chuck Graves, Kurt Hall, Michael Martin, Wes Cooley and Steve Patterson. Another 1,340cc Team Suzuki bike, with rider Donald Jacks, will be among a number of racing bikes on display Saturday at the Mikuni Calendar Motorcycle Show at the Museum of Flying at the Santa Monica Airport. Jeff Stern’s Fastline Racing GSXR, points leader in the AMA national endurance series, will also be displayed. The show is a fund-raiser for the museum.
MIDGETS--Saugus Speedway will debut open-wheel Formula Vee cars Saturday night. Also scheduled are a United States Auto Club full midget and TQ doubleheader, plus pro stocks and a train race. . . . The Western States dirt track championship is scheduled for Saturday night at Ventura Raceway. . . . Winged midgets will race Saturday night at Santa Maria Speedway.
STOCK CARS--Street stocks and IMCA modifieds will race Friday night at Ventura Raceway. . . . Orange Show Speedway will hold its bomber summer championships Saturday night. . . . Winston Twin 25s for NASCAR sportsman cars feature Cajon Speedway’s Saturday night program. . . . Late models and modifieds share billing Saturday night at Bakersfield Speedway.
DRAG RACING--More than 200 entries, including 16 top-fuel dragsters, are expected for the Champion Nostalgia Racing Series program Saturday night at Bakersfield Raceway. Art Chrisman and his Hustler I, and Jim McClellan, in his vintage twin engine Champion Speed Shop Special, will make exhibition runs.
SPORTS CARS--Exotic cars of the International Motor Sports Assn. will compete this weekend at Laguna Seca Raceway, near Monterey, in the Grand Auto Supply Camel GT. Davy Jones, in a Jaguar, and Juan Fangio II in a Toyota, are locked in one of the closest races in IMSA history with four-time champion Geoff Brabham, in a Nissan, still in a challenging position.
