MOTOR RACING / VINCE KOWALICK : Sleepy Darts to Head of the Pack

When Ron Tripp was a youngster racing go-karts, what seemed like an eternity passed while he waited in the pits for the next race.

Sometimes the waiting became unbearable and Tripp slipped into slumber, only to be awakened by a startled track official when it was time to race.

Or so the story goes.

“I guess I was about 7 or 8 or 9 and maybe once I fell asleep in the pits in the car,” Tripp said. “I’ve tried to get rid of the nickname, but it just kind of follows you around.”

Thus, the legend of Sleepy Tripp was born.

And for nearly two decades, Midget race-car drivers have spent much of their time on the track following Tripp.

Tripp, 38, the winningest driver in United States Auto Club Midget history, leads the pack into Saugus Speedway tonight for his second of two appearances this season at Saugus.

“I like racing at Saugus,” Tripp said. “It’s pretty flat and I know some of the guys don’t like that. Good guys have trouble passing good guys.”

Tripp, who lives in Costa Mesa, is the USAC Midget series’ points leader and defending champion in pursuit of his fourth consecutive title and seventh of his career.

Moreover, Tripp, who has a series-record 225 career victories, is hot. After 15 of 31 scheduled races, he has a series-high eight main-event wins in the past nine races.

Tripp’s first victory came May 9 at Saugus after coming up empty five consecutive weeks at Ventura Raceway during the series’ much-acclaimed five-week engagement that was televised on ESPN.

“As soon as we got away from TV, then it was Sleepy time,” said Dick Hindman, USAC’s Western States Midget coordinator.

Tripp has four more chances this season to win at Ventura, beginning Aug. 22. On Sept. 5, Ventura has scheduled a tribute to Tripp.

“We’re going to have this event because he’s the greatest Midget driver on the West Coast,” Ventura promoter Jim Naylor said. “Sleep’s never changed. He’s a terror, an absolute terror.”

Said Tripp: “They told me they wanted to put on a night for me and I just didn’t know. My wife is in on it. But she’s pretty secretive on the whole deal.”

Embarrassed by the fuss, Tripp said he would just as soon skip it. Better still, wake him when it’s over.

How many fingers?: Rodney Peacher didn’t sleep much Saturday night, only for about two hours at a time.

Earlier in the evening, Peacher was knocked unconscious for a few minutes during a Sportsman division heat race at Saugus after his car slid across the wet pavement and slammed into a concrete wall.

Peacher, 43, was taken by ambulance to a hospital and treated for a mild concussion, then released. He returned to the track but did not race. The program eventually was postponed because of a steady drizzle.

“Best I can remember is the car going toward the wall and me trying to steer away from it,” Peacher said. “Next thing I know, there are all these red shirts looking me over.”

As a precaution, Peacher’s doctor instructed him to be awakened every few hours after going to bed.

Though he still is sore, Peacher expects to return to the track next weekend.

“I wasn’t about to try again (today), even if my car would have been ready,” Peacher said. “I was OK, but I was still a little goofy.”

Driving for dollars: Bill Sedgwick is giving the NASCAR Winston West Series competition a run for its money.

Sedgwick, a 37-year-old Granada Hills resident and the defending series champion, pocketed a career-high $52,220 last weekend at Evergreen Speedway in Monroe, Wash., by posting his third consecutive victory, a series record.

The win raised Sedgwick’s seasonal earnings to $78,315, another series record. After six of 11 scheduled races, Sedgwick is on pace to become the series’ first $100,000 money winner.

“This was the best one,” Sedgwick said of his second career win at Monroe. “When you beat this kind of field, it sure makes your team feel great.”

Sedgwick remains the series’ points leader with a 40-point advantage over Bill Schmitt of Redding, Calif.

Truth be told: Kenny Mann’s first appearance in Ventura Raceway’s Street Stock division might also be his last.

Mann, a resident of Oxnard, made his main-event debut July 4 on the quarter-mile dirt oval. Midway through the race, Mann pulled into the infield, apparently dead under the hood.

However, on the white-flag lap, Mann returned to the track and rammed into the side of the vehicle driven by Scott Olsen of Ventura.

Afterward, Mann admitted what track officials had suspected: The move was deliberate.

“He made no bones about it,” said Cliff Morgan, the track’s general manager. “He decided on the very final lap to fire up his engine and take out the guy who he thought took him out.”

Morgan said track officials will take unspecified disciplinary action against Mann.

New record: Scott Roark of Agua Dulce set a Saugus Street Stock one-lap qualifying record of 18.77 seconds (63.93 m.p.h.) last week.

Roark bettered the standard of 18.82 seconds by Brian Kelley of Arleta in 1989.