Denton Makes a Leap of Faith : Off-road: Former ATV and motorcycle champion makes truck-racing debut at Coliseum today.

Gary Denton has won eight stadium off-road main events riding a Honda all-terrain vehicle and is a five-time American Motorcyclist Assn. ATV champion, but he wasn’t prepared for his first Grand National truck class ride.

Not, at least, for his first jump off of the peristyle level of the Coliseum to the football field, in Gil Devine’s Ford pickup.

“It was the most awesome, most terrifying thing I have ever done,” Denton said. “On an ATV or a motorcycle, you can at least see where you’re landing, but in a truck the hood blocks your vision, and when you go off the edge all you can see is the top couple of rows on the other side of the Coliseum. It felt like I was in the air five seconds, not knowing where or how I was going to land.”

Denton will be making his truck-racing debut today in the Mickey Thompson Off-Road Gran Prix at the Coliseum against the largest field in stadium history. Fourteen trucks are entered, including points leaders Rod Millen and Ivan Stewart in Toyotas and Ikuo Hanawa, Japan’s premier off-road driver, in a Mazda entered by Glenn Harris.

“It’s violent racing,” Denton said after practice and qualifying Friday. “I’ve dreamed about getting a chance to drive a truck for three years.”

Denton also will race his ATV in today’s program, which starts at 4 p.m. The ATV puts out about 45 horsepower; the truck, 300.

Denton, 34, replaced veteran desert racer Willie Valdez in Devine’s truck. Valdez quit to concentrate on the High Desert Racing Assn. and SCORE International seasons. “Willie has been tremendous help to me,” Denton said. “He’s here helping with the truck, and after each time I go out we compare notes.”

Devine choose his new stadium driver after a unique tryout camp last June 25 on his Mickey Thompson-style track in Palm Desert. Invited were Hershel McGriff, 64, a longtime NASCAR stock car veteran; Mercedes Gonzales, a leading female off-road racer; Jimmy Nichols, a Super 1600 racer, and Denton.

“I started off with a list of about 25 and narrowed it down to those four,” Devine said. “Each one of them tested until they felt comfortable and then went at it. Any one of them could have done the job, but we chose Gary because he is able to devote full time to the project. We didn’t hire him just for the rest of this year, but we hired him with 1993 in mind.”

Despite his inexperience with trucks, Denton is a longtime Southern California racer. Until 1983 he rode motocross. His best year was 1982, when was the leading independent in the national 125cc class, riding a Suzuki.

In 1984 he switched to riding ATVs and Quads, traveling around the country with his four-wheeled Honda. He won the Riverside off-road race in 1985 and 1986. Tonight, after the Coliseum event, Denton will fly to Pennsylvania for a national ATV race Sunday.

“I wanted to get into trucks because that is where the future is,” Denton said.

Devine is a former racer who still rides with Valdez in his desert truck. Devine became acquainted with Denton on a trip to Japan for an invitational stadium event last year. Valdez won a heat and finished second in the truck feature. Denton failed to finish after being taken out by another rider.

Devine, who was impressed with Denton’s attitude, said: “When Willie told me he’d like to get out of stadium racing, I remembered Denton. I expect him to get to the top, just the way he did in ATVs.”

The truck is a three-year-old Ford that Devine purchased from former racer Don Esslinger.

“In 1990, Robby Gordon drove that same truck and ran away from everyone in practice and qualifying for the Coliseum race, but there was some dispute over his contract and he didn’t run,” Devine said.

“We’re a low-budget team, but ‘low-budget’ still means between $400,000 and $500,000.”

The factory-backed big-budget teams of Toyota, Nissan (Roger Mears and Roger Jr.), Dodge (Walker Evans and Brian Stewart), Chevrolet (Rick Johnson) and Ford (Rob MacCachren) will be there this afternoon.

Johnson, a former national motocross champion, was fast qualifier Friday with a lap in 44.304 seconds, followed by Danny Thompson, 45.087 in an independent Chevrolet, and Mears Sr., 45.119.

“I would consider it a rousing success in my first race to have a top-five finish,” Denton said.