MOTOR RACING / SHAV GLICK : Dirt Track Final Looks Familiar

As it has for the last three seasons, the championship of the American Motorcyclist Assn.’s Camel Pro dirt track series has come down to the final race between Scott Parker, the four-time champion, and Chris Carr, the perennial challenger.

The season closer--the Pomona Half Mile--is Saturday night on the Los Angeles County Fairplex horse racing track. This time Carr, 25, is on the verge of a breakthrough to win his first championship and its $100,000 bonus.

All the Harley-Davidson factory rider from Valley Springs, Calif., needs to do is finish third or better to win the No. 1 plate, even if Parker, 31, from Flint, Mich., wins the 20-lap main event. Carr has a nine-point edge, 221-212.

History, however, indicates Parker’s chances of becoming the first rider to win five consecutive Camel Pro titles are not without hope. In three Pomona races since the fairgrounds track replaced Ascot Park on the AMA schedule, Parker has finished 1-2-1 and Carr 5-4-2. Still, Carr sees that statistic as favorable.

“Look at it this way, I’ve improved every time I’ve raced there,” Carr said. “I had difficulty learning the track because it is one of the most difficult and most different ones we race, but I’ve felt more comfortable each time.”

Most dirt track half-mile ovals have longer corners than Pomona, and many are banked. Pomona has long straightaways with tight corners and no banking.

“The determining factor at Pomona is how you get through the corners best,” Carr said. “You’ve got to be able to go in hot, and then get yourself in position to go the other way in a hurry.”

Last year, Carr came as close as he could without winning. He and Parker finished tied in points, 225-225, and Parker won the tiebreaker with six victories to four. In 1990, Parker won, 249-229, and in 1989 it was 266-261. In Parker’s first victory, in 1988, Bubba Shobert finished second and Carr third.

This year, if Parker and Carr finish in a tie--which could happen if Parker wins and Carr is fourth--it would be almost an identical scenario as last season. This time Parker has seven victories and Carr four.

“I don’t look at this race as one where I want to finish third or better. I look at it as one I want to win, just like all the other races,” Carr said. “If I win, that obviously takes care of things, but I enter every race with winning on my mind. And that will be no different Saturday night.”

Stock car racing legend Bobby Allison and his sister, Jeannie Otto of Brea, will host a bowl-a-thon Oct. 17 at La Habra Bowling center to raise funds for the Children of Clifford Allison Trust Fund. Clifford Allison, 27, Bobby’s son and brother of Winston Cup star Davey Allison, was killed Aug. 13 at Michigan International Raceway while practicing for a NASCAR race. He left a wife, Elisa, and three children.

Two bowling sessions are planned, one at 11 a.m., the other at 2 p.m., with the public invited to bowl at $15 per donation. Bobby Allison, the third winningest driver in Winston Cup history, will hold autograph sessions. La Habra Bowl is located at 370 E. Whittier Blvd.

Motor Racing Notes

SPORTS CARS--Even though Juan Fangio II clinched the Camel GT Prototype championship last week at Phoenix, the sixth annual Vons Grand Prix of San Diego this weekend will offer a variety of championship races on the Del Mar Fairgrounds road circuit. The $1-million Exxon Supreme series, formerly GTO, will match Nissan’s Steve Millen against three Oldsmobiles, one driven by Paul Gentilozzi, in a one-hour manufacturers battle Saturday. In addition to the two-hour GTP race Sunday among Toyota’s Fangio, teammate P.J. Jones, Jaguar’s Davy Jones, Nissan’s Geoff Brabham and Chevrolet’s Tom Kendall, there will be races for the Zerex Saab Pro Series, the Bridgestone Potenza Supercar championship and the inaugural Trojan Battery Clean Air Challenge for electric cars.

Many champions and high finishers in the Southern Pacific Division of the Sports Car Club of America will be at Road Atlanta this weekend for the annual SCCA Valvoline Runoffs to determine national champions. Among the Southern California favorites will be G.R. Schmidt of Sun Valley in an SSGT Camaro, Don Fuller of Tustin in an SSB Nissan, Eric Morehouse of Fountain Valley in an SSC Mazda Miata, Michael Lewis of San Diego in a GT-3 Mazda and Sam Schmidt, a nephew of G.R. Schmidt, in a Spec Racer.

SPEEDWAY BIKES--Chris Manchester is the first rider to win the United States championship in his first try, but the Hesperia youngster who scored a perfect 15 points last Saturday night at Costa Mesa is not the youngest champion. Steve Bast was 18 years 9 months when he won in 1969, and his brother Mike was the same when he won in 1971. Manchester is 19 years 3 months old. . . . The season is officially over, but several speedway riders will compete Friday night at Lake Perris Speedway in a special Farmers Fair race. Speedway sidecars will perform next Wednesday at the same site.

POWER BOATS--Chip Hanauer, his bruised and broken ribs healed sufficiently to drive Miss Budweiser again, will be in Bernie Little’s boat this weekend when the unlimited hydroplane season ends at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Hanauer was hospitalized with injuries three weeks ago in a racing accident at San Diego after clinching the championship.

STOCK CARS--Cajon Speedway will close its season Saturday night with the Coors 100, part of a three-race Fall Spectacular series for sportsman cars that will conclude Oct. 16 at Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield. . . . The Budweiser Nationals for late models and modified street stocks will take place Friday and Saturday nights at Bakersfield Speedway in Oildale. . . . Sportsman and street stocks will race Saturday night at Imperial Raceway in El Centro. . . . Street and mini stocks, along with IMCA modifieds, will compete Friday night at Ventura Raceway.

OFF ROAD--The High Desert Racing Assn. season will conclude Saturday with the Gold Coast 300 out of Las Vegas. Veteran Dodge driver Walker Evans of Riverside and Brian Parkhouse, a Class 1600 racer from Long Beach, are tied in overall point standings. Evans is going for his third consecutive victory.

MISCELLANY--Three-quarter midgets of the United States Auto Club will race Sunday at Lake Perris Raceway as part of the Farmers Fair. . . . Mike Kiedrowski of Acton won the AMA national 500cc motocross championship last Sunday with a second-place finish at Budds Creek, Md.

NECROLOGY--A viewing service for Denver Mullins will be held Thursday from 6-9 p.m. at Grove Colonial Mortuary in San Bernardino, and a funeral will be held Friday at 10 a.m. at Green Acres Memorial Park in Bloomington. A motorcycle run from the mortuary to the cemetery will be held Friday at 8:45 a.m. Mullins died in a top-fuel drag boat Sunday at Puddingstone Lake.