Moving Grand Prix Downtown Would Rev Up Local Interest

Just wondering . . .

Exactly how big might a downtown auto race be?

Taking the Grand Prix of San Diego away from the Del Mar Fairgrounds and putting it in downtown San Diego would make it an event which would transcend the sport of auto racing and capture the community.

It gets a bit more of an esoteric following at the fairgrounds than it would get on the city streets.

Assuming this proposal gets the approval of the Port Commission and City Council, this would be a major Labor Day happening beginning in 1993. . . .

How happy must Tony Fernandez be with the trade which brought him to San Diego and sent Roberto Alomar to Toronto?

Don’t even bother asking the same question of Alomar.

What will be the over-under when the Chargers go to Indianapolis on Sunday?

Six points? Maybe seven?

To those unfamiliar with over-under wagering, this is the line oddsmakers set on combined total points. You bet it either way.

Maybe nine?

Will the Chargers exceed last week’s output . . . when they had a bye? . . .

Will Utah crash San Diego State’s Holiday Bowl party?

It could, make that would, happen if both teams remain unbeaten in the Western Athletic Conference.

Since these two teams do not meet, a tie would be broken by eliminating the team with the most recent appearance. SDSU has not exactly been a regular, appearing only in 1986, but Utah’s most recent appearance was never.

This seems as fair a way as any to break a tie, and SDSU and Utah would have played the same eight WAC opponents. SDSU does have the advantage of having Brigham Young behind it. . . . Doesn’t Bruce Hurst’s torn rotator cuff take him off the list of players the Padres will try to trade to save money?

It may as well. No one else is likely to trade for a rehabilitating 34-year-old pitcher with a $2.75-million contract, unless the Padres will trade him for a prospect so raw he probably doesn’t shave yet.

Hmmm, the Padres might do that to save money.

Wouldn’t the Aztecs like to have one more crack at UCLA with a healthy David Lowery?

It may take a while for SDSU to sneak back into the Associated Press Top 25 after that 35-7 embarrassment at the hands of UCLA. And UCLA has done it no favors by dropping both of its games since.

Nothing the Aztecs do against Texas El Paso this week will get it into the Top 25, but a solid victory against Air Force on ESPN Oct. 24 might do it. . . .

Could it be that the Padres are understanding and appreciating the job Dick Dent did for them as trainer?

The trainer is an invisible man to most fans, but the Padres under Dent’s supervision never had the rash of injuries they have had since he was fired following the 1990 season. He was bounced during that off-season of political upheaval.

Dent’s replacement, Bob Day, was fired Monday after two seasons in which the disabled list looked like a telephone directory. It seemed like everyone was listed, a total of 19 usages, in fact.

Dent has not been rehired, but a protege, Larry Duensing, will certainly bring many of his techniques to the job. . . .

Isn’t it nice that Dan McGwire has gotten his chance with the Seattle Seahawks?

Nice while it lasted.

The former SDSU star started Sunday for the Seahawks because of Kelly Stouffer’s injury and got all the way to the third quarter before a fractured left hip took him out.

This was a week after the Chargers abused him on his old home turf when he came on to replace the injured Stouffer . . .

Couldn’t the Chargers get a schedule with 16 byes and one game?

They have certainly fattened up with this last-place schedule. Maybe they should try the Ivy League next.

Has it really been three years since Tim Flannery retired?

Indeed.

Next question.

Why in the world did it take the Padres so long to get him back into the game . . . and the organization?

His instincts and intelligence are such that he will be a natural as a coach and then a manager in the major leagues. He gets a start as a minor league manager and instructor.

This was surely not a costly move, but it surely was a smart one.