MOTOR RACING / SHAV GLICK : It’s Just No Fun When Finishing Sixth Is the Goal

The idea of driving in a race merely to finish--and not necessarily to win--is not pleasant for a race car driver. But sometimes it has to be done, like when the manufacturer’s championship is on the line and next year’s advertising campaign along with it.

Steve Millen had all but clinched the Exxon Super Series championship in his Nissan 300ZX Turbo when he arrived at Del Mar for the Vons Toyota Grand Prix two weeks ago. Nissan, which had dominated the International Motor Sports Assn.’s Camel GT prototype series for four seasons, had been overtaken by Toyota, so it was imperative for the team to win the Exxon Super Series manufacturer’s championship, for production-based sports cars. Oldsmobile was only 19 points behind going into the final race.

All that Millen--a transplanted New Zealander who lives in Newport Beach--needed to do was finish sixth or better in the one-hour race around the Del Mar Fairgrounds track to win the driver’s and manufacturer’s titles. It seemed like a cinch. In nine races, he had won four, finished second four times and third once in his Cunningham Racing-prepared Nissan.

He barely made it.

“The race was not a lot of fun for me,” the frustrated Millen said after finishing sixth behind winner Robby Gordon. “It’s difficult to stay back and be conservative. When you do that, you don’t drive well and today I didn’t drive well. At one point, I used too much rear brake and spun around. I had led every race this year at some point, so it was embarrassing to be sitting back in the pack.”

Millen, 39, had won at Miami, Mid-Ohio, New Orleans and Lime Rock, Conn., and had finished second with co-drivers Jeremy Dale and John Morton in the 12 Hours of Sebring.

“On the other hand, the main objective was to win the championship for Nissan,” Millen said. “Chances don’t come around too often, so you’ve got to go for them when they do. I hadn’t won (a series) since 1988. Winning races is great, but the elation is here today and wears off tomorrow. A championship lasts for a long time.”

It was Nissan’s first series victory in the GTS (formerly GTO) class. It was Millen’s first since winning Mickey Thompson Off-Road Gran Prix sports truck titles in 1986 and 1988, driving a Toyota.

Millen, who came to the United States with his brother Rod in the early 1980s, has made a career of winning races in different equipment and in faraway places. He has won in Formula Fords in Singapore, rally cars in Malaysia, pickup trucks on Pikes Peak and in football stadiums and was rookie of the year in the 24 Hours of LeMans driving a Nissan sports car. Last March, Millen won two sports car races at Fuji Speedway in Japan in a driving rain.

He also owns and operates a sports truck aftermarket business in Santa Ana and drives regularly in TV car commercials.

“I can’t explain what it is or why, but I really feel at ease behind the wheel of a car,” Millen said. “It’s almost like a second home to me. Driving all these types of vehicles is a tremendous advantage to me. There is not a lot that directly applies, but things do happen that I have experienced in another car. So I know how to handle it.”

Next year, Millen plans to return to the IMSA Exxon series with Nissan team owner Clayton Cunningham of El Segundo.

“The team has been together four years, and we worked very hard to win that first championship,” he said. “From what I hear from the other teams, we’ll have to work even harder to win two in a row. That’s my motivation--to win back-to-back championships.”

Motor Racing Notes

INDY CARS--Al Unser Jr., the Indianapolis 500 champion, ended speculation that he might switch to Formula One next season by announcing that he will be back with Galles Racing as part of a three-car team with Danny Sullivan and Adrian Fernandez. All will drive Lolas powered by the new Chevy C engine. Team owner Rick Galles said the change from a Galmer chassis to Lola was necessitated by a rules change made to improve driver safety. The change, Galles said, made the cost of retooling so prohibitive that it was better business to buy cars from Lola instead of building them. . . . Frank Arciero, who helped launch the careers of Dan Gurney, Michael Andretti and Al and Bobby Unser, has signed Mark Smith, 25, of McMinnville, Ore., to drive for Arciero Racing next season.

Jim Chapman, director of racing for PPG Industries for the past 12 years and the man responsible for establishing the Indy car prize fund, announced his retirement after the season-ending race Sunday at Laguna Seca. During Chapman’s tenure, the fund’s annual contribution rose from $250,000 to more than $3,750,000. On his retirement, PPG announced that it would take three people to replace him--Mike Sack to direct the program, Carol Wilkins to manage it and Ken Lowe to run the pace car program.

MIDGETS--The United States Auto Club’s western regional series will return to Ventura Raceway on Saturday night for a doubleheader of full midget and three-quarter midget races. Sleepy Tripp, who crashed and failed to finish in the last race at Hanford, will be on hand as he nears a record seventh championship. Tripp won the last race held at Ventura. Rick Hendrix of Simi Valley and Walt Johnson of Sun Valley will continue their battle for the three-quarter championship. Hendrix leads by 29 points with three races remaining.

STOCK CARS--Orange Show Speedway has scheduled a “World Championship Train Race” for Saturday night along with a 40-lap Bomber Classic and destruction derby. . . . The Great Western Classic for IMCA modifieds is scheduled Saturday night at Bakersfield Speedway in Oildale. . . . The third leg of the Budweiser/Desert Valleys Racing Assn. series will be held Saturday night at Imperial Raceway near El Centro.

SPRINT CARS--The California Racing Assn.’s three-day Wingless Western World Series this weekend at Manzanita Speedway in Phoenix has been canceled.

OFF ROAD--The final event of the Mickey Thompson Gran Prix series is Saturday night at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, where five of six class championships will be at stake. Rod Millen has clinched the Grand National sport truck title in his Toyota over teammate Ivan Stewart, but only five points separate the next three drivers, Roger Mears (Nissan), Walker Evans (Dodge) and Rob MacCachren (Ford). . . . The California 200, a La Rana Desert Racing event, will start at 9 a.m. Saturday from Ridgecrest.

DRAG RACING--An unusual first will take place this weekend at Firebird Raceway, near Phoenix, when Shirley Muldowney races her top fuel dragster against John Force in a funny car. The best-of-three series Saturday night and Sunday will be part of the National Hot Rod Assn.’s final Division 7 sportsman championship eliminations to qualify for the 28th Winston Finals Oct. 29-Nov. 1 at the Pomona Fairplex.

SPORTS CARS--Mike Lewis of San Diego, driving a Mazda RX7 for AutoCon Motorsports, won the GT-3 class at the Sports Car Club of America’s Valvoline Runoffs last week in Atlanta. Lewis started on the pole and ran second for the first 17 laps of the 18-lap race before pulling in front on the first turn of the final lap. Lewis’ mechanic, David Steele, was named mechanic of the meet. Actress Marsha Mason finished 14th in the 28-car field in a Mazda.

MISCELLANY--Formula One champion Nigel Mansell has been added to the 16-driver field for the $1-million winner-take-all Hawaiian Super Gran Prix, Jan. 24, in Honolulu. . . . Jeana Yeager, who made a nonstop, non-refueled flight around the world in the Voyager in 1986, is one of the entries in the La Carrera Panamericana, a 2,200-mile race in Mexico, which starts Friday. . . . The 11th annual Skat-Trak World Championships, the Olympics of jet skiing, will take place this weekend in Lake Havasu City. Christy Carlson of Long Beach will be seeking her fourth women’s title.