MOTOR RACING / SHAV GLICK : Driver Changes Give Indy Cars Different Look

Robby Gordon, 23, Ford’s driver of the future, will campaign a Ford-powered Lola for A.J. Foyt on the PPG Cup Indy Car circuit next season. The former off-road racing champion from Orange drove in seven races for Chip Ganassi last season but is scheduled to run the full 1993 schedule with Foyt, according to Mike Kranefuss, Ford’s director of racing.

This is the latest in a series of driver changes that will give the Indy circuit a different look next year. Nigel Mansell, the Formula One champion from England, is replacing 1991 champion Michael Andretti on the Newman-Haas team as a teammate of Michael’s father, Mario. Michael Andretti is going in the other direction, leaving Indy cars for a Formula One ride with the McLaren team.

Arie Luyendyk, the 1990 Indy 500 winner who sat out the 1992 season except for two races, will replace Eddie Cheever as the No. 1 driver for Ganassi in another Ford-powered Lola. Other changes in the works are expected to have Roberto Guerrero driving for drag racing champion Kenny Bernstein all season instead of just for the Indianapolis 500, Teo Fabi replacing John Andretti on Jim Hall’s team and Lyn St. James, the Indy 500 rookie of the year, getting a full-time sponsor in time for the opening race, March 21, at Surfers Paradise, Australia.

Bobby Rahal, newly crowned champion, isn’t changing teams, but he is changing chassis. Rahal won in his first year as a driver-owner with a Lola-Chevy. Next season he is switching to a Truesport chassis.

The Palm Springs Road Races, featuring 200 vintage and historic racing cars, will take place this weekend over a two-mile, 14-turn course laid out around the Palm Springs Convention Center.

Corvette, celebrating its 40th anniversary, will be the featured car. A special all-Corvette race is scheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday. After day-long practice sessions today, there will be racing Saturday and Sunday afternoons. The cars, including Ferraris, Shelbys, Jaguars, Fords, Chevrolets, Chevrons, Allards, Lotuses, McLarens and other sports car makes, will race in six groups, with classifications determined by the Vintage Racing Assn.

A “Tribute to Roger Penske” dinner will be held Saturday night at the Wyndham Hotel with proceeds going toward the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Ky. Among the speakers will be Rick Mears and Emerson Fittipaldi, Penske’s Indy car drivers; Rusty Wallace, his Winston Cup driver; Danny Sullivan, who won the 1985 Indy 500 driving for Penske; and former drivers Carroll Shelby, Parnelli Jones, Dan Gurney, George Follmer and Augie Pabst.

Paul Page, ABC motor racing commentator, will be master of ceremonies.

Other attractions include a sports car auction tonight and a collector car and vintage motorcycle auction Saturday afternoon, and a Concours d’Elegance on Sunday at Ruth Hardy Park.

SPRINT CARS--Lealand McSpadden will move closer to his first California Racing Assn. championship this weekend when he drives in the Dave Sanborn Classic at Bakersfield Speedway in Oildale. The Tempe, Ariz., veteran has 1,788 points to 1,546 for Rip Williams, 1,492 for Verne Sweeney, 1,475 for Brad Noffsinger and 1,436 for Mike Kirby. McSpadden has won 11 CRA features this year. Main events will be held tonight and Saturday night. Sanborn, a CRA flagman, was killed in a racing accident at Ascot Park in 1990.

MIDGETS--United States Auto Club midgets and three-quarter midgets will close the Ventura Raceway season with a combined national and regional doubleheader Saturday night. Stevie Reeves of Indianapolis will be trying to clinch his first championship against a field that will include seven-time Western Regional champion Sleepy Tripp of Costa Mesa and 1991 national champion Mike Streicher of Findlay, Ohio. Rick Hendrix of Simi Valley clinched the TQ title last week at Hanford.

OFF-ROAD RACING--Purse money for the Baja 1000 is minimal so drivers who figured they had a chance to be the overall winner put $1,000 in a kitty to go to the highest finisher. Teammates Paul and David Simon, the winners, did not ante up so runner-up Rob MacCachren of the Rough Riders collected the $19,000 purse. . . . The La Rana High Desert 300 will be run Saturday in Lucerne Valley. The 8 a.m. start will be at Anderson Dry Lake.

DRIVER OF YEAR--Bobby Rahal, the Indy car champion, was the winner in fourth-quarter balloting for the 1992 driver of the year. Rahal drew six of 12 first-place votes and finished ahead of Alan Kulwicki, the NASCAR champion; Michael Andretti, last year’s driver of the year; Joe Amato, drag racing’s top-fuel champion, and Davey Allison, the Daytona 500 winner. . . . Rahal is the latest to accept an invitation to drive in the Hawaiian Super Prix, Jan. 24, in Honolulu, against an international field in which the winner will receive $1 million.

MISCELLANY--Jon Van Caneghem of Woodland Hills is one of 10 finalists for the Skip Barber Racing $100,000 scholarship runoff this weekend at Sebring, Fla. . . . The American Motorcyclist Assn. will hold its annual awards banquet Saturday night at the Doubletree hotel in San Pedro where the MotoWorld athlete of the year will be named.