He’s in a Select Circle : Stunt: If he succeeds in breaking his Ferris wheel-riding record, Jeff Block will be hanging around--and around and around--throughout the county fair.

When asked why he tried to conquer Mt. Everest, mountaineer George Leigh Mallory said simply: “Because it is there.”

That’s pretty much the reason Jeff Block wants to break his own world record by spending 38 days on a Ferris wheel.

“I’m just doing it, to do it,” said Block, 36, a Fullerton College custodian who began his record-breaking ride Thursday in the unmarked car No. 1 on the old-fashioned carnival ride at the Orange County Fairgrounds. “To have a good time. . . . I just like Ferris wheels.”

Both Block’s mother and live-in girlfriend think he is crazy. As do the guys at work, who call him “Dizzy” and have threatened to throw tennis balls and shoot water guns and paint guns at him while he rotates.

But Block insists he is just “kind of an oddball” who sometimes does crazy things. Fair organizers invited him to break the record as a creative tribute to the 100th anniversary of the Ferris wheel’s debut at the Chicago World’s Fair.

For Block, it’s a vacation.

He is taking unpaid leave from his job but will get $100 a day, plus expenses, from the fair. If he breaks the record, the pot is thickened with donated prizes from local businesses, including a 14-karat gold Ferris wheel tie tack.

The 52-foot wheel that Block will call home for the next six weeks was built in 1948 and originally sold for $7,425. At top speed, the wheel turns 6.75 times a minute; by the time it’s over, Block will have gone ‘round nearly 100,000 times, traveled the equivalent of 2,750 miles.

Even James (Happy Jack) Jackson, who ran away to a carnival at age 14 and then spent two decades running Ferris wheels (he was even married on one), thinks Block is a bit nuts.

“He’s not as smart as I am, or he wouldn’t sit up there on that thing,” said Happy Jack, who is responsible for making sure the wheel runs safely.

Block first found his way into the Guinness Book back in 1978. Then “a crazy 21” years old, unemployed and bored, he answered a want-ad in San Jose seeking a “Ferris-naut” to break the then-29 day endurance record.

Back then, Block shared the spotlight with Rena Clark, who also answered the ad. The two sat on opposite sides of the wheel--for balance--but often yelled across to one another. They also befriended many of the park workers, who climbed aboard the wheel after hours to party with the record-breakers.

“It was pretty boring--and real hot,” Block remembered. “My posterior, that will probably be the hardest, my sore butt. It’s long hours riding that wheel.”

This year’s ride also began with a newspaper blurb, when fair organizers put out a call for Ferris wheel memorabilia to celebrate the 100th anniversary. Block offered his scrapbook of the San Jose record-breaking, and fair officials did him one better by asking him to ride again.

“Why not?” Block said to fair officials and again in an interview this week. “I know what’s expected. I know what I need and I know I can do it.”

Block is bringing a Walkman, two seat cushions, fans, police scanner, a black-and-white TV, hand-held blackjack and poker games, and a couple dozen books.

He plans to wake with the sun, shower on the fairgrounds, then breakfast on corn flakes while going around.

For every hour he rides, Block earns a five-minute break, which can be stored up to as much as two hours, according to Guinness rules. The wheel will stop while Block curls up in a sleeping bag on a wooden plank Jackson’s crew will place on the wheel. Fair-goers can join Block for 50 cents a ride.

“I can’t wait until it’s over, I hope it goes fast,” said Doreen Van Lith, BLock’s girlfriend, who was on hand with Block’s mother, brother and sister to watch him start his journey Thursday.

“Andy Warhol said everybody has 15 minutes of fame, but Jeff wants a half an hour,” said Van Lith.

Last night, Van Lith joined Block at the base of the wheel for a candlelight dinner sent over by the Ritz-Carlton hotel. During the fair, Block will get chiropractic therapy, a massage, haircut and manicure, all donated by local companies.

Block, who has been on a Ferris wheel only once or twice since 1978, shrugs off his stunt, wondering why anyone makes such a fuss.

Among those impressed are John Hancock, 61, and Julianna Aguirre, 46, an Anaheim couple who rode a Ferris wheel on their first date, got engaged on the carnival ride and, during this year’s fair, will be married while Block goes ‘round and ‘round.

“Both of us love Ferris wheels, but you’re talking 38 days?” said an astonished Hancock. “Maybe 38 consecutive rides I could go for, but 38 days! That’s an awful long time.”

Ferris Facts

* Originally called pleasure wheels.

* Similar rides have been traced as far back as 1620.

* Named for mechanical engineer George Washington Gale Ferris.

* Largest early wheel, 264 feet high, built by Ferris for Chicago’s Columbian Exposition.

* First Ferris wheel ride: June 21, 1893.

* Portable versions first built in 1900 by William Sullivan for the Eli Bridge Co.

* In England Ferris wheels are sometimes called Eli wheels.

* Largest Ferris wheel, Cosmoclock 21, 348 feet high, is in Yokohama City, Japan.

Sources: Orange County Fair and Exposition Center, World Book Encyclopedia;

Researched by APRIL JACKSON / Los Angeles Times