Amazed Racers Recall Nixon’s Car Knowledge

Automobile racing lost a friend and fan when former President Richard Nixon died last week.

In 1971, the President invited 125 representatives from the racing industry--drivers, crew chiefs, promoters, car owners, sponsors and officials--to a White House reception. The idea, he said, stemmed from having flown over Ontario Motor Speedway on its opening day a year earlier and being impressed by seeing the more than 125,000 spectators.

“You men are like politicians--the tougher the competition, the faster you run,” he told the group. “You have the courage and determination to press on, to keep improving, to find new methods of going faster and safer.”

The late J.C. Agajanian introduced each of the 125 to Nixon and the President responded with comments pertinent to each individual.

“I couldn’t believe what he knew about what I had done,” Richard Petty said at the time. “He’s one smart cat, I’d say.”

Four racing machines, an Indy car, NASCAR stock car, top fuel dragster and Can-Am sports car, were lined up in front of the White House steps. Nixon inspected each one, asking questions about their capabilities.

“I was surprised how much he seemed to know about our cars,” Mario Andretti said. “He asked a lot of sharp questions, about the tires and horsepower and things like that. He was really impressed when we warmed up my (Indy) car at 5,500 r.p.m. He knew that max on a passenger car is 3,000 or 3,500.”

Les Richter, then president of Riverside International Raceway, also expressed surprise at Nixon’s knowledge of the Riverside track and its ownership. Others at the reception included Dan Gurney, Parnelli Jones, Andy Granatelli, Al and Bobby Unser, Don Garlits and Jackie Stewart.

“I never forgot that day,” Garlits said recently. “It meant a lot to me. I think it helped influence me in what I’m doing now.”

Last week, Garlits announced he would seek a seat as a Republican congressman from Florida’s 5th District.

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Twenty-four years ago, Fred Belair produced the first El Trial de Espana in Orange County to raise money for the U.S. observed trials team to compete in the Trial des Nations--the Olympics of trials motorcycle competition.

One of the first recipients was Bernie Schreiber of La Crescenta, who became the United States’ only world trials champion in 1979.

This year’s El Trial de Espana will be held Sunday at Perris Raceway with money still going to finance the U.S. team at the Trial des Nations in Andorra in September. Martin Belair, the event founder’s son and a former nationally ranked trials rider, will manage the team.

Instead of speed, riders strive for balance, poise and control. Competitors are required to ride over extremely rough sections of terrain without putting their feet on the ground to aid balance.

Each time a foot dabs the ground, or a rider goes outside the boundary line, it counts against him. The winner is the rider with the least number of points.

Motor Racing Notes

STOCK CARS--Round three of the $100,000 Toyota Sportsman series will be held Sunday at Willow Springs Raceway. Also this weekend at Willow Springs will be the seventh annual Los Angeles Indycar Grand Prix featuring Bill Tempero, the series founder and last year’s winner. Fifty-mile races will be held Saturday and Sunday. . . . Winston Racing Series sportsman and pro stocks will run Saturday night at Saugus Speedway, followed by a destruction derby. Pat Mintey, defending sportsman champion, seeks his fourth consecutive victory. . . . There also will be racing Friday night at Ventura Raceway, Saturday night at Cajon Speedway in El Cajon and Blythe Speedway and Sunday at Kern County Raceway in Willow Springs.

MOTORCYCLES--Costa Mesa Speedway continues its 26th season of Friday night speedway racing at the Orange County Fairgrounds, and three other tracks will open next week. Glen Helen Park in San Bernardino will conduct Wednesday night racing, followed by Lake Perris on Thursday night and Speedway USA in Victorville on Saturday night. . . . Jeremy McGrath, national Supercross and 250cc motocross champion from Murrieta, will be among the favorites when the Dirt Diggers MC holds its 26th annual Hangtown Motocross on Sunday at Prairie City Park, near Sacramento.

SPORTS CARS--Drivers from the California Sports Car Club, who normally do all their racing on road circuits, will take on the half-mile oval at Bakersfield’s Mesa Marin Raceway on Saturday night. Also on the Mesa Marin program will be a Nasport-West race for sports sedan racers.

SPRINT CARS--Rip Williams tightened the Sprint Car Racing Assn. standings by winning his second consecutive main event last week in Antioch. Williams trails Ron Shuman by four points as the SCRA drivers head for El Centro and a race Saturday night on the three-eighths-mile clay oval at Imperial Valley Raceway. . . . Lealand McSpadden will try to equal Dean Thompson’s California Racing Assn. record for heat race victories when the CRA resumes its schedule Saturday night at Canyon Raceway in Peoria, Ariz. Thompson had 123 heat victories.

NECROLOGY--Gary Cagle, chief timer for the SoCal Timing Assn. and the Bonneville Nationals for the last 15 years, died last week of an apparent heart attack after vacationing in the Mojave desert. Cagle, 60, was driving home to Bellflower when he stopped alongside I-15, between Victorville and Barstow, where he apparently was stricken. Cagle was a member of the Bonneville 200 MPH Club and was the first driver to exceed 180 m.p.h. on the old Famoso drag strip near Bakersfield. A memorial service is scheduled at 7 tonight at White Funeral Home in Bellflower. He is survived by a son, Troy.

MISCELLANY--King Charles Gustav of Sweden did some test driving last Friday at Willow Springs Raceway with longtime friend and racer Carroll Shelby. They drove Shelby’s 427 Cobra and a Dodge Viper over the testing road course. . . . Shirley Muldowney set a Las Vegas Speedway Park record of 271.38 m.p.h. in her top fuel dragster last Saturday night in a match race with Tony Pedregon. . . . Ernie Irvan, winner of two Winston Cup races this season, edged fellow stock car driver Dale Earnhardt in first quarter voting for American driver of the year. Irvan received six first-place votes to four for Earnhardt from the panel. Sports car driver Steve Millen received the only other first-place vote.