MOTOR RACING / SHAV GLICK : Late-Model Stock Car Tour Has Been Spreading Wealth

A remarkable 10-race stretch of different winners in the NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Tour could end Saturday night in the $24,815 Coors 100 at the Orange Show Speedway in San Bernardino.

Seven of the 10 previous winners are expected to be in the starting field when the late-model stock car series visits the quarter-mile paved oval in the bowl-shaped former football stadium. The only one with a victory at Orange Show Speedway is Dale Williams, who started the streak last Sept. 11 at Saugus Speedway.

Williams, a 55-year-old Sacramento real estate developer, was named rookie of the year last season and is fifth in Southwest Tour standings. He has twice finished fifth in six races this season.

“I’m not sure I can tell you why we won at the Orange Show,” Williams said. “We qualified fourth and they inverted the top four. Then we pretty much outran them. This year we’ve qualified poorly with a new car and engine combination. Starting in the middle of the pack has been a crapshoot. I can’t believe we’re where we are in the points. I guess everybody else has had their problems, too.”

Winning cars include six Chevrolets, two Oldsmobiles, a Pontiac and a Ford.

Streak winners entered are Williams, Jim Inglebright, Steve Portenga, Bryan Germone, Ron Hornaday Jr., Mike Cofer and Lance Hooper. Hornaday, a two-time Southwest Tour series champion, has never won at Orange Show Speedway.

Hoping to extend the streak to 11 are two former runners-up in Orange Show races--Bob Lyon of Newhall and Dennis Dyer of Palmdale. Another possibility is M.K. Kanke of Granada Hills, holder of the one-lap track record of 12,988 seconds--69.295 m.p.h.--set in 1990.

The 100-lap, 25-mile race will start at 7 p.m.

Motor Racing Notes

SPEEDWAY BIKES--Champions of earlier eras, including two-time world champion Bruce Penhall of Balboa, will return to the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa for the Legends of Speedway on Friday night. Penhall, who won world titles in 1980 and 1981, is now involved in off-shore powerboat racing.

Other old-timers expected to ride include Kelly Moran, Dennis Sigalos and Ron Preston, all of whom won world and European team championships after learning to race at Costa Mesa. Also scheduled are local favorites Sonny Nutter, Dubb Ferrell, Wild Bill Cody, Danny Becker, Jim Fishback and TV actor-rider Billy Grey.

STOCK CARS--Sportsman cars of NASCAR’s Winston Racing Series will be featured Saturday night at both Saugus Speedway and Cajon Speedway. A destruction derby is also slated for Saugus. . . . American V-8 modifieds will run Saturday afternoon at Kern County Raceway. . . . The Kragen series for late-model stocks will resume Saturday night at Santa Maria Speedway.

SPRINT CARS--The Spanky Mathews Memorial, Round 6 of the 12-race Golden State series for winged sprint cars, is scheduled Saturday night at Kings Speedway in Hanford. . . . The Sprint Car Racing Assn. is taking two weeks off and will return July 9 at Manzanita Speedway in Phoenix.

SPORTS CARS--The Cal Club will hold a regional championship series of sprints Saturday and Sunday at Willow Springs Raceway. Also scheduled is a Toyota sportsman stock car main event. . . . Zak Brown, 22, of North Hollywood, has signed with Mark Bailey Racing to contest the British Formula 3 series. Brown’s first race is Sunday at Donington Park. He plans to return home in time to race in the Toyota Atlantic series Oct. 8 at Laguna Seca Raceway.

MISCELLANY--Vintage short-track racing will be held Saturday night at Ventura Raceway in conjunction with a antique and classic motorcycle show Sunday at the Ventura County Fairgrounds. . . . Midgets of the United States Auto Club’s western region will race Saturday night at Bakersfield Speedway in Oildale. . . . The Aug. 7 International Hot Boat Assn. drag racing event at Castaic Lake has been canceled. The next IHBA event will be the Mission Foods Fallnationals at Puddingstone Lake in San Dimas.

NECROLOGY--Paul (Punky) Grosso, 67, died of injuries suffered during an exhibition show of vintage midget race cars last Saturday night at Saugus Speedway. Grosso was one of the founders of the Western Racing Assn. Services will be held at 11 a.m. Friday at the Women’s Club, 705 E. Olive Ave., Burbank.