Parker Poised to Become First to Win Five

A stunning turnaround in the American Motorcyclist Assn.’s Grand National dirt-track series last Saturday night in Sacramento has Scott Parker close to winning an unprecedented fifth championship.

Parker, who won four in a row from 1988 to 1991, and Carroll Resweber, who won from 1958 to 1961, are the only four-time champions. Ricky Graham, Bubba Shobert, Jay Springsteen, Bart Markel, Joe Leonard and Jimmy Chann all won three, and Kenny Roberts got only two before moving on to road racing.

Only two races remain and Parker has a five-point lead over 1992 champion Chris Carr, 271-266, in a battle of 750cc Harley-Davidson teammates. The championship of the 22-race series will be decided in the Pomona Half-Mile on Saturday night at the Fairplex, and the Del Mar Mile on Sunday, Oct. 9, at the Del Mar Fairgrounds.

“If we win No. 5, Sacramento will be the race we’ll remember most,” Parker said after winning his record 59th Grand National in the Sacramento Mile. “When I got there, all I could think about was ’92 when I kept winning, but when the season ended I was two points back of Chris.

“I knew that even if I swept Sacramento, Pomona and Del Mar that Chris could win the championship by finishing second each time. I didn’t know how lucky I was until the (Sacramento) race was over and a couple of guys held up four fingers (Carr’s number) and said he broke.”

Carr, leading by 14 points when the race started, dropped out when the carburetor fell off his bike. He was credited with a 14th-place finish, good for only one point. Parker got 20 for winning.

“I was too busy fighting off Steve Morehead to know anything happened to Chris, but I knew how he felt when it was over. I’d had an even worse night at Castle Rock (Wash.) in the last race before Sacramento. I went there with a six-point lead and came out 14 behind when I didn’t qualify for the main event.

“So I’m still wary about Pomona and Del Mar even though I’m back in front. I like the Pomona track--it’s such a beautiful facility and has such a great atmosphere--but in the back of my mind I know how fast things can turn around.”

Parker has won four of the last six races held at the Fairplex, including one last spring. Carr has won one, in the spring of 1993.

The Del Mar horse racing track, where Chris Agajanian will promote the season finale, has not been used for motor racing since 1949, when Rex Mays was killed in an accident during an Indy car race.

Being a pacesetter is nothing new for Parker, who keeps in shape during the off-season by racing on ice near his home in Swartz Creek, Mich. When he won his first Grand National in 1979 in the DuQuoin Mile, he was only 17, the youngest rider to win a national event.

Although he won nine races, including two at Ascot Park, between 1979 and 1985, Parker’s fortunes took off in 1986 when he hooked up with Bill Werner, a tuner from the Harley factory. Werner, 50, already had won three championships with Springsteen and two with Gary Scott before adding four more with Parker.

Werner has a record 95 victories as a dirt bike tuner, including the seven Parker has this year.

“We work real good together,” Parker said of his association with Werner. “He is cautious, but very thorough. When I show up for the first race each year, he has everything in place, all the parts we’re going to need for the whole season. He doesn’t like dilemmas.”

Parker will be 33 on Nov. 21, an advanced age for Grand National riders. And he knows it.

“Ten years ago, anyone my age would be retired, but today the riders are better conditioned and take care of themselves, so we’re able to ride longer. Look at Morehead, he’s 39 and he’s won three races this year, and Ricky (Graham) was 34 when he won the championship last year. It’s when you see those 22-year-old kids coming at you that you know you’ve got to work that much harder.

“But I know I’m not getting any younger myself. If I’m going to win my fifth, I’d better get it on.”

Motor Racing Notes

DRAG BOATS--Clinton Anderson, who nearly drowned when his top fuel boat crashed last November on Firebird Lake in Arizona, will try to clinch the International Hot Boat Assn. championship this weekend in the Mission Foods Fallnationals at Puddingstone Lake in San Dimas. Anderson has won four of five IHBA races this season and holds a commanding lead--3,338 to 2,576--over Dave Promnitz of Fresno. Reigning champion Ron Braaksma of San Bernardino will return to action after missing two races. Qualifying is Saturday, with eliminations Sunday.

STOCK CARS--Orange Show Speedway in San Bernardino will hold its final points race for sportsman car drivers Saturday night, plus a train race. . . . Cajon Speedway will close its 1994 season Saturday night with a race for super modifieds. . . . Jerry Stewart is the Santa Maria Speedway track champion in late model stocks, and Mark Nation narrowly edged Dave Stutts to win the California dirt car title. . . . Street stocks will race Saturday night at Sunrise Valley Raceway in Adelanto.

LAND SPEED--The Southern California Timing Assn. will hold a speed meet Sunday at El Mirage Dry Lake. It will serve as a final test before the combined Bonneville Speed Weeks and the World Finals, scheduled for Oct. 12-18, at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. Speed Weeks was postponed by rain last August.

SPRINT CARS--Points leader Rip Williams and Ron Shuman each have seven victories in Sprint Car Racing Assn. competition this season and both will be going for No. 8 Saturday night at Kings Speedway in Hanford as part of the 32nd Pacific Coast Open. The Hanford program will also include United States Auto Club full midgets in a 30-lap main event.

INDY CARS--Mario Andretti and Nigel Mansell will bow out of Indy car racing Sunday in the Toyota Grand Prix of Monterey at Laguna Seca Raceway. Andretti is retiring and Mansell is returning to Formula One. . . . Eddie Cheever, who has been filling in for the injured Bryan Herta on A.J. Foyt’s team, has signed for the 1995 season with Foyt. Herta, who expects to resume racing next season, is going to another team.

MISCELLANY--The Sacramento 100, a Silver Crown race for dirt cars, is scheduled for Saturday night at the Cal-Expo Fairgrounds. . . . The Lake Elsinore-based Team Suzuki Endurance will be going for its 100th victory in a six-hour race Saturday at Texas World Speedway. . . . The Mickey Thompson stadium off-road series will end Saturday night at Denver’s Mile High Stadium.