Gibbs Now Plays ‘Em One Race at a Time : Motor sports: Former Redskin coach’s team is making its drag-racing debut in Pomona this weekend.

Joe Gibbs gave up coaching football in 1993 and is now a car owner in auto racing, but he still talks like a coach.

“I’ve always wanted to be a part of racing, but what amazed me most when I got into it was its similarity to football,” Gibbs said during a lull in qualifying Saturday for today’s 35th Chief Auto Parts Winternationals drag races at Pomona Raceway.

Gibbs left football shortly after coaching the Washington Redskins to their third Super Bowl victory to try television work and devote more time to auto racing.

He now owns the three-car McDonald’s Racing Team in this year’s National Hot Rod Assn. season--Cory McClenathan in top fuel, Cruz Pedregon in funny car and Jim Yates in pro stock.

“A football team and a race-car team both have an owner, both have a general manager and both have a coach, only in racing he’s called a crew chief,” Gibbs said. “Their duties are the same, they outline the game plan, set the agenda and take care of day-to-day duties.

“The drivers are the quarterbacks. They have to perform on the field, follow the outlined plan, but be prepared for any eventuality if the plan isn’t working.”

Gibbs also owns a stock-car team on NASCAR’s Winston Cup circuit. Bobby Labonte will be his driver this year, replacing Dale Jarrett, who won the Daytona 500 in 1993, Gibbs’ second year as an owner.

“It still comes down to people, whether you’re talking football, drag racing or stock-car racing,” Gibbs said. “The comparisons are almost identical. If you put the right guys together, the right combination of people, you’re going to have a winning team. The cars, the technology, are only incidental. It’s the people who count.”

The pieces seem to be in place for Gibbs’ drag-racing debut. Pedregon qualified second, McClenathan third and Yates sixth.

Gibbs’ teams will be in 20 NHRA events and 31 Winston Cup races this season. How will he juggle the schedules?

“I’ll be running back and forth like mad, from one race to the other,” he said. “I plan on making 17 or 18 drag races and as many stock-car races as I can. Some weekends, I’ll be one place Saturday and another Sunday.”

A 70-foot-long truck-trailer, complete with living quarters and a Super Bowl Suite adorned with posters of the Redskins’ victories in 1983, 1988 and 1992, will help make life more enjoyable.

“I feel like a little kid with a new toy, a toy he’s wanted all his life,” Gibbs said. “When I was going to San Diego State, I knew I wanted to do one of two things--either coach football or drive a race car. I think it was a case of which opportunity came first, and I got a coaching job first.”

While at Santa Fe High in Santa Fe Springs and Cerritos College, Gibbs raced weekends at Southland strips, including Pomona.

“Mostly I drove a gas coupe and a gas dragster in the ‘50s. Probably the fastest I ever went was about 145,” he said.

“All those years I coached, though, all 29 of them, I remained a racing fan. I would take the boys whenever I could and go to races in the off-season. One reason I left coaching was because it kept me away from my family. Now we’re back together, working as a team.”

Son J.D., a graduate of William & Mary, drives a late-model stock car in the Charlotte, N.C., area and is director of marking for Joe Gibbs Racing’s stock-car division. Coy, who completed his football eligibility at Stanford last fall, does the bottom-end work on Pedregon’s funny car and works in Gibbs’ drag-racing office.

“I think it’s a testimony to the NHRA that when we formed our team, all our NASCAR sponsors came along with us,” Gibbs said. “NFL Properties even came along with another helmet deal.”

Similar to Payne Stewart wearing the uniform colors of an NFL team at each golf tournament, the helmets of Gibbs’ drivers are painted in the color, design and logo of the NFL team nearest the race site.

Since McClenathan’s family has a race shop in Anaheim, he felt obliged to wear a Ram-type helmet this week. But today he’ll wear a Raider helmet.

Drag Racing Notes

Warren Johnson, who has made a habit of being the fastest pro stock qualifier in drag races in Pomona, set track records of 7.037 seconds and 196.97 m.p.h. in his Olds Cutlass to highlight Saturday’s final day of qualifying for today’s Chief Auto Parts Winternationals. It was the fifth consecutive event at Pomona Raceway that the veteran from Sugar Hill, Ga., was the fastest. . . . Eddie Hill, with a 4.804-second run at 301 m.p.h., took the No. 1 spot in top fuel dragster and four-time champion John Force retained his position atop the funny car ladder with a 5.075-second run. . . . Eliminations start at 10:30 a.m.