Wilkings Is on Right Track at Irwindale

The sudden closing of Saugus Speedway left promoter Ray Wilkings--whose family had operated racing at Saugus for 37 years--without a track. But not without a plan.

Wilkings is working toward building a new multipurpose short track facility in Irwindale, on a 60-acre plot near the junction of the 210 and 605 freeways. The first race is being planned for early in 1997.

“We’ve submitted our environmental report to the city and if we get an OK from the planning commission in early October, we’ll start construction by April,” Wilkings said. He is resigning as general manager of Saugus Speedway, which included running weekly swap meets as well as races, to work full time on the new Irwindale Raceway.

It will be a half-mile, high-banked asphalt oval with a three-eighths-mile clay oval inside the bigger track. Grandstands will seat 6,500.

“We’ll have the best of both worlds, a new Saugus and a new Ascot,” Wilkings said. “We can run stock cars on the half-mile and sprint cars and midgets on the dirt oval, and motorcycles on both. We are applying for 95 dates a year, but that will include other things than racing, such as rodeos, conventions, car shows, things like that. But it will be a state-of-the-art racing facility.”

In the meantime, what do race drivers do when their track closes abruptly in midseason?

If Saugus, which shut down July 19, is any indication, they scurry to the first place they can find where their cars fit the rules. And if the cars don’t fit, they are modified accordingly.

The main beneficiaries of the closing were Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield, a banked half-mile oval attractive to the faster, more powerful sportsman cars; and Kern County Raceway in Willow Springs, a quarter-mile paved oval where the street stocks, mini-stocks and late-model cars were welcomed.

In a curious turn of events, the closing of Saugus might have saved Mesa Marin’s premier sportsman division.

“The same week that Saugus closed, we had a horrible wreck at Mesa Marin,” said track operator Larry Collins. “Three cars burned to the ground and two others were demolished in the accident. That took the heart out of our program, but the very next week they were replaced by Saugus cars.”

Sean Woodside, who was leading in Saugus’ super-late-model division when the track closed, won a Twin 30 race at Mesa Marin in one of the track’s major Winston Racing Series events.

“In addition to helping our car count, we also picked up part of Saugus’ spectator base,” Collins said.

Kern County benefited most from the entry-level, street-stock class.

“We didn’t go after any of the sportsman cars--Mesa Marin is perfect for them--but we welcomed the entry-level cars, the street stocks and the mini-stocks,” said Ron Hall, director of racing at Kern County.

“It definitely impacted our program. I started out racing at Saugus, and it hurt me when the track closed, but we’re going to try and create some of the family atmosphere that made Saugus so attractive.”

Several recent Kern County winners came from Saugus, including seven-time Grand American champion Dave Phipps and third-generation driver Ronnie Hornaday III, whose father and grandfather were Saugus track champions.

Cajon Speedway, near San Diego, also attracted drivers from the sportsman and Grand American classes, such as former track champions Ken Sapper and Gary Sigman.

“We didn’t have a class that fit with Saugus’ featured series, the one they called late models, but we had some of their better drivers down from time to time to race in our top class,” said Fred Perry, Cajon track steward.

The area’s dirt tracks--Ventura, Bakersfield, Santa Maria, Sunrise Valley in Adelanto and a new oval in Perris--were affected only minimally.

Motor Racing Notes

SPEEDWAY BIKES--Randy Evans, 20, remained in a coma after suffering a head injury last Saturday night in a heat at Speedway USA in Victorville. Evans, a former national junior champion from Anaheim, is on the critical list at Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Fontana, where he was moved Friday from Victor Valley Hospital. Evans hit the wall almost head-on after colliding with Steve Nutter. The remaining riders, headed by former national champion Bobby Schwartz, refused to ride after the accident and left the track. Promoter Gene Woods said a national sidecar championship was scheduled at Speedway USA tonight.

SPRINT CARS--Arizona drivers Lealand McSpadden and Ron Shuman will continue their competition for the Sprint Car Racing Assn. championship tonight at Ventura Raceway. McSpadden’s victory last week at Hanford gave him a 45-point margin, 1,357-1,312, over defending series champion Shuman. Dwarf cars will also be on the program. . . . The World of Outlaws returns to California next Wednesday night for the Quaker State Shootout at Kings Speedway in Hanford. Fourteen-time champion Steve Kinser will face West Coast favorites Jimmy Sills and Brent Kaeding.

POWERBOATS--Victor Sheldon of Vista emerged as national champion in the Budweiser Jet Sports Tour’s featured pro runabout 785-class in the final race last Sunday in Dallas. The Kawasaki rider finished third in a race won by Bill Pointer of Laguna Niguel to clinch the title after having moved up from the regular runabout class, which he won the two previous years. Tera Laho of Lake Havasu City, Ariz., won her second consecutive pro-am women’s title. . . . Jerry Toliver of Huntington Beach set a Long Beach Marine Stadium record for drag boats last week with a 211-m.p.h. run in his blown alcohol boat, Gone Ballistic.

STOCK CARS--Sportsman and street stocks will be featured tonight at the Orange Show Speedway in San Bernardino. . . . Santa Maria Speedway will switch from its weekly Saturday night date to Sunday night this weekend for the fifth annual Sunny Country Don Roberts hobby and street stock Grand Prix. . . . Blythe Speedway will hold double points races in all divisions tonight.

SPORTS CARS--The Cal Club will hold its first Sports Car Club of America double national weekend of the year over the Labor Day holiday at Willow Springs Raceway. Featured today and Sunday will be the final SCCA national event before the 1995 runoffs next month in Ohio. On Monday, drivers will compete for regional titles.

NECROLOGY--Gordon Schroeder, 80, a pioneer racing sportsman who owned Indianapolis 500 cars and midgets driven by Sam Hanks and others, died Thursday at his home in Hollywood. Services will be private.