After an Off Decade, He’s Boss Again

For 11 years, from 1975 through 1985, Jay Springsteen was as dominant a dirt-track rider as there had ever been in the American Motorcyclist Assn.

Even though a nervous stomach kept him on the sidelines from time to time, Springer won 40 Grand National races and three AMA national championships. When he wasn’t ailing, no one could touch him and his factory Harley-Davidson.

Then, for 10 years after he won his 40th main event in the Syracuse Mile against Gary Scott and Bubba Shobert on Sept. 8, 1985, Springsteen didn’t win again.

Last April, on the five-eighths-mile horse racing track at the Pomona Fairgrounds, the 37-year-old legend from Lapeer, Mich., stunned his younger rivals by winning his 41st national event.

Saturday night, on the same Fairplex track, Springsteen will try for another surprise in the fall version of the Pomona Half-Mile.

“I was really ready last spring,” Springsteen said from the Bartels dealership in Marina del Rey, where his bike is serviced. “I had a busy winter ice racing and snowmobiling and was in great shape for Pomona.

“I was running second or third for a while, going back and forth with Will Davis when I got the lead about halfway and just started splitting. I never looked back until I saw the white flag [for one more lap]. When I did, I didn’t see anybody. I just thought, ‘Four more corners, that’s all I need.’ ”

Scott Parker, who clinched his sixth AMA championship two weeks ago, finished third behind Springsteen and Davis, and said, “It was great to see Springer win. If I couldn’t win, then he’s the one I wanted to see win.”

It wasn’t quite as exciting to Springsteen, however, as the time he won the Indy Mile at the Indiana State Fairgrounds.

“That was a kick,” he said. “I raced my shadow for half of the race. I kept looking back and seeing my shadow in the turns and thought someone was on my [tail].

“After the race, [tuner] Bill Werner said, ‘Man, I was giving you the slow-down sign, you were a straightaway ahead.’ ”

Although he is continually asked if he’s going to retire, Springsteen insists that he’s having too much fun to call it quits.

“I’ve got a brand new Harley for Pomona and we’ve been up to our elbows in grease, getting ready for Saturday night,” he said. “The bike is beautiful and I’ll have an added incentive. My daughter, Amanda, she’s 10 now, will be here to see me ride. She’s been going to the races since she was six weeks old, but I haven’t seen her as much since I got a divorce last year.

“I’ll tell you one thing. Getting a divorce gave me a new lease on life as far as racing is concerned.”

Springsteen will also ride in the Harley-Davidson 883 series, in which he has eight wins and a one-point lead over Mike Hacker of Prince George, Va.

“Some of the guys think I’m crazy to ride both races, but the way I look at it, I’m already here so I might as well make some more money. You know, I’m not a factory rider anymore, so I’ve got to win to pay the bills.”

Motor Racing Notes

ROAD RACING--Tom Kendall of La Canada will be going for his second SCCA Trans-Am championship in a Ford Mustang this weekend at Sears Point Raceway. Kendall, the 1990 champion in a Chevrolet Beretta, has led the entire season and has a 29-point lead over Ken Fellows going into the season’s final race on Saturday. Also at Sears Point will be a NASCAR SuperTruck race featuring Jimmy Smith’s Ford twosome of Mike Bliss, last week’s winner at North Wilkesboro, N.C., and Robby Gordon, Indy car and off-road race veteran.

STOCK CARS--Cajon Speedway will close its 35th season Saturday night with Grand American modifieds and street stocks in a pair of 50-lap main events. . . . Kern County Raceway will hold its Fall Spectacular on Saturday night, featuring late models, pro, street and mini stocks, and Grand American modifieds. . . . Blythe Speedway will hold its final points race for pony stocks Saturday night.

SPRINT CARS--Northern Star winged mini sprints, IMCA sprint cars and dwarf cars will share billing Saturday night at Ventura Raceway. . . . The Pacific Coast Open for SCRA wingless sprinters is Friday night at Kings Speedway in Hanford.

MISCELLANY--The Southern California Timing Assn. will hold time trials Sunday at El Mirage Dry Lake as a preview of the Bonneville World Finals the following week in Utah. . . . The Silver Crown 100 and a Western States midget race will be held Saturday at the CalExpo State Fairgrounds in Sacramento.

NECROLOGY--Joe Gemsa, 75, of El Monte, who raced sprint cars at the old Southern Ascot track and later manufactured racing equipment, died in El Monte. A tribute will be held for Gemsa, charter member of the Western Racing Assn., on Tuesday night at Bunker’s, next to the Burbank airport.