MOTOR RACING / SHAV GLICK : Gordon, Villeneuve Were Year’s Surprises

Two precocious 24-year-olds--stock car champion Jeff Gordon and Indy 500 winner Jacques Villeneuve--gave a breath of fresh air to major motor racing in 1995 with yearlong performances that unseated older, more experienced drivers.

Gordon, from Pittsboro, Ind., by way of Vallejo, Calif., won NASCAR’s Winston Cup championship and, in doing so, prevented Dale Earnhardt, 44, from winning a record eighth championship.

Villeneuve, a Canadian-born, European-raised second-generation driver, followed his stunning Indy 500 victory with the PPG Cup Indy Car championship after a battle with defending champion Al Unser Jr., 32.

Only Bill Rexford, who was 23 in 1950 when he won what later became the Winston Cup series, was a younger champion than Gordon, and no one younger than Villeneuve has ever won the Indy car title since Championship Auto Racing Teams--the series sanctioning body--was formed 15 years ago.

Gordon was voted driver of the year, 11-1, by a panel of racing writers and broadcasters.

The lone dissenting vote came from this writer.

The rationale: Gordon won seven of 31 races, Villeneuve four of 16. Nothing much to choose from there. Both staggered home, almost squandering big leads. Gordon finished 32nd in the final race at Atlanta to edge Earnhardt, 4,614-4,580. Villeneuve finished 11th in the season-ending race at Laguna Seca to hold off two-time champion Unser, 172-161.

Both collected enormous sums of money. Gordon won a record $4,347,343, and Villeneuve more than $3 million.

In big races, Villeneuve had the better record. He won the biggest race of all, the Indianapolis 500, with a dramatic victory over fellow Canadian Scott Goodyear. Gordon, on the other hand, won the summer race at Daytona, but in the big one, the Daytona 500, he finished 22nd, one lap behind winner Sterling Marlin.

The manner in which Villeneuve won at Indy says a great deal about the son of the late Gilles Villeneuve, Canada’s legendary Formula One driver. He was running second, trying to catch Goodyear as the green flag was about to be dropped after a yellow flag caution period late in the race.

Running at close to 200 mph, Villeneuve had the presence of mind to realize that Goodyear was going too fast, that he was about to pass the pace car, so instead of continuing the chase he braked to about 180 mph. When Goodyear was penalized for the infraction, Villeneuve went on to win the 500 for Barry Green’s team.

“I knew Scott was going too fast, so I lifted and then braked to make sure I didn’t pass the pace car too,” Villeneuve said. “I was sure he would be black-flagged.”

Villeneuve will not be back at Indy. Even before he had clinched the PPG Cup championship, he had already signed to drive a Formula One car next year for Frank Williams as a teammate of England’s Damon Hill.

Villeneuve will offer a challenge to repeat Formula One champion Michael Schumacher of Germany, who is switching from the winning Benetton team to Ferrari.

Much of 1995, at least the later stages of the year, was marred by the in-fighting between the established CART teams and Tony George’s Indy Racing League, a feud that threatens the stability of Indy car racing in 1996. As things stand now, the IRL will run its five-race season--including the Indianapolis 500--without many of the established stars, notably Unser, Michael Andretti, Bobby Rahal and Emerson Fittipaldi.

On Memorial Day weekend, while the Indy 500 is being run, most of the CART drivers are scheduled to be at Brooklyn, Mich., for a different race, the U.S. 500, on the Michigan International Speedway track. The best race on that day, May 26, will probably be the Coca-Cola 600, a Winston Cup race, at Charlotte, N.C.

The National Hot Rod Assn. drag racing season provided no such youth movement as champions in both high-profile events--Scott Kalitta, 33, in top fuel, and John Force, 46, in funny car--repeated their 1994 victories. In pro stock, Warren Johnson, 52, was the new champion after Darrell Alderman’s car was knocked out of competition by vandals.

Another 24-year-old, Tony Stewart, made U.S. Auto Club history by becoming the first driver to win three championships--midget, sprint car and Silver Crown--in the same season. Stewart, from Rushville, Ind., is expected to try his hand next year in NASCAR’s Busch Grand National series.

Other champions of 1995 included Tom Kendall of La Canada in the Sports Car Club of America’s Trans-Am series; Dave Blaney of Hartford, Ohio, in the World of Outlaws sprint car season; Mike Skinner of Randleman, N.C., in NASCAR’s new SuperTruck season; Greg Moore of Canada in Indy Lights; Lealand McSpadden of Tempe, Ariz., in the Sprint Car Racing Assn., and Billy Boat of Phoenix in the USAC Western Regional midget series.

Motor Racing Notes

HONORS: Eight new members have been elected to the Motorsports Hall of Fame in Novi, Mich.: Henry Ford, who set a land speed record at Lake St. Clair, Mich., before building the Model T; Lee Petty, winner of the first Daytona 500; Johnny Rutherford and Mauri Rose, three-time Indy 500 winner; Bill “Grumpy” Jenkins, drag racing driver and engine builder; Peter Revson, former sports car champion; Malcolm Smith, motorcycle and off-road racing legend; A.J. Watson, Indy car builder, and Betty Cook, world off-shore powerboat champion.

The American Auto Racing Writers & Broadcasters Assn. will hold its 26th annual All American team banquet Jan. 6 at the Long Beach Hilton. The banquet is open to the public. Reservations: 818-842-7005.

NECROLOGY--Harry Weber, 78, of Newport Beach, a pioneer hot-rodder and high performance equipment manufacturer, died last Saturday of heart failure while visiting his daughter in Oregon. Services will be at 1 p.m. Saturday at Rose Hills Mortuary in Whittier.