NHRA Going Back for Its Future

The National Hot Rod Assn., which was founded in 1951 in part to give hot-rodders opportunities to race their souped-up cars legally instead of on city streets or deserted highways, has come full circle.

Acceptance of the NHRA was solidified in 1953 when Ralph Parker, then police chief of Pomona, agreed to have his department help supervise races at the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds--still the site of the NHRA’s Winternationals in February and Winston Select Finals in October.

For several decades, Southern California was dotted with strips where grass-roots racing was conducted weekly. Gradually, however, housing developments, strip malls, manufacturing parks and freeways wiped them out.

One by one, popular racing venues such as Lions, San Fernando, Orange County, Irwindale and others disappeared, leaving a void for nearly all types of drag racing except professional. One consequence has been an increase in illegal street racing.

The NHRA’s answer was to bring together law enforcement agencies again in Operation Street Legal, a federally funded program, to promote racing on the same site as 1953, the Fairgrounds strip. Officers from the Pomona, Ontario, La Verne and Fontana police departments, as well as the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department and the California Highway Patrol from the Riverside area, will participate in the project.

One of the highlights of the Street Legal Drag series, which will continue today, will be match races between young--or old--hot-rodders and law enforcement officers driving police cars. It’s being billed as “Beat the Heat” competition.

For the NHRA, the series is also a public-relations exercise designed to dispel the notion that street racing is “drag racing,” as it is often called by the media when accidents occur.

“We want kids and their parents to see the difference,” said Gene Bergstrom, NHRA director of field operations.

Another aspect of the program involves the police issuing “Get Out of Jail Free” cards to participants and spectators at illegal street races and other traffic violators. The cards may not save them a citation, but will offer admission to the Street Legal Drags.

“We’ve realized that enforcement is not the total solution,” said Lt. Paul De Paola of the CHP. “This program is important because it exposes kids to the correct and safe way to race, in the proper environment.”

Bergstrom added, “We’re not saying, ‘Don’t do it.’ We’re just telling them where to do it safely and how to still have fun. That’s what drag racing is all about.”

Racing is scheduled to start at 9 a.m.

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Championship speedway motorcycle racing will return for the 28th year to the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa tonight with the season-opening Coors Light Spring Classic.

Former national champions Mike Faria, Bobby Schwartz, Brad Oxley and Steve Lucero will be in the 46-rider field. Faria and Josh Larson will be using the race as a final tuneup for the British Speedway League competition, which opens next month. Faria rides for Edinburgh of Scotland and Larson for Wolverhampton of England.

The weekly Friday night speedway season will open April 12, featuring a guest appearance by current national champion Greg Hancock of Huntington Beach. Hancock also races primarily in Europe.

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Motor Racing Notes

VENTURA--The Ventura Raceway at Seaside Park will open its 18th season of dirt-track racing tonight with non-winged sprint cars of IMCA’s western division, plus dwarf cars and a new class, 1-4 modifieds, based on a Pinto-style chassis.

DRAG RACING--The 37th anniversary of the famed March Meet will be observed this weekend by the Goodguys Vintage Drag Racing Assn. with a nostalgia championship at the old Famoso Raceway north of Bakersfield. It will also kick off the $150,000 Goodguys/Red Line Oil series for nostalgia drag racers west of the Rockies.

ELECTRIC CARS--Former Indy 500 winner Tom Sneva finished second to David Swan of Monrovia in the super-stock class of the Electric Vehicle Technology Competitions at Firebird Raceway in Arizona. Unlimited hydroplane champion Chip Hanauer drove the Port Townsend (Wash.) entry to victory in a class for high school-built cars. He averaged 50.77 mph.

MISCELLANY--The Daytona 200 superbike race, twice postponed by rain, has been rescheduled for today at Daytona International Raceway. . . . The California 200, second race of the LaRana desert off-road series, is scheduled today, near Ridgecrest. . . . Brian Church has been named president of Glen Helen Park in San Bernardino as part of an expansion program planned by park operator Bud Feldkamp.

NECROLOGY--Racing impresario Ben Foote, 74, longtime public relations director of Ascot Park, died last Saturday at his home in Redondo Beach of a heart attack. Foote came to Ascot in 1972 to work for Agajanian Enterprises after having served as press secretary to the governor of Arizona. After Ascot closed in 1990, he was involved with West Coast midget racing, motorcycle and sprint car promotions. Services are pending.