Next June, It’ll Be Pedal to Metal at Fontana

Motor racing fans who want to be at the opening event of the California Speedway should reserve the weekend of June 21-22, 1997, for a NASCAR Winston Cup stock car race.

With Bruton Smith’s new Texas World Speedway in Fort Worth getting an April date--it will be announced today in what the track publicist called “a monumental announcement that will change the motorsports world forever”--Roger Penske’s new two-mile track in Fontana will get the June weekend.

That date coincides with the Winston Cup date once held by Riverside International Raceway before its final stock car race in 1988.

Earlier reports had indicated that the new track would open in April or May, close to the road race at Sears Point, which would have given Winston Cup teams two races in California in a single trip. However, the Sunday date before Sears Point belongs to Talladega and cannot be changed, and the Sunday after the Sears Point race is Mother’s Day, a date no promoter would care to challenge.

CART Indy cars will make their California Raceway debut Sept. 14, 1997.

The 1 1/2-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway will hold its opening race, a 500-kilometer Indy Racing League event, on Sept. 15 of this year.

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Craig Breedlove unveiled his newest Spirit of America jet car--the one with which he hopes to regain the world land-speed record--at a press conference Wednesday at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles.

The 8,500-pound, 44-foot-long vehicle, capable of generating 45,000 horsepower, is expected to make its first trial runs Aug. 5 on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. An effort to better the record of 633 mph held by Richard Noble of England is expected by late August.

Breedlove, 59, was the first to exceed 400, 500 and 600 mph, and resumed his chase for the record after Noble took it to England in 1983. Breedlove set the record five times, the last time in 1965 when Spirit of America-Sonic 1, ran 600.601 mph.

“We found two courses, both about 11 miles in length, at Bonneville which we hope will accommodate us,” Breedlove said. “The salt, which had been deteriorating, looks good and, from my own viewpoint, I would like to make the record run at Bonneville.

“However, just in case, we have reserved Black Rock Desert in Nevada.”

It was at Black Rock, the largest dry lake bed in North America, that Noble set his record.

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Four days of free racing will be available for visitors to the Orange County Fair in Costa Mesa this weekend.

Speedway motorcycle riders will compete in the Coors Light Fair Derby on Friday night, with speedway sidecars and quads racing on Saturday night.

United States Auto Club three-quarter midgets will make their annual visit to the fairgrounds on Sunday night. Monday will be given over to a Youth Olympics program featuring minicycles, quads, midgets and karts, starting at 4 p.m.

Two Southern California youngsters, Ricky Shelton, 18, of Huntington Beach, and Eddie Edenholm, 22, of Los Angeles, will be continuing their battle for the USAC TQ midget championship on the eighth-mile oval--the smallest track they race on all year. Shelton, last year’s rookie of the year, has won five main events, and Edenholm three, giving Shelton a 415-359 lead after 12 races.

Although Shelton won’t be 19 until Dec. 22, he is a veteran racer. He started in quarter midgets when he was 6, winning four national championships before he was 14, and then moved up to micro midgets, winning the Carlsbad track championship two years ago. Last year he made his debut in TQs, finishing fifth in season standings.

Motor Racing Notes

SPRINT CARS--To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Farmer’s Fair & Expo at the Lake Perris Fairgrounds, the Perris Auto Raceway will be open Friday night to Sprint Car Racing Assn. action. Cory Kruseman, with victories last Thursday night at Perris and Saturday night at Bakersfield, returns to Perris in search of his third in a row. Between his two victories, the Ventura driver flew to Terre Haute, Ind., where he finished fifth in a USAC Silver Crown race for dirt track cars. For the first time in 17 races, veteran Ron Shuman is out of the SCRA points lead. Richard Griffin forged ahead, 1,042-1,038.

STOCK CARS--The Coors Light Silver Bullet series for street stocks returns to Ventura Raceway on Saturday night, with IMCA sprint cars and I-4 modifieds also on the program. . . . Also Saturday night: Winston Racing Series sportsman, street, bombers and pony stocks at Cajon Speedway; street, mini and late model stocks, plus American V-8 modifieds at Kern County Raceway, and a NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Tour race at Las Vegas Speedway Park featuring defending champion M.K. Kanke of Granada Hills.

SPORTS CARS--The Toshiba California Grand Prix, a three-hour race for International Motor Racing Assn. world sports cars, will headline a busy weekend at Sears Point Raceway. Favored are hometown favorites Darin Brassfield of Aptos and Scott Sharp of Danville, both in Oldsmobiles. Brassfield is a five-time winner on the Sears Point road course. Sharp and co-driver Wayne Taylor were co-winners in the 24 Hours of Daytona.

The Barber Dodge pro series, which will also be run at Sears Point, features three young second-generation drivers--Derek Hill, son of former Formula One champion Phil; Jeff Bucknum, son of former F1 driver Ronnie; and Rocky Moran Jr., whose father drove Indy and GT cars.

MIDGETS--With Billy Boat returning to form--three victories in the last four U.S. Auto Club western regional series races--the series is beginning to look like last year’s. The defending champion has won eight of 17 races and will go for No. 9 Saturday night at Bakersfield Speedway.

OFF-ROAD--It was a Gordon family party last weekend in the SCORE Fireworks 250 in Barstow. Robby Gordon, driving a red, white and blue Ford that resembled an American flag on the Fourth of July, won the Trophy Truck main event, and his father, Bob, won his second consecutive overall desert race, driving with Frank “Butch” Arciero in a Toyota-powered Chenowth buggy.

INDY CARS--Scott Brayton, who was killed May 17 while practicing for the Indianapolis 500, had a life insurance policy that did not cover his auto racing. Brayton had extensive coverage for racing injuries but nothing in the way of racing death benefits, according to a report in the Indianapolis Star. Brayton’s wife, Becky, said, however, that Indianapolis Motor Speedway “took good care of us.” Besides his wife, Brayton left a 2-year-old daughter, Carly.