Indy Car Owner Jim Hall Retiring, but Impact Continues

The face of Indy car racing is changing.

Jim Hall, who has been one of motor racing’s most innovative personalities for 42 years, is retiring, ending an career that began when the tall Texan was a student at Cal Tech and drove his brother’s Austin Healey sports car in local races. That was 1954.

Hall had his biggest impact when he introduced ground effects to racing with his Chaparral, in Can-Am in 1969 and later in an Indy car. Chassis construction has not been the same since. His first home-built Chaparral 2 made its debut in the 1963 Times Grand Prix at Riverside International Raceway.

In 1978, with Al Unser as his driver, Hall’s cars won 500-mile races at Indianapolis, Ontario and Pocono, the only time the Triple Crown of 500s has been accomplished. Two years later, Johnny Rutherford drove Hall’s Pennzoil Chaparral to victory at Indianapolis and also won the PPG Indy car championship.

Hall left Indy cars in 1982 but returned in 1990. This year, with Brazilian rookie Gil de Ferran driving, his Honda-powered Reynard won at Cleveland and with four races remaining is in third place behind Jimmy Vasser and Al Unser Jr.

“Right now our focus is the next race [Sunday at Mid-Ohio] and continuing our quest for the championship,” Hall said. “There’s never a perfect place to retire, but I felt this was the time in order to give Gil and the team an opportunity to find a place for next year.”

De Ferran’s name has been linked to Derrick Walker Racing, which will lose Robby Gordon as its driver next year; Barry Green, whose team has not been as successful as hoped with Raul Boesel driving; and to Jackie Stewart’s new Formula One team. De Ferran drove in Europe for Stewart’s son, Paul, before coming to Indy cars.

Emerson Fittipaldi, winner of two Formula One and one Indy car title, is also leaving the sport after a life-threatening accident two weeks ago at Michigan.

“I think I will not race again,” the Brazilian veteran said after being hospitalized for a broken neck suffered from a high speed crash. Doctors estimated that Fittipaldi, 49, survived an impact of 100 G’s, a force that Dr. Barth Green, chairman of neurosurgery at the University of Miami Medical Center, said “is really not compatible with survival.”

Fittipaldi’s seat will be filled in the last three races by Jan Magnussen, a 23-year-old Danish driver.

Max Papis, 26, of Italy has been named to drive the Arciero-Wells Racing Toyota, filling the vacancy left by the death of Jeff Krosnoff at the Toronto Indy car race.

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The first Tustin Thunder road races, created by John Marconi, were held last weekend on the Marine Corps Air Station grounds in Tustin.

Marconi, whose family is the world’s largest manufacturer of health-food supplements and vitamins, said of the combination race-carnival-car show that attracted 50,000 spectators: “It totally exceeded my expectations. It was just a fantastic weekend.”

Maroni drove eight races in two days, winning seven and finishing second in the other. His cars, a ’75 Chevron, Lotus 23B, Lola T202 and ’65 Corvette, came from the Marconi Automotive Museum in Tustin.

Motor Racing Notes

INDY CARS--The Indy Racing League added a sixth race for its 1997-98 season with the announcement of an event June 29, 1997, at Pikes Peak International Raceway, a new mile oval track near Colorado Springs. It will be a week before the 75th running of the Pikes Peak Hill Climb.

SPRINT CARS--Drivers of the Sprint Car Racing Assn. will be at Kings Speedway in Hanford on Friday night and Santa Maria Speedway on Saturday night. Ron Shuman, winless this season, is the series leader after finishing second in three of the last four races. He leads Richard Griffin, 1,300-1,283 with Rip Williams third at 1,165.

OFF ROAD--Perris Auto Speedway will be host for a stadium off-road program Saturday night on a three-quarter-mile obstacle course inside the oval. . . . Evan Evans, Riverside’s paraplegic driver, won his fifth SODA series race, and fourth in a row, at the Chevrolet Off-Road 100 last week in Bark River, Mich. With two races to go, Evans has all but clinched the class championship in his Chevy pickup with hand controls.

STOCK CARS--Winston Racing Series sportsman, street stocks and bombers will be at Cajon Speedway on Saturday night. . . . Kern County Raceway returns to action Saturday night with street and mini stocks, dwarf cars and late models.

MOTORCYCLES--Speedway bikes and sidecars will race Friday night at Costa Mesa Speedway on the Orange County Fairgrounds.