Wet and Wild Weekend on Tap at Puddingstone
The fastest drag boats in the country will be at Puddingstone Reservoir in San Dimas this weekend for the Mission Foods Fall nationals, the sixth of seven races to decide International Hot Boat Assn. championships.
More than 100 teams are expected to contest the 13 pro and eliminator classes. Puddingstone Reservoir is located in the Frank G. Bonelli Regional Park.
John Irvine of Canada, in his 5,000-horsepower top fuel hydro, Can-Am Express, may be forced to threaten the IHBA record of 224.82 mph to hold off challenger Walt Ott of Manteca, Calif., in Performance Plus, and 1995 world champion Charlie Fegan of Bosque, N.M., in American Flyer.
Irvine, who won two weeks ago in the Bayfair race in San Diego, has a top speed of 217.30 this season with an elapsed time of 5.476 seconds for a quarter-mile. The IHBA records are 224.62 by Dave Promnitz and 5.10 by Clint Anderson.
Irvine leads Ott by 184 points with Fegan another 102 behind. Irvine also won at Red Bluff, Calif., and has finished runner-up twice.
Mark Atkinson of Dixon, Calif., has dominated the top alcohol hydro class in his Gone Haywire with three victories, plus a second place at San Diego. With only one event remaining, the World Finals at Firebird Lake near Phoenix on Nov. 7-10, Atkinson’s lead of 318 points seems safe from defending IHBA champion Cliff Bingham of Huntington Beach, driver of Money for Nothin’. Third is Jimmy Bartoli of Duarte, driving Ed Murphy’s Mission Possible.
Qualifying runs start at 9 a.m. Saturday and continue Sunday morning. Top fuel eliminations will begin at 11 a.m. Sunday.
Motor Racing Notes
CALIFORNIA SPEEDWAY--The opening event of Penske Motorsports’ California Speedway, a Winston Cup stock car race scheduled for next June 22, has a name: California 500 presented by Napa. It will be the first Winston Cup race in Southern California since 1988, when Rusty Wallace won the Budweiser 400 at Riverside. It will also be a renewal of NAPA sponsorship in West Coast races as the auto parts supplier backed races at Riverside in the 1970s.
OFF-ROAD RACING--The Trophy Truck races, feature events of the two-day Laughlin Desert Challenge this weekend, will have a different look. Ivan Stewart, whose Toyota V6 has been a dominant force in SCORE International events for many years, will not race while Toyota works to develop a V8 engine that Stewart hopes to debut in the Baja 1000 next month. On the other hand, Jeff Lewis will be in a revolutionary new all-wheel drive Chevrolet 4x4 entered by Team MacPherson Motorsports of Irvine. Favored is former Indy car driver Robby Gordon, who has won four of the races this season in his Ford F-150. The trucks will race 100 miles both Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. Other classes will race 180 miles, starting at 6:30 a.m. . . . The Hungry Valley off-highway recreational vehicle park will hold an open house for off-roaders Saturday. The park is off Interstate 5, west of Gorman.
STOCK CARS--NASCAR fans will get a doubleheader Saturday at Sears Point Raceway with a 40-lap Winston West race in the morning and a 60-lap Craftsman Truck race in the afternoon. A number of drivers, including Ron Hornaday Jr. of Palmdale, last year’s truck race winner and current Craftsman point leader, will be in both races. Butch Gilliland, a two-time winner this year, will drive a new Ford in the Winston West race. Both events will be over the 2.52-mile road course in the Sonoma Valley.
SPRINT CARS--The 34th Pacific Coast Open, originally started by the late J.C. Agajanian at Ascot Park, will take place Saturday night at Kings Speedway in Hanford. It will be a U.S. Auto Club event and the program will also include USAC midgets.
INDY CARS--Hank Ives, Orange County-based motor racing publicist for the last 30 years, is retiring Jan. 1. Ives, who first handled promotions for Times-sponsored races at Riverside International Raceway in 1966, had among his clients the Long Beach Grand Prix and drivers Mario and Michael Andretti, Nigel Mansell, Josele Garza, Kevin Cogan and the late Mike Mosley.