Penhall’s Return to Give Fast View of Speedway Past

Bruce Penhall returns to the Orange County Fairgrounds Saturday for the Legends of Speedway, a series of exhibition match races between some of the great racers of the past.

It’s the first time in several years that Penhall, 41, will race on the dirt oval because his schedule as a powerboat racer, actor and owner of a sunglasses firm was always in conflict.

This summer, Penhall, from Laguna Hills, completed filming a television movie, “CHiPs,” and he and his co-pilot, Dennis Sigalos, from Newport Beach, set a Deep Vee powerboat world record by clocking 133.024 mph. The previous record was 114 mph.

Penhall and Sigalos clinched the Super Vee division of the American Power Boat Assn., Offshore Series on Sunday in Toronto. One race remains, then Penhall-Sigalos attend the World Championship in Biloxi, Miss., Oct. 12-31, where they will try to win their fourth world title in five years.

Penhall and Sigalos are partners in the boat--and both are contemplating retirement--but will be competing against each other in a match race Saturday. Penhall is a two-time world champion in speedway (1981-82). Sigalos is a 1982 World Best Pairs champion and British Open champion. Both also won American titles.

Among the other “legends of speedway” are Rick Miller (1985 American champion) vs. Steve Columbo (eight-time U.S. national qualifier), and “Dangerous” Dubb Ferrell (18-year veteran from the 1970s and ‘80s) vs. Sonny Nutter (1969 California state champion).

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Penhall said he and Sigalos had a match race this year in England with each winning once and the third race ending in a dead heat.

“We ride hard, that’s just the way it is,” Penhall said. “When you’ve been a racer all your life, it’s hard to tone it down. You hear the motors, get to the tape, and you forget about everything but your old job, which is to ride hard and win.

“I’m excited about it.”

So is Brad Oxley, the promoter who is also the leading rider this season.

“It’s nostalgia night to honor guys who were greats of the 1970s and ’80 and some from the ‘30s,” Oxley said. “For the really old guys, it’s a chance to get a little bit of glory and share some memories.

“For some of the more modern legends, it’s a chance to get out on the track one more time with all the fans there and the lights. We’re indulging all these guys who have put into the sport over all these years.”

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Dan Gurney’s All American Racers shop in Santa Ana can still feel the buzz from rookie driver Alex Barron’s recent ride in Vancouver in the CART FedEx Championship Series.

Though Barron crashed and finished 20th Sunday at the Grand Prix of Monterery, it was his 19th-place performance in Vancouver a week earlier that was one of the highlights of Gurney’s career as a car owner. “Certainly the best one we’ve had in the last 10 years,” he said.

Barron, with a developing Toyota engine and an AAR-designed Eagle chassis in only its third race, led 12 of the race’s 86 laps. But Barron, attempting to nurse Toyota’s first Champ car lead, crashed while approaching a turn too fast.

“It was a misjudgment on my part,” said Barron, 28. “It was an incredible feeling to be in the lead, but it wasn’t the nerves that sent me off the track.”

Barron had only 12 laps around the course before the race because of some mechanical problems, but the team got everything ironed out.

Said Gurney: “We heard through the grapevine that [Newman-Haas Racing] said to Michael [Andretti], ‘OK, get past Alex,’ and he said on the radio, ‘I can’t, he’s getting away from me.’ That’s a huge compliment to the entire combination.”

Dario Franchitti eventually won the race, and Barron’s best race lap time was only three-tenths off Franchitti’s best. Andretti finished second.

“With warts and all, against the best in the Champ car business, we’re there,” Gurney said. “It’s a tall order, competing in a world-class competition among some extremely well-educated, well-funded outfits going at each other’s throats. To be able to jump in there and compete is pretty doggone strong.”

Barron had the only Eagle chassis in the field, and AAR fielded nearly a hundred calls the next day from well-wishers.

“Our fans,” Gurney said, “are really stoked to see this is finally coming to pass.”

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That same race in Vancouver was P.J. Jones’ last for All American Racers. Jones told Gurney he had accepted a ride with Patrick Racing to replace Scott Pruett, who left to join Orange County’s other Toyota team, Arciero-Wells Racing. Gurney asked Jones to step aside so he could find a new driver as soon as possible.

Gurney chose Italian Vincenzo Sospiri to finish the season’s final four races. Sospiri had five victories this season, including his last race, at the Nuerburgring in Germany, in the International Sports Racing Series driving a Ferrari 333SP.

“I appreciate that P.J. let us know he was going to be gone,” Gurney said. “The chance to try Vincenzo the last four races was a good one.”

Gurney also was faithful to the remainder of Jones’ contract.

“We’re going to miss P.J.,” Gurney said. “He’s been a big part of the team. We not only lost Juan Manuel Fangio [who retired before this season], but P.J. Jones. An era has come to a close at AAR.”

It was a difficult choice for Jones, the son of Parnelli Jones who had been with Gurney for seven years.

“Dan gave my career a shot in the arm. He’s the one who put me on the map as a professional race driver,” Jones said.

Jones also played a large role in the testing and development of the Eagle chassis, which he never drove in a race.

“When I told Dan I was leaving, he wouldn’t let me near the Eagle anymore,” Jones said. “I don’t think he wanted me to get too good a feel for it. You can’t fault him for that.

“I’m sad for all the years I’ve been there and dreaming of having a competitive car and I don’t get get to race it.”

Sospiri raced the Eagle on Sunday in Monterey. He finished 23rd.

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Anthony Lazzaro, driving for Cal Wells III’s Arciero-Wells team, won Sunday’s Toyota Atlantic race at Laguna Seca.