Track Stars

On a Saturday night, you can hear the engines’ roar from miles away. The oval race course is at Ventura’s Seaside Park, but nobody can mistake the noise for high tide.

Its source is the internal combustion engine in a hundred incarnations--everything from puny 20-horsepower go-carts to very, very serious 800-horsepower sprint cars, all whipping around the track 20 or 30 times with ear-splitting enthusiasm. The drivers are just as diverse.

Wayne Heurung, 37, squeezes eight to 15 hours of work a week on his souped-up 1969 Camaro into his full-time air-compressor repair business. His crew consists of his wife and a friend.

“There are days when I tell my customers I’m busy, but I’m really working on my car,” says Heurung, who has competed at the Ventura Raceway on and off since 1986.

The raceway has seen its share of budding mega-racers. In 1989, a young midget car driver named Jeff Gordon put in some heart-stopping performances that only hinted at his future. Gordon has become one of the top stock car racers in the nation.

Cory Kruseman, 27, hopes to follow in Gordon’s skid marks, but at the famed Indy 500. He is one of just a few drivers who are paid. Most drive for the thrill alone.

Kruseman drives for his car’s owner, an outfit called Willis Racing. He and his crew of five volunteers spend about 40 hours a week honing the performance of his high-tech, ultra-fast car.

A sprint car costs about $55,000. The engine alone goes for about $38,000. Kruseman, whose father was a seven-time national motorcycle champ, has piloted 15 classes of racing cars.

“If it has wheels, I’ll race it,” he says.