It Might Be End of Road for Banquet

The American Auto Racing Writers and Broadcasters Assn. will hold its 29th annual All-American team banquet Saturday night at the Renaissance Long Beach Hotel.

It may be the last.

Increasing demands on drivers’ time--particularly winning ones--for testing, expanded schedules and sponsor appearances has diluted participation in what was once one of the premier events of the off-season.

Another factor has been the evolution of big-bucks banquets at glamorous sites, such as the Winston Cup’s at New York’s Waldorf-Astoria, where driver of the year Jeff Gordon collected

$9 million; CART’s here at the Century Plaza, where Alex Zanardi picked up more than $1 million, and the Busch Grand National’s last Saturday night at the Beverly Wilshire where Dale Earnhardt Jr. took home $383,000.

Only about half of the 12 AARWBA All-Americans are expected to be at Long Beach, and the number has steadily dropped since the 1980s when nearly all showed up to be honored.

The All-American team consists of two drivers each from stock car, open wheel, drag, short track and road racing, and two drivers at large.

This year, Gordon, Mark Martin and Earnhardt Jr. are involved in testing for the Winston Cup and Busch Grand National season openers at Daytona Beach, Fla., next month. CART champ car champion Zanardi is in Europe, preparing for the Formula One season.

Ron Hornaday Jr., selected after winning the title in NASCAR’s Craftsman truck series, will be in Homestead, Fla., testing a new Chevrolet truck. Indy Racing League champion Kenny Brack will be testing one of A.J. Foyt’s cars for next week’s IRL opener at Orlando, Fla.

Scheduled to accept trophies in person are drag racing’s National Hot Rod Assn. representatives, eight-time funny car champion John Force and two-time top-fuel champion Gary Scelzi, who is interrupting his Hawaii vacation for the occasion.

Also expected are David Besnard, Formula 2000 champion from Australia; Butch Leitzinger, world Professional Sports Car Racing champion, who is taking time from practicing for the Rolex 24-Hour race Jan. 30-31 at Daytona; Cristiano da Matta, Indy Lights champion, who has joined the Arciero-Wells CART team; and Paul Gentilozzi, the Trans-Am winner.

Also being honored are Les Richter, who went from a hall-of-fame football career to managing Riverside International Raceway and, more recently, the new California Speedway in Fontana; the Grand Prix of Long Beach, celebrating its 25th anniversary, and the new Irwindale Speedway, which will open March 27 as one of the nation’s premier paved short tracks.

Bob Bondurant, a former Formula One driver who taught James Garner and Paul Newman how to drive race cars, will deliver the keynote speech.

Highlight of the program will be the presentation of the Jerry Titus Memorial Trophy to the AARWBA driver of the year. Titus was a noted racing journalist-driver who was killed in a racing accident in 1970.

Also expected to attend are Danny Sullivan, 1985 Indy 500 winner; Dan Gurney and Tom Kendall, last year’s Titus Award winner.

“There doesn’t seem to be a weekend anywhere in the year when we can round up our All-Americans,” said Dusty Brandel, AARWBA president since 1986. “We’ve tried moving the awards banquet around the country, but the bigger racing gets, the tougher it is to get drivers, no matter where the dinner is held.”

In recent years, the All-American banquet has been held in Burbank, Las Vegas, Charlotte, the Los Angeles Marriott and the Queen Mary and Spruce Goose in Long Beach.

“It’s a concept that has run its course,” said one NASCAR official. “There are no dinners for baseball, football or basketball All-American teams. Why should there be one for motor racing?”

SUPERCROSS

The big freeway sign outside Edison Field in Anaheim said it all last Saturday about the popularity of Supercross, which is starting its 25th season:

“TONIGHT’S EVENT SOLD OUT.”

Opening-night attendance for the $1.7-million stadium motocross series topped out at 45,050, as many as the downsized former Anaheim Stadium could hold. The series will be back at the same site Feb. 6.

The second round of the 15-race season will be run Saturday night at San Diego’s Qualcomm Stadium.

Georgia’s Ezra Lusk, who was challenging for the championship last year before a wrist injury slowed him down, got off to a fast start this year with an almost wire-to-wire win. Lusk took over from Suzuki rider Larry Ward on the seventh of 20 laps and kept his red Honda in front the rest of the way.

Defending series champion Jeremy McGrath, who had never lost at Anaheim, finished a disappointing seventh in the opener. Maybe he’s spending too much time on his golf. He shot a 79 on the Canyon Lake course a few days before riding in the Supercross.

NASCAR

Third- and fourth-generation drivers will give Winston Cup and Busch Grand National races a new look this year.

Adam Petty, 18, son of Kyle, grandson of Richard and great grandson of Lee, plans to run the full 32-race Busch schedule. Last year, his first as a professional, Adam won one race in the American Speed Assn., a Midwestern circuit, and one with ARCA at Charlotte.

Earnhardt Jr., 24, son of Dale and grandson of Ralph, is defending Busch champion but this year also plans to run five Winston Cup races against his father. By running only five Cup races, starting with the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte on May 30, Junior will be eligible to run for rookie of the year in 2000. The two Earnhardts will also race in the International Race of Champions, which opens Feb. 12 at Daytona.

LAST LAPS

Perris Auto Speedway will open its fourth season of dirt-track sprint car racing with the World of Outlaws on Feb. 20. Steve Kinser, winner of his 15th championship, and Mark Kinser, winner of every Outlaws race held at Perris, headline the entry list.

Honored:

* Mick Doohan, five-time world 500cc motorcycle road-racing champion, was named athlete of the year in the annual Australian Sports Awards balloting, edging U.S. Open tennis champion Pat Rafter and cricketeer Mark Taylor. It was Doohan’s fourth selection.

* Evel Knievel’s Harley-Davidson XR-750 and his colorful jumpsuit are now part of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington. Knievel himself, however, is not doing so well. The colorful daredevil, 60, is hospitalized in Tampa, Fla., awaiting a liver transplant. He has hepatitis C, which caused cirrhosis of the liver.

* San Diego’s Bayfair World Series of Powerboat Racing was named national race site of 1998 by the Unlimited Hydroplane Racing Assn. San Diego’s Mission Bay site also was named in 1995. . . . Don Ohlmeyer, NBC television executive, has been named a member of the CART board of directors.

The Formula One schedule, which will open March 7 in Melbourne, Australia, is being shuffled around. The second scheduled race, in China, has been dropped and will be replaced by one in Buenos Aires, tentatively scheduled for March 28.

NECROLOGY

Bruce Bromme Sr., 81, a second generation Indy car builder and long-time California Racing Assn. sprint car builder-owner, died in his sleep of a kidney disorder last Sunday night at his home in Paso Robles. Bromme, whose father Lou worked on Duesenbergs in the 1930s and whose son, Bruce Jr., is team manager of the car Richard Griffin drove to the Sprint Car Racing Assn. championship last year, was inducted into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 1977.

Bromme won five CRA car owners’ championships, with Paul Jones in 1965 and Dean Thompson in 1980, 1981, 1983 and 1985. Survivors include his wife, Marge, and Bruce Jr. There will be no services. The family requested that donations be made to the Sprint Car Hall of Fame, P.O. Box 542, Knoxville, IA 50138.