Sears Point Will Offer Plenty of Twists, Turns

Road races, which are part of NASCAR’s premier Winston Cup series only twice a year, offer unusual problems to stock car drivers who spend most of their career time speeding 200 mph and faster on left-turn-only ovals.

Sunday, in the Save Mart/Kragen 350, they will tackle Sears Point Raceway and its 1.949-mile course in the picturesque wine country of Sonoma Valley in Northern California. A newly configured track has the drivers, at least those who have tested there, frustrated over an inability to find a place to pass.

Ernie Irvan, twice a winner at Sears Point, says the changes make qualifying and pit stops more critical than usual.

“Going there this year will be a challenge because they’ve made some more changes,” Irvan said. “There aren’t many places to pass now, so if you want to make a pass, you’ve got to do it in Turn 11. The new configuration has the potential to be more of a follow-the-leader track.”

John Andretti, last year’s third-place finisher, agrees with Irvan.

“Sears Point is a place where you’re better off to be lucky than be good,” Andretti said. “All you can do when you qualify is throw that thing into the corners and hope it sticks. If it does, you’re going to pick up some time.

“As for the race, there’s only one place to pass and that’s Turn 11. That’s the key to the whole track.”

Kyle Petty, one of only nine active drivers to have won on a road course, says the hardest part of going to Sears Point is learning the track and the changes they’ve made.

“Last year they took the carousel out. This year they changed it from where you had the long sweeping corner that went down, and then they changed the right-hander and made it tighter.

“It’s going to be a learning process. Once you learn basically where the race track is your job is just to stay on it.”

Although drivers say that Turn 11 is the only place where passing is a possibility, Sears Point has only 10 turns in its new Winston Cup configuration.

The contradiction is caused by the original 12-turn track, which included the trademark carousel. Last year, NASCAR officials dropped the carousel by inserting a 300-yard chute between Turn 4 and Turn 7, eliminating two turns. However, for all other races at Sears Point, the 12-turn course is used, so the numbering system remains the same.

If there is a favorite, it would be Jeff Gordon, who won last year’s race from the pole and has won the last three Winston Cup road races in Rick Hendrick’s Chevrolet.

Gordon, like Irvan, is a native Californian who lived his first 13 years in Vallejo, about 15 minutes east of Sears Point.

“I grew up racing on oval tracks and never had the opportunity to get out on the road course at Sears Point,” Gordon said. “I only knew how to turn left.

“Winning at Sears Point was a dream come true for me. It’s always special when you’ve got a lot of old friends and family rooting for you. Racing on road courses is a lot of fun, especially now that we know we can win on them.”

Despite having failed to finish four races, Gordon is fifth in points, 349 behind Dale Jarrett, after 15 of the season’s 34 races.

“Consistency is what we’re after. That’s what wins championships. Right now Jarrett and his team have that consistency. Top-five finishes on a consistent basis are what it takes.”

Jarrett, who drives a Ford Taurus for Robert Yates, has won two races, one less than Gordon and Jeff Burton, but he has finished 12 times in the top five. Gordon has finished second in the last three races, at Dover, Michigan and Pocono.

“Now it’s time to go out and win one,” Gordon said. “Sears Point is the perfect place to do it.”

Qualifying is today and what happens may set the tone for Sunday’s 112-lap race. Three times in 10 years, including Gordon and Mark Martin in the last two, the winner has come from the pole position.

The only other road race is Aug. 15 at Watkins Glen, N.Y.

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Also at Sears Point on Saturday will be a Featherlite Southwest Tour race, the California 200.

Youth is dominating the Southwest Tour to date. Kurt Busch, 20, of Las Vegas, is the series leader, while Matt Crafton, 22, of Tulare, won the last race at West Valley, Utah, and finished fourth last year at Sears Point.

Ken Pederson of San Bernardino is defending race champion.

Southwest Tour drivers are the same ones who will be in the L.A. Street Race at Exposition Park on Monday, Sept. 6. The course will have a new design. Instead of circling the rose garden, as it did last year, it will go around the Sports Arena.

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Irvan, who was raised in nearby Salinas, will take part in an unusual dirt-track race tonight at Watsonville Speedway, where he first raced in the 1970s. He will face his father, Vic, who built Ernie’s first race car, along with Winston Cup rivals Ken Schrader, Kenny Wallace and Geoffrey Bodine.

SPEEDWAY BIKES

The second annual Jack Milne Cup, honoring the 1937 world champion from Pasadena and a pioneer of speedway racing in the United States, will be held Saturday night at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa. Racing will be patterned after the U.S. Nationals, with 20 riders competing in a series of five-rider heats.

Two veterans, Bob “Bugaloo” Schwartz and Brad Oxley, are favored. Schwartz, who won his first of two national championships in 1986, is defending champion. Oxley, the 1987 national champion, is this year’s points leader at Costa Mesa.

The winner will receive the Queen’s Coronation Cup, which was awarded to Milne when he won at Wembley, England, in 1937. The trophy was restored and will be given to the winner by Milne’s daughter and granddaughter, Janie and Catherine Lopez.

After a night racing on the Costa Mesa oval, the speedway riders will tackle Ventura Raceway Sunday afternoon.

CHANGES AT PERRIS

Bubby Jones, a member of the sprint car Hall of Fame and director of competition at Perris Auto Speedway since its opening in 1996, has left the half-mile dirt oval to pursue other ventures.

Jones is now in the Midwest with the Sprint Car Racing Assn., which is running in the World Non-Wing Sprint Car Championships. Jones’ son, Tony, won a qualifying last week at Terre Haute, Ind., before finishing 16th in the main event.

The championships, which will conclude with two nights of racing at Perris, Nov. 12-13, matches SCRA drivers with those from the U.S. Auto Club.

Jones’ duties at PAS will be taken over by the track owners, the Kazarian brothers, Kenny, Donnie and Danny.

The SCRA will return to its Perris home base next week. This Saturday night the track will feature street stocks and its newest star, David Gilliland, who has won five of six races this year. Gilliland, 23, is the son of Winston West veteran Butch Gilliland, who finished third Saturday night in the Irwindale 250.

LAST LAPS

PacWest Racing Group President Bruce McCaw, who campaigns Mauricio Gugelmin and Mark Blundell on the CART champ car series, has been honored as 1999 motorsportsman of the year by the Boy Scouts of America.

Racing memorabilia enthusiasts will converge Sunday at Irwindale Speedway, where the Society of Automotive Historians will hold its 17th annual Literature Faire & Exchange. More than 150 vendors are expected for the 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. swapping.

Series points leader Elliott Forbes-Robinson will return to Mosport, Canada, on Sunday to drive in the American Le Mans Grand Prix in the 25th anniversary year of his first Mosport win, in a Super Vee in 1974. Danny Sullivan, 1985 Indianapolis 500 winner, will also be in the Mosport race. He has finished second five times and third four times on the Toronto-area track, but has yet to win.

Mike Cook, president of the Southern California Timing Assn., reports that the fourth annual Return to Muroc will take place this weekend inside the Edwards Air Force Base grounds. It was at Muroc that hot-rodding for world speed records got its start in the 1940s, but it was closed to racers until four years ago.

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This Week’s Races

WINSTON CUP, Save Mart 350

* When: Today, first-round qualifying, 8 a.m. (ESPN2, 2 p.m.); Saturday, second-round qualifying (ESPN2, delayed, 11 p.m.); Sunday, race (ESPN 1:30 p.m.)

* Where: Sears Point Raceway (permanent road course, 1.949 miles, 11 turns), Sonoma, Calif.

* Defending champion: Jeff Gordon.

* Next race: Pepsi 400, July 3, Daytona Beach, Fla.

BUSCH GRAND NATIONAL, Lysol 200

* When: Saturday, qualifying, 7:45 a.m.; Sunday, race (ESPN, 9 a.m.).

* Where: Watkins Glen International (permanent road course, 2.45 miles, 11 turns), Watkins, Glen, N.Y..

* Defending champion: Ron Fellows.

* Next race: DieHard 250, July 4, West Allis, Wis.

CRAFTSMAN TRUCKS, Bully Hill Vineyards 150

* When: Today, qualifying, 11:15 a.m.; Saturday, race, 10 a.m. (ESPN, 2 p.m.).

* Where: Watkins Glen International (permanent road course, 2.45 miles, 11 turns), Watkins Glen, N.Y.

* Defending champion: Joe Ruttman.

* Next race: DieHard 200, July 3, West Allis, Wis.

CART, Medic Drug Grand Prix

* When: Sunday, race (ESPN, 11:30 a.m.)

* Where: Burke Lakefront Airport (temporary road course, 2.106 miles, 10 turns), Cleveland.

* Defending champion: Alex Zanardi.

* Next race: Texaco-Havoline 200, July 11, Elkhart Lake, Wis.

IRL, Radisson 200

* When Saturday, qualifying (Speedvision, noon); Sunday, race (Fox Sports West, delayed, 2 p.m.)

* Where: Pikes Peak International Raceway (oval, 1 mile, 10 degrees banking in turns), Fountain, Colo.

* Defending champion: Kenny Brack.

* Next race: Kobalt Tools 500, July 17, Hampton, Ga.

NHRA, Sears Craftsman Nationals

* When: Today, second-round qualifying, 12:45 p.m.; Saturday, final eliminations, 1 p.m.

* Where: Gateway International Raceway, Madison, Ill.

* Defending champion: Gary Scelzi.

* Next race: Mopar Parts Mile-High Nationals, July 15-18, Denver.

FORMULA ONE, French Grand Prix

* When: Saturday, qualifying (Speedvision, 4 a.m.); Sunday, race (Speedvision, 4:30 a.m.)

* Where: Nevers-Magny-Cours (road course, 2.641 miles), Magny-Cours.

* Defending champion: Michael Schumacher.

* Next race: British Grand Prix, July 11, Silverstone, England.