Gurney Hopes Changes Put Him on Championship Path

By MARTIN HENDERSON

Nov. 12, 1999 12 AM PT

Dan Gurney’s race team will have a different look for 2000 as he pursues the path that most think will take him to the podium for the first time since joining the champ car circuit in 1996.

“We’re not obligated to go any particular direction,” Gurney said. “We can go with what we think will be the best. In the end, what you want to do in racing is win.

“You need an excellent driver, an excellent engine, an excellent car and the right tires. That’s our target.”

Gurney’s Santa Ana-based team won’t be using an Eagle chassis next year because it was designed for the Toyota engine, which Gurney won’t be using. He’s eyeing a Ford Reynard engine-chassis combination.

The last pieces of the puzzle are funding, which Gurney is still pursuing, and the driver. He has talked extensively to Bryan Herta, who finished 12th in the series standings for Team Rahal but won at Laguna Seca with the Ford-Reynard combination. In his last four races, Herta finished fifth, first, fourth and 14th.

* With a window available to run in the Indianapolis 500 during the CART Championship Series season in 2000, Cal Wells III is unsure if his Rancho Santa Margarita-based Arciero-Wells Racing will field an entry.

“I’ve always been interested in competing at the Indy 500,” Wells said. “Whether we will, I don’t know. The opportunity to do so is coming a little late for what we’ve told our sponsors. We’re going to [check] their interest level because it takes a considerable investment. Assuming we can, we’ll try to put an effort together.

“But it’s way too premature to speculate that we could even make it.”

INDY RACING LEAGUE

Skip Faul, a native of Orange, has been re-signed as crew chief for Treadway Racing. Faul’s driver, Sam Schmidt, had seven top-10 finishes in 10 races.

SCORE

Adam Wik of Anaheim, Tim Casey of Brea, Chris Haines of Trabuco Canyon and Johnny Campbell of San Clemente were county winners in the 32nd SCORE Baja 1000. Wick and Bekki Freeman of Henderson, Nev., won the Class 1-2/1600 with an average speed of 38.84 mph. Haines rode a motorcycle to victory in Class 40 (riders over 40), averaging 34.66 mph. Campbell and teammate Tim Staab of Pacific Beach averaged 47.16 mph to win Class 22 (250cc or more). Casey didn’t complete the race but still won among three Stock Mini entrants.

Among local second-place finishers were Ryan Arciero (Laguna Hills) and Bob Gordon (Orange) in Class 1 Unlimited single- or two-seaters, Bruce Landfield (Yorba Linda) in Stock Mini trucks, and Wes Miller (Costa Mesa) in Class 25 (251cc or more) Pro ATVs.

NASCAR

Anaheim’s Butch Gilliland became the first NASCAR Winston West driver to top $100,000 in earnings this season. His $101,188 is $9,000 more than Sean Woodside. Gilliland is ninth in the points standings; Woodside is first.

“If I had a choice, I would be first in the standings,” said Gilliland, who finished 23rd in the most recent race, at Bakersfield, after blowing a right front tire and crashing.

The season’s last race, Nov. 20 at Twin Ring Motegi in Motegi City, Japan, is also the season’s richest race. Coupled with money from the series points fund, a good performance could push Gilliland over $200,000.

He likes his chances. Last month at Las Vegas, which requires a similar setup to Twin Ring, Gilliland was consistently fastest in practice, and, despite tire problems in the race and hitting the wall, still finished fourth.

“We really run good on the bigger tracks,” said Gilliland, who is looking for sponsorship to field a Winston Cup team next season. “We’re looking forward to some pretty good things. And there have only been [five] drivers who have raced this track.”

Gilliland is one of them.

* San Juan Capistrano’s Jeff Ward, who raced the IRL season, finished 33rd at Phoenix in the Featherlite Southwest Series. Ward completed 87 laps before an accident ended his day.

OPEN WHEEL

Tim Enoch of Mission Viejo finished third overall in the open-wheel Star Mazda Series and the Best Western Championship Series after a ninth-place performance Saturday in Las Vegas. Enoch, who was hit from behind and spun off the course, was named the series rookie of the year.

PERRIS

Yorba Linda’s Richard Griffin, the all-time main event winner at Perris Auto Speedway, is among those competing tonight and Saturday at the fourth Oval Nationals for Sprint Car Racing Assn.’s world non-winged championship. The race in Perris pits the best drivers from the West against those from the Midwest.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

PERRIS AUTO SPEEDWAY

PASSCAR Street Stocks

1. Rick Arringdale, Hesperia411

2. David Gilliland, Chino354

3. Steve Stewart, Long Beach320

4. Henry Wesolowski, Temecula319

5. Art Hovind, Corona270

6. Carla Laney, Lomita258

7. Everett Burns, Riverside257

8. Luke Dodd, NA237

Champ Trucks