Amato Los Sharp Amid Reduced Field

Five-time top-fuel champion Joe Amato, driving a new Brad Hadman-built chassis, showed he was serious when he said he expected to win his record sixth NHRA championship this year.

The 55-year-old driver from Exeter, Pa., scorched the Pomona Raceway strip with a 320.05-mph run in 4.666 seconds Thursday, the opening day of qualifying for the 40th Autozone Winternationals. Loss of sponsors and the high costs of campaigning a top-fuel dragster cut the entry to 19, the smallest in more than a decade. Since 1990, the smallest field had been 22, in 1995 and 1993. There were 25 last year.

Mike Dunn, Darrell Gwynn’s driver, is sitting out the year after Mopar auto parts disbanded the popular team and diverted its interest to pro stock. Also missing are Eddie Hill, 63-year-old 1993 champion, and veteran Jim Head.

Bob Vandergriff, 10th last year, is running the first two events at Pomona and Phoenix in an unsponsored car after Jerzee’s pulled out of racing.

Winston series champion Tony Schumacher temporarily lost his sponsor, Exide Corp., but on Wednesday the company reversed its decision and announced it would continue to sponsor Schumacher.

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It’s only a quick walk from one end of the pit area to the other at Pomona Raceway. But it can be a long journey from the grass-roots operations on the fringe of the pits to the corporate-sponsored trailers used by the big names of drag racing in the main pit area.

The way the Gracia family sees it, their ethnicity can shorten that distance while bringing new fans to drag strips across the nation. The Gracias are hoping to become the first fully sponsored, self-sufficient Latino NHRA team.

The family, which calls both Ontario and Riverside home, is pinning its hopes on Jeff Gracia, 33, a rookie in the 3-year-old pro stock truck division.

“A lot of it is just being in the right place at the right time,” he said before failing to qualify with a 7.783-second, 175-mph run in his debut Thursday. “At a lot of tracks, I’m like the only Mexican out there, besides the Pedregons. So it does mean a little bit more to me.”

The funny-car driving Pedregon brothers--Frank, Cruz and Tony--are fan favorites but only Cruz owns his own team, and he is still looking for more sponsors.

The Gracias hope to make their team a family affair.

“In high school, us, as Latinos, we were told that we had to take auto shop [as a class] because we weren’t going to be CEOs or anything like that,” said Jeff’s father, Danny Gracia, the potential team owner who would have to resign his post as the NHRA’s national technical director. “The younger generation has to know there are more opportunities available to them today--they don’t have to just work at Pep Boys or Pollo Loco. With a face to identify with [in drag racing], that will let the world know that there are Latinos out there doing it.”

For now, however, Jeff is running the second of NHRA champion Bobby Panella’s two Chevy trucks.

Panella qualified first Thursday with a 7.611-second, 177.32-mph run.

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The Facts

* What: 40th Autozone Winternationals, round one of National Hot Rod Assn.’s 23-event season.

* Where: Pomona Raceway, at Fairplex.

* When: Through Sunday.

* Schedule: Today, time trials, 8:15 a.m., pro qualifying, 2 p.m.; Saturday, time trials, 8:15 a.m., pro qualifying, 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.; Sunday, pre-race ceremony, 10 a.m., final eliminations, 11 a.m.

* Tickets: General, $25 today, $45 Saturday, none available Sunday. Juniors $10. Reserved seats, $35 today, $55 Saturday, $50-$62 Sunday. Juniors $20 today, $22 Saturday, $12-$24 Sunday.

* TV: ESPN2 (delayed), Saturday 6:30 p.m., Sunday 7:30.

* Defending event winners: Mike Dunn, top fuel; Tony Pedregon, funny car; Jeg Coughlin, pro stock; Randy Daniels, pro stock truck.