Pursley Changes in Fast Lane Without Even Slowing Down

By DARIN ESPER

July 12, 2000 12 AM PT

If driver and crew don’t function as a team, victory becomes much harder to achieve, regardless of how good the equipment is or how much talent the individual behind the steering wheel has.

Greg Pursley of Newhall was not deterred from switching teams in his first full season in the NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Tour, despite the acclimation period often necessary for drivers and crews to learn to work together.

Pursley, 32, will make his fourth start for Las Vegas-based Q Motorsports on Sunday in the fourth annual Ford Los Angeles Street Race at Exposition Park, which is the 10th race of the 19-race series. He left the Crown Motorsports team before the sixth race at El Cajon Speedway on June 3 because the team was running a limited schedule and he wanted to contend for a series championship for the first time.

The first outing with the new team, which won the 1999 Featherlite Southwest championship for owner Craig Keough [pronounced cue] with Kurt Busch, NASCAR Craftsman Truck series rookie-of-the-year contender, in the driver’s seat, was June 10 in the Snap On Tools 125 at West Valley City, Utah. Pursley finished 15th, and was second the following week in the Snap On Tools/AAA 200 at Laguna Seca International Raceway in Monterey.

A 12th-place finish July 1 in the Community Recycling Firecracker 100 at Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield has put Pursley sixth in the points standings despite missing a race.

Pursley’s background is in road racing, which may explain why he won the pole for the street race in 1998 in his second appearance behind the wheel of a Featherlite Car. He captured the pole again at the 1999 street race, one of eight series races he entered.

His father, Russ, chief technical inspector at Mesa Marin, served as crew chief for Mickey Thompson’s legendary funny car before joining Gottlieb Racing’s Trans-Am and IMSA series teams.

Motocross was the first racing experience for Greg Pursley, who took up the sport at 14 years old while attending Canyon High. He moved his motorcycle racing to asphalt at Willow Springs International Raceway in Rosamond, but an accident in 1991 that left him in a wheelchair for a month convinced him, his father and his wife, Heidi, that racing late model stock cars at the famed road course was a safer alternative.

Pursley, watched several races but never raced at Saugus Speedway, competed in 1994 and 1995 at Willow Springs before deciding to try his luck at oval track racing.

“[Oval racing is] different than road course racing, because on an oval you are always racing somebody, even when you are a lap down,” Pursley said. “[The transition] didn’t seem [difficult], it seemed like it just came to me. My dad was a lot of help with that. He has a lot of experience.”

It did not take long for Pursley to attract attention. His first Featherlite Race was the Copper Classic at Tucson Raceway in January 1997, where he finished 14th. He joined Crown Motorsports in 1998 as crew chief of a late model driven by Frank Adamo.

Pursley was asked to drive the 1998 street race by team owner Tom Fry because of his road-racing background.

In 1999, Pursley drove a super late model for Crown at Mesa Marin and Irwindale. He considers himself fortunate to have been able to focus on racing without working a regular job since joining Crown in 1998.

Pursley was replaced at Crown by road racing specialist Boris Said of Carlsbad, who has had several one-race deals to drive Winston Cup races at Laguna Seca and Watkins Glen, N.Y.

Said, third at Laguna Seca, will drive in the street race.

“[Said] was there last year and I out-qualified him.” Pursley said. “We have a good car and a good setup. It helps the team a tremendous amount when we can go out and beat a guy like that.”

With 205 points separating the top six drivers in the points standings, Pursley understands that consistency will play a role.

“If you don’t have a winning car at that race, you take the best finish you can, take the points and go do your homework,” Pursley said.

Bryan Herta of Valencia will substitute for the third time for injured Tony Kanaan in Mo Nunn’s Reynard-Mercedes when the CART series competes in the Molson Indy on Sunday on a 1.755-mile temporary street course at Toronto’s Exhibition Place.

There was speculation Herta would lose his seat to two-time series champion Alex Zanardi, who drove the car last weekend in a two-day test at Sebring International Raceway in Florida.

Nunn added fuel to the rumor mill before the test by saying: “If all goes well . . . and Alex is totally comfortable and agrees to it, we just might see him before Tony is fit to resume as our full-time driver.”

Herta said he never worried about losing the seat, since Nunn first offered Zanardi the opportunity to drive in place of Kanaan.

“I think it was natural for there to be speculation,” Herta said. “There was just no substance to it. [Nunn] left the door open, sure. But this was something that had been set up by Mercedes a long time ago.”

According to Herta, Mercedes engineers were able to improve on the engine’s power delivery by experimenting with the electronic tuning.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

L.A. STREET RACE

Saturday-Sunday

at Exposition Park

SCHEDULE

Saturday

* 7:30-7:45 a.m.--Pro Racing Series (Practice)

* 8-8:30 a.m.--Ultra Wheel Spec Truck (Practice)

* 8:45-9 a.m.--Vintage COBRA (Practice)

* 9:15-9:45 a.m.--Ultra Wheel Spec Truck qualifying

* 10-10:30 a.m.--Pro qualifying