L.A. Street Race Should Be a Real Bump and Grind

For NASCAR, this weekend’s fourth annual Ford L.A. Street Race is unique, the only downtown street race in a major metropolitan area in all of its stock car racing series.

For Featherlite Southwest Series teams and drivers, the purse of $166,750 is a record for its 19-race season.

For Bill Burke and his LA Events organization, it is a companion piece to his Los Angeles Marathon, another way to bring sports excitement to the inner city.

For race fans, the one-mile course that circles the Sports Arena and runs alongside the Coliseum offers more bumping and fender bending per lap than any other place NASCAR runs.

The Southwest Series feature race will be run Sunday, a move from the traditional Labor Day weekend.

“We moved the date for two reasons,” Burke said. “For one, we found that most people travel over Labor Day and there weren’t many around to come to the race. And, secondly, we wanted a date when the Winston Cup had a week off. We knew how many people watch Winston Cup races on TV, and we also thought we could get some big-name drivers on their off weekend.”

A good thought, but . . . Even though big-name drivers Mark Martin and Ken Schrader came West on red-eye flights after racing in Darlington, S.C., on Sunday the last two years, none are coming this weekend. They are scattering elsewhere.

For instance, Schrader and Tony Stewart are driving late models on the dirt at Terre Haute, Ind., Rusty Wallace is racing watercraft on Lake Norman, N.C., and PJ Jones is testing an off-road truck in Baja California.

This will be the final race in Exposition Park, since Burke plans to have a new site for 2001.

“We have a number of places we are looking at,” he said. “We expect to be either in the [San Fernando] Valley or downtown. Both have advantages. We have always wanted to stay downtown, but the Valley would be very inviting as it is very auto-oriented and starving for major sporting events.”

Ray Dixon, race committee chairman for the Ford Dealers Assn. of Southern California, said the street race is “a positive for us to be involved with NASCAR.

“When we tie in our advertising with race promotions, it brings fans to our dealership for [discount] tickets that we might not otherwise see. I also have a Toyota dealership and have seen how important the Long Beach Grand Prix is to Toyota, so it makes sense for Ford to be part of NASCAR’s street race.”

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Jon Nelson of Hemet is the Southwest Series’ only two-time winner this year, but his Pontiac Grand Prix won’t be at Exposition Park.

“We broke the motor at Mesa Marin two weeks ago and because we’re a low-bucks operation, we don’t know how long it will be before we get it fixed,” Nelson said. “It depends. If it’s a big bill, we’ll be out all summer. If it’s reasonable, we may be back sooner.”

Nelson will be there, however, supervising the Ultra Wheel Spec Truck race. Nelson’s company in Temecula made all the trucks in the race. Parnelli Jones will be in one of them, coming back at 66 to display the talents he used in winning the 1963 Indianapolis 500.

“As long as I’m there, I’ll have my helmet and driving suit in case someone wants me to drive their car,” Nelson said.

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Craig Raudman, whose brother Chris won the Southwest Series in 1996, came within a fender length of winning last year’s L.A. race after a demolition derby-like battle with winner A.J. Alsup.

“We’re coming back with the same car and expect to be race ready,” said Raudman, 38.

He also is coming back from injuries suffered during the Winston West race last April at California Speedway. Raudman was running fifth with five laps to go when he blew a tire and slammed head-on into the retaining wall.

“I was in the lead pack with Johnny Benson, Ken Schrader and Eric Norris, going probably 200 mph, when the tire let go,” he said. “I had major bruises everywhere. Worst of all was my left foot. It got turned backwards and I had to have surgery. I also had some broken ribs and a broken tailbone.”

Raudman spent four days in Loma Linda Hospital and has been undergoing daily physical therapy at his home in Bakersfield. He started in the Southwest Series race at Sears Point last month, but turned the car over to his brother halfway through the race.

“I’m back up to speed now,” he said. “I sold my business building race cars so I can concentrate on driving.”

Raudman drives the No. 2 Chevrolet for Dave Reed Racing of Rancho Santa Margarita.

“We built a new oval-track car that we’ll run for the first time [July 24] at Irwindale. First, though, we want to get that win we should have had last year in L.A. I like tight courses, and there’s none tighter than the one we ran last year. I seem to excel at them. I thought I had the win last year. It was an aggressive race. I got alongside Alsup on the switchback and we banged each other down the straightaway. Our cars were both pretty beat up.”

Sunday’s 125-mile race will be over the same one mile course used last year.

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Matt Crafton knows how to play with pain. Kobe Bryant played some of the NBA finals with a sprained ankle, Pete Sampras won Wimbledon with a sore shin, but how about driving a race car with kidney stones?

That’s what the second-generation driver from Tulare did May 20 at Pikes Peak Raceway, where he finished second and took the Southwest Series points lead.

“On Saturday, I woke up with a terrible side ache and spent all day in the hospital with kidney stones,” he said. “My dad [Danny] practiced in the car for me. I got to the track the last 10 minutes, ran five laps and qualified fifth. I still felt rundown on Sunday but managed to run the race.”

Danny Crafton, a former West Coast racer, is crew chief for his son’s car.

Matt, 23, increased his lead to 111 points over Doug McCoun of Prunedale when he won July 1 at Mesa Marin. Crafton led all 100 laps.

CART TO EUROPE

It’s not quite Formula One Jr. yet, but Championship Auto Racing Teams is closing the gap.

With the addition of races in England and Germany for the 2001 season, CART will run in eight countries--the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Australia, Japan and Brazil as well as the two in Europe.

The new races will be on consecutive weekends, Sept. 15 on a two-mile superspeedway south of Berlin and Sept. 22 on the new Rockingham Motor Speedway in Corby, England, a to-be-built 1 1/2-mile oval only a few miles from where most of the engines, chassis and gearboxes of CART cars are built.

To make room for the new overseas races, CART will drop races at Homestead, Fla., and Gateway Raceway, near St. Louis.

LAST LAPS

If you’re one of those people who loves watching wrecks, the place to be Saturday night is the Chino Fairgrounds where M.K. Smith will present his 10th Chino Challenge Demolition Derby. From an entry of 60, only one car will be running when the bashing, blasting and battering are over.

You never know who you’ll find there. John Zens, for instance, is a Chino police officer but he won’t be handing out tickets for reckless driving that night. And watch out for the women. Wendy Kelly of Chino Hills is a former champion. Destruction begins at 7.

James Weston of Goleta, winner of six late-model races in 10 starts at Irwindale Speedway, is the Pacific Coast Region leader in NASCAR’s Exide ShorTrack series. He will be in action Saturday night at Irwindale for two 40-lap features. . . . Mike Kirby of Lomita, who won last week’s Sprint Car Racing Assn. main event at Santa Maria, will be at Perris Auto Speedway for Saturday night’s main event.

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L.A. Street Race

* What: NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Series series and supporting races.

* Where: Exposition Park, one-mile circuit around Sports Arena.

* When: Saturday, practice and qualifying, 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Sunday, First race, Vintage Cobras, 9:15 a.m.; PRO Racing, 9:45 a.m.; North-South Road Course Spec Trucks, 11:15 a.m.; Ultra Wheels Spec Trucks, 1:30 p.m.; Featherlite Southwest Series race, 125 laps, 3:15 p.m.

* TV: 3 p.m., Sunday, live, KNBC (Channel 4).

* Purse: $166,750.

* Tickets: Saturday, general admission, $15; children, $8. Sunday, general admission, $20; children, $10; reserved grandstands, $35, children, $15. Two-day ticket, $45, children, $17.

* Defending champion: A.J. Alsup.

SOUTHWEST SERIES STANDINGS

Featherlite Southwest Series, after 9 of 19 races:

1. Matt Crafton, Tulare, Ford: 1356

2. Doug McCoun, Prunedale, Chevrolet: 1245

3. Auggie Vidovich, Lakeside, Chevy: 1226

4. Sean Woodside, Saugus, Pontiac: 1217

5. M.K. Kanke, Granada Hills, Pontiac: 1158

6. Greg Pursley, Newhall, Chevrolet: 1151

7. Rocky Nash, Murrieta, Chevrolet: 1059

8. Scott Lynch, Burley, Ida., Chevy: 1004

9. Kenny Shepherd, Merced, Chevrolet: 972

10. Darrell LaMoure, Phoenix, Chevrolet: 965

This Week’s Races

CART, MOLSON INDY

* When: Today, qualifying, 11:30 a.m.; Saturday, second-round qualifying, 10:45 a.m. (ESPN2, 3:30 p.m., tape); Sunday, race, 11 a.m. (ESPN, noon, tape).

* Where: Toronto Street Circuit (temporary road course, 1.755 miles, 11 turns), Toronto, Canada.

* Race distance: 166.725 miles, 95 laps.

* Defending champion: Dario Franchitti.

* Last race: Robert Moreno won for the first time in 70 CART starts, taking the Marconi Grand Prix in Cleveland. Moreno started from the pole and led 91 of the 100 laps.

* Fast facts: Mark Blundell set the race record of 92.779 mph in 1997. . . . Franchitti started from the pole in 1997 and 1998, but failed to finish. . . . Five former winners of the event will be in the field.

* Next race: Michigan 500, July 23, Brooklyn, Mich.

IRL, MIDAS 500 CLASSIC

* When: Today, qualifying, 4 p.m. (ESPN2, 5 p.m., tape); Saturday, race (ESPN, 5 p.m.)

* Where: Atlanta Motor Speedway (quad-oval, 1.54 miles, 24 degrees banking in turns), Hampton, Ga.

* Race distance: 320.32 miles, 208 laps.

* Defending champion: Scott Sharp.

* Last race: Eddie Cheever Jr. got his fourth career IRL victory and the first ever for an Infiniti engine in 34 races. Cheever took the lead on lap 172, and crossed the finish line with the Radisson 200 under caution in Fountain, Colo.

* Fast facts: Seven of the top-10 finishers from this year’s Indianapolis 500 are in the field. . . . Cheever leads Lazier by eight points in the standings.

* Next race: Belterra Resort Indy 300, Aug. 27, Sparta, Ky.

FORMULA ONE, AUSTRIAN GRAND PRIX

* When: Saturday, qualifying (Speedvision, 4 a.m.); Sunday, race (Speedvision, 4:30 a.m.; Fox Sports Net, 10 a.m., tape)

* Where: A1-Ring (road course, 2.687 miles), Spielberg, Austria.

* Race distance: 190.777 miles, 71 laps.

* Defending champion: Eddie Irvine.

* Last race: Coulthard passed Michael Schumacher on lap 40 and went on to win the French Grand Prix in Magny-Cours.

* Fast facts: Coulthard trails Schumacher by just 12 points in the standings. . . . Ferrari leads McLaren by six points in the constructor’s standings. . . . This is the fourth race at the A1-Ring.

* Next race: German Grand Prix, July 30, Hockenheim, Germany.

NASCAR BUSCH GRAND NATIONAL, ECONO LODGE 200

When: Today, qualifying, 1 p.m.; Sunday, race (ESPN, 9:30 a.m.)

Where: Nazareth Speedway (tri-oval .946 miles, 1 degree banking in turn 1, 4 degrees in turn 2, 6 degrees in turns 3-4), Nazareth, Pa.

Race distance: 189.2 miles, 200 laps.

Defending champion: Matt Kenseth.

* Last race: Jeff Green got his fourth victory of the year, beating Jeff Purvis by .797 seconds in the DieHard 250 in West Allis, Wis. Green, who started from the pole, has won three of the last four races.

* Fast facts: Tim Fedewa won the race in 1995 and 1998. . . . Fedewa is the only driver to win more than once. . . . Green won the pole last week for the fifth time in 18 races this season. . . . Green, Mark Martin and Casey Atwood are the only drivers to win more than one pole this season. Martin and Atwood have two each.

Next race: NAPA AutoCare 250, July 22, Fountain, Colo.

NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCKS, NAZARETH 200

* When: Today, qualifying, noon; Saturday, race (CBS, 10:30 a.m.)

* Where: Nazareth Speedway (tri-oval .946 miles, 1 degree banking in turn 1, 4 degrees in turn 2, 6 degrees in turns 3-4), Nazareth, Pa.

* Race distance: 189.2 miles, 200 laps.

* Defending champion: Greg Biffle.

* Last race: Rookie Kurt Busch raced to his second consecutive victory, beating Mike Wallace in a two-lap scramble in the thatlook.com 200 in Loudon, N.H.

* Fast facts: Jack Sprague is the only two-time winner of the race (1996-97). . . . The 1997 race was marred by 53 caution laps. . . . Sprague has completed all but one mile in the history of the race.

* Next race: Michigan 200, July 22, Brooklyn, Mich.

NHRA, MOPAR MILE-HIGH NATIONALS

* When: Today, first-round qualifying, 12:15 p.m.; Saturday, second-round qualifying, 8:15 a.m. (ESPN2, 7 p.m., tape); Sunday, final eliminations, 8 a.m. (ESPN2, 8:30 p.m., tape)

* Track: Bandimere Speedway, Morrison, Colo.

* Defending champions: Joe Amato, top fuel; Tony Pedregon, funny car; Jeg Coughlin, pro stock, and David Schultz, pro stock motorcycle.

* Fast facts: Last season, seven of the eight professional track records were broken. . . . Gary Scelzi leads Tony Schumacher 991-896 in the Top Fuel standings. Other leaders are Jerry Toliver (Funny Car), Coughlin (Pro Stock), Angelle Seeling (Pro Stock Motorcycle) and Bob Panella (Pro Stock Truck).

* Next race: Prolong Lubricants Nationals, July 30, Seattle.