Change of Course at Sears Point

Twice a year, NASCAR asks its Winston Cup stock car drivers to make right-hand turns on the race track, once at Sears Point Raceway, in the Napa-Sonoma wine country north of San Francisco, and once at Watkins Glen, N.Y., in the wine country of upstate New York.

The rest of the year is spent making only left-hand turns on oval tracks.

This year’s Sears Point road race is Sunday, and for the second time in three years, drivers will face a slightly different racing configuration on the hillside track. In 1999, the track was shortened from 2.52 to 1.96 miles with the idea of giving fans better visibility, 40 additional laps, and more passing opportunities.

The first two objectives were met, but not the third. So this year, the track has been altered again, increasing the length to two miles, but retaining its 10 turns. What was once a 300-foot straightaway will become a sharp 70-degree right-hand Turn 4, followed by an 870-foot straightaway. Changes in Turn 7 include a 90-degree right-hand turn, which drivers say will give them another passing zone--something few road or street courses have.

Not everyone likes the changes.

Rusty Wallace, last year’s pole-sitter and a two-time winner on the track’s long course, liked it better the way it was.

“I know the track really wants to put on a great, competitive show for the fans, the media and all, but I still think they messed up big time when they changed the track in the first place,” Wallace said. “The old layout with the carousel turn and all, well you just couldn’t beat that.

“There were more places to pass and I don’t think the racing has been as competitive since.”

Part of that, perhaps, is because of Jeff Gordon, a native of Vallejo, a few miles east of the track. Gordon has won the last three Sears Point main events, and counting Watkins Glen, he had won six road races in a row before Steve Park halted the streak last year in New York.

Turning right is not only different for drivers, it creates different situations for crew chiefs too.

“Just having to turn right might seem like a slight difference to someone who is an occasional fan, but it makes a major difference to how you approach the race,” said Jim Long, crew chief for Robby Gordon’s Taurus.

“On an oval car, everything is offset and the camber is different on both fronts. On a road course car you’ve got to turn right and left with equal aggressiveness. The left side is the mirror image of the right side.”

Although it is unlikely the newly announced California Speedway road course will get on the busy Winston Cup schedule, it is good news for long-suffering fans who still mourn the loss of Riverside International Speedway, one of the most popular and famous road circuits in American racing history. Riverside, which closed in 1988 to make way for Moreno Valley Mall, was a focal point for world-class events for 31 years.

Having the course on a facility originally built by Roger Penske brings road racing full circle. Penske, best known now for his team’s long dominance of the Indianapolis 500 and open-wheel racing, was originally a road racer. Among his wins before becoming a businessman/car owner was the 1962 Los Angeles Times Grand Prix.

“That race put me in the headlines,” Penske said. “I may have been more proud of that win than anything I did up to that time.”

But it is hoped that the 21-turn California Speedway circuit will be better than the flat, boring 3.23-mile Ontario Motor Speedway course. In hopes of luring Formula One to Ontario, the track hosted a special event in 1972, the Questor Grand Prix, matching F1 cars with Formula 5000 machines. Mario Andretti won both heats in a Ferrari, but the race was such a disappointment that it was the last time the road course was used for anything other than national championship motorcycle races.

This will be the first road course designed by Associated Engineers, but Les Richter will be spearheading most of the decisions, as he was during construction of the oval. Richter, longtime president of the Riverside track, is vice president of special projects for International Speedway Corp., owners of California Speedway.

The new drag strip being built for street-legal cars at California Speedway is another return to the past--when hot rodders “run what you brung,” not for money or trophies, but for bragging rights.

“It’s like we’ve rolled the clock back 50 years,” said Wally Parks, who founded the National Hot Rod Assn. 50 years ago for the primary purpose of getting illegal drag racers off city streets and onto a controlled racing facility.

The new quarter-mile strip, which will open Sept. 8-9, will be strictly for cars that can be driven on city streets.

“Sportsman racing is what the NHRA is all about,” said Tom Compton, president of the Glendora-based sanctioning body. “A lot of us can remember when there were many drag strips in Southern California where kids with hot rods would test their equipment.”

Chasing Shirley

“My new goal is to beat Shirley Muldowney for the most wins by a female in NHRA competition,” said pro stock motorcycle racer Angelle Savoie, better remembered as Angelle Seeling before she married Nicky Savoie.

“At first I didn’t really care about that mark, but because of what Shirley means to drag racing, I’d like to be the one to take a shot at it.”

Angelle has 17 career national wins, one back of Muldowney’s 18 top fuel triumphs. She will get a chance to pull even Sunday in the Sears Craftsman Nationals at Gateway International Raceway near St. Louis.

If she wins Sunday, Savoie could become the NHRA’s winningest female on July 7 at the 50th Anniversary Nationals at Pomona, as part of the first night drag-racing event at the Fairplex.

Last Laps

Irwindale Speedway and Fox Sports Net will kick off a 20-week TV package at 6 p.m. on July 5 that will feature five of the track’s most popular divisions: NASCAR super-late models, late models, Featherlite Southwest Tour, Winston West and American race trucks. Irwindale vice president and TV personality Pat Patterson will anchor the Thursday night one-hour tape-delay telecasts on Fox Sports Net 2.

After six races in the Midwest, Sprint Car Racing Assn. drivers are back in Southern California but won’t race until July 4 at Perris Auto Speedway. Defending series champion Richard Griffin won three of the races in Nebraska and Illinois. Mike Kirby, who won in Kansas, will drive Saturday night at Perris in an Extreme Figure 8 main event.

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THIS WEEK’S RACES

NASCAR WINSTON CUP

Dodge/Save Mart 350

Where: Sears Point Raceway (permanent road course, 2 miles, 10 turns); Sonoma, Calif.

When: Today, qualifying (Fox Sports Net, 2 p.m.); Sunday, race (Channel 11, noon)

Race distance: 218.288 miles, 112 laps.

Last race: Ricky Rudd ended an 88-race losing streak dating to 1998 by winning the Pocono 500 in Long Pond, Pa. Rudd got his 21st career victory and first in 44 starts at Pocono International Raceway, where he has competed since 1977.

Last year: Jeff Gordon won, extending his road-course winning streak to six. It was Gordon’s third consecutive victory on the track.

Next race: Pepsi 400, July 7, Daytona Beach, Fla.

On the Net: https://www.nascar.com

CRAFTSMAN TRUCKS

Memphis 200

Where: Memphis Motorsports Park, (tri-oval, 0.75 miles, 11-degree banking in turns); Millington, Tenn.

When: Today, qualifying, 12:30 p.m.; Saturday, race (ESPN, 10 a.m.)

Race distance: 150 miles, 200 laps.

Last race: Jack Sprague broke a 22-race drought and ended Dodge’s winning streak by winning the O’Reilly 400 at Fort Worth. Sprague, a two-time series champion, drove his Chevrolet to a 4.66-second win over the Dodge of Brendan Gaughan. Dodge had won the first eight races this season, matching the run of Chevy, when it took the first eight races of the series in its inaugural season of 1995.

Last year: Sprague took the lead on the final lap and beat defending champion Greg Biffle by .193 seconds.

Next race: GNC Live Well 200, June 30, West Allis, Wis.

On the Net: https://www.nascar.com

CHAMPIONSHIP AUTO RACING TEAMS

Freightliner-G.I. Joe’s 200

Where: Portland International Raceway (permanent road course, 1.967 miles, nine turns); Portland, Ore.

When: Saturday, qualifying, 10:45 a.m. (ESPN2, 1 p.m.); Sunday, race (ESPN, 10 a.m.)

Race distance: 192.766 miles, 98 laps.

Last race: Helio Castroneves started from the pole of the Detroit Grand Prix and never relinquished the lead in the 72-lap race, winning it for the second consecutive year. Castroneves finished 0.702 seconds ahead of Dario Franchitti.

Last year: Gil de Ferran gave Team Penske its third victory in four races, holding off Roberto Moreno at the end.

Next race: Marconi Grand Prix, July 1, Cleveland.

On the Net: https://www.cart.com

FORMULA ONE

European Grand Prix

Where: Nurburgring (permanent road course, 2.831 miles); Nurburgring, Germany.

When: Saturday, qualifying (Speedvision, 4 a.m.); Sunday, race (Speedvision, 5 a.m.)

Race distance: 189.677 miles, 67 laps.

Last race: Ralf Schumacher beat older brother Michael, pulling away to an easy victory in the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal. The German siblings started on the front row, and polesitter Michael led from the beginning on the 2.747-mile Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Ralf took the lead on Lap 51 of the 69-lap race and held on for the victory.

Last year: Michael Schumacher won at the track located an hour’s drive from his boyhood home near Cologne. It was his fourth victory in six races last season.

Next race: French Grand Prix, July 1, Magny-Cours.

On the Net: https://www.formula1.com

NATIONAL HOT ROD ASSN.

Sears Craftsman Nationals

Where: Gateway International Raceway; Madison, Ill.

When: Today, qualifying, 2:15 p.m.; Saturday, qualifying, 9:45 a.m. (ESPN2, 7 p.m.); Sunday, eliminations, 9 a.m. (ESPN2, 4 p.m.).

Last event: John Force earned his third victory of the season at the Pontiac Excitement Nationals in Kirkersville, Ohio. Larry Dixon, Warren Johnson, Angelle Savoie and Bob Panella also won.

Last year: Gary Scelzi raced to his fifth top-fuel victory of the season, beating Kenny Bernstein in the finals. Jerry Toliver, Ron Krisher, Matt Hines and John Coughlin also won.

Next event: Pep Boys 50th Anniversary Nationals, July 7, Pomona.

On the Net: https://www.nhra.com