McGrath Can Still Draw an Audience

It was just a little jump, not more than three feet, over a hay bale, but the flair, the style, were unmistakable. It seemed strange, though, because the tires on the KTM 520 motorcycle were road-racing slicks, not knobby dirt tires.

There was no doubt, however. The body language said it was Super Mac.

There were no Nac-Nacs -- taking one foot off the foot peg and swinging it back over the other side of the bike, as though he’s dismounting the bike in midair -- the aerial gymnastics that made Jeremy McGrath the most popular motorcycle rider in the world and helped make supercross the most successful form of motorcycle racing and led to the new craze called X-games freestyle jumping.

There wasn’t even half a Nac. The jump wasn’t high enough, but as word filtered through the crowd at Sunday’s AMA road-racing program, the fences around a slalom-like infield course at California Speedway were jammed with folks wanting to see McGrath in action one more time.

Ninety percent of the layout was asphalt, with only about 50 feet of dirt forming a makeshift berm and the hay bale jump. It didn’t matter.

The Murrieta rider, who won seven national and two world supercross titles before retiring in January at 31, was just having fun.

“I feel like a 14-year-old who just got out on vacation,” he said. “It’s nice to know I can still ride and not get serious about it.”

McGrath will be one of the featured drivers in modified Celicas for Saturday’s Toyota Pro-Celebrity race in Long Beach, a side attraction to Sunday’s CART Grand Prix.

Among his competitors will be astronaut Buzz Aldrin, Olympic skier Picabo Street, stock car driver Shawna Robinson and entertainers Josh Brolin, Tommy Shane Steiner, Peter Reckell and Adam Carolla.

Brolin, star of the NBC drama “Mr. Sterling,” will compete in the pro division after having won last year and finishing a close second to Scott Pruett in 2000.

“That ought to be a blast,” said McGrath. “We practiced four days

Not ready, however, to try to make a career of auto racing, as former cycle champions Jeff Ward, Eddie Lawson and Ricky Johnson attempted.

“I like driving cars -- you don’t get so dirty and you don’t fall off -- but to tell the truth, I like something more physical than sitting in a car,” McGrath said. “I think I’d like to race a buggy or a truck in Baja. That would be fun.”

McGrath has tried truck racing twice, both times on pavement, at Orange Show Speedway and Irwindale Speedway.

“It was different, but not something I’d want to do all the time,” he said.

McGrath is closing out his supercross career by making ceremonial laps at most of this season’s venues.

“It’s kind of like retiring 12 times,” he said, grinning. “I felt kind of silly the third time I retired at Anaheim. That has always been my favorite track, so I decided to show off a little the last time there and nearly lost it.

“I tried speeding up in the whoops [stutter bumps] and tried a big jump and didn’t realize how long it had been since I practiced. I came close to going down, but the crowd seemed to have loved it.”

It was the daily grind of practice and conditioning that finally led to his retirement, McGrath said. That, and the pleasure of recently being married.

“I am enjoying my retirement,” he said. “Married life is awesome. I get up in the morning and don’t have a thing I have to do. I used to get on the bike and work out and go to the gym and work out and it got so it was monotonous.

“Now, when I go riding, and that’s nearly every day, it’s fun. I’ll stay close to racing. I still work with my sponsors, KTM, but I don’t think I will have my own team like I thought I would when I stopped racing. Maybe I’ll be a coach, like Roger DeCoster, something to be around the riders.”

Dave Despain, motorcycle historian and TV commentator, calls McGrath “the greatest motorcycle rider this country has ever known,” and that includes, he said, the road racers and flat trackers as well as motocrossers.

McGrath keeps a close eye on the supercross season, noting that Ricky Carmichael, the Florida rider who took his championship away in 2001, and Chad Reed, the newcomer from Australia, are in a class by themselves this season.

“It comes down to which one makes a mistake,” he said. “If one of them falls or something like that, the other one will win.”

With three races left, Carmichael has won seven and Reed six, including the last three. Only Ezra Lusk, now injured and sidelined for the season, has beaten them -- once.

The season ends May 3 at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas.

Indianapolis 500

As expected, the car count is down for the Indianapolis 500. When entries closed, there were 34 entries with 28 drivers named. The entries included 67 cars, many of which may be filled by as yet unspecified drivers.

Five former winners, headed by two-time defending champion Helio Castroneves, are in the fold. Roger Penske’s Brazilian driver will be attempting to become the first to win three consecutive 500s.

Other former winners include Arie Luyendyk, Al Unser Jr., Kenny Brack and Buddy Lazier.

The entry of 18-year-old A.J. Foyt IV, grandson of the four-time winner, is of historical note because it makes this the first year since 1993 with drivers named Foyt, Andretti and Unser -- three of the 500’s most famous -- entered.

Michael Andretti will be making his 14th and, he says, his last attempt to join his father Mario as a winner. Mario won in 1969.

Opening day for practice for the 87th running of the 500 is May 4. Pole qualifying is May 10, Bump Sunday is May 18 and the race is May 25.

Southland Scene

Costa Mesa Speedway, on the Orange County Fairgrounds, will preview the speedway motorcycle racing season Saturday with its annual Spring Classic.... Pacific Racing Assn. stock cars return to action Saturday at Willow Springs Raceway in Rosamond.

Troy Rutherford, who turns 30 today, will be out to regain the lead in the Sprint Car Racing Assn. standings Saturday night when the SCRA runs a 30-lap main event at Perris Auto Speedway.

Rutherford lost the lead to three-time champion Richard Griffin, 381-376, last week.

If watching cars crash into one another is your kick, Irwindale Speedway is the place to be Saturday. Figure 8 races and a demolition derby are on the program.

The U.S. Auto Club Southwest Sprint Car series will kick off its 18-event season Saturday night at the Imperial Valley Speedway in El Centro. USAC last ran at Imperial Valley in 1997, when Robby Flock won a midget car feature.

Last Laps

Dan Wheldon will replace the injured Dario Franchitti in the Andretti Green Racing car for Sunday’s Indy Racing League race in Japan. Franchitti was injured in a motorcycle accident in Scotland.

Jerry Sorrentino of Sun Valley, whose 36-foot Skater, In-Mocean, won the Super Cat Light national and world off-shore powerboat championship last year, will open his 2003 campaign this weekend off Daytona Beach. Steve Armstrong, holder of the world kilo speed record for Super Cat Lights, will handle the throttle.

The flat-deck Skater is powered by twin Mercury 500 EFIs and tops out at 114 mph.

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This Week’s Races

WINSTON CUP

Virginia 500

* When: Today, qualifying (Speed Channel, noon); Sunday, race (Channel 11, 9:30 a.m.).

* Where: Martinsville (Va.) Speedway (oval, 0.526 miles, 12 degrees banking in turns).

* Race distance: 263 miles, 500 laps.

* 2002 winner: Bobby Labonte.

* Next race: Auto Club 500, April 27, Fontana.

BUSCH SERIES

Pepsi 300

* When: Today, qualifying (Speed Channel, 1:30 p.m.); Saturday, race (FX, 1 p.m.).

* Where: Nashville Superspeedway (tri-oval, 1.33 miles, 14 degrees banking in turns).

* Race distance: 300 miles, 225 laps.

* 2002 winner: Scott Riggs.

* Next race: Auto Club 300, April 26, Fontana.

CRAFTSMAN TRUCKS

Advance Auto Parts 250

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

* Where: Martinsville Speedway.

* Race distance: 131.50 miles, 250 laps.

* 2002 winner: Dennis Setzer.

* Next race: Hardee’s 200, May 16, Concord, N.C.

INDY RACING LEAGUE

Japan 300

* When: Today, qualifying, 9 p.m.; Saturday, race, 8:30 p.m. (Sunday, Channel 7, 3 p.m., tape).

* Where: Twin Ring Motegi (oval, 1.5 miles, 10 degrees banking in turns), Suzuka, Japan.

* Race distance: 300 miles, 200 laps.

* 2002 winner: Inaugural race.

* Next race: Indianapolis 500, May 25.

NHRA

O’Reilly Nationals

* When: Today, qualifying, 1:15 p.m.; Saturday, qualifying, 8 a.m. (ESPN2, 10 p.m., tape); Sunday, eliminations, 9 a.m. (ESPN2, 2 p.m., tape).

* Where: Houston Raceway.

* 2002 winners: John Force (funny car), Doug Kalitta (top fuel) and Jim Yates (pro stock).

* Next event: Mac Tools Nationals, April 27, Bristol, Tenn.