Ventura Raceway Gets Rare Moment in the Sun

By SHAV GLICK

March 14, 2003 12 AM PT

Beleaguered Ventura Raceway, saved from near extinction for another year at least by leaseholder Jim Naylor, will be in the racing nation’s spotlight Saturday night when the U.S. Auto Club holds a national midget car championship race on the one-fifth-mile dirt oval.

Two-time defending champion Dave Darland of Lincoln, Ind., will be in one of Steve Lewis’ midgets to open defense of his crown. Among the other entries are J.J. Yeley of Phoenix, USAC Silver Crown champion, and Tracy Hines of New Castle, Ind., USAC sprint car champion.

Yeley and Hines will be trying to become the fourth driver to win all three of USAC’s open-wheel championships. Both have already won Silver Crown and sprint car titles. The only “triple crown” champions have been Darland, Pancho Carter and Tony Stewart, who won them all in the same year.

Yeley finished second in last year’s midget series. Hines, fifth last year, has been in the top 10 for nine consecutive years and had runner-up finishes in 1996 and 1997.

The race also counts toward the USAC Western regional championship, in which Robby Flock of Murrieta is defending champion. Other prominent entries include three-time Silver Crown champion Jimmy Sills of Marysville, 2002 rookies of the year Teddy Beach of Donnellsville, Ohio, and Ron Gregory of Noblesville, Ind., and 2001 western champion Wally Pankratz of Orange.

Drivers will be aiming at John Cofer’s 8-year-old track record of 11.675 seconds during qualifications.

Also on the program will be a 20-lap Ford Focus midget series main event. The evening’s program will be shown March 20 on opening night of Speed Channel’s “Dirty Thursday” series.

During the off-season, Naylor battled critics of the raceway who wanted it shut down because of noise. Naylor, who has been the seaside track’s operator for 25 years, finally won a unanimous vote from the Ventura County Fair Board to continue operations. To help appease critics, Naylor imposed a 10 p.m. curfew on racing by moving the starting time from 7 to 6 p.m.

Waltrip Speaks Out

Taking a cue, perhaps, from entertainers who use the Academy Awards ceremony as an outlet for their political views, NASCAR’S Michael Waltrip used his podium finish at the Las Vegas Winston Cup race two weeks ago to speak his mind.

“I would like to say, ‘God bless our president,’ ” he said over the public-address system and into Fox Sports microphones. “I hope the whole country is behind him and supporting him. I pray for the president and our country, and I just ask that people support the system and be behind him.”

Asked if he had been speaking for the NASCAR community, Waltrip said, “I would venture to guess that people, as a whole in our community, feel that way. But I can’t speak for them.”

His comments, though startling to hear from the finish line of a major race, drew little or no reaction from the nation’s media.

Joe Hawk, columnist for the hometown Las Vegas Review-Journal, and Larry Woody, senior writer for Waltrip’s local paper, the Tennessean, praised him for airing his views.

Wrote Hawk: “Good for you, Michael Waltrip. That’s something that needs to be said at this most difficult time in our nation’s history. You and I apparently share the same ‘United we stand, divided we fall’ patriotic mind-set.”

Wrote Woody: “If a women’s basketball player at Manhattanville College can use her sport to make a political statement -- shamefully turning her back on the U.S. flag during the national anthem -- then there’s nothing wrong with Waltrip doing the same.”

Atlanta Journal-Constitution media critic Mike Tierney took Waltrip to task, not for his views, but for airing them at that time.

“Interviewers should keep drivers focused on race matters. When Michael Waltrip turns the discourse toward the president and the pending war in Iraq, the [TV] questioner must take the wheel and guide him back,” Tierney wrote.

Waltrip insists his comments were about patriotism, not politics.

“This is not about Democrats or Republicans,” he said. “It’s about being an American and respecting and supporting our president, no matter which party he represents.... I think the least we can do is let him know he has our support. That’s all I said, and I don’t apologize for it.”

Typical of reader response, most of which was favorable, was this e-mail from Carol Barnard, a longtime NASCAR fan in Elbert, Colo.: “I’m all for Michael. I hope he says something like that at every race.”

First, he has to finish in the top three to get a TV audience. Last week in Atlanta, he finished 27th. Sunday he gets another try at Darlington, S.C.

Drag Racing

Larry Dixon has led the NHRA Powerade points in top fuel for a record 25 consecutive events, dating to the 2002 Winternationals at Pomona. The NHRA will be in Gainesville, Fla., this weekend for the 34th Gatornationals. However, funny car champion John Force is the undisputed leader in his class, having led for 40 events in 1996-97.

If Force qualifies Saturday, he will tie pro stock driver Warren Johnson for the most consecutive starts at 303. Force had his gallbladder removed Feb. 27 at St. Jude Hospital in Fullerton but is expected to be ready for the Gatornationals. The last time Force failed to qualify was at the 1987 World Finals at Pomona. Johnson’s string was broken last season at Sonoma.

Ron Capps, the current funny car leader, knows better than to count Force out.

“You always have fans out there tapping you on the shoulder and saying, ‘When are you gonna beat Force?’ I sure won’t knock the champ now because I learned that lesson in ’98. We all know he’ll be there at the end of the season. I’m just getting a little head start.... “

After two events, Force is 10th, 95 points behind Capps.

Last Laps

CART moved closer to becoming a mostly foreign open-wheel series by canceling its Aug. 3 race at Road America in Elkhart, Wis., where it had raced continuously since 1982. This leaves the champ car series with 10 U.S. and eight foreign races. CART claims Road America failed to a pay the final installment of last season’s sanction fee. Road America claims it has met all of its financial obligations under its agreement with CART.

Perris Auto Speedway will offer a Sprint Car Racing Assn. doubleheader Saturday night when the rain-postponed main event of March 1 will be run before the regularly scheduled 30-lap feature. After the first 30-lap race, a regular program of 10-lap heats and a trophy dash will be held for the second main event.

More than 250 entries will take off Saturday in the Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250 desert off-road race. There is a 10-hour time limit on the 22-mile course along the Sea of Cortez. Motorcycles will leave at 6 a.m., cars and trucks at 7:30, from the San Felipe Arches, northwest of the Baja California town.

A treat for nostalgic race fans is the new Phil Hill room at Il Fornaio Restaurant in Santa Monica, where racing memorabilia from Hill’s world championship career will be on display. Hill has lived in the same Santa Monica house since his family moved there in 1928. He won the Formula One championship in a Ferrari in 1961 and won the 24 Hours of Le Mans three times.

Former Indy car driver Bryan Herta will return to racing Sunday in the 12 Hours of Sebring, the opening event on the American Le Mans Series. The Valencia resident will drive an experimental alternative-fuel prototype entered by Team Nasamax.... The third round of the Toyota Cup motorcycle road race will be run Sunday at Willow Springs Raceway. Jeremy Toye is looking for his third win in the Formula One class.

This Week’s Races

WINSTON CUP

Carolina Dodge Dealers 400

* When: Today, qualifying (Fox Sports Net, 11:30 a.m.); Sunday, race (Channel 11, 9:30 a.m.).

* Where: Darlington Raceway (egg-shaped oval, 1.366 miles, 25 degrees banking in turns 1-2, 23 degrees in turns 3-4); Darlington, S.C.

* Race distance: 400.2 miles, 293 laps.

* 2002 winner: Sterling Marlin.

* Next race: Food City 500, March 23, Bristol, Tenn.

BUSCH SERIES

darlingtonraceway.com 200

* When: Saturday, race (FX, 10 a.m.).

* Where: Darlington Raceway.