Seven Major Titles Help Auberlen Make His Case

By SHAV GLICK

July 16, 2004 12 AM PT

When members of the American driver of the year panel voted to choose the 2004 halfway leader last month, the ballot listed NASCAR Nextel Cup drivers Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr., NHRA hot-rodders Greg Anderson and John Force, World of Outlaw old-timer Steve Kinser, Indy 500 winner Buddy Rice and NASCAR Busch driver Martin Truex Jr.

Not a sports car driver among them.

Bill Auberlen, a BMW factory driver from Rolling Hills Estates, has won seven major sports car races this year, a record five in a row in the Grand American Rolex GT series and two in the ALMS World Challenge Touring Cars class.

With two national sports car organizations, the American LeMans and the Grand American, it would have been unheard of a few years ago not to find Auberlen or perhaps Scott Pruett in the driver of the year mix. Perhaps that is the problem, two fragmented series instead of one strong one.

The American LeMans caters mainly to expensive Audi, Porsche, Lola and Lamborghini cars and races at traditional tracks such as Sebring, Road America and Laguna Seca. Grand American, fostered by the France family of NASCAR, is centered on a new Daytona Prototype class that is relatively less expensive. Races are mostly on France-owned tracks, such as Daytona, Watkins Glen and Homestead-Miami, each with two races.

Auberlen, 35 and a native of Redondo Beach, will be in Sonoma this weekend for the Infineon Grand Prix, part of which involves the World Challenge Touring Car series. He will drive a four-door BMW 325 for Turner Motorsports in two 50-minute sprints, one Saturday and one Sunday, over Infineon’s 12-turn, 2.53-mile road course.

“It’s flat out racing, no pit stops, as many as 60 cars going for it in one mad dash,” Auberlen said during a visit home while en route to Sonoma from Daytona Beach, Fla., where he won the Paul Revere GT 250 two weeks ago.

The World Challenge essentially is a handicap class. Each time a driver wins, 75 pounds are added to his car for the next race. It is 65 pounds for second place, 60 for third and so on down the line. This means that Auberlen will carry 190 pounds ballast -- after wins at Sebring and Lime Rock, Conn., and a fourth at Mid-Ohio -- more than when he won the season opener.

“It’s a great concept to keep the series interesting,” he said. “It’s hard on the winners, but great for everybody else. I won the championship last year, but had to carry a maximum 275 pounds in the last race in Puerto Rico.”

Auberlen has won 32 races for BMW, more than any other North American driver, since becoming a factory driver nine years ago.

“It looks like I’m going to be a career sports car driver,” he said. “I had one big chance at CART once. Derrick Walker offered me three races in his car, but at the same time BMW offered me two years. I took BMW and I’ve been there ever since.”

In the Grand American Rolex series, Auberlen often teams with Boris Said in a BMW M3 for marathon races. They are tied for the series lead, although Auberlen is working on five consecutive wins after teaming with Justin Marks in the Paul Revere race. Said was second with Joey Hand. The next Rolex race is Aug. 7 at Mid-Ohio.

“Boris is great to team with. You know he’ll always bring it back in as good a shape as possible. I wish we were racing together this weekend,” Auberlen said.

Said will be partnered with Earnhardt in a Corvette for the feature American LeMans race Sunday.

“I can’t switch to other makes because of my BMW contract,” Auberlen said. “A couple of years ago I could and I won the Rolex GT championship in a Ferrari. It was the first time Ferrari had won a GT in this country. And I drove a Panoz prototype with Bryan Herta in the American LeMans series and in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

“Driving LeMans is the greatest thing I’ve done. It’s the Indianapolis 500 of sports car racing and to go 200 mph in the middle of night, in the rain, it’s something I’ll never forget. I hope to get back there again.”

BMW did not enter a factory team this year to concentrate on the factory’s Formula One program.

“This has been an unbelievable year, I thought it couldn’t get any better than last year, or the year before, but it just keeps getting better and better,” Auberlen said. “The teams are fantastic, the cars are fantastic, it’s just a fantastic year.”

Auberlen has two more races in California this year, Oct. 16 at Laguna Seca in the Rolex series and Oct. 31 at California Speedway, probably with Said, in the World Challenge Cup.

Sprint Cars

More bad news for the Sprint Car Racing Assn. Ron Shuman, president of the struggling non-winged sprint car organization, has canceled the remaining four races at Barona Speedway Park in Ramona, and also called off a July 31 race at Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare.

“Unfortunately, the bottom line is that Barona hasn’t had an opportunity to build a weekly fan base that is strong enough to support our group at this time,” Shuman said. “I just feel so bad for everyone that has worked so hard to make this thing a success. This is just another example of how this split has been bad for sprint car racing.”

Perris Auto Speedway had the SCRA’s home base since the track opened, but it dropped the SCRA in mid-December to join the new USAC/CRA circuit. Shuman then chose Barona, a small facility in northern San Diego County, as his anchor track. With the Barona and Tulare races canceled, there is not a single race left in California for the once-dominant series.

Barona will fill in the gaps with California Lightning Sprints and dwarf cars, and perhaps USAC midgets.

Shuman is shifting his attention to his sixth annual Non-Wing World Championship, which begins Aug. 6-7 at Hollywood Hills Speedway in San Felipe, N.M.

Rickie Gaunt, winner of five SCRA races this year, skipped last week’s race at Tulare to prepare for the non-wing tour. Damion Gardner won the 40-lap main event.

Southland Scene

Greg Pursley, who is leading the chase for Sunbelt Region honors in NASCAR’s Dodge Weekly Series, will be back at Irwindale Speedway looking for his eighth win Saturday night in the super late model stock car feature. Pursley has won seven of 11 starts at Irwindale, including a last lap, final-turn pass of Tony Bruncati in last week’s 75-lap race. Pursley holds a narrow margin over David Beat of Cajon Speedway in the Sunbelt standings.

Also on the Saturday program will be two 20-lap races for Grand American modifieds. The evening will end with popular Figure 8 entertainment.

Defending U.S. Auto Club western midget car champion Steve Paden will be at Perris Auto Speedway looking for his fourth win of the season Saturday night in a 30-lap feature. The veteran Downey driver won wire-to-wire last week in Bakersfield and also won his last start at Perris in May.

After a four-week break, the VRA senior sprints, for drivers 45 and older, will return to Ventura Raceway on Saturday to share the spotlight with VRA sprint cars.... Also Saturday night is the Chino Challenge demolition derby at the Chino Fairgrounds.

Last Laps

Ralf Schumacher will leave the Williams-BMW Formula One team and join Panasonic Toyota Racing for the 2005 season, according to Tsutomu Tomita of Toyota. Earlier in the season, Juan Pablo Montoya announced that he was leaving Williams to drive next year for McLaren-Mercedes.

Passings

Joseph Hendrick Jr., father of NASCAR Hendrick Motorsports owner Rick Hendrick, died Wednesday in Charlotte, N.C. Better known in racing circles as “Papa Joe,” he was 84.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

This Week’s Races

ARCA

Shop ‘n Save 150

* When: Today, qualifying, 11:30 p.m.; race (Speed Channel, 6 p.m.).

* Where: Gateway International Raceway (egg-shaped oval, 1.25 miles, 11 degrees banking in turns 1-2, 9 degrees in turns 3-4); Madison, Ill.

* Race distance: 150 miles, 120 laps.

* Next race: Giant 200, July 31, Long Pond, Pa.

INDY RACING LEAGUE

Firestone Indy 200

* When: Today, qualifying, 1:45 p.m.; Saturday, race (ESPN, 4 p.m.).

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