Labor Day Change a Plus-Plus to Petty

Labor Day weekend won’t be the same for NASCAR this time around. Every year since 1950, there has been a Labor Day race -- the Southern 500 -- at Darlington Raceway, the first paved super-speedway in the country.

Until this year.

Stunning Southern supporters of the legendary race, in what NASCAR administrators called “Realignment 2004 and Beyond,” the Labor Day date was abruptly taken from the South Carolina track and given to California Speedway in Fontana.

Darlington was given Nov. 14 for the Southern 500.

Cries were loud and long from the Carolina crowd over a perceived slap at Southern tradition, but their spiritual leader, Richard Petty, was not one of the protesters.

Petty, still “King Richard” around NASCAR despite having retired as a driver a dozen seasons ago, sees it as a plus for the sport he helped build.

“Folks around here are taking it pretty hard, but I think it’s a plus-plus for NASCAR, a plus for all our fans and definitely a plus for all our sponsors that get us through the races,” he said from his home in Level Cross, N.C., before coming West for Sunday’s Nextel Cup Pop Secret 500.

“You know, NASCAR racing started out as a Southern sport, [but] we still ventured out to California from time to time and ran some races at Riverside. And then it went a little bit further when they built Ontario, so we got to run Riverside and Ontario, which was in the same neighborhood.

“So that was really good from the aspect of expanding NASCAR to the West Coast. And now we’ve cut out some races here in North Carolina and one in South Carolina, and we’re going to California two times.”

Actually, three times. Besides the two Fontana dates, NASCAR runs at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma.

“I think it’s good,” Petty said. “We’re running a bunch of races real close [to one another], Charlotte, Rockingham, Darlington and Martinsville. They’re all in the same neighborhood, dealing with the same people, and there aren’t that many people here, compared to what’s out there in California.”

Kyle Petty, Richard’s 44-year-old racing son, says that he will miss Darlington, but that the second race in California is good for business. Petty will drive the family’s No. 45 Georgia-Pacific Brawny Dodge in Sunday’s race.

“Yeah, it is sad there isn’t a Southern 500 anymore [on Labor Day],” Kyle said. “When it comes to pure stock car racing, the Southern 500 is our heart. That is our tradition.

“As hot as it could get there and as miserable as the weather could be, Darlington is special. While I am grateful I won’t see mosquitoes big enough to pick somebody up and carry them off, I will still miss the Southern 500.

“That doesn’t mean the Pop Secret 500 isn’t a big race, because it is. Great crowd, under the lights, it’s going to be huge in a number of ways. Television has played a big role in that, and tracks like California are feeding the hunger for stock car racing all over the country.”

Richard Petty, the winner of 200 NASCAR races, a record that probably won’t be broken, will be honorary grand marshal for Sunday’s race starting at 4 p.m.

Money, he said, was the thing most likely to keep any driver from breaking his record, which puts him 95 victories ahead of runner-up David Pearson. Jeff Gordon, with 69, has the most of any active driver.

“I think these guys today, they’re going to make their money, get out of it, and they’re going to do something else,” Petty said. “I don’t think you’re going to see people stay around to try to set some kind of record like that.

“And again, the way the competition is now, they just run 36 races a year. They don’t get as many chances to run. We used to run 47, 48 races a year for years and years. I ran over 1,100 races [1,158] and I think the most anyone’s run now is probably 700, and these guys are already 45, 50 years old. I just don’t see the people having the chances, percentage-wise.”

Ricky Rudd, the active leader, has 828 starts with 23 wins. He will be 48 Sept. 12.

The King’s record seems safe.

No. 50 for U.S. Nationals

The U.S. Nationals, centerpiece of the National Hot Rod Assn.’s 23-event Powerade championship season, will have its 50th anniversary meeting this weekend at Indianapolis Raceway Park.

John Force, drag racing’s dominant figure for the last decade, will try to add more luster to an already gleaming resume. The Yorba Linda owner-driver will go after a sixth win in the Skoal Showdown, formerly known as the Big Bud Shootout, on Sunday, then will try to pad his lead in quest of a 13th funny car championship on Monday.

After winning his record 113th tour event two weeks ago at Memphis, Tenn., Force leads the standings by 220 points over Gary Scelzi. After losing last year to teammate Tony Pedregon, breaking a string of 12 consecutive titles, Force returned this year with more intensity than ever.

His boundless enthusiasm has carried over into the career of his 21-year-old daughter, Ashley, who will drive the Mattel Toy Stores top-alcohol dragster.

And here is a remarkable note: Force, winner of four U.S. Nationals and five Showdown events, was not among the drivers honored as “Legends of Indy” by the NHRA during its 50th anniversary celebration.

Indy Racing League

The Indy Racing League, which had included two road races next season in its previous all-oval series, added a street race as well Thursday. The race will be run April 3 over a 14-turn, 1.806-mile temporary course through downtown St. Petersburg, Fla.

The road races will be at Infineon Raceway on Aug. 28 and Watkins Glen, N.Y., on Sept. 25.

Southland Scene

Two racing grandmothers, Ronnie Everhart of Perris and Linda Denver of Sun City, finished first and second in a Hornet main event two weeks ago at Perris Auto Speedway, and Saturday night they will try to repeat their performance. Everhart, nicknamed “Red Hot Racing Grandma” after her car caught fire during a race and she kept on going to win the event, is the points leader in a class that includes a dozen men.

Damion Gardner will continue his season-long chase of Rip Williams for the USAC/CRA sprint car championship Saturday on the tiny Ventura Raceway oval. Gardner’s win last week at Perris cut Williams’ lead to 42 points. Ford Focus midgets will also be on the program.

With NASCAR fans focusing on California Speedway this weekend, Irwindale Speedway will skip its weekly stock car program and feature monster trucks Saturday night. Bigfoot will be there, and there will be races for pro trucks and Figure 8 daredevils.

Rhys Millen drove a Pontiac GTO to victory in the SCCA’s Formula Drift before a crowd of about 8,000 last Sunday night at Irwindale. Millen edged Dai Yoshihara’s Nissan in the finals. Sweden’s Samuel Hubinette was eliminated by Chris Forsberg in the quarterfinal round, but he had enough points to easily win the season crown in his Dodge Viper.