Around the Far Turn at Indy ... Herrre’s Johnny!

The legacy of Johnny Carson lives in the memories of the late-night host as Carnac the Magnificent, Aunt Blabby and other colorful characters he made familiar in his three decades on “The Tonight Show.”

Who remembers Johnny Carson, Indy car driver?

When Carson died Sunday at 79, it stirred memories of him in Andy Granatelli’s STP turbine-powered “whooshmobile,” circling Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s 2.5-mile circuit at speeds of 138 mph -- not so fast by today’s standards, but fast enough for an amateur driver nearly 40 years ago.

It was 1967 and Carson’s driving debut occurred shortly after Parnelli Jones, in the turbine, had led 171 of the 200 laps in the Indianapolis 500 before finishing sixth because of a bearing failure.

“Andy and I took him around in the pace car,” Jones recalled Thursday. “I was driving and Andy was in the backseat. After a couple of laps, while I was pointing out the proper groove, Johnny said, ‘I got it, let me try it.’ We switched seats and he took it around the first time. He did OK through the third turn and then the fourth turn, but going down the straightaway he was going too deep. When he didn’t back off, I yelled at him and grabbed the steering wheel.

“He was doing what nearly all laymen do when they get a chance to drive. They think all you have to do is stand on it all the way around. You can’t do that in a race car, and you can’t in a passenger car, either, but they all seem to think you can. He was no different.”

After a few more laps, and then more in the turbine-powered car, Carson was strapped in, ready to go it alone.

“He was a quick learner,” Jones said. “I’d shook him up a little, but he did just what I told him. He gained a lot of respect for the race car. And I had a lot of respect for how he did. He did really well.”

Carson’s speed of 138 compared favorably with speeds of the day. It had taken 162 mph to make the 500 field a week earlier and 138 would have put Carson in the race in 1956.

Granatelli, then president of STP and a major sponsor of Carson’s show, explained in a phone call from his home in Santa Barbara how it all came about.

“I had been on his show about seven times and we’d talked about him driving one of my cars,” Granatelli said. “He always liked daredevil challenges, so I talked him into running Indy in my car. The turbine ran so smooth that all you had to do was point it, but 138 was pretty darn impressive for a guy who had never driven a race car.”

Copper Classic

Although it is still three weeks before the Nextel Cup series gets underway at Daytona Beach, Fla., the NASCAR season will open this weekend in Phoenix with the revival of the popular Copper World Classic.

You may not recognize the race names, though, the way motorsports authorities are labeling their events these days. For instance, what was once Winston West is now NASCAR Grand National Division, West Series. And what was once the Featherlite Southwest Series is now NASCAR AutoZone Elite Division, Southwest Series.

Both series will be debuting with main events Sunday at Phoenix International Raceway, along with U.S. Auto Club midgets and Silver Crown cars sharing a busy program.

Mike Duncan, veteran West series driver from Bakersfield, will be opening his bid to become the first repeat champion since Brendan Gaughan in 2000-01. Duncan, who turned 43 last Saturday, will be back in the No. 9 Lucas Oil Chevrolet that he drove last season with two-time series champion Bill Sedgwick as his crew chief.

Two surprise entries in the 100-lap main event will be Sarah Fisher and Michel Jourdain Jr., both refugees from sponsor-strapped open-wheel racing.

In the USAC races, track-record holder Dave Steele of Tampa, Fla., will be favored in both the 25-lap midget and 100-lap Silver Crown races. Steele set qualifying records for both events last year, although J.J. Yeley beat him in the midget race.

Yeley will be back in both races along with national midget car champion Bobby East, winner of the Turkey Night Grand Prix at Irwindale, and Chili Bowl champion Tracy Hines.

Steele, the reigning Silver Crown champion, won the last three Silver Crown races at Phoenix and holds the track record at 142.760 mph. Last season, Steele led a record 290 consecutive laps of competition, which included a wire-to-wire 100 at Phoenix.

To stimulate interest in the flagging West series, NASCAR and Speedway Illustrated have compiled a top-10 list of drivers from more than 50 years of West Coast competition, in order: 1. Hershel McGriff; 2. Jones; 3. Ray Elder; 4. Jack McCoy; 5. Bill Schmitt; 6. Lloyd Dane; 7. Eddie Gray; 8. Roy Smith; 9. Sedgwick; 10. Jim Robinson.

A few miles away in Phoenix, on the half-mile dirt oval at Manzanita Speedway, the Valvoline USAC/CRA sprint car championship series will get underway with a 30-lap main event Saturday night.

Defending series champion Rip Williams will aim for his 100th sprint car victory against former Manzanita winners Bud Kaeding, Cory Kruseman and Mike Kirby. Kruseman, the Ventura driving instructor who finished third behind Jay Drake and Kaeding in last year’s national sprint car series, says he will concentrate on the USAC/CRA series this year.

Kruseman is only four wins behind the late Dean Thompson as the all-time CRA leader.

Last Laps

NASCAR Nextel Cup practice Wednesday and Thursday at California Speedway will be open to the public, free of charge, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. More than 35 drivers, including Nextel Cup champion Kurt Busch, will participate in the 2005 preseason tests. ... The Vintage Kart Racing Assn. is holding a race day for 1958-1975 machines Saturday at the Adams Kart Track in Riverside.... The Super Categories Assn. will conduct pro gas, super comp and super street races Saturday and Sunday at California Speedway’s quarter-mile parking lot drag strip.