MOTOR RACING / SHAV GLICK : Track’s Closure Hasn’t Slowed Saugus Drivers

Saugus Speedway is closed, but graduates of its quirky flat racing oval are doing quite well elsewhere.

Lance Hooper, the 1991 track champion from Palmdale, won his fourth NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Tour main event last Saturday night at Stockton and leads the series after 12 races with 1,804 points to 1,757 for Jim Inglebright of Fairfield, Calif., and 1,734 for M.K. Kanke of Granada Hills, another former Saugus driver. Hooper has also won seven poles in his Pontiac, equaling the single-season record set by Rick Carelli of Denver in 1992.

Ron Hornaday Jr., the 1987 track champion, also from Palmdale, has won four NASCAR SuperTruck races, driving a Chevrolet for Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt. After 13 races, he is fourth in points, only 99 behind leader Mike Skinner of Randleman, N. C., a six-time series winner. Bill Sedgwick, yet another former Saugus champion from Acton, is fifth in another Chevrolet.

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Testing in Dan Gurney’s Toyota-powered Eagle Indy car isn’t expected to begin until October, but Gurney’s drivers, Juan Manuel Fangio II and P.J. Jones, are in the news this week on their own.

Fangio, two-time International Motor Sports Assn. Camel GT champion in a Toyota, will replace the injured Danny Sullivan in a PacWest Reynard in Sunday’s Indy car race on the Mid-Ohio circuit in Lexington, Ohio. Sullivan broke his pelvis two weeks ago in a crash during the Marlboro 500 at Michigan International Speedway.

It will be Fangio’s first Indy car race, although he is scheduled to drive a Toyota-Eagle on the circuit next year.

“Dan thought it would be a great thing for the team, because it will give Juan a baseline for us to work with,” Jones said before leaving for Ohio to root for his teammate.

Jones, Parnelli’s eldest son, lost his ride in Scoop Vessels’ Chevrolet SuperTruck when Vessels decided to put his 1966 driver, former Winston West champion Mike Chase of Bakersfield, in the truck immediately.

“We decided that the best way to be running up front at the beginning of the 1996 season is to start right now,” Vessels said. The next race is on Aug. 19 at Flemington, N.J.

P.J. Jones is under contract to Gurney and Toyota for 1996. He had two top-10 finishes in 13 SuperTruck races, a second at Tucson and a sixth at Monroe, Wash.

“The DieHard SuperTruck was my brother Page’s ride,” Jones said. “I just stepped in when Page got hurt. If we had been in the hunt for the championship, I’d have never considered leaving the DieHard team early.”

Page Jones is showing marked improvement in rehabilitation from head injuries suffered in a sprint car accident on Sept. 25.

Motor Racing Notes

WATER SKIING--More than 100 of the world’s fastest water skiers will compete Sunday in the 47th annual Catalina Ski Race, a 62-mile round trip from Long Beach to Catalina Island and back. They will be shooting at the record of 54 minutes 56 seconds set by Mason Thompson of Newport Beach in 1987. Favorites include Lee Squire of Long Beach, the 1993 winner, and Kurt Schoen of Mesa, Ariz., a four-time winner. Racing will start at 8 a.m. A boat show and concours d’elegance will be held Saturday at 10 a.m. in downtown Long Beach.

MOTORCYCLES--The U.S. Best Pairs final for speedway bikes will be run Friday night at the Orange County Fairgrounds oval in Costa Mesa. Seven two-man teams will compete in 22 scratch heats. America speedway sidecars will also race.

MOTOCROSS--Jeff Stanton, three-time Supercross and three-time national 250cc champion before retiring a year ago, is recuperating from a street bike accident near his home in Sherwood, Mich. Stanton, who was hit broadside by a car, suffered a broken shoulder, elbow and bruised lung. . . . John Burr of Fontana won the five-race Yamaha Motocross Dealer Series team championship at San Bernardino’s Glen Helen Park. Top individual was Ty Kady, winner of both the 250 and 125 pro classes.

OFF ROAD--SCORE International officials announced that Walker Evans has been disqualified from the Tecate Trophy-Truck race last month at Barstow for “not conducting himself in a manner consistent with that degree of caution and professional judgment that is expected and should be exercised by participants in the start-finish checkpoint area at this event.” Evans’ truck collided with one driven by Ivan Stewart, who was not found at fault. Television producer and cameraman Mark Glecki was killed in the accident. . . . La Rana Desert Racing will conduct a series of five-mile trophy dashes Saturday and Sunday near the Sidewinder Road exit off Interstate 15, near Barstow.

STOCK CARS--Sportsman, street and bomber stocks of the Winston Racing Series will run Saturday night at Cajon Speedway in El Cajon. . . . Also Saturday night: Pro stocks at Blythe Speedway, street stocks and Figure 8s at Sunrise Valley Raceway, near Adelanto.

MISCELLANY--Creighton Hunter will present a Santa Ana Drags Reunion at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Elks Lodge in Santa Ana. Featured will be a 90-minute video from Santa Ana and Long Beach Lions drag strips, prepared and narrated by Don Tuttle, Santa Ana’s track announcer. When the Santa Ana strip opened in 1950, it was the first year-round, weekly drag racing site. Proceeds will go to the Sonny Arnetts Children’s Trust Fund.