Motor Racing / Grahame L. Jones : Wing Turns Veteran Into a Rookie

Dean Thompson has won 111 sprint car races in his 14-year career, but Sunday night at Ascot Park in Gardena he’ll be little more than a rookie when he slips into the cockpit for the World of Outlaws Copenhagen-Skoal national shootout.

The reason is simple: Thompson will be running with a wing on his car for the first time at Ascot and for only the second time ever.

“We’ve never run with one before,” Thompson said. “I drove with one for someone else in Hanford once, but never here.”

The wing, a 25-square-foot aluminum or rubber panel that weighs between 100 and 150 pounds and is mounted atop the roll cage, has become the subject of some discussion on the sprint car circuit. Drivers disagree not so much on whether they should be used, but rather on whether they decrease the amount of skill needed to negotiate a course.

Old-timers believe it takes a better driver to handle a car not equipped with a wing, especially in traffic, and Thompson tends to agree.

“The wing makes the car a lot more stable,” he said. “The cars have so much power, so much torque, that when you go down the straightaway they tend to rock like a motor boat. The wing prevents that.”

More important, wings affect the way drivers approach corners. They can go in faster without fear of losing control, which means that a less skilled driver might do better than he would have without the wing.

“Sliding has always been a big factor (in sprint car racing),” Thompson said. “If you slide too much, you’re not doing good because you lose speed, and if you don’t slide enough you are not going fast enough. You have to judge it right.

“Wings take all that away.”

No matter what his feelings about them, however, Thompson has decided to use a wing Sunday and, toward that end, practiced with one for the first time Wednesday night.

“We’re just learning about it,” he said, adding that he expects the addition of a wing to increase his speed by about five miles per hour. “It’s sort of last-minute crash course.”

Thompson will need that extra speed on Sunday, when his opposition in the 8 p.m. race includes sprint car racing’s first millionaire, five-time World of Outlaws champion Steve Kinser of Bloomington, Ind., two-time champion Sammy Swindell of Bartlett, Tenn., and Ron Shuman of Tempe, Ariz., who currently ranks third in the standings behind Kinser and Bobby Davis Jr. of Memphis, Tenn.

Swindell showed up at the practice session Wednesday night and gave an indication of the speeds that can be expected Sunday, whipping his Raymond Beadle-owned sprinter around in 18.290 seconds. The one-lap record for nonwinged cars is Eddie Wirth’s 18.732.

Although he wouldn’t say so, Swindell gave the impression that he expects to go faster on Sunday, saying that the track was a little to wet Wednesday night.

Thompson believes that Kinser, whose sprint car winnings totaled $350,000 last year and who is seeking his sixth World of Outlaws title, must be favored.

“Steve’s a good race driver,” Thompson said. “He’s in good physical shape, he has a good mental approach and he has natural ability.

“I’m just going in green. I don’t know how we’ll do.”

OFF-ROAD--Racing officials have lifted their suspension on Marty Tripes, allowing the Chula Vista driver to compete in Saturday night’s Grand Prix finale at the National Orange Show Stadium in San Bernardino.

Tripes last month was banned for the rest of the season after he got into a heated argument with officials during a SCORE Off-Road World Championship event at Riverside Raceway.

Sal Fish, who issued the ban, reinstated Tripes Wednesday, explaining that he now believes Tripes’ actions were unintentional and resulted from the accident in which his car flipped end over end, temporarily dazing the driver.

“Marty had his bell rung pretty good. He was hurting and upset, and blamed officials for what he thought might have caused the accident,” Fish said. “We believe he was still a little dazed when the altercation took place. Otherwise he probably would not have acted so harshly.”

Tripes is the leader in the 1985 unlimited single seater class with 160 points after four of the five races. His suspension would have prevented him winning the title since three other drivers, Al Arciero with 157 points, Bob Gordon with 148, and Frank Arciero Jr. with 137 are close enough to overtake him.

In the Grand National sport truck class, defending champion Ivan Stewart will attempt to make it three straight titles by holding off the challenge of Toyota teammate Steve Millen and Nissan’s Roger Mears.

Other championships will be determined in the Volkswagen super 1600, Odyssey, three- and four-wheel ATV and the Uniroyal ultra-stock classes.

Racing will begin at 7 p.m., with the gates opening at 5.

STOCK CARS--Defending champion Ray Burns of Sun Valley and Marcus Mallet of Carson each will be seeking his fourth victory of the Winston racing series in the Curb Motorsports pro stocks Saturday night at 8 at Ascot Park in Gardena. Burns, who still has a slim chance to retain his title, ranks third in the standings behind leader Don Wright Jr. of Simi Valley and second-place Jerry Johnson of Harbor City, the season’s only four-time winner. . . . A 100-lap double-points race will be held Saturday at 8 p.m. at Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield, where season leader Rick Carelli of Denver, Colo., will try to hold off the challenge of Las Vegas’ Dick Cobb and Whittier’s Vince Giamformaggio in the 55-car field.

Modified and mini-stock drivers will compete in two double-point grand prix events Saturday night at Saugus Speedway. Modified drivers will be featured in a 100-lap race, mini-stockers in a 40-lap event. . . . Frank Adamo of Taft and David Sweet of Bakersfield each will be trying to maintain his respective lead at Bakersfield Speedway Saturday night at 8:15. Adamo leads Bakersfield’s Scott Pounds in the pro-mod division, 471 points to 407. Sweet, with 457 points in the street stock class, leads Kelly Sawyer, who has 394, and Trent Francis, who has 378.

MOTORCYCLES--National champion Kelly Moran returns to the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa tonight after a two-week European tour. Also returning from the trip to seek victory in the scratch main event will be Lance King and Sam Ermolenko.