Millen Wins Anaheim Off-Road Main Event Before 64,758 Fans

Steve Millen, who earned himself a spot on racing’s 1986 All-American team with winning rides in his Toyota sports truck, started 1987 off in the same manner.

Millen, a transplanted New Zealander now living in Santa Ana, drove almost a wire-to-wire victory in the feature event of Mickey Thompson’s Off-Road Gran Prix opener Saturday night at Anaheim Stadium.

A record off-road crowd of 64,758, which made nearly as much noise as the cars and trucks, included three Indianapolis 500 winners--Bobby Rahal, Rick Mears and Al Unser.

Millen passed Sherman Balch and Walker Evans, who started in the front row, on the first turn of the first lap and was never challenged the rest of the 10 laps.

Balch went on to finish second in a Nissan with Glenn Harris third in a Mazda.

Larry Gillman, of Huntington Beach, making a comeback in off-road racing after several years, won the VW Super 1600 main event, holding off Frank Arciero Jr. of Anaheim and Larry Noel of Phoenix.

Al Unser Jr.’s introduction to off-road racing was spectacular in his heat race, but didn’t last long in the main event as his Jeep Comache failed to finish a lap.

Because his truck had teething problems with its suspension during qualifying, Little Al was given what appeared to be a head start, out in front of four faster qualifiers.

Unser led through the first lap, but was challenged by Evans on the first turn of the second lap. The effort, however, caused Evans to careen up on two wheels and sideswipe Unser. This sent Unser’s Jeep up on its side, out of control, and it smashed into one of the water-filled impact barriers designed by Thompson. The truck hit so hard it knocked the barrier into the stands, injuring a construction worker standing behind it.

The worker, Rocky Tremelay, 37, of Canada was taken to St. Joseph Hospital in Orange where he was treated for facial abrasions and numerous body bruises. He was listed in good condition.

Unser’s truck came to a stop still on its side.

Little Al crawled out the window, helped course workers right the machine, and returned to the race, two laps behind, in last place.

Before the 10-lap race was over, Unser found himself in third place after Glenn Harris’ Mazda lost a wheel and Roger Mears’ Nissan stopped.

Mears’ Hardbody truck was found to have a broken rear end, so he parked it and drove his two-year-old Nissan in the main event.

The second truck heat also had a frightening moment when Dan Esslinger’s Ford suddenly burst into flames after the car failed to make it through a sharp corner and ran into a barrier. As Esslinger was getting out, however, the flames died as workers arrived with extinguishers.

Between races, the wrecking crews were as busy as the racers, clearing the stadium track of broken machinery.

The bouncy little Odysseys, tiny 360cc machines that look like mini-sprint cars, provided comic relief as they bounced from barrier to barrier. One of the most spectacular flips of the flippy night was by Rory Halladay of Fontana. He came down front end first on an incline, sending his Odyssey into a full one-and-a-half that would have done Greg Louganis proud. Halladay came down on all fours, shook his head to see if he was all there, and took off. He never lost his place in the field.

The track, criss-crossing back and forth across the Angels’ baseball field-which was covered by plastic before the tons of dirt was piled on top--appeared to be one of the fastest produced by Thompson in the five years he has promoted stadium racing.

Ivan Stewart, who earned the nickname “Ironman” when he drove the Baja 1000 solo, found Thursday’s press preview more physically taxing and withdrew from the truck race with a severely strained back. Stewart’s Toyota truck came down nose first off a high jump and the impact whiplashed his lower back.

Stewart hopes to be ready for next Saturday night’s Gran Prix at Jack Murphy Stadium in his hometown of San Diego.