QUICK TRIPP : Driver, a Native of Costa Mesa, Cuts Large Figure in Midget-Car Racing

His name conjures up an image of Snow White’s little pals. And hearing his profession does little to dispel that image.

But there’s nothing diminutive about Sleepy Tripp, or his record of success.

Tripp--whose real name is Ron--is one of the top midget-car racers in the country. This year, Tripp, a Costa Mesa native, is on a pace to easily win his second western regional championship in a row and his fourth in six years.

A former football player at Newport Harbor High School, Tripp has become a legend in the racing of the 7-foot midget cars, which have open cockpits that measure about two cubic feet.

Though only 34, he has won 180 feature races--more than 100 of them sanctioned by the U.S. Auto Club. Tripp has picked up where he left off last year, which he calls his best season, when he won 20 of 38 USAC races and the Western States title. So far in 1988, he has won 14 of 24 races, with 20 races left in the series, and is 200 points ahead of his nearest competitor.

This Sunday, Tripp, a USAC Hall of Fame member, will compete in a Western States race at Ascot Park in Gardena. On Aug. 5, he will compete in the Belleville Nationals in Kansas, the Indianapolis 500 of midget racing. He won the nationals in 1985 and 1987.

“For some reason we’ve been dominating in the past 12 months,” Tripp said.

The victories continue to pile up. But Tripp, an electrician by trade, doesn’t spend his weekends trekking to such places as Santa Maria and Fremont for glory. Nor does he do it for the prize money, which is comparable to the size of car he races.

“I really enjoy the competition,” he said. “I have a good time.”

Racing competition is second nature to Tripp. He is a walking testament to the adage that practice makes perfect, having raced his first car more than three decades ago, when he was 4 years old.

Four-year-olds like toys, and what better toy could a little boy have than his very own, fully equipped little car?

“My dad used to race cars as a hobby,” Tripp said. “And he just put my brother Bob and I in quarter-midgets when we were little.”

Tripp’s early years in a race car are a blur; he can’t remember his first race or even his first victory. But, by the time he was about 10, he was well aware that not every kid in Orange County had his or her own race car.

“I knew we were a little different,” he said. “I guess we were spoiled kids.”

The Tripp family, living up to the surname, converted an old school bus into a motor home and--with the boys’ race cars strapped to the the top--took off on summer pilgrimages to race tracks and fairgrounds around the country.

It was in those days that Tripp acquired the nickname he has never been able to shake. On more than one occasion, when races would last into the night, the little boy would fall asleep while waiting for his race to start. He tried to shake the nickname in high school and get people to call him Ron, but to no avail.

High school was the one period in Tripp’s life when he didn’t race cars. Instead he played football for Newport Harbor, where he was named All-Southern Section as a guard and linebacker.

When he graduated, in 1971, he felt he was too small to continue playing football. So he squeezed his 5-foot 9-inch, 195-pound body back into midget race cars to start his racing career for real.

“You wouldn’t think I could get my fat butt in there, would you?” Tripp said, looking at the small seat he is packed into during the 10- to 15-minute races that are run at speeds between 80 and 140 miles per hour.

He still looks as if he’d be at home on the football field, and he drives as if that’s where he is, moving in to tackle a running back. He is known as an aggressive driver, making his moves in lap traffic.

Tripp won his first professional USAC race when he was 20. One year later, in 1975, he won his first USAC national championship and in 1976 he added his second. Though he always spent part of the year in California, he also kept a house in Indianapolis for access to the national circuit.

For the past 11 years he has spent his winters racing in New Zealand and Australia. He met his wife, Erin, a native of New Zealand, on one of his trips down under. They have a daughter, Shay, 2.

Five years ago, Tripp quit running for the national championship in order to spend more time at home in Costa Mesa. Despite that, he is ranked fifth among national midget-car winners, and his regional accomplishments continue to add to his national ranking.

Another reason he quit the national circuit was the expense involved. A good race will bring the winner $1,000, but most are in the $600 range. And a well-equipped midget car can cost about $30,000.

Tripp has always had to work as an electrician in his family’s business to make enough money to keep racing.

“Racing is his profession,” Erin said. “His work is a sideline.”

“You’re not going to get rich racing midgets,” Tripp said. “With the cost of motels and gas, it (running for the national championship) just wasn’t feasible anymore. And the competition on the West Coast is as tough as it is anywhere.

“Racing is a rich man’s game.”

Six years ago, Tripp hooked up with some rich men, and since then the game has become a little easier. Rather than trying to maintain his own car, he now drives for car owners Gary and George Zarounian of Visalia. Though he still pays his expenses and has to share his winnings, the arrangement is much more comfortable for Tripp.

“It was real stressful before,” said Tripp, who also has a sponsor in New Zealand. “I’d tear my car up and couldn’t make it to the next race.”

Now all he does is drive.

The team’s success has frustrated other drivers.

“They all think we’re cheating, they say we’re using trick fuel,” Tripp said.

But the only change, which Tripp said is a big one, is that last year they switched from a Volkswagen engine to a 120-cubic inch Cosworth engine.

“We stuck with the VW a couple of years too long,” he said. “The Cosworth has been real good. We finish all our races now.”

More and more drivers are switching to Cosworths. But Tripp keeps beating them, proving there’s more to racing than the engine.

“At home, he’s always tripping over the rug or the furniture,” Erin Tripp said. “But he’s in control out there (on the course). He has a born instinct to race.”

Last year, Tripp’s car brought in about $25,000. This year, it should do even better. But, for all his accomplishments, there is no evidence in Tripp’s home of the thousands of trophies he has won, which he calls “dust collectors.”

“He’s always been the best at what he’s done,” Erin said. “But you’d never know it from him.”