Gearing Up for Success : Auto racing: La Canada driver Tom Kendall gets up to speed in the Trans Am class.

Tom Kendall spent the final five laps of last weekend’s 40-lap Sports Car Club of America’s Trans Am event at Sears Point Raceway maneuvering to pass leader Darin Brassfield.

Kendall stayed close, but could not steer his new Chevrolet Beretta ahead of Brassfield’s Oldsmobile. He finished in second place, 0.254 seconds away from taking the checkered flag.

Kendall, a La Canada resident, was disappointed but unfazed.

“I think we kind of served notice that we’re going to be a factor,” he said.

Kendall, 23, has been a growing presence in racing since he won his first championship driving a Go-Kart at age 15.

He attended a driving school run by Bob Bondurant, a former Formula One racer, when he was 16 and competed in the Jim Russell School professional series two years later.

In 1986, Kendall won the first of two GTU-class series championships (for cars with engines under three liters) that he would capture driving a Mazda RX-7. In 1988, he won a third title in Chevrolet’s new Beretta, the first time a U. S. manufacturer had won the title.

“To win championships you can’t have mental lapses,” Kendall said. “You have guys that win races here and there, but they can’t hold it together for the whole season.

“You can’t afford to be up and down. You have to be consistent--and not just consistently mediocre. You have to be right at the top.”

Last season, Kendall stepped up to the Trans Am series. The Trans Am class features cars with engines ranging from the 4.5-liter V-6 in Kendall’s Beretta to 5.7-liter V-8s.

The body of the car must resemble the manufacturer’s production model, so lowering the roof or changing the windshield angle is forbidden.

Last season, Kendall finished third on the 16-race circuit.

“That was a real character-building year,” said Kendall, a senior economics major at UCLA. “It was the first year since I began racing that I did not win a championship.

“As a driver, you always think, ‘Well, I can overcome these obstacles.’ It really kind of drove home that all aspects have to be in place--the driver, the mechanics and the equipment.”

Like all successful drivers, Kendall has the ability to focus on making split-second decisions on the track. However, he also believes it’s necessary to keep an open mind.

“I’m always looking for a new idea,” Kendall said. “I think I can learn something from the next guy, whereas some guys are more reluctant to listen.

“Once you reach a certain level you’re obviously pretty talented and know quite a bit. It’s easy to think that some Joe Blow can’t teach you anything. I try to keep reminding myself that you never know where your next tip is going to come from.”

Kendall’s racing and the accompanying need to travel have lengthened the time it will take to complete his college degree. He is eight classes short of graduation and intends to complete his course work regardless of his success behind the wheel.

“I don’t need my degree to get a job, I’ve got that part taken care of,” Kendall said. “But I’ve always enjoyed doing things people say I can’t do and finishing school seems to be one of them.

“Every once in a while, I feel like throwing in the towel because it gets overwhelming at times. But it’s something I started and I’m going to finish.”

Kendall’s next Trans Am race is June 3 at Dallas. The series’ biggest race will be June 17 in Detroit.

Kendall began his career planning to race Indy cars. But now he’s in no hurry to graduate from the Trans Am series.

“I’ve had some offers to do a (Indy) race here and there, but I’d much rather be with a winning Trans Am effort where they’re going to be a contender every race and have a chance at winning a championship rather than jumping ahead just to be progressing,” he said.

“My main goal is to keep winning. As long as I can keep doing that, I’m sure I’ll do Winston Cup or Indy cars at some point in my career.”