MOTOR RACING / BRIAN MURPHY : Harper Pays a Visit to Saugus

Apparently you can take the driver away from the track but you can’t take the track away from the driver.

Or maybe it’s the other way around. In any event, as Will Harper proved last Saturday at Saugus Speedway, a track often is much more than just a place to race. It almost becomes a member of the family.

Harper, of Tarzana, the 1989 and 1990 points champion in Saugus Speedway’s Sportsman Division, has moved up to the NASCAR Southwest Tour but he has not forgotten about Saugus.

“I love racing,” Harper said. “And I love my fans at Saugus Speedway.”

So with just 15 racing dates left on the 1991 Southwest Tour, and with Harper itching to race some more, he steered his No. 96 Sportsman car into the pits at Saugus to take another run at the track where he has been so successful.

First he had to pay a visit to engine expert William Low of Northridge, to get his motor revving again. But with that problem solved, Harper qualified for the main event.

Then he showed that he hasn’t lost his knack for the track, as he started 15th and drove hard to a fourth-place finish in the 40-lap main event.

Harper said it was a bit strange driving again a Sportsman car, a ride that is wider than a Southwest Tour car and with 150 less horsepower.

“But (it’s) a little more stable,” Harper said with a grin.

At least one fellow driver said that he was less than pleased to see Harper back. Rest assured, it was nothing personal. It’s just that Harper has a tendency to show up in other drivers’ rear-view mirrors a lot. Shortly thereafter, they tend to appear in Harper’s mirror.

“I don’t really miss him,” Sportsman points leader Lance Hooper of Palmdale said with a laugh after winning his fifth Saugus main event of the season. “He’s a good driver.”

Harper said he enjoys the Southwest Tour, but he is still getting the kinks worked out. Three weeks ago, in a race at Sears Point, Harper had moved to seventh place and earned some airtime on ESPN before a broken tail section knocked him out of the race. Still, the Southwest Tour remains his top priority.

“If I could, I would only race cars,” he said. “That’s my ultimate goal. But I have to run my construction business, too, and I don’t want to run that into the ground.”

Don’t look for Harper at Saugus tonight. The Southwest Tour calls a little ways up the road, where the tour is running at Mesa Marin in Bakersfield in the Firecracker 100.

Ongoing saga: Keith Spangler of Northridge may have to wait still another week before he gets back on the track at Saugus.

Rumors of a possible Spangler deal with Quartz Hill’s Pat Mintey, Jr., turned out to be true, both parties confirmed this week, but now it’s been put on hold. Mintey was to lend Spangler a motor for the No. 37 car that Spangler drove last year, but Spangler’s father, Loren, told Keith to hold off because the car is being looked at by a prospective buyer.

“We could use the money at this point,” the younger Spangler said. “So we’re still waiting.”

Mintey, meanwhile, said that his offer stands. The motor is sitting in his truck, waiting for the Spanglers.

“We’re just helping each other out,” Mintey said. “He helped us out a couple of weeks ago, helped set up our car.”

Mintey has a nice way of thanking his help--he went out and won his first main event of the season that night.

On top: Palmdale’s Lance Hooper has taken over first place in Saugus Speedway’s Sportsman division.

Hooper has compiled a division-best 207 points--19 better than runner-up Gary Sigman of Carson--with one fewer start. Hooper lost a start when a main-event win early in the season was erased during the post-race inspections. He has won five main events since then.

Hot dog: Sylmar’s Dan Horan, Jr., the 1990 Nostalgia Drag Racing Assn. Top Fuel champion and record holder for the Nostalgia nitro-burning dragsters, travels to Bakersfield Raceway this weekend in an attempt to rebound from a rare defeat in his last NDRA start.

Racing will be held today and Sunday, with gates opening at 9 a.m.

Horan still maintains a large points lead in the 1991 championship series, which is is open to cars build in 1974 and before.

Miscellany: Saugus Speedway’s traditional Fourth of July racing program is slated for Thursday, with Hobby Stocks, Jalopies, Grand American Modifieds, a Giant Destruction Derby and a post-program fireworks show. . . . Canyon Country’s Mike Kiedrowski finished the 1991 250cc Supercross season in fourth place with 292 points. Redondo Beach’s Jean-Michel Bayle won the championship with 385 points and eight wins in 1991.