MOTOR RACING : CRA Not Running on Empty With Out-of-State Tour

The California Racing Assn., although it may need a new name, continues to survive as the country’s foremost wingless sprint car racing organization despite gloomy forecasts after the closing last year of its home base at Ascot Park in Gardena.

Frank Lewis, CRA president and one of its leading car owners, has turned the 46-year-old association into a traveling circus. Of the 41 events on its 1991 schedule, 16 will be in California. Last year, by contrast, there were 29 at Ascot alone and 15 out of state.

“Surprisingly enough, we are running far better than anticipated,” Lewis said as the season heads into its final three months. “We have a solid core of 14 to 17 car owners that show up at nearly every race, and with increased purses we’re getting local drivers at most tracks where we race.

“With land values the way they are, I don’t think it’s likely we’ll see a new track being built in Southern California, so traveling is going to have to be a way of life for the CRA. I think we have proven this year that it can be done. Our purses are up, even higher than they were at Ascot, and the racing is better.”

Out-of-state drivers are dominating the mostly out-of-state series, too. Ron Shuman of Tempe, Ariz., is leading in quest of an unprecedented fourth consecutive CRA championship, but he is closely followed by another Tempe driver, Lealand McSpadden; Billy Boat of Phoenix, and Richard Griffin of Silver City, N.M.

“I miss Ascot because it was such a good track, but I probably don’t miss it as much as most of the other guys, because I’ve been used to traveling all my (racing) life,” Shuman said. “Ever since I drove with the World of Outlaws, racing has been my job, so it’s no big deal for me to move around, but most of the Southern California drivers have 40-hour-a-week jobs, which makes it tough to hit the road every weekend.”

Shuman left the winged Outlaws series four years ago for the CRA and proceeded to win three in a row, matching the record of Dean Thompson, the 1980-81-82 champion. Jimmy Oskie is the all-time leader with five CRA titles, but only Thompson and Shuman have put together three in succession.

Shuman will renew acquaintances with winged sprint cars next week when he drives in the Knoxville (Iowa) Nationals, a four-day show that is the sprint car version of the Indy 500.

“Having to race on different tracks has made better racers out of many of our drivers,” Lewis said. “Ascot was such a different track that drivers who ran there all the time weren’t as adaptable when they went somewhere else. We have had 15 different winners in 32 races this year, and I think that says a lot for our competition. When we came back from our three-week tour of the Midwest in May, a lot of people were saying that we were going to run out of cars, but it didn’t happen. No doubt, the recession hit racing, but car counts are down everywhere. We’re better off than a lot of places.”

The 500-mile CART Indy car race last Sunday at Michigan had only 21 cars, and there were fears early in May that the Indianapolis 500 might have fewer than its prescribed 33, although at the last minute the field was filled. A U.S. Auto Club sprint car race at Granite City, Ill., last month had only 10 cars.

There were 22 cars last Saturday night at Manzanita Speedway in Phoenix, where McSpadden, who drives one of Lewis’ Gambler-Shaver cars, won his sixth CRA main event of the season. The victory moved Lewis into a fourth-place tie with Jack Kindoll and Jack Gardner on the owners’ all-time list with 47 victories. Alex Morales, Inc., Shuman’s car owner, leads with 150, including four this year by Shuman. Then come Bruce Bromme with 143 and the Kazarian Bros. with 63.

The CRA will make one of its rare Southern California stops Saturday night at Doug Fort’s Santa Maria Speedway, a one-third mile oval about 125 miles north of Los Angeles. Of the 20 California races, only eight are in the Southland--two at El Centro, four at Santa Maria and two at Bakersfield Speedway in Oildale.

Two earlier races at Santa Maria were won by Kim Craft and two-time CRA champion Brad Noffsinger.

“We are going to end our season with a new race, the Dave Sanborn (Memorial), on the first weekend in November,” Lewis said. “It will replace the Don Peabody Memorial we had at Ascot, and we want to hold it on a Southern California track, probably El Centro or Bakersfield.”

Sanborn is a corner worker from Placentia who was killed in an accident last year at Ascot Park.

CRA leaders: 1--Ron Shuman (Tempe, Ariz.), 1773 points; 2--Lealand McSpadden (Tempe, Ariz.), 1633; 3--Billy Boat (Phoenix), 1553; 4--Richard Griffin (Silver City, N. M.), 1524; 5--Rip Williams (Garden Grove), 1436; 6--Steve Ostling (Bellflower), 1417; 7--Gary Howard (Rancho Cucamonga), 964; 8--Verne Sweeney (Lomita), 934; 9--Cary Faas (Yorba Linda), 899; 10--Harlan Willis (Ventura), 834.

Briefly

SPEEDWAY BIKES--Ventura Raceway, which was a weekly stop on the Southern California speedway schedule until it dropped the sport five years ago, will return to action Saturday night for the Ventura Speedway Summer races, a one-night-only program. Sixteen riders, headed by national champion Mike Faria and former champion Bobby Schwartz, will ride in the 22-race event. Sidecars will also be on the program. . . . Friday night racing will return to the Orange County Fairgrounds at Costa Mesa after a lapse of two weeks during the county fair.

Sam Ermolenko, Kelly Moran and Ronnie Correy will ride Sunday in the world championship semifinals at Abensberg, Germany. Also in the field is three-time world champion Hans Nielsen of Denmark. Eight will advance to the World Finals Aug. 31 at Gothenberg, Sweden.

STOCK CARS--The Winston 100, a double points race for NASCAR sportsman drivers, will top Saugus Speedway’s program Saturday night. Oren Prosser, who won the Saugus track championship in 1964 and again in a four-year stretch from 1969 to ‘72, will replace Keith Spangler in Joe Heath’s Lumina. Dave Phipps, Grand American modified division leader and a three-time sportsman champion, will have a new car for the Winston 100. With his Lumina in the repair shop, Phipps will replace injured rookie Jerome Ruzicka in another Lumina. . . . Cajon Speedway has scheduled a demolition derby to follow its sportsman and street stock main events.

Despite defending champion Bill Schmitt’s victory last Sunday at Olympia, Wash., Bill Sedgwick continues to lead Winston West standings with two races remaining. The Granada Hills driver leads by 34 points. At the same point last year, Sedgwick led Schmitt by 84, only to lose by one point. The next race is Oct. 13 at Mesa Marin Raceway.

POWERBOATS--The 43rd annual Catalina water ski race, with 100 of the world’s leading endurance skiers, will be held Saturday between Long Beach and Catalina Island. Marti Wells and Lori Dunsmore, last year’s winners, are expected to defend their championships in the 62-mile round trip. The race will start at 8 a.m., with the finish about an hour later at the Travelodge Hotel Resort adjacent to the Queen Mary.

OFF-ROAD--Ivan Stewart and his Toyota V-6 desert truck, with overall victories in the Nissan 400 and the Baja 500 already this season, will go for three in a row Saturday in the Nevada 500.

KARTS--The Southern California Karters will hold an International Karting Federation championship program Saturday and Sunday at Willow Springs Raceway.