MOTOR RACING / SHAV GLICK : Hooper Tradition Continues at Saugus

Lance Hooper is only 25, but in a way he has been preparing all his life for his first experience as a Winston West stock car driver Saturday night at Saugus Speedway.

Hooper’s father, Ray, was chief mechanic for the late Sonny Easley during the formative years of NASCAR’s premier West Coast racing series, and Lance tagged along with him almost from the day he was born.

“I go way back to the days of Ray Elder, Jimmy McCoy, Jimmy Insolo and Hershel McGriff--of course, he’s still around,” Lance Hooper said. “I remember traveling up and down the coast, going to races. I was Sonny’s biggest fan. Then when my brother (Ray Hooper Jr.) began racing, I was his crew chief.”

The Hooper family of Palmdale has made a way of life out of competing at Saugus Speedway. Wayne Hooper, Lance’s uncle, won the track championship there in 1968. Lance’s father won it in 1970. Ray Jr. took the modified championship in 1982, and Lance won the sportsman division in 1991 and finished second to Gary Sigman last year. Hooper climaxed the season by leading every lap in the Fall Spectacular season finale.

To take the family full circle, Ray Sr. is now chief mechanic on Lance’s Southwest Tour car, a ’93 Olds Cutlass. Lance is fourth in points and is leading in rookie-of-the-year standings.

“I didn’t begin racing until I was 21 because we were a one-car racing family, and my dad, and then my brother, was the driver,” Lance said. “I found enough sponsorship to go out on my own four years ago at Saugus, where I raced every Saturday night until this year, when I got a chance to run the Southwest Tour. I’m looking forward to going back to Saugus.”

McGriff, 65, who raced against the elder Hooper in the late ‘60s, was runner-up to Elder in the 1972 Winston West series and won it in 1986. He is leading this year’s standings after two races. McGriff finished second to series champion Bill Sedgwick last week at Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield after earning a record 35th series pole position. It was McGriff’s highest finish since a second place in August of 1989, at Saugus.

Ron Hornaday Jr., another family-oriented Saugus driver, holds the one-lap record of 16.175 seconds for Winston West cars on the one-third mile paved oval, but it is certain to drop because of the new, smoother track, which was repaved this year. All track records have fallen drastically since the season opened last month.

NASCAR officials are looking for a lap Saturday night in the 15-second bracket. The late model sportsman record of 16.07 seconds (74.7 m.p.h.) was set last Saturday night by Ray Hooper Jr., driving a Chevy Lumina.

Lance Hooper will drive the No. 00 Olds Cutlass, owned by Danny Puskarich of Bakersfield, whose family has been sponsoring cars for more than 30 years. Don Puskarich of Garden Grove, Danny’s brother, was Winston West rookie of the year in 1975, with his best finish a second at Santa Maria.

It will be a new experience for Hooper because his car weighs 3,500 pounds, 600 more than his Southwest Tour Olds.

“I won’t get a chance to get in the car until Saturday morning, but I don’t expect too much difficulty,” Hooper said. “My sportsman car was 3,200 (pounds) and the Winston West is 3,500, but with more horsepower. I’m anxious about trying it, for sure.”

Racing Notes

MOTORCYCLES--Sam Ermolenko, who left Cypress eight years ago to concentrate on riding in the British Speedway League, will return home this week to ride Friday night at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa. In addition to the regular program, Ermolenko will face national champion Chris Manchester, Bobby Schwartz, Brad Oxley and Mike Faria in a series of match races. Ermolenko leads the British League in points. Sidecars also will race on the 190-yard oval, the smallest speedway track in the world.

Tom Hamann, six-time American Trials Assn. champion from San Diego, scored his first El Trial de Espana victory last Sunday in a tiebreaker with Scott Head, the 1980 and 1985 winner from Oak View, Calif. El Trial is the ATA’s most prestigious observed-trials competition of the year. Head was an easy winner in the Schreiber Cup, which was also held last weekend near Lucerne Valley.

MIDGETS--The United States Auto Club’s western regional series for full midgets and three-quarter midgets will continue Saturday night at Ventura Raceway. Australian champion Warrene Edkins, a surprise challenger last week to winner Ron Shuman, will return to face regional champion Sleepy Tripp, who is looking for his first 1993 victory; and Page Jones, who won the season opener before skipping last week’s race to drive a Winston West stock car at Mesa Marin.

SPRINT CARS--California Racing Assn. drivers will race Saturday night at Santa Maria Speedway before leaving on a three-week tour that will take them to Kansas, Pennsylvania and Indiana for 10 races. A makeup race announced for Sunday at Bakersfield Speedway has been canceled.

SPORTS CARS--The California Sports Car Club will hold a series of regional championship races Saturday and Sunday at Willow Speedway. Featured will be the Toyota Super Production unlimited stock cars.

STOCK CARS--The open-wheel IMCA modifieds will return to action Friday night at Ventura Raceway, along with street and mini stocks. . . . Bakersfield Speedway will host late-model modifieds and Cajon Speedway will feature sportsmen and pony stocks Saturday night.

OFF ROAD--The Mickey Thompson Sportsman Off-Road Series, designed to prepare drivers for the stadium series, will be inaugurated Sunday at Glen Helen Park, near San Bernardino. It will be the first of three such events.

DRAG RACING--Bakersfield Raceway in Oildale will be the site this weekend of the first of six National Hot Rod Assn. District 7 championship events in the Winston Drag Racing Series. Nearly 500 sportsman drivers are expected for qualifying Friday and Saturday. Eliminations in eight sportsman classes will be Sunday.

DRIVER OF YEAR--Rusty Wallace, who started the Winston Cup season with three victories in seven races, was the leader in first-quarter voting by a 12-person panel for the 1993 driver of the year award. Wallace had nine first-place votes to two for Daytona 500 winner Dale Jarrett.