Indy Car Driver Faces New Obstacles on Return Trip

Richie Hearn’s return to New Hampshire International Speedway lasted a lot longer than his first visit, but still was short-lived.

The Canyon Country-based Indy Car driver led the first six laps of a race Sunday and was in third place when he had to pull out because of engine problems.

Six weeks ago, on Hearn’s first trip around the speedway, he slammed into a wall on a test run and was hospitalized with neck and back injuries.

In his latest venture, Hearn completed 166 laps, a noticeable improvement. But his car’s mechanical problems left him with a similar bitter feeling.

“The pain and repair from this causes a lot of aggravation,” Hearn said. “After having to start from scratch since the accident [the engine trouble] was a downer.”

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On his most recent trip, Hearn was spooked by more than the memory of his test crash at the Loudon, N.H., speedway.

Repairs have not been made to the damaged wall since Hearn’s accident last month. A maintenance crew has merely painted over it.

“The first couple of times I drove by I would think, ‘There I am,’ ” Hearn said. “It was distracting at first, but I got over it.”

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Steve Johnson of Chatsworth had his hopes for victory dashed because of a false start in a National Hot Rod Assn. motorcycle race last week in Brainerd, Minn.

Johnson was disqualified when he accelerated .017 seconds too soon in his first-round race against Angelle Seeling.

“This was a tuneup race for us to get all the bugs out of our operation,” Johnson said. “To tell you the truth, we could have used a can of Raid.”

Johnson, seventh in the points standings, is scheduled to compete in the U.S. Nationals beginning Wednesday in Indianapolis.

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Drivers from the region dominated the International Motor Contest Assn. sprint car main event at the debut of Victorville Speedway last weekend.

Troy Rutherford of Ojai won the 25-lap feature from the pole position. Randy Moody of Ventura was second and Kevin Kierce of Reseda took third.

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For Corey Kruseman to win a main event is not unusual. The 25-year-old Ventura-based driver has taken more than his share of checkered flags while alternating his racing schedule between midgets, silver crown cars and sprint cars.

Even so, his victory earlier this month in a sprint car event at Ventura Raceway was special.

It was his first victory in the series at his home track.

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Mike Williams is quietly making a name for himself in Formula Continental Club Racing.

The Valencia-based driver has won nine feature races this season. His worst finish was a fourth-place at Sears Point earlier this month.

Williams has clinched the Southern Pacific Regional Division Championship and is invited to compete in a national race in Lexington, Ohio, in October.

“I’ve been able to get some experience running at some of the top tracks in the West and occasionally I’ll compete against some of the professional drivers from the Atlantic Series,” Williams said.

“So I’m getting pretty excited about next season. If we can get the right things to fall into place, I want to run on the pro tour next season.”

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The Winston West Racing Series will be at Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield on Saturday. Among the local drivers scheduled to compete is Lance Hooper of Palmdale. Hooper, a rookie, is coming off a wire-to-wire victory at Madera on Aug. 10. He is the series points leader. . . . Southwest Tour drivers Bobby Lyon of Northridge and Sean Monroe of Canyon Country are competing in an I-70 All-Pro Series race in Odessa, Mo., this weekend . . . Ventura Raceway will be dark Saturday night. Racing returns Aug. 31 with midgets and TQs and dwarf cars. . . . Simi Valley’s Dave Phipps, a Grand American Modified driver at Mesa Marin, has won consecutive feature races. . . . At the same track, Kirk Miller of Alta Loma has passed Jeff Drummen of Northridge and T.K. Karvasek of Reseda in the super street stock standings. . . . Sean Woodside is slipping in his battle for the points title in the late model division. Woodside trails Dick Shepherd by 15 points, his largest deficit of the season. . . . The war for rookie of year honors has intensified between Tommy Fry Jr. of Simi Valley and Charles Utts of Camarillo. Utts has climbed into fourth place in the points standings. He trails Fry by 49 points with three races remaining.