Bernstein to Power Down

He needed nine races to get to the top of the National Hot Rod Assn.’s top-fuel standings, then held on to that lead for eight races. Now, Kenny Bernstein has seven chances remaining to reclaim first and win a championship.

And though this weekend’s shot won’t count any more than the others, Bernstein and the rest of the NHRA crowd are in Indianapolis this week for the 47th Mac Tools U.S. Nationals.

“The U.S. Nationals, obviously, is an important race for us--it’s our Indy 500 or Daytona 500--but it’s no more important than Brainerd [Minn.] was or Reading [Pa., in two weeks],” Bernstein said. “I don’t think Indy makes or breaks the championship, being that it is this close in points.”

Bernstein, the Lake Forest driver trying to win his sixth series championship--his second in top fuel--can’t afford many weeks like the one he had at Brainerd National Raceway two weeks ago. He smoked the tires of his Budweiser King dragster and lost in the first round to Luigi Novelli. Rival Larry Dixon won, for the 14th time in his career, and leads Bernstein by eight points in the closest of the five pro classes.Angelle Savoie leads by 10 points over Antron Brown in pro stock bike in another close battle. John Force of Yorba Linda leads Whit Bazemore by 325 points in funny car, Warren Johnson leads Jim Yates by 198 in pro stock, and Bob Panella Jr. leads Greg Stanfield by 41 in pro stock truck as the season heads into the home stretch.

It was the first opening-round loss by Bernstein since the season-opening Winternationals in Pomona, which was before he’d brought on Tim Richards as crew chief. Bernstein has reached the semifinals in 12 of 15 races and has a season-high five victories.

“I think we’ll rebound,” said Bernstein, who has announced that next year will be his last. “We’re not lost. We didn’t lose our combination all of a sudden. We’re not in an area where we don’t know what we’re doing .... “We just overstepped the power a little too much on that race track on that day.”

One of the attractions of the NHRA’s 50th anniversary season is that “Big Daddy” Don Garlits and Shirley Muldowney, legendary figures in the sport, will be participating in top fuel at Indianapolis, alongside Bernstein and Dixon. Garlits has eight U.S. National victories and three NHRA top-fuel championships. Muldowney won the 1982 U.S. Nationals, and is a three-time top-fuel champion. Garlits defeated Muldowney in the 1975 final.

“I told him, ‘I’ll beat you in the final. You’d better have your act together,”’ Muldowney said. “And he laughed. He got a big kick out of that.”

Garlits will be driving Gary Clapshaw’s car, which is nothing like Garlits’ famed old Swamp Rat dragster.

“It puts a whole different light on the subject,” Garlits said. “Prior to that, I was just going to go to Indianapolis to make a few runs. I entered the [Swamp Rat] because that’s the sensible thing to do, but I didn’t have any aspirations of actually being in the race of any prominence, you know.

“I’d make a few runs, break the 300 [mph], get my four-second run and if we win a round, that would be great. The Clapshaw operation changes everything. I have the potential to win the race now.”

Clapshaw’s dragster clocked 4.68 seconds at the U.S. Nationals last year, with a best speed of 312 mph.

Local street racers are getting closer to having a place to race legally.

The quarter-mile track at California Speedway in Fontana made its debut Tuesday with NHRA founder Wally Parks dropping the green flag for a media day event. Racing begins in earnest Sept. 8-9, when the facility becomes available to tinkers and technicians who can race the family sedan or the collector car.

“Our primary goal is to get kids off the street,” said Bill Miller, speedway president. “We want to provide an outlet to compete in a safe environment.”

Racing will be limited to the first 500 entries. The speedway expects to have about 14 races a year on the temporary facility, six in the winter and eight in the summer

Parks doesn’t think there is any way it can fail.

“The natural desire to race side-by-side will always be there,” he said.

Details can be found at www.californiaspeedway.com.

Fontana isn’t the only place to race. Irwindale Speedway expects to begin its street-legal racing program on its 1/8th mile strip in October.

CART

Gil de Ferran is working on a rarity. Roger Penske’s driver has yet to win a CART race this season , but is in third place in the series standings, closer to the lead than he was a year ago when he already had his two victories.

He trails Brazilian countryman and teammate Helio Castroneves by 11 points, and Kenny Brack by six. Castroneves, who won the IRL’s Indianapolis 500, and Brack have three wins apiece.

Should he go on to his second title in the course he’s on, De Ferran would become the first driver in CART history to win a title without winning a race.

“Rarely does one thing come without the other, but to me, the point of the year is to win the championship,” said De Ferran, who races this week at the Molson Indy Vancouver in British Columbia. “That’s the ultimate goal. Obviously, you want to win races along the way because that demonstrates the quality of the team, but what everyone signed up for is to win the championship. But one thing doesn’t eliminate the other.”

Castroneves, who was in Los Angeles on Wednesday, credited De Ferran for much of his growth. “He’s a very technical guy,” Castroneves said. “I ask him a lot of advice.”

Indy Racing

Dick Simon, who lost his primary sponsor a few days before the IRL season began and hasn’t fielded a car since May, has given up on trying to field a team for a whole season. Simon said he will instead concentrate on his Dana Point marine business, and an annual one-race effort to win his first Indianapolis 500.

Simon, 67, sold his race equipment to Sam Schmidt, who will have former Toyota Atlantic champion Anthony Lazzarro and Richie Hearn driving for him this weekend at the Delphi Indy 300 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill.

“When you look at this year’s result of the 500, you can see that most of the teams that succeeded there raced only one or two IRL races in 2001,” Simon said. “So, if you are sufficiently funded, it’s possible.”

Water Sports

Billy Womack won his third consecutive Long Beach-2-Catalina and Back Gran Prix personal watercraft race last weekend as part of the International Jet Sports Boat Assn. National Offshore Championship.

The Long Beach rider has won the race four of the last five years. This year, without refueling mid-race for the first time, he clocked 1 hour 8 minutes 58 seconds.

Motorcycles

The next Jeremy McGrath has tied McGrath. Ricky Carmichael ensured a second consecutive AMA 250cc Motocross title last weekend in Binghamton, N.Y., giving him seven outdoor victories this year. Combined with his 14 victories in the EA Sports Supercross Series, the Kawasaki factory rider tied McGrath, who scored 21 victories in 1996.

Carmichael competes Sept. 9 in Belgium with Kevin Windham and Mike Brown for Team U.S. in the Motocross des Nations.

*

Gary Hicks of Corona is the Costa Mesa Speedway series leader by 51 points over Chris Manchester and appeared to be heading to a season title, but broke his leg in three places below the knee during Saturday’s handicap main event and will undergo surgery today.

Manchester, with 446 points, leads Josh Larson, who has 417 points, and Bobby Schwartz, 413. Schwartz won the handicap race. There is no racing this weekend.

Passings

Charlie Leffler of La Quinta, the father of Winston Cup driver Jason Leffler, died Aug. 24 of heart disease. He was 59.

Last Laps

Perris Auto Speedway is on Kruse control when the sprint cars come to town. Ventura’s Cory Kruseman has won six consecutive races at PAS, most recently the 30-lap A Main last week over Hawthorne’s Rodney Argo. Kruse leads Richard Griffin of Silver City, N.M., by 316 points. Stock cars, trucks and cruisers race on Saturday, and there’s a 50-lap SCRA race on Sunday when Kruseman goes for No. 7.

In a promotion benefiting driver George Gervais, who remains hospitalized after his crash on July 28, fans can buy raffle tickets to win a race weekend in Phoenix on Oct. 26-28 for sprint cars at Manzanita Speedway and Winston Cup at Phoenix International Raceway. Gervais, who has shown progress, has been moved to a rehabilitation facility in Redlands.

The NHRA continues to honor its list of the 50 greatest drivers, naming Pat Austin, No. 13. ...

Irwindale Speedway has its “Truck Appreciation Night” Saturday with a truck show beginning at 4 p.m.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

This Week’s Races

WINSTON CUP

Southern 500

* When: Today, qualifying (CNN/SI, noon); Sunday, race (TNT, 10 a.m.)

* Where: Darlington Raceway (-oval, 1.366 miles, 25-degree banking in Turns 1-2, 23 degrees in Turns 3-4), Darlington, S.C.

* Race distance: 501.322 miles, 367 laps.

* Last race: Tony Stewart won for the first time at Bristol Motor Speedway in six tries, in the Sharpie 500. ,

* 2000 winner: Bobby Labonte.

* Next race: Chevrolet Monte Carlo 400, Sept. 8, Richmond, Va.

* On the net: https://www.nascar.com.

*

BUSCH

South Carolina 200

* When: Today, qualifying, 10:30 a.m.; Saturday, race (TNT, 10 a.m.)

* Where: Darlington Raceway. * Race distance: 200.8 miles, 147 laps.

* Last race: Kevin Harvick overcame a two-lap deficit and won the Food City 250 at Bristol Motor Speedway. * 2000 winner: Mark Martin.

* Next race: Autolite Fram 250, Sept. 7, Richmond, Va.

* On the net: https: //www.nascar.com.

CART

Molson Indy

* When: Saturday, qualifying, 4 p.m. (ESPN2, 10 p.m., tape); Sunday, race (ESPN2, 3 p.m.)

* Where: Concord Pacific Place Street Circuit (temporary road course, 1.781 miles, 12 turns), Vancouver, Canada.

* Race distance: 160.29 miles, 90 laps.

* Last race: Bruno Junqueira gave car owner Chip Ganassi his first victory of the season, taking advantage of a collision by former teammates Michael Andretti and Christian Fittipaldi in winning the Motorola 220 at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis.

* 2000 winner: Paul Tracy.

* Next race: German 500, Sept. 15, Lausitz, Germany.

* On the net: https: //www.cart.com.

*

INDY RACING LEAGUE

Delphi Indy 300

* When: Saturday, qualifying, 9 a.m. (ESPN2, 11 p.m., tape); Sunday, race (ABC, 1 p.m.)

* Where: Chicagoland Speedway (oval 1.5 miles, 18-degree banking in turns), Joliet, Ill.

* Race distance: 300 miles, 200 laps.

* Last race: Al Unser Jr. won the inaugural Gateway Indy 250 in Madison, Ill.

* 2000 winner: Inaugural event.

* Next race: Chevy 500, Sept. 16, Fort Worth, Texas.

* On the net: https: //www.indyracingleague.com.

*

FORMULA ONE

Belgian Grand Prix

* When: Saturday, qualifying (Speedvision, 4 a.m.); Sunday, race (Speedvision, 5 a.m.)

* Where: Spa-Francorchamps (road course, 4.329 miles), Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium.

* Race distance: 190.476 miles, 44 laps.

* Last race: Michael Schumacher won his fourth Formula One championship and matched Alain Prost’s series record of 51 victories by winning the Hungarian Grand Prix.

* 2000 winner: Mika Hakkinen.

* Next race: Italian Grand Prix, Sept. 16, Monza, Italy.

* On the net: https:// www.formula1.com.

*

NHRA

U.S. Nationals

* When: Saturday, qualifying (ESPN2, 9 a.m.); Sunday, qualifying (ESPN2, 10 a.m.); Monday, eliminations (ESPN, 1 p.m.).

* Where: Indianapolis Raceway Park, Clermont, Ind.

* Last event: Larry Dixon and Ron Capps gave team owner Don Prudhomme victories in the Colonel’s Truck Accessories NHRA Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway, Dixon in top fuel, Capps in funny car. Bruce Allen won in pro stock, and Antron Brown in pro stock motorcycle.

* 2000 winners: Tony Schumacher, top fuel; Jim Epler, funny car; Jeg Coughlin, pro stock); Antron Brown, pro stock bike, and Bob Panella, pro stock truck.

* Next event: Keystone Nationals, Sept. 16, Mohnton, Pa.

* On the net: https: //www.nhra.com.

Associated Press