Nostalgic Event Will Drag to a Conclusion

The Goodguys and their Hot Rod Happenin’ series do for drag racing fans what the senior tours do for golf and tennis, or old-timers’ games do for baseball.

The final West Coast Hot Rod Happenin’ Drag Races will be run at the Pomona Raceway this weekend, showcasing drag racing as it was in Southern California in the late 1960s and ‘70s. After five years, the Goodguys’ lease with the county fairgrounds is up, and there are no plans to return next year.

So Southlanders will be getting a last chance to see the nostalgic pre-1972 equipment, featuring front-engine top-fuel dragsters in side-by-side competition.

There is one significant departure, however. The drivers who will be at Pomona Saturday and Sunday are not necessarily the old-timers from that era--they can be any age. And the cars are definitely not the ones that ran at Lions, Irwindale, San Fernando and other drag strips no longer around.

For safety reasons, primarily, Goodguys cars, including top fuelers, are replica look-alikes--most are less than five years old--that run under today’s National Hot Rod Assn. chassis rules.

To slow them down, there are limitations on fuel pump capacity, tires and gearing. Where Joe Amato, Kenny Bernstein and the NHRA top fuelers run consistently over 300 mph with elapsed times in the mid-four-second range in their rear-engine monsters, the Goodguys run closer to 250 in the low sixes in their old-style models.

Bill Alexander, “Wild Bill” when he was terrorizing local strips in the ‘60s, is one old-timer enjoying a return to the rush of speed in a 40-year-old setting. Alexander was runner-up to Don “Snake” Prudhomme in the 1965 Winternationals at Pomona, and in 1962 was the first driver to top 200 mph at Pomona when he ran 205 in one of Jim Brisette’s fuel dragsters.

“I drove for Brisette until 1971 when I quit to save my marriage,” he said. “That didn’t work either, but I stayed away from racing for 18 years until I got back in a fluke. I went out to Palmdale in 1989 to help a friend. When he hurt his back, he asked me to drive his car. I got runner-up and was hooked.”

Alexander, 60, a plastic-shop manager from Sunland, says he is enjoying racing much more with the Goodguys than when he was doing it for a living.

“I had a bad attitude when I was young,” he said. “I raced hard but I never socialized with any of the guys. I didn’t much like anybody. Now, it’s a new world to me. I’ve met new friends and am really enjoying the camaraderie and the bench talk about the old days.”

Alexander drives Ground Zero, a 3-year-old top fueler, for John Eirich of Merced. After winning the prestigious Bakersfield March Meet at Famoso, he is leading in season standings, 120-102, over three-time defending champion Jim Murphy of Santa Rosa.

His best speed and elapsed time are better today than when he lost to Prudhomme in 1965. Back then, he ran 198.22 mph in 7.92 seconds to 201.34 and 7.76 for Prudhomme. Last March, his winning speed was 220 mph in 6.1 seconds.

Like most hot rodders from the early era, Alexander began racing on the streets, even the L.A. River channel.

“It had this green slime down there so we had to find a spot with the least amount of green slime in order to race,” he told Cole Coonce of nitronic.com. “Whoever’s side had the least amount of green slime won, usually.”

His first car was from Ernie Alvarado’s garage in Glendale.

“We raced it at San Fernando, but we also did a lot of running on River Road, that’s Forest Lawn Drive now, and on Glenoaks Boulevard in Glendale. We’d race down Glenoaks as far as Brand, turn around and head for the Frostee Freeze. That’s where everybody hung out.

“One thing’s for sure now, though. It’s a heck of a lot safer with all the rules the NHRA has. Back then, some of those cars were death traps.”

Alexander’s son, Rod, 35, drives an alcohol funny car on the NHRA circuit and scored a national event victory at Las Vegas last April.

“It’s a bummer that this will be our last run at Pomona,” said the senior Alexander. “It’s such a great track, such a great facility and it reminds everyone of where they began years ago.”

Professional qualifying is scheduled Saturday at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. with eliminations Sunday at noon.

NASCAR SOUTHWEST SERIES

Most of the NASCAR Southwest Series cast from the strenuous L.A. Street Race will return to more comfortable surroundings Saturday night for the Home Depot 150 on Irwindale Speedway’s half-mile paved oval.

Greg Pursley of Newhall, a two-time winner at the track, and Matt Crafton of Tulare, the series leader, head a strong entry of 35 cars for the $41,400 race,

No. 11 on the Featherlite Southwest schedule.

Pursley is also the series leader for the Gatorade Frontrunner Award, given to the driver who finishes each race with the most laps led. He has seven points, to six for Auggie Vidovich Jr. of Lakeside.

The 75 miles of the Home Depot 150 will be the longest Southwest Series race ever held at Irwindale. When Pursley won at Irwindale on April 29, the distance was 50 miles.

Other prominent entries include Sean Woodside, 1999 Winston West champion from Saugus, and Frank Maronski Jr. of Quartz Hill, who won last year at Irwindale.

Missing will be Craig Raudman of Bakersfield, winner of the L.A. Street Race, and Jon Nelson of Hemet, the series’ only two-time winner. Raudman will be driving in an open comp race Sunday in Eureka, and Nelson’s car is in the garage with a broken engine.

Also on the card will be 50-lap late model and 40-lap super stock main events.

LAST LAPS

Greg Albertyn, three-time world motocross champion and defending AMA 250cc motocross champion, has announced his retirement after this season. A South African who now lives in Riverside, the 27-year-old Suzuki rider has been plagued with injuries while trying to defend his U.S. title.

“My future plans are up in the air, but I want to remain in the motorcycle industry,” he said.

Jim Smith, the Buena Park industrialist who owns NASCAR Winston Cup and Craftsman truck teams, is switching from Chevrolet to Ford next year with the No. 7 car driven by Michael Waltrip. The new Ultra Motorsports cars will be powered by Penske engines, similar to those driven to victory by Rusty Wallace and Jeremy Mayfield this year. Mike Wallace will continue to drive Smith’s Ford truck.

Look for an announcement soon that Grainger’s Greg Biffle will move up from Craftsman trucks, where he is the points leader with five wins, to the Busch series next year.

With his second-place finish last week at Perris, veteran Wally Pankratz moved into the lead in U.S. Auto Club Western Midget standings, four points ahead of Bobby Boone. Pankratz was runner-up to Sleepy Tripp in 1992. . . . Ventura Raceway will host its second Sprint Car Racing Assn. main event Saturday night with two-time champion Richard Griffin hoping to repeat his win of last May 13. Griffin leads Rip Williams, 1349-1181, in points. . . . Tommy Fry of Canyon Country narrowly edged Barry Bradshaw of Oildale and Brandon Miller of Rancho Santa Fe in last week’s super late model main event at Irwindale Speedway, but a postrace inspection found Bradshaw and Miller had “nonconforming parts” on their cars and they were disqualified. Tim Woods III of Chino was moved up to second.

Formula One driver Johnny Herbert announced he will leave the Jaguar team next season to drive in CART. Speculation is that CART driver Dario Franchitti will be Herbert’s replacement. The Scotsman tested with Jaguar last week.

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This Week’s Races

CART, Target Grand Prix

* When: Saturday, qualifying (ESPN2, 2 p.m.); Sunday, race, 1 p.m. (Channel 7).

* Where: Chicago Motor Speedway, Cicero, Ill. (oval, one mile).

* Race distance: 225 miles, 225 laps.

* Defending champion: Juan Montoya.

* Next race: Miller Lite 200, Aug. 13, Lexington, Ohio.

FORMULA ONE, German Grand Prix

* When: Saturday, qualifying, 4 a.m. (Speedvision); Sunday, race, 4:30 a.m. (Speedvision).

* Where: Hockenheimring, Hockenheim, Germany (road course, 4.239 miles).

* Race distance: 180.755 miles, 45 laps.

* Defending champion: Eddie Irvine.

* Next race: Hungarian Grand Prix, Aug. 13, Budapest.

BUSCH GRAND NATIONAL, Carquest Auto Parts 250

* When: Today, qualifying, 5 p.m.; Saturday, race 6 p.m. (TNN).

* Where: Gateway International Raceway, Madison, Ill. (egg-shaped oval, 1.25 miles, 11-degree banking in turns 1-2, 9 degrees in turns 3-4).

* Race distance: 250 miles, 200 laps.

* Defending champion: Dale Earnhardt Jr.

* Next race: Kroger 200, Aug. 4, Clermont, Ind.

NHRA, Prolong Lubricants Nationals

* When: Today, first-round qualifying, 2:30 p.m.; Saturday, second-round qualifying, 11:30 a.m. (ESPN2, 7:30 p.m.); Sunday, final eliminations, 10 a.m. (ESPN2, 4 p.m.)

* Where: Seattle International Raceway.

* Defending champions: Joe Amato, top fuel; Kurt Johnson, pro stock, and Del Worsham, funny car.

* Next race: Fram Autolite Nationals, Aug. 6, Sonoma, Calif.