Arizona Republic from Phoenix, Arizona • Page 53

Saturday, September it, 1991 The Arizona Republic F7 Drivers catch pennant fever Thunderbird M.Tl.rl.U-.'rM.ill'i-l. -VTrffPT YOUR yL-l HEADQUARTERS FOR: AIR Meu: (Southern Ave Kan Em of Oottaon) Parade Valley: (Shea Bird, rjat Ernst of 32nd St) Ptioena: (N.E. comer 43rd Awe. Bethany Home Rd.) rm. 2 FOR 1 GREEN FEE i will be replaced next year with races in South Africa and at the Autopolis in Japan.

Honda could come forth soon with an announcement it will start an Indy-car program in 1993. A test driver could be Rahal, who owns a Honda dealership in western Pennsylvania. Brazilian Ayrton Senna ended speculation Thursday on where he will be in 1992. He signed a one-year contract to return to McLaren-Honda. Arie Luyendyk has signed on with a Scottsdale company to help endorse and promote an electronic product that will make your passenger car sound like you've got a Ferrari motor underneath the hood.

Called a Simu-motor, the computer attachment hooks up to your car's engine and stereo system. A spokesman for T.J. Ali Productions said the system is scheduled to go on the market in about three weeks. City officials have made their choice as to whom they want as their Just bring this coupon and save $17 on green fees. Call to reserve your tee-time at 275-4355.

Offer good now thru September 30, 1991. By Mark Armljo Tha Arizona Republic The splendor of a late-season pennant race has spread beyond baseball's boundaries and touched the NASCAR Winston Cup and CARTPPG Indy Car World Series circuits. With but three races remaining this season, Michael Andretti leads Bobby Rahal, 176-171, in the CART standings, and NASCAR's Dale Earnhardt holds a 36-point margin over Ricky Rudd with six races to go. Earnhardt usually saves his best for last, but a series of mishaps and mechanical failures has dissolved most of the 160-point lead he had last month. However, in the final six races of last season, Earnhardt's order of finishes were 2, 2, 25, 10, 1 and 3.

Rudd was 28th, 11th, sixth, seventh, 32nd and 16th over the same span. Rahal, who had been the points leader for much of the season until Andretti overtook him at the last race, goes into the final three races knowing his past performances at those venues give him a legitimate shot at his third national championship. However, it was Andretti who had the better finishes last year, closing with a win at Elkhart Lake, where the drivers are this weekend, a fifth place at Nazareth, and a third at Monterey, Calif. Rahal was seventh, third and fifth at the same races, but does have four victories in the past seven years at Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey. weekends dr.

Mondays after lu iru a.m. NOcotillo "La GOLF Club 3751 South Cluhh.iusf 1991 RANGER Rahal grabs pole for Texaco race a stock 94232 a a SAVE I mm I 5 Speed Manual Transmission a I 2.3 EFI Engine All Season Tires I 5 I Much, Much More! JJ Auto Racing Notes Playing hookey Bill Cooper, a full-time instructor at the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving at Firebird International Raceway Park, has taken the summer off. "With all the commitments I have with racing, it's easier for me to do it that way instead of going back and forth," Cooper said. Cooper, who holds a business degree in hotelrestaurant management from San Jose State, has been working for Bondurant for 1 8 years. "The summer after I graduated, I wasn't sure what I really wanted to do with my life," Cooper said.

"I had taken a course at the Jim Russell racing school my senior year so that kind of led me to (Bondurant). "In fact, I went to a boarding school in Europe for a while and that's when I first saw Bob. He was racing on the Cobra team in the World Sports Car Championship (series)." Cooper began his racing career in a Formula Ford, and then progressed to Formula now the Formula Atlantic series. Cooper since has had rides at the 24 Hours of Daytona. and in 1981, was a teammate of NASCAR Winston Cup great Cale Yarborough at Auto Racing the last lap, but there was no way I was going to pick up a second on that one lap, anyway." If Rahal can hold on to the pole in today's final round of time trials, he can cut Andretti's 176-171 lead by one point.

But Andretti still is holding a hot hand, having won seven poles this season, including the past three. Rick Mears, fourth in points with 133, was third in Friday's qualifying at 132.263, followed by Penske teammate Emerson Fittipaldi at 131.855. Mario Andretti, Michael's father and teammate, was next at 131.733. Rounding out the top 10 were Scottsdale's Arie Luyendyk at 131.675, defending series champion Al Unser Jr. currently third in points with 153 at 131.569, Scott Pruett 131.372, Phoenix native Eddie Chee-ver 131.346 and Scott Goodyear 130.476.

NASCAR Winston Cup MARTINSVILLE, Va. Mark Martin continued his love-hate relationship with Martinsville Speedway by setting a track record to grab the top starting spot for the Goody's 500 If all goes according to plan, the unbeaten Kelp, now a Las Vegas boxer out of the Top Rank stable, will be the first boxer from Vietnam to win an international title. A dynamic combination of speed and power overwhelmed Lopez (8-7-4). Kelp has won all nine of his bouts by knockout. Kelp's stablemate, bantamweight Eddie Cook (15-1), was upset by Filipino Dio Andujar (38-11-2).

Cook's corner threw in the towel at 2:24 of the fourth round. In another bout, Phoenix lightweight Luis Rodriguez (17-2, 12 knockouts) scored an eighth-round technical knockout over California's Juan de la Paz (12-5). On the undercard, another Phoenix lightweight, Anthony Fernandez (8-2), won on a unanimous decision over Tucson's Rudy Holquin (3-5-1). Dal Earnhardt Most of his 160-point NASCAR lead has dissolved. the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

More recently. Cooper completed a stint in a Porsche in the International Motor Sports Association Firestone Firehawk Endurance Championship series. Cooper won one race and had six top-five finishes. "It was a decent year," Cooper said. "I don't know what's out there in the future, but I'm.

interested in any type of stock-car racing. Really, anything that will make me competitive." Pit stops So Suns President Jerry Colangelo is upset the path of the Iceberg Phoenix Grand Prix race circuit goes past the America West Arena's front door. So what? If attendance doesn't improve for the final two races on the five-year contract, the Formula One series will leave anyway. This corner says Formula One officials would have taken the race to another U.S. city a long time ago if an alternative site had been available.

No official announcements have been made, but it appears Formula One races in Mexico and Hungary Winston Cup race. Martin put his Ford Thunderbird on the pole for Sunday's 500-lap event with a fast lap of 93.171 mph. It will be the third consecutive time Martin will lead the field into a Winston Cup race on the low-banked oval. Martin wishes he could finish races at Martinsville as well as he starts them. He wound up third last fall, allowing eventual points champion Dale Earnhardt to draw closer to him as the season wound down.

And in the race this April, Martin finished 29th after completing 293 of the 500 laps because of an overheating problem. "We never know about Martinsville," Martin said. "It's one of the biggest challenges for us on the circuit. It's my least favorite race track of all the places we go." In winning his fourth pole of the season, Martin broke Geoff Bodine's qualifying mark of 93.097, set in April 1989. Brett Bodine's 93.148 put him on the outside of the front row for Sunday's race.

Darrell Waltrip, winner of three of the past four Goody's 500s, will start CANYON RACEWAY 99th Ave. Carefree Highway SATURDAY NIGHT SEPT. 21 Pro-Stocks Street Stocks Pure Stocks Modified Midgets 258-RACE 'Brand 1991 CHRYSLERNEW YORKER YMENTS OF. $319 plus tax Automatic, power steering, windows, locks, brakes 4 driver's seat, tilt, cruise, amrtm cassette, conventional spare, tinted Qtass, WSW ires. 3.3L VS.

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OeeJS2S1. Td 97 BUICK Us 34 PA Lease The Associated Press ELKHART LAKE, Wis. Bobby Rahal took advantage of perfect qualifying conditions Friday to smash the track record and take the provisional pole for the Texaco-Havo-line 200. Rahal, a two-time CART PPG Cup Indy-car champion, refused to wilt in the face of a hot challenge from series points leader Michael Andretti, touring the 4-mile, 14-turn road course at 134.466 mph. That easily broke the record of 131.289 set last year by Danny Sullivan.

The top nine qualifiers for Sunday's race were faster than the previous mark on a day when temperatures barely reached into the 60s and there was virtually no humidity. Andretti, who chased down and passed Rahal in the points race with six victories in the past 10 races, including the past two, fell short in Friday's session at 133.089. "I think the speed came from the track," Rahal said. "There seems to be a good cushion of rubber out there. We can run in it all the way around.

We also improved the handling of the car a lot." Andretti, who once trailed Rahal by 31 points, said, "I ran out of gas on South Mountain I SEPTEMBER SPECIAL -it- TTT. $1175 Bet ore Noon AO rtfe Include unlkwted gren m. lam Fountain Bctrarag Located 1.5 ml tot south of BmUim Road on 7Ui Street 243-1262 Offer Expires 9-30-91 Drive. ChanJIer TAX LICENSED DEALER DISCOUNT AND FACTORY REBATE MacGregor iidciauiaici MESH BACK, LfcAIHtH PALM each I 3 GLOVE LIMIT I With this coupon Only exp. 92791 I I Custom Stringing I Prince Nylon String TENNIS OR OT am e-.

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Pook, who formerly promoted a Formula One race in Long Beach, now promotes an Indy-car race in the same city. The consultant would operate as liaison between the city and promoter Bernie Ecclestone and also help enhance the scheduling of events in the downtown area. Such a position needs City Council approval. third, followed by Ricky Rudd and Earnhardt, who leads Rudd by 36 points in the standings. Harry Gant, bidding for his fourth consecutive Winston Cup victory, will start 12th.

Formula One ESTORIL, Portugal Gerhard Berger of Austria won the provisional pole position for the Portuguese Grand Prix with a record qualifying lap. The McLaren-Honda driver cut his way through thunder, lightning and rain in setting a practice mark of 1 minute, 13.221 seconds, an average of 132.89 mph, for the 2.703-mile twisting Autodromo circuit. Still Berger got ahead of teammate and defending world champion Ayr-ton Senna, who is closing in on his third driving title. Berger will earn his seventh pole position if he can hold off Senna in the second session today. Berger's time broke the qualifying mark of 1:13.557 set by Nigel Mansell of Britain last year.

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Kelp is the grandson of a Vietnamese legend, according to his father, Bruce Kelp. "Skipper's grandfather was the last Vietnamese to kill a tiger with a spear," said Bruce, an ex-Army sergeant, who met and married Skipper's mother, Daw, during a Vietnam tour in the late 1960s. K-SWISS Gstaad Gold Tennis Shoes 50 OFF2 MENS LADIES $90 VALUE In stock only. With this coupon only. Expires 92791.

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