Car’s Owner Helps Put the Brakes on Thief

On Friday, someone burglarized Hal Pike’s Clairemont home and took off with his car keys--after putting them in the ignition of his $18,000 Alfa Romeo.

Pike reported the burglary and car theft and, on Monday, went to the San Diego Police Department’s storefront office in Linda Vista. He wanted to find out how to better protect his home against burglaries and to find out how, when and where his car might turn up.

“They told me to cruise through high school parking lots and shopping centers, in case it had been abandoned,” Pike said. So he got in his other car--a ’72 Chevy--and started looking.

A few blocks away, he found his Alfa Romeo. Someone was driving it in the opposite direction. So Pike whipped around and coolly tailed his own car to see where the thief was going.

Finally, Pike made his move. He pulled in front of the Alfa. The thief escaped the trap and sped off. The Chevy gave chase.

The thief must have figured the best way of outrunning a Chevy was by running a red light at the corner of Linda Vista Road and Wheatley Street.

Boy, the big yellow school bus that came through the intersection at the same time sure must have surprised the thief. He slammed on the brakes; the Alfa skidded and slid sideways into the bus, right in front of Pike’s eyes. Nobody was hurt; the thief and his passenger ran off and Pike gave chase on foot. The thief got away, but the passenger gave up, and police say they now have the name of the suspect.

Pike’s thoughts? “Well,” he said, “I did get my car back.”

Hamster Behavior 101

Groundwork Books, an independent bookstore at UC San Diego, offers “study groups” at which students with similar interests can get together and discuss less-than-mainstream subjects.

Among the current offerings are “Leninism under Lenin,” “Poems of Protest” and “U.S. Intervention in Central America.”

Then there’s “Behavioral Change,” with this description: “How to change your friends, kids, lovers, hamsters and yourself with behavioral training.”

A Weighty Lob

La Costa resort threw a dinner party Saturday night to pay tribute to its tennis pro, Pancho Segura, who counts among his students Jimmy Connors and who recently was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Serving as master of ceremonies during the roast and toast of the 63-year-old tennis court clown was another clown, Buddy Hackett.

The comic said he had just finished spending two weeks at La Costa’s new Lifestyle and Longevity Center, a disciplined program designed to help people reduce stress and weight.

Hackett stood in front of the podium and proudly showed his new, slimmer profile for all to see. He pulled out the front of his jacket to show the inches he seemed to have lost.

“I don’t lose no weight, though,” he chortled. “When you go out to exercise here, they send someone to your room to let your suits out.”

Look, But Don’t Touch

The J. David (Jerry) Dominelli legacy is evident in Escondido.

There, in the showroom of Investment Motorcars, which is a sort of rebel Mercedes-Benz store without formal dealership affiliation, is Dominelli’s bright red 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing.

That’s the car that Humbert Cozza of Rancho Santa Fe bought for $122,000 at the J. David bankruptcy auction in November.

Alan Skuba, one of Investment Motorcars’ partners, asked Cozza if he could display the Gullwing for a month in the showroom. Cozza agreed. (Heck, there’s no point driving it around in this weather.)

Cozza’s Gullwing is the only car in the showroom that’s not for sale, so please don’t kick the tires.

The Super Hype Is On

For those football fanatics who already are suffering from withdrawal, what with the conclusion of Sunday’s Pro Bowl and the 1984-85 season, chew on this:

There are only 1,098 days left to Super Bowl Sunday ’88 in San Diego.

That’s the reminder from the Greater San Diego Chamber of Commerce, which is co-sponsoring a Super Bowl XXII kickoff dinner Wednesday night at the Sheraton Harbor Island East Hotel. Guess you can never kick these things off too soon.

NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle will be the speaker, and former Chargers owner Gene Klein will be honored for his role in bringing the game to our city.

Proceeds from the dinner will help defray the estimated $1 million required to provide temporary seating for the game, per the NFL requirement. The chamber reminds us, though, that out-of-towners are expected to drop more than $200 million in San Diego during the week of the game.

The hype has begun.