Mass Takes Race at Del Mar : He Survives to Claim Record IMSA Prize of $86,500

DEL MAR —  The Chris Pook Destruction Derby, a.k.a. the Camel Grand Prix of Southern California, was won Sunday by a magician from Monte Carlo named Jochen Mass who best escaped the hazards of the race course Pook laid out around the Del Mar Fairgrounds.

Concrete barriers lined both sides of a 1.6-mile circuit, creating a narrow lane with blind corners that took the toll of a number of overanxious drivers. And if they managed to miss the unforgiving walls, there was an even more worrisome problem--slower cars which had to be lapped.

A crowd estimated at 32,500 watched as major league racing returned to Del Mar for the first time since 1949 in the season finale for the International Motor Sports Assn.

Mass was the only one of a succession of race leaders who managed to survive the two-hour dash for cash. Consequently, he collected an International Motor Sports Assn. record purse of $86,500 for finishing the Camel GTP race more than a lap ahead of runner-up Oscar Larrauri of Italy.

Indy car champion Bobby Rahal, one of those who were picked off by back-markers, finished third as a teammate of Mass on Bruce Leven’s team.

As pole-sitter Chip Robinson had said before the race, it was an all or nothing race for first place as Larrauri collected only $15,000 and Rahal $10,500.

All three drove Porsche 962s.

Robinson, who had already clinched a $100,000 bonus for winning the IMSA championship, was the first to be waylaid by traffic.

After a side-by-side bumping battle with Price Cobb in the run to the first corner, Robinson shot into the lead as if he planned to win wire-to-wire. His Al Holbert-prepared Porsche was in complete command until he began to overtake the slower cars.

Fifteen minutes into the race, Robinson was cut off by Jim Rothbarth of St. Louis in a Pontiac Fiero, sending the Porsche into an unforgiving barrier at Turn 2.

It was the end of the Porsche, but Rothbarth not only continued, he and co-driver Charles Morgan of Conway, Ark., finished seventh and won the race.

“I was moving through the turn and I thought I was by that car,” Robinson said. “In fact, he moved over to let me by. Then he just turned into me and I hit him in the door.

“Some of the Camel Lights guys watch their mirrors and some don’t. We had the track nailed before that happened.”

That incident moved Rahal into the lead--not a good place to be.

It was another driver, Steve Durst of Cherry Hill, N.J., who collected Rahal.

It happened at the same corner where Robinson was hit, the sharp left-hand Turn 2.

“I thought he saw me, but apparently he didn’t,” Rahal said. Rahal spun sideways and stopped in the middle of the track, blocking the fast approaching Nissan driven by Geoff Brabham. When Brabham stalled, the track was completely blocked.

Brabham was the first to squeeze his car past Durst’s Pontiac Fiero, but Rahal was unable to move until Mass and several other cars slipped by on the outside.

Just when it appeared that the track would be cleared, Don Bell, in another Lights Fiero, plowed into Durst. This started a brief fire but it was extinguished as soon as Bell began running again.

Rahal was forced to pit for new tires and a nose cone, losing a lap and dropping back to seventh place.

Brabham was able to hold the lead for 16 laps before he spun twice around and escaped down a runoff road.

“I was quite lucky,” he said. “The Jaguar (driven by Hurley Haywood) lost a lot of oil in front of me and I just hit it and spun. There was a lot of banging going on out there.”

Derek Bell, Robinson’s teammate, moved into the lead after Brabham’s misadventure, but he gave it up when he pitted to give up his seat to Robinson.

With a fresh set of tires, Robinson set sail after the leaders, but the chase ended when he slammed the Porsche into a barrier of tires.

“I was just driving my butt off,” Robinson said, “and we were closing. The crew told me I was gaining over a second a lap and we had 35 minutes left in the race.

“We were down by 22 seconds to Jochen (Mass) at the time. I clipped the wall in the chicane and went straight into the tire wall. Like I said yesterday, first place was everything and second place was nothing. I was going for first.”

With a lap lead, Mass kept his Porsche clear of trouble and passed cautiously.

“I worried about every corner, and what I might find around it,” the former West German Formula I driver said. “The marshaling was excellent. They kept us well informed of what to expect, but still, every corner was an adventure in traffic.”

During the last 30 minutes, the setting sun created an added hazard.

“When you turned into the sun, you couldn’t see the walls,” Rahal said. “It was very tricky, knowing they were there but not being able to see them.”

Mass’ win also moved him into a tie with Holbert for third position in the IMSA season payoff. Mass will collect the $40,000 because the win was his fourth against three for Holbert.

The winner averaged 77.014 m.p.h. for the two-hour ride.

It was the sixth win in eight races for car owner Leven, a former Seattle garbage disposal tycoon. The team also finished second in its other two starts.

Jim Downing, with a ninth place finish, won the Camel Lights season championship and a $35,000 bonus.

In the 45-minute preliminary for GTU cars, Terry Visger of Santa Clara, in a Pontiac Fiero, won his sixth race of the season in a duel with the Mazdas of the Kendall brothers, Tom and Bart.

“No one seemed to have any advantage over the other between the three of us,” Visger said. “We were all just hanging in there, hoping one of the others would do something stupid.”