Motor Racing /Vince Kowalick : Inside Pass Costs Harper a Victory

It ain’t over til it’s over. And then it still ain’t over.

Not until track officials convene and, if necessary, review videotape of the race for possible violations is the result final.

Just ask Will Harper.

“It’s really heartbreaking for me,” Harper said. “When you work that hard to come from 14th and then to have it taken away from you . . . “

Such was the case Saturday night at Saugus Speedway when Harper, a four-year track veteran from Tarzana, darted past 13 drivers to apparently claim victory in the 40-lap Sportsman division main event.

Harper had made several--actually one too many--nifty passes en route to what would have been his division-high third main-event win of the season. His double pass of leader Pat Mintey Jr. of Quartz Hill and Dave Phipps of Simi Valley on the outside lane of Lap 27 was about as skillful as they come at Saugus.

Saugus, a one-third-mile oval, is regarded by many racing experts as one of the toughest tracks to negotiate on the West Coast because of it’s pancake-flat paved surface. Consequently, outside passes occur about as often as a figure 8 race without a yellow flag.

It was an early inside pass by Harper, however, that resulted in officials stripping him of his third career win.

Upon review, Harper was discovered to have made a pass while dipping inside the track’s “speed bumps,” which serve as the inside boundaries at each curve.

“He got both wheels underneath the white stripes, so it was not a legal pass,” Saugus official Ray Wilkings said. “It was obvious.”

Harper conceded that he may have drifted too far inside the turn, but said it was to avoid a collision. After the race, Harper pleaded his case in vain.

“They had their minds made up and they said no,” Harper said. “They said ‘We’re sure.’ But if the officials were so sure, they should have went to a yellow flag and put me in the back. I would have accepted that.”

But he probably wouldn’t have climbed to second, which is where he officially finished. Despite being stripped of the win, Harper moved into second place in the points standings, 18 points behind leader Gary Sigman of Carson.

And by the manner in which Harper has been hauling along, the top position might soon be within reach. Earlier in the evening, Harper set a new track record with a one-lap qualifying time of 16.77 seconds--the second time this season he has lowered the track standard.

Rookie on a roll: The next stop for Bill Sedgwick is Sonoma for Sunday’s NASCAR Banquet Frozen Foods 300.

The 34-year-old tour freshman from Van Nuys will be seeking his fourth win in seven starts as the NASCAR Winston West Series continues at Sears Point International Raceway.

Sedgwick, who won two of the series’ first three events, is coming off a successful outing in the Bank of Loleta/U. S. Bank 200 at Redwood Acres Raceway in Eureka on May 27.

Sounds like Sedgwick stopped to make a quick withdrawal. Actually, he cashed in on a first-place prize of $5,250.

Add Sonoma: The NASCAR All-American Challenge Series Southwest Tour also continues at Sears Point, as race No. 7 in the 19-race series takes place today at 1:30.

Dan Press of Frazier Park, a former Saugus Modified division champion, is the current points leader.

All aboard: Saugus Speedway’s third train race of the season will take place tonight after a racing lineup that includes Sportsman, Mini Stocks, Hobby Stock oval and figure 8 races and jalopies.

For those unfamiliar with train racing, picture three beat-up stock cars linked like a train with a driver towing two cars (without engines) and a pilot in the “caboose.”

The event is run on a figure 8 course with perilous predicaments arising at each meeting in the intersection.

At least nine trains are scheduled for tonight after a disappointing total of four and six in two previous events.

Crash course: Saugus’ second destruction derby of the season May 27 once again was quite a smash for the crowd of 3,983.

ESPN will televise the event during its half-hour program, “The Gamesman” on Wednesday at 5 p.m.

Mike Rothmiller, the show’s host, piloted a beat-up Cadillac in the 17-car event, but was quickly eliminated in heavy crash action.

Kudos to the track crew for hurrying to extinguish three fires beneath the hoods of crunched cars.

Brothers Danny and Cliff Jones bucked for 20 minutes among the wreckage before Cliff Jones won the event by rendering his brother’s car inoperative with a blow to the radiator.

Simply smashing.

Points Standings: Don Wright Jr. of Simi Valley is currently 18th after 17 events in the NASCAR Winston Racing Series Pacific Coast Region title race.

The championship is based upon a driver’s best 20 finishes in a 22-week stretch ending Sept. 10.