Motor Racing / Vince Kowalick : Kimmel Skips Crash Course in Figure 8

Imagine yourself with the accelerator to the floor as you speed through smoke-filled traffic in the Street Stock division figure 8 main event at Saugus Speedway.

You’re up to your bumpers in burning rubber, challenging for the lead of the 15-lap race. Paint is flying. Fenders are scraping against fenders. Tires are rubbing against tires.

You’re about to sling past the leader to the roar of the crowd when, suddenly. . . . a ’67 Chevy--more than a lap behind you--smacks into your door and knocks you and your car into the middle of next week.

Which track is this, anyway?

“In 1984, I went around three laps of that stuff and pulled off,” said Tom Kimmel of Sylmar. “I said, ‘This is crazy.’ ”

Kimmel, 35, has not returned to the crazy 8s since that race. Call him frightened, call him intelligent. He probably is a bit of both.

But one thing Kimmel is not--and admittedly will never become under the existing format at Saugus--is track champion.

Kimmel, who is 11th in the points standings, is the most successful of a handful of drivers who choose to forgo figure 8s. The track title, however, is determined by points accumulated in both oval and crash-filled figure 8 events, leaving Kimmel and the oval-only drivers at a distinct disadvantage.

“I don’t like it, for one,” he said of figure 8 racing. “And my dad, who owns the car, doesn’t believe it’s racing. A car coming at my driver’s door at 60 m. p. h. doesn’t really thrill me.”

Kimmel, along with other drivers opposed to figure 8 racing, has lobbied for the division to be divided, allowing for a champion of both oval and figure 8. But that, Saugus publicity director Lyn Pherigo said, isn’t likely to happen.

“A lot of drivers would like to see separate standings for oval and figure 8,” Pherigo said. “But then nobody would race figure 8.”

Such a division, Pherigo said, would discourage several drivers from competing in figure 8, an immense crowd-pleaser--but a terror on tires, suspension and the body. The body of both the car and the driver.

“The only reason they run it is the fans like it,” Kimmel said. “But there’s no way I’ll run the 8. I just love racing and, with my car, I can still finish in the top 15 in points if I don’t run the 8.”

Small consolation. Kimmel finished 15th last year, for which he earned $60.

Lucky guy: Street Stock driver Steve Reynolds, 21, of Sylmar, who suffered a fractured vertebra June 17 in a heat race crash at Saugus, has been released from the hospital and will be forced to wear a “halo” immobilizing device for at least two months. He also suffered a bruised rib cage and a swollen bladder.

“The doctors said that they expect a complete recovery,” said Reynolds, whose car caromed twice off a straightaway wall and was rammed by another vehicle. “They told me (the vertebra) came a half-inch from the spinal column and that if it hit the spinal column, I would be a quadriplegic.

“I’m very thankful this is the extent of it.”

Reynolds, a student at Cal State Northridge and a four-year track veteran, has been showered with cards, gifts and flowers from fellow drivers, track officials and well-wishers. He said he is undecided whether he will return to racing.

“I’ve had quite a bit of time to think about it,” he said. “I just don’t know if I have it in me psychologically to get into a race car. I’ve never broken anything before. This is the first time I’ve ever thought about dying.”

Driver of the week: Dan Press of Frazier Park, a two-time Saugus Modified division champion and current points leader of the NASCAR Southwest Tour, has been selected NASCAR’s national Driver of the Week after posting his fifth tour win last week at Madera Speedway.

Press, who will receive a prize of $500, is the second Southwest Tour driver to win the award. Last season, Roman Calczynski of Sepulveda was recognized after winning the tour title.

Press, 40, who won the Miller 125 at Saugus on June 17, has posted two consecutive victories and tied a tour record with five wins in a season. He is 230 points ahead of Mike Chase of Bakersfield, his nearest competitor, and is the leading money-winner in the $500,000, 20-race series with $3,518 in posted awards.

“So far, so good. That’s the way they say it,” Press said. “We’ve got a big lead, but that can change any time. We’re not in a position where I feel we can just coast.”

Actually, Press and the competition will be taking wrenches to their cars. The tour will not continue until July 22 with the Coors 100 in Roseville, Calif. The four-week pit stop comes as a relief, not only to the 49 drivers trying to catch Press, but also to Press.

“It’s a good break to take a long look at stuff,” he said. “We’re looking at the equipment and making sure everything is in tip-top shape.”

Factory Stocks and fireworks: A 150-lap Factory Stock Enduro will kickoff a holiday week at Saugus, where a fireworks display Tuesday will conclude a program featuring Hobby Stocks and a destruction derby.