MOTOR RACING / VINCE KOWALICK : Officer Relaxes With High-Speed Pursuit
For 10 years, Tom Souza made a living handing out speeding tickets. Today Souza, 51, a Los Angeles Police Department traffic officer since 1965, works as a traffic investigator and lectures part time on automobile safety.
Maybe that’s why Souza owned a 1957 Corvette for nearly 20 years before he got the notion to race it.
“I was driving it back and forth to work, looking at it and loving it for so long,” said Souza, who lives in Chatsworth and works in Van Nuys. “Finally, I said, ‘There’s got to be something else to do with it.’ ”
But Souza also had a need for speed, so three years ago he began entering his shiny, silver-and-black vintage beauty--one of 25 Corvettes he has restored--in races.
The Vintage Auto Racing Assn., which sanctions races about once a month from November to August, pits classic automobiles from yesteryear against one another. Races take place at tracks throughout California, the closest being Willow Springs Raceway in Rosamond.
Under Vintage racing rules, entries must be true to their era and modifications kept to a minimum. For example, Souza said, “I can’t put disc brakes on it because they didn’t have disc brakes then.”
In addition, the VARA does not offer prize money, trophies or even a points race. Drivers compete solely for the thrill--which also includes the threat of crashes.
Last November Souza, who chased down speeders for 10 years as a motorcycle cop, hit a wall at 70 m.p.h. in Palm Springs. He walked away from the crash. Surprisingly, his Corvette, which he estimates is worth between $35,000 and $45,000, sustained only a few hundred dollars in damage.
But although the danger is high and the stakes are low, Souza says it’s a classier class of racing.
“If I’m going to compete in racing, I want to look cool,” Souza said. “I just can’t see myself out there in a Volvo.”
Souza’s competitors sometimes have trouble believing they’re racing against a traffic cop. During the Los Angeles riots last spring, after Souza had been on duty for 21 consecutive days, he treated himself to an afternoon of racing at Willow Springs.
“A couple of people at the starting line said, ‘If you’re a policeman, what are you doing out here?’ ” Souza said.
Applying the brakes: The Pro Stock division at Saugus Speedway has four racing dates remaining this year, but two of its top drivers already have called it a season.
Rip Michels of Arleta and Gerrit Cromsigt of Palmdale have sold their Chevrolet Chevelles, citing financial strains and insurmountable odds against winning the division title.
Michels is third in the points standings, Cromsigt is ninth.
Michels, who sold his vehicle for $7,000, said he is preparing to enter the track’s Grand American Modified division next season.
“I needed to pay some bills and get organized for next year,” he said. “I felt if I waited till the end of the year to sell the car, I wouldn’t have gotten a good deal. I was locked into third place pretty much anyway.”
Cromsigt, a father of three who has been racing at Saugus off and on since 1981, said he likely will return for at least one more race this season if he can arrange to drive another car. But as far as the points race is concerned, “I’m done,” he said.
“Racing takes time and money,” he added. “That’s something I’ve never really had enough of. If you look at the guys who are in the points races, they’re younger, they don’t have a family and they don’t have a home. They can really put their attention toward racing.”
The road ahead: Imagine Ron Hornaday Jr.’s horror when he came upon an accident in Agua Dulce while driving to work the morning of July 27.
Sprawled across the highway was a yellow truck and a giant yellow trailer--the very same ensemble that Hornaday uses to transport his two race cars to events on both the NASCAR Southwest Tour and Winston West series.
Hornaday had just returned from Eureka, Calif., where he finished second two days earlier in the 100-lap Southwest Tour main event. Shortly after Hornaday’s crew returned, they were involved in an accident that left both truck and trailer totaled.
“I knew it was mine right away,” Hornaday said. “You can’t miss that thing.”
No one was injured, but damages amounted to more than $22,000, Hornaday said. Moreover, he has been forced to arrange for other transportation.
The Pontiac that Hornaday drives on the Southwest Tour was in the trailer during the crash but sustained only minor damage. That didn’t prevent Hornaday from making the Southwest Tour race last weekend in Stockton. In fact, Hornaday won the evening’s 100-lap main event and moved into the points lead for the first time this season.
Said Hornaday: “Must have bent it just right.”
