Dyson-Cobb Porsche Endures Amid the Crashes

RIVERSIDE â€”  A 10-day-old Porsche 962, fresh out of the box from Weissach, West Germany, outlasted the finest long-distance racing machinery in the world Sunday to win the Los Angeles Times/Ford Grand Prix of Endurance.

Car owner Rob Dyson, 39, of Pleasant Valley, N.Y., who was substituting for his regular team driver, and Price Cobb, 31, of Dallas finished the six-hour race at Riverside International Raceway ahead of three other Porsches. But the German parade was aided by a spectacular crash early in the second hour that destroyed Chevy Corvette and Ford Mustang Probe prototypes and a Jaguar.

In the accident, the Probe of female driver Lyn St. James rolled up and over a fence before crashing upside down in flames, and the Jaguar driven by Chip Robinson took off like an airplane before coming back to earth dancing on its tail like a wave-walking marlin. Miraculously, the drivers, including Doc Bundy, who started it all in the Corvette, walked away from the scene with nothing more than bruised bodies.

In a later accident, a Chevy Camaro driven by Les Delano of New York, slid through the dirt, pierced a wire fence and rammed into a spectator’s camper parked near the second turn. A 12-year-old boy suffered a broken arm and was taken to Riverside Community Hospital.

The accidents caused the pace car to parade around the 3.25-mile course for 90 minutes while crews picked up debris and replaced damaged concrete barriers and fencing. This created one of the slowest Camel GT six-hour races in International Motor Racing history. The cars, which completed 204 laps the last time IMSA held a six-hour race here, got in only 178 Sunday.

This was only 578.5 miles, compared to a normal 650 to 675. The winning speed was a snail-like 95.948 m.p.h. for the 200-plus m.p.h. GTP machines.

But when they weren’t watching cars lined up behind the pace car, the estimated 45,000 spectators on a warm, sunny day saw a high-speed battle of attrition.

Dyson, who was driving because his regular driver, Drake Olson, was racing in Germany, became the seventh different leader in the race when he passed Derek Bell, in Al Holbert’s Lowenbrau Porsche, on lap 125. Shortly thereafter, Dyson turned the car over to Cobb, a former Formula Atlantic driver, who breezed home better than a lap ahead of the BF Goodrich Porsche of Darin Brassfield and Jochen Mass.

Another lap back was the Bridgestone-Bayside Porsche driven by Bob Wollek of France and Paolo Barilla of Italy, who survived a lost wheel and a balky engine to finish third after leading briefly.

Some of the most spectacular racing during the day was between Bell and Barilla as they battled for the lead, while Dyson and Cobb cruised along patiently waiting for the leaders to knock themselves out.

Holbert, a four-time IMSA champion and the winningest driver in the series, failed again in his bid to win at Riverside. The transmission gave out on his Porsche after 137 laps, and he finished 28th.

Wollek was leading when he came in for fuel and tires, but when he accelerated out of the pits, a tire flew off. This forced an emergency pit stop to make the Porsche a four-wheeler again. It also cost Wollek the lead.

The first car other than a Porsche to finish was the fifth-place Chevy Camaro driven by Jack Baldwin and Jim Miller. It was the GTO class winner after Baldwin, who drove 4 hours, had made up a lap on the Scott Pruett-Bruce Jenner Ford Mustang.

Mazdas won the Camel Light and GTU classes. Jim Downing and John Maffucci finished eighth for the Camel Light win, and Roger Mandeville and Danny Smith finished 12th for the GTU crown.

Many observers who watched Bundy trigger the first-turn crash called it the most spectacular in Riverside Raceway’s 30 years. Bundy was five laps down when the accident occurred.

Turn one, which is barely wide enough for a single car at racing speed, was already crowded with Robinson’s Jaguar and St. James’ Mustang when Bundy came racing up on the inside in his 1,000-horsepower Corvette.

By the time Bundy ran out of racing room and realized it was too late, he was edging over into St. James. This caused the two of them to slide together briefly, just enough to clip the rear end of the Jaguar.

“I wish I knew what happened,” Bundy said later. “I overtook the No. 16 car (Dyson-Cobb) at the end of the straightaway and closed up on the Jag and the Probe as we went into turn one. I had the momentum. I thought I was clean through and then--bang--a ton of bricks hit me.”

When Robinson was clipped, it caused the Jaguar to turn on its side, lose its aerodynamic balance and take off. It flew several hundred feet and almost went into the crowd before it scattered along the retaining wall.

“I was going by outside of Lyn, and she was out of my vision,” Robinson said. “I saw no cars, but I got tapped and got sideways. I don’t know what happened after that. All I knew was, I was flying into the air.”

St. James’ car slammed into a cement barrier, rode along it and then dropped into the dirt on the other side in flames.

“I saw dirt and fuel coming up and hitting the windshield and I closed my eyes,” she said. “The car ended up on its roof, and I was hanging upside down by the belts. I got myself out of the car. I wasn’t waiting around for anyone else because of the fire.”

A pit worker, Charlie Kuhlman, rushed the car and doused the flames as St. James was crawling out of the broken car. Kuhlman was hospitalized with first- and second-degree burns.

John Paul Jr., who had taken the pole Friday with a lap at 129.158 m.p.h., led from the start in a Buick Hawk but didn’t last long. He and Bob Lobenberg, in another Buick Hawk, dominated the early going before puffs of smoke in the rear end signaled trouble. Paul dropped out first, followed shortly by Lobenberg.

The other front-row car, a Nissan with Geoff Brabham driving, also went quickly. Brabham hit the wall in turn nine on lap 29.

“When I went through the kink on the backstraight, the steering let go,” Brabham said. “I thought I could save it, but I hit the gray area near the wall and went straight into the wall.”

Meanwhile, Dyson and Cobb kept out of trouble and moved up from their 10th starting position to appear among the leaders.

This was the first race that a Dyson Racing Porsche finished this season. Its car was totaled by Olson during practice at Road Atlanta three weeks ago, and Dyson ordered a new chassis from the Porsche factory.

It arrived less than two weeks ago at Dyson’s garage in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., where the crew took suspension parts from the crashed car and created a new No. 16.

“We uncrated it, put the pieces on it and we weren’t even sure until Wednesday that we could have it here,” Dyson said. “It didn’t turn a wheel until practice here Thursday.”

The win was worth $26,500 for Dyson, an electronics and broadcasting executive who drove sports cars in amateur races for many years before moving into IMSA Camel GT racing last year. It was his first win as a professional. It was Cobb’s second win, having teamed with Olson to win a street race last year at Columbus, Ohio.

Amos Johnson of Raleigh, N.C., driving a Mazda beat his teammate to win the Champion Spark Plug Challenge.

Johnson averaged 88.850 m.p.h. for the 21-lap, 68.25-mile race that was a preliminary to the endurance race.

Bobby Archer of Duluth, Minn., driving a Chevy Cavalier, finished third with his brother, Tommy, fourth in an identical machine.

THE RESULTS

TIMES/FORD GRAND PRIX OF ENDURANCE

Six-Hour Race At Riverside Raceway 1. Rob Dyson (Pleasant Valley, N.Y.)-Price Cobb (Dallas), Porsche 962, 178 laps (578.5 miles), $26,500; 2. Darin Brassfield (Los Gatos)-Jochen Mass (Monaco), Porsche 962, 177, $15,000; 3. Bruce Leven (Redmond, Wash.)-Bob Wollek (France)-Paola Barilla (Italy), Porsche 962, 176, $10,000; 4. Bob Akin (Ossining, N.Y.)-James Weaver (Britain), Porsche 962, 170, $7,500; 5. Jack Baldwin (Woodstock, Ga.)-Jim Miller (Oak Brook, Ill.), Chevy Camaro, 168, $10,500; 6. Jim Adams (Los Angeles)-John Hotchkis (Pasadena), Porsche March, 168, $4,250; 7. Scott Pruett (Roseville, Calif.)-Bruce Jenner (Malibu), Ford Mustang, 166, $7,700; 8. Jim Downing (Atlanta)-John Mafucci (Conyers, Ga.), Mazda Argo, 163, $7,500; 9. Michael Chandler (Costa Mesa)-Steve Cameron (Sonoma)-Danny May (Berkeley), Ford Thunderbird, 163, $4,250.

10. Jim Busby (Laguna Beach)-John Morton (El Segundo), Porsche 962, 162, $2,000; 11. Gene Felton (Marietta, Ga.)-Paul Gentilozzi (Lansing, Mich.)-Bob Bergstom (Woodland Hills), Olds Toronado, 162, $2,700; 12. Roger Mandeville (Spartanburg, S.C.)-Danny Smith (Myrtle Beach, S.C.), Mazda RX-7, 161, $6,450; 13. Kelly Marsh (Dublin, Ohio)-Don Marsh (Worthington, Ohio)-Ron Pawley (Westerville, Ohio), Mazda Argo, 161, $4,400; 14. Terry Visger (Santa Clara)-Don Roberts (Sheridan, Wyo.), Pontiac Fiero, 161, $4,350; 15. Jim Rothbarth (St. Louis)-Mike Meyer (West Palm Beach, Fla.), Mazda Royale, 161, $4,300; 16. Luis Mendez (Dominican Republic)-Roy Valverde (Costa Rica), Porsche 911, 159, $3,250; 17. Ron Grable-Bobby Carradine (Los Angeles)-John Heinricy (Holly, Mich.), Chevy Corvette, 159, $2,000; 18. Amos Johnson-Dennis Shaw (Raleigh, N.C.), Mazda RX-7, 159, $2,350.

19. Joseph DiLoreto (Downey)-Jim Snelling (Anaheim Hills)-Scooter Patrick (Montclair), Chevy Corvette, 155, $1,600; 20. Chuck Kendall-Bart Kendall (La Canada)-Max Jones (Long Beach), Mazda Lola, 155, $2,250; 21. Don Knowles (Springfield, Va.)-Tommy Morrison (Albany, Ga.)-Bob McConnell (Vandalia, Ohio), Chevy, Corvette, 155, $1,000; 22. Joe Varde (Tampa, Fla.)-Bob Gregg (San Juan Capistrano), Buick Alba, 153, $1,800; 23. Tom Kendall (La Canada), Bob Reed (Bakersfield), Mazda RX-7, 151, $1,800; 24. Jim Torres (Burbank)-Monte Shelton (Portland), Porsche 934, 147, $1,000; 25. Charles Morgan (Conway, Ark.)-Logan Blackburn (Indianapolis), Buick Tiga, 145, $1,500; 26. Gordon Spice-Ray Bellum (Britain), Pontiac Fierro, 143, $1,000; 27. Al Bacon (Kingsport, Tenn.)-Bill Van (Santa Ana), Mazda, 138, $1,500.

Nonfinishers included: 28. Al Holbert (Warrington, Pa.)-Derek Bell (Britain), Porsche 962, 137, $1,000; 30. Klaus Ludwig (West Germany)-Tom Gloy (Pacheco, Calif.), Mustang Probe, 116, $1,000; 32. Bob Earl (Larkspur, Calif.)-Dominic Dobson (Sonoma), Pontiac Fierro, 100, $750; 35. Rocky Moran (Arcadia)-Juan Manuel Fangio (Argentina), Toyota Celica, 75, $750; 42. Lynn St. James (Dania, Fla.)-Pete Halsmer (Anaheim), Mustang Probe, 36, $500; 43. Bob Tullius (Winchester, Va.)-Chip Robinson (Oldwick, N.J.), Jaguar, 36, $500; 44. Doc Bundy (Gainesville, Ga.)-Wally Dallenbach Jr. (Basalt, Colo.), Corvette, 31, $500; 46. Don Devendorf (Los Angeles)-Geoff Brabham (Noblesville, Ind.)-Elliott Forbes Robinson (Denver, N.C.), Nissan GTT, 27, $500; 47. Brian Redman (Britain)-Hurley Haywood (Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.), Jaguar, 20, $500;49. John Paul Jr. (West Palm Beach, Fla.)-Whitney Ganz (Laguna Niguel), Buick Hawk, 15, $500.

CAMEL LIGHT--Downing-Maffucci. GTO--Baldwin-Miller. GTU--Mandeville-Smith.

Winner’s speed--95.948 m.p.h.

SPORTS 2,000 1. Bill Fickling (San Clemente), Swift; 2. R. K. Smith (Riverside), Swift; 3. Scott Atchison (Bakersfield), Tiga; 4. Bob Schader (Novato), Swift; 5. Peter Hastrup (Fresno), Swift; 6. Randy McDaniel (Orange), Swift; 7. Rod Granberry (Phoenix), Swift; 8. Dick Gamble (San Diego), Swift; 9. Duane Doyle (Castro Valley), Swift; 10. Peter Zarcades (San Diego), Swift. Others included: 29. Lorenzo Lamas (Northridge), Swift.

All cars ran 30 minutes, 13 laps.

Winner’s speed--82.2 m.p.h.

CHAMPION SPARK PLUG CHALLENGE 1. Amos Johnson (Raleigh, N.C.), Mazda 626, 21 laps, $4,500; 2. Dennis Shaw (Raleigh, N.C.), Mazda GLC, 21, $2,500; 3. Bobby Archer (Duluth, Minn.), Chevy Cavalier, 21, $3,000; 4. Tommy Archer (Duluth, Minn.), Chevy Cavalier, 21, $1,500; 5. Doug Peterson (Sunnyvale), Acura Integra, 21, $2,250; 6. David Pugh (Portland), Volkswagen GTI, 21, $2,000; 7. Charlie Cook (Birmingham, Ala.), Dodge Daytona, 21, $950; 8. Jim Wade (Canton, Ohio), VW GTI, 21, $900; 9. Robert Weaver (Oklahoma City), Mazda 626, 20, $850; 10. Bernie Buschen (Fremont, Calif.), VW Scirocco, 20, $800.

All cars ran 45 minutes.

Winner’s speed--88.850 m.p.h.