After All, Series Isn’t Called ‘Driver’

Jerry Van Dyke, Craig T. Nelson’s co-star on the television series, “Coach,” isn’t too keen on Nelson’s avocation as a race car driver.

Nelson said Van Dyke told him, “Why, after 50 years and I’ve finally made it, did you decide to take up racing? Because if you go, I go.”

Nelson will drive in a sports car race Saturday in Phoenix and Van Dyke will keep his fingers crossed.

Trivia time: Who kicked the winning field goal for UCLA in its 25-22 upset of Washington at Seattle in 1990?

Not now: Craig Ludwig, a defenseman for the Dallas Stars who has scored six goals in his last five NHL seasons, on scoring in Dallas’ opening exhibition game:

“What kind of timing is that? When you score once a year, you hate to see it happen during the exhibition season.”

Tougher opponent: Marvis Frazier, who retired from the ring in 1988 with a record of 21-2, has been ordained a Pentecostal minister in Philadelphia.

“I was a little bit nervous beforehand, but I figured preaching couldn’t be as hard as facing Larry Holmes or Mike Tyson,” Frazier said of the only two men who beat him in the ring as a professional. “Then again, now I’m fighting the devil and those two can’t be badder than the devil, can they?”

New math?Mark Kriegel in the New York Daily News: “Tony Casillas passed up a $6-million, four-year deal with a legitimate Super Bowl contender, the Chiefs.

“He gives back his $1.2-million signing bonus. Then he cuts a 13-game deal worth $535,000 with the Jets. They say he passed the physical. But what about the mental?”

Touch ‘em all: Dodger outfielder Billy Ashley, who batted .345 with 37 home runs and 105 runs batted in last season for Albuquerque, on his relationship with batting coach Reggie Smith:

“He once told me he was going to get me to the major leagues or get me into an insane asylum. I think I’ve been to both already.”

Status quo: Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe assessing NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman: “Personally, I don’t care about his style. He can be dictatorial, curt and somewhat condescending. So what? Again, the workplace is full of those guys.

“Try to find a commissioner with all the right stuff and you get what baseball has: Bud Selig, a .161 hitter, hoping to foul enough off, praying that he can get hit by a pitch.”

Looking back: On this day in 1927, Babe Ruth hit his 60th home run of the season in the eighth inning against Tom Zachary, leading the New York Yankees to a 4-2 victory over the Washington Senators.

Trivia answer: Brad Daluiso.

Quotebook: Dodger minor league pitcher Greg Hansell: “My roommates the last two years have been Mike Piazza and Billy Ashley. I think I’m going to have a lot of people who will want to be my roommate next year.”