It’s Difficult but Lyon Still Going in Circles

Bob Lyon describes racing as a test of perseverance. His track record proves the point.

The going has never been more difficult for Lyon, the iron man of the NASCAR Southwest Series.

In what has been the most arduous of 13 seasons for Lyon, a competitor since the inception of the West Coast stock-car circuit, the 36-year-old veteran from Newhall remains in contention for the series’ points lead.

On Saturday, Lyon will extend his Southwest Series records for career appearances to 175 and consecutive appearances to 119 when the tour heads south for a 100-lap main event on El Cajon Speedway’s three-eighths of a mile banked oval.

Lyon ranks sixth in points after eight races and is striving to improve on his fifth-place finish in 1996, his best season on the series.

But the road has been bumpy.

Lyon has won only three main events in his career and has not taken a checkered flag since 1996.

While the tour has grown and competitors have increased funding in recent years, operating on a shoestring budget with a five-member volunteer pit crew has become increasingly difficult.

For 10 years, Lyon has been part-owner of a commercial construction firm. He and his wife have two young children. Moreover, Lyon has spent much of the season caring for his mother, who has cancer.

“It’s been a tough deal this year for a bunch of reasons,” Lyon said. “I keep racing because I want to. We’ve always been competitive, but it’s been difficult. I have competition outspending me 10 to 1, and the more you move up, the bigger the gap gets.

“Life is difficult enough as it is. And then it’s even tougher if you want to race.”

Family and business commitments haven’t kept Lyon off the basketball court, either.

A former guard at Canyon High, Lyon averaged 15 points a game as a senior in 1980 and a local newspaper selected him Santa Clarita Valley player of the year.

Lyon competes in a recreational basketball league and has no plans to retire. That goes for racing, too.

“I can’t imagine not doing it,” Lyon said. “It has nothing to do with numbers or most consecutive races. With the exception of my family, there’s nothing else like it in the world.”

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Several drivers from the region will compete in the Southwest Series race at El Cajon.

M.K. Kanke of Granada Hills had his lead trimmed to 21 points over Steve Portenga after the series’ last race June 27 in Sonoma.

Keith Spangler of Chatsworth is 11th in points, Dennis Dyer of Palmdale 14th.

Dyer has five top-five finishes at El Cajon, including a victory in 1987.

Race time Saturday is 7:15 p.m.

The Southwest Series’ Aug. 22 race at Suntana Raceway near Salt Lake City was canceled because of a change in track management.

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Ron Hornaday Jr., a former Palmdale resident and two-time Southwest Series champion, returns to Southern California for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race July 18 at California Speedway in Fontana.

Hornaday, truck series’ champion in 1996, is second to points leader Jack Sprague entering a race this weekend at Nazareth, Penn.

Hornaday leads the series this season with three victories.