Monday, June 17, 1996

Sunburns are Supposed to be Painful

By TED DUNNAM
Assistant Sports Editor

There was an early indicator that Sunday's national race of the Spec Racer division wouldn't be a clean, non-contact event.

That happened in the starting grid when a Spec Racer backed into Cheryl Meriggi's brand-spanking new motor scooter that she had just purchased as a Father's Day present for husband Johnny Meriggi, a competitor in the Spec Racer class.

That mishap - no major damage done, fortunately - was a tell-tale incident in the most competitive racing class of the Sports Car Club of America. Of the 31 cars that started the race, only 21 finished the 27-lap event.

No other race in Sunday's lineup lost more than five cars.

The beneficiary of all the metal-bending and car failures was Rod Dundas who avoided trouble to post an 8.624-second margin of victory over Denny Stripling.

Dundas led the first seven laps before pole-sitter David Underwood passed Dundas to lead the next two laps. The lead changed hands two more times between the pair before Dundas took the lead for good on lap 18 and coasted home to the victory.

"David was racing the heck out of me, and at first I thought he overcooked the car. I found out later he broke an axle (on lap 17). That's too bad because we were having such a battle," Dundas said.

"He needed to win or finish second, and I needed to win or finish second. I knew that I shouldn't fight him so much, but if you aren't aggressive almost all the time in this class it can really cost you. But if you're too aggressive, it can cost you, also."

Over-anxiety took its toll on the field early. Before three laps had been completed, six cars had already dropped out of the race, three of which got too friendly in turn one after the green flag had just been shown.

The frequent yellow flags gave Stripling and third-place Meriggi a shot at catching Dundas, but the latter's car proved too strong.

"When we weren't racing under yellow, I was actually gaining on those two guys," Meriggi said. "But then I pushed it too hard and I looped it myself. That cost me too much time. But I was able to collect it and get third.

"I think everybody out there was a little bold because we all saw those big trophies and there were spectators. We all wanted to put on a good show and it got a little crowded.

"I didn't grid very well in qualifying, and if you don't do that it makes your job tough."

Underwood's exit from the race made Dundas' job simpler than when he won Saturday's regional race.

"I had no one in my mirror so I just tried focusing on turning good laps," Dundas said.

Ron Kerr of Kingwood won the A Sedan division, powering his Camaro around the 1.69-mile course with an average lap speed of 81.826 miles per hour. He had to hold of Tom Himes' Mustang for a 2.15-second margin of victory.

"I had the advantage in the turns and he had the advantage on the straight-away," Kerr said. "I got a little advantage early and just held him off. The only thing I was really worried about was the car over-heating.

"About seven laps from the finish, I knew if I controlled the temperature and just kept racing the way I was that I could win. Tom was able to make up a little on the closing laps, but these small-block Chevys run great and there's not a whole lot to worry about."

Abilene's Douglas Doidge earned himself a victory in the H Production class, holding off David Ricker for a win.

"We had a cooling system failure yesterday and we changed the motor overnight," Doidge said. "It ran perfect today. We could have run another 30 laps out there with no problems."

Another 30 laps, however, might have obliterated the Spec Racer field. But at least Meriggi would have had a brand new motor scooter to drive home.