MOTOR RACING : Hooper Emerging as Heir to Sportsman Throne at Saugus

The 1991 racing season opened at Saugus Speedway with one pressing question: Who would replace Will Harper as the Sportsman Division’s top driver?

Two months into the season, 23-year-old Lance Hooper seems to be the answer.

The Palmdale-based driver has been nothing less than scorching of late. He has won three consecutive 40-lap main events coming into tonight’s racing. Before those three wins, Hooper won two main events in April but had one taken away after a postrace inspection. Since that incident, he has been Midas-like on the track.

Take, for example, his efforts at Orange Show Speedway in San Bernardino the past two weeks. Orange Show served as host to two 50-lap open races for Sportsman drivers on two consecutive Sundays. Hooper won all four.

That makes seven consecutive wins for the 1990 Saugus Speedway rookie of the year. There is no great mystery to his success.

“It’s just a lot of hard work,” Hooper said. “This year, luck is going my way.”

Luck--or maybe just plain good driving--is a common theme in the family. Lance’s father Ray was a points champion at Saugus in 1970 and his older brother Ray Jr., 28, was a champion at the track in 1982. Ray Jr. is now a prominent racer on the Southwest Tour.

Lance makes no secret of his desire to join his brother on the Southwest Tour, the same circuit in which Harper is racing after two consecutive Sportsman championships.

“We hope to make the last two Southwest races of the year,” Lance said. “And then we’d like to race for rookie of the year next year.”

High hopes, indeed, but who is going to doubt Hooper now? His streak of Saugus main-event wins began in an unorthodox manner May 11. The transmission on his racing car broke in qualifying and he had to race in an unfamiliar ‘B’ main event to qualify for the ‘A’ main. Once in the ‘A,’ Hooper was faced with starting 23rd in a field of 24.

He drove hard and well, however, and found himself in third place heading into the final lap. Then, second-place driver Keith Spangler of Northridge spun out leader Dave Phipps of Simi Valley. Spangler was disqualified and Hooper was handed the win.

Hooper will get another indication of where he stands June 8 in Las Vegas.

Hooper will have his eye on Dick Cobb, who is 12th in the NASCAR Sunbelt Region points standings--with one fewer start than the top 10 cars.

For now, though, Hooper will try to complete his run to the top of the Saugus Sportsman points standings. His disqualification cost him 29 points and, as a result, Gary Sigman of Carson still holds a 10-point lead in the standings. That tenuous lead is built on the fact that Hooper has one less start than Sigman.

Hooper covets the Sportsman title but refuses to get caught up in his own success.

“The (Sportsman championship) is a pretty big thing in Southern California,” Hooper said. “Saugus is a hard track to race at and a championship there shows you can set up a car and drive it.”

As for his rapidly growing press clippings?

Said Hooper: “I’m just trying not to believe what I’ve done so far.”

Add Hooper: His talents don’t end at driving cars. Hooper eschews body shops in favor of his own brush when it comes to painting his car’s parts.

Judging by the sleek orange and yellow look of his No. 07 car, might one think that Hooper has a future in the art world?

“Not really,” Hooper said. “You might think it looks good from 40 yards away. Up close, it don’t look so pretty.”

Miscellany: Tonight at Ventura Raceway, the popular Class 10 cars will return to the dirt track. Also tonight, motocross racing can be found at Ventura ranging from 80cc to 500cc bikes. . . .

A brief rundown of points leaders in each of the divisions at Saugus Speedway heading into tonight’s racing: Sportsman Division, Sigman; Street Stocks, Dave Blankenship of Reseda; Hobby Stocks, Michael McAtee of North Hollywood; Jalopy Division, John Fleming of Simi Valley; Grand American Modified, Phipps.

Jon Paques of Albuquerque, N.M., who raced to an impressive win at Saugus Speedway when the Southwest Tour stopped by April 27, holds a two-point lead over Rick Carelli of Denver in the Southwest Tour points standings. Not far behind is Palmdale’s Ron Hornaday Jr., whose hot driving of late has put him in third place, just 44 points behind Paques. . . .

The annual Winston West 200 comes to Saugus Speedway on June 15.