TV Crew Gives Papis, Team a Moment in Spotlight

Newport Beach’s Max Papis and his Toyota didn’t run among the leaders of the CART World Series this year, but the car has received some high-profile mileage out of the recently completed season.

While at Fontana over the season-ending weekend, a film crew from the television show “The Pretender” filmed the Arciero-Wells racing team from Rancho Santa Margarita during Friday’s practice day. The crew also took some shots of star Michael T. Weiss with Papis, Mario Andretti, Al Unser Jr. and Rick Mears.

Papis did his part, finishing the race and providing plenty of footage for the one-hour drama series. But he couldn’t bear to watch Weiss, wearing a replica of Papis’ racing suit, being filmed around his car.

“My car is like my wife,” said Papis, who is single. “I want to be the only one able to touch it.”

The show is scheduled to be broadcast in February.

Team manager Richard Buck, who came from the Penske organization and Al Unser Jr., thought the team deserved the opportunity for its moment in the spotlight.

“It was nice for the guys, because they worked so hard all year without a lot of recognition,” Buck said. “This was a pretty good [television] crew to work with.”

Papis finished 12th in the race and 24th in the overall standings (eight points). He finished in the points--12th place or higher--three times, finishing eighth at Michigan and 11th in Detroit.

In addition to the regular Toyota motor sports commercials, the car is also featured in a commercial for the CART World Series game for Sony Playstation.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the blue Toyota with an orange streak won the $10,000 PPG Best Use of Color and Design Award. The paint job was designed by Mission Viejo’s Chris Hukill and Rancho Santa Margarita’s John Meehan.

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When Papis and Arciero-Wells were in front of TV cameras, Dan Gurney’s Santa Ana-based All American Racers were breaking speed marks. The Toyota of Juan Fangio surpassed 230 miles per hour in qualifying (231.262), a first for the Toyota powerplant.

“This is a good plateau,” Fangio said. “You have a good plateau, you have a competitive plateau and you have a winning plateau. This is a good plateau.”

It certainly gives Gurney’s team something to build on, even though Fangio went out of the race on the first lap when his engine caught fire.

“Two-thirty sounds so much better than 229,” he said. “[The engine fire] would have been bad if it was a mystery, but we think we know what happened.”

Gurney’s other driver, P.J. Jones, finished a season-best 10th.

Gurney also said it’s possible his Eagle chassis, put on hold this year to run the Reynard, could make its debut as early as June next season.

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The amazing run of Cory McClenathan came to a disappointing end over the weekend. Not only did he get beat in the first round of the $147,000 Top Fuel Classic at Pomona Raceway, but he lost in the second round of the Select Finals when he smoked his tires against Jim Head.

Not exactly par for only the sixth man in history to win six races in a season--all in the last 10 races.

“The classic was really important on Saturday and that was pretty much a bad deal to go out in the first round, but it was most disappointing on Sunday,” McClenathan said. “We had a chance to win a seventh race and set a record. Still, we had a great year, so it’s hard to be too down about it.”

McClenathan, a 1981 graduate of Sonora High, rose in the standings from fifth place after 12 races to second place, cutting champion Gary Scelzi’s lead from 413 to 93 at one point. It’s McClenathan’s third second-place finish. He entered the season with 10 career victories.

One of the consolation prizes for McClenathan is that McDonald’s, which said earlier in the season it was pulling its sponsorship, decided to stay on. Last month, McClenathan’s speed of 321.77 mph was the fastest in history. He won 31 of his final 37 rounds after reaching the championship round once in the first 12 races.

“We don’t exactly know what the reasons were, but I’m sure all the wins got [McDonald’s’] attention,” said McClenathan, whose Mac Attack Motor sports shop is in Anaheim. “It would for anybody.

“We’re really happy they would change their minds. Any time you see a big corporation like that reverse its decision, it takes a lot of guts.”

McClenathan, racing for Joe Gibbs’ team, won four consecutive races. He is only the second person in history to do so, after getting into a new car midway through the season. . Despite being the late bloomer, he called it his best season ever. If he can maintain the pace of the second half of his season over next year’s long haul, it could be one of the greatest performances in history.

“As far as next year goes, we’ll try to be consistent, run big numbers and make it a race for the championship,” McClenathan said. “I just want to be No. 1. I want to make that step from No. 2. That will be history enough for me.”

Notes

Anaheim Hills’ Adam Dupre, 23, took 13th in the Sports Car Club of America Formula Ford National Championship. Dupre was in fifth place when he was forced off the track to avoid a spinout in front of him. Dupre qualified third for the 19-lap, 45.6-mile race. . . . The 30th Tecate SCORE Baja 1,000 this weekend will have a decidedly orange look to it at the beginning. San Clemente’s Johnny Campbell, who won the Baja 500, will be the first motorcycle to leave the starting line in Ensenada when he takes off on his Honda XR600R, signaling the beginning of the 707.7 mile trek. Jason Baldwin of Newport Beach, racing for the first time this season, drew the first starting position for the Trophy Trucks in his Ford F150. His co-driver will be his father, Jim. Orange’s Robby Gordon, who competed in CART and NASCAR races this season, is competing in the Trophy Trucks and is one of several county drivers participating in the race, which features more than 250 entries.