Love Story for Franz Started at the Fair

According to some divorced friends, the typical auto racing romance novel reads something like this:

Boy meets girl, boy meets car, boy loses girl when girl gets fed up with boy devoting more time to car than girl.

Richard Franz of Glendale, a graduate of Hoover High who owns two auto repair businesses and is fourth in the Mechanix Wear Speed Truck Challenge points standings, is living a different script.

“I had kind of a bad marriage, got divorced, no kids, so I thought it was time to go after my first love, which was racing,” said Franz, who was named rookie of the year in 1998 after finishing second in the points.

Franz, 37, first saw a speed truck in an exhibit hall at the San Bernardino County Fair.

“I thought to myself, ‘That was pretty neat,’ then saw a full-size [NASCAR] Winston West car and went up to look at that, NASCAR addict that I am,” Franz said of that first date with the speed truck, which is like a smaller version of a NASCAR Craftsman truck with a fiberglass body covering a Chevy V-8 and a tubular stock car chassis.

“I kept looking back at the [speed truck], saw they had the hood up and saw there was a V-8 in there, and that hooked me.”

Jay Rutherford, who founded the series in 1997, offered Franz a chance to come back to the fairgrounds the following Wednesday to drive test laps at Orange Show Speedway.

The second date was the clincher for Franz.

“I think I drove more laps than anybody,” said Franz, who will compete Saturday at Irwindale Speedway in the 10th of 14 scheduled races at the new one-half-mile oval. “I was hooked.”

Franz enlisted the help of his friend, Richard Crozer of Shadow Hills, to pursue his new flame.

“I mentioned truck racing to him and he was receptive and agreed to be my crew chief,” Franz said. “He’s been a big help. I couldn’t have done this without him, and he’s kind of volunteered his time.”

Franz had no experience except for a racing school at defunct Saugus Speedway, although he raced motocross during his high school days.

He has a camera mounted in the cab of his truck to videotape each race, which he watches with Crozer.

“It’s one of the best learning tools I have,” said Franz, who won two races last year and attributes his quest for a third victory to an increase in the level of competition this year.

Several notable drivers, including Clint Mears, son of four-time Indianapolis 500 victor Rick Mears, joined the series this year.

“I feel kind of fortunate having success against these guys,” said Franz, who has finished second twice, third once and fourth three times.

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The speed trucks will be sharing the bill Saturday with NASCAR super late models, NASCAR street stocks, mini-stocks and Allsion legacy cars.

Sean Woodside of Saugus--who increased his lead in the Winston West series by 14 points over Brandon Ash of Umpqua, Ore., despite finishing 10th Saturday at Irwindale--will compete in his first super late model race.

“We’re going to come out here and get the jinx out of there,” said Woodside, who finished 13th when Winston West made its first stop at Irwindale on June 19. “We need to play the game here and learn how to get around.”

Woodside will be driving the car he won track championships with at Saugus in 1995 and Mesa Marin Speedway in 1996.

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Bill Sedgwick of Acton said before the June 19 race he believed tires would be the key to Winston West success at Irwindale. The prophecy proved true Saturday for Sedgwick and Woodside.

Sedgwick was second when he made his final pit stop with 50 laps left and had four tires changed to alter the handling of the car. After 25 laps, Sedgwick started losing ground, and blisters were visible on the right rear tire after the race.

“I abused the tires real bad at the end because I wanted the win,” Sedgwick said. “. . . We’ll just take it and put it in the notebook for the next time.”

Woodside wore out his tires trying to stay in front of eventual winner Austin Cameron of El Cajon.

“I had to run so hard with the tire pressure so low that I knew if I couldn’t get [the lap back] in 25 laps, they’d get it back,” Woodside said.