GEARING UP

All right, high school boys and girls, here’s an adventure experience that will test your nerves and erase your inhibitions for life.

Dana Rea of North Hollywood, a former Street Stock champion at Saugus Speedway and Kern County Raceway, is seeking a group of teenagers to serve as his volunteer pit crew when he begins racing his 1972 Chevrolet Chevelle at speeds of 110 mph at the new Irwindale Speedway in March.

These are the only requirements: You must be at least 16 years old and not afraid of grease, dirt, oil or noise.

“They’re getting hands-on training,” Rea promised.

From 1995-97, Rea used autoshop students from such high schools as Quartz Hill, Rosamond and Highland while racing at Saugus and Kern County Raceway.

“They’re learning about competition and what teamwork is about,” he said. “It lets them in on the inside of local racing.”

There are 24 races scheduled in the Super Street Stock division on Saturdays at Irwindale.

Rea said he will train the students to take care of the car and handle the chores of a pit crew member, from changing a blown tire at lightning speed to unloading and loading car equipment. Rea’s wife, Debbie, serves as the team statistician.

“I get a mix of kids totally committed to being something in an engineering background to somebody interested in hot rods,” he said.

Perhaps the highlight of the pit-crew experience is one lucky member will be chosen to drive in a five-lap mechanics race at the end of the season.

So, if there are any eager gearheads out there, contact Rea at his e-mail address, big57[email protected].

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It’s the boys’ basketball game of the season, matching the best local Southern Section team against the best from the City Section. Simi Valley (12-2) will take on Sylmar (13-3) Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at Cal State Dominguez Hills in the Double Pump Hoop Challenge. There will be nine games through the day. Admission is $7.

The Simi Valley-Sylmar game brings back memories from 12 years ago, when top-ranked Simi Valley, led by Don MacLean, defeated No. 2 Cleveland, led by Lucious Harris and Adonis Jordan, 86-77, before more than 3,000 fans at Cal State Northridge.

Nobody gives Sylmar much of a chance against Simi Valley, but the Spartans have the size, depth and quickness to cause plenty of trouble. And Sylmar players have lots of incentive, knowing they want to gain respect for City Section basketball. It should be a terrific game. . . .

Equally exciting is the girls’ basketball game of the season Saturday night at 7:30 at Crescenta Valley, with top-ranked Buena (14-2) playing No. 2 Crescenta Valley (14-2). Arrive early or you won’t get a seat. . . .

Tyler Dersom is a running machine. The former Chaminade High pitcher ran away from his fellow UCLA baseball players on Thursday during a three-mile run and stamina test in Agoura Hills. He finished the hilly course in 22 minutes 6 seconds, beating fellow pitcher Jon Brandt by 25 seconds. It was the second consecutive year Dersom won the competition that brought out 33 UCLA players.

“It’s impossible to beat Dersom,” Brandt said. “He’s not human.”

Freshman Kurt Birkins, a pitcher from El Camino Real, finished third.

“I tried to keep up, but he kept going faster and faster,” Birkins said.

Dersom, a sophomore reliever, is just in better shape than anyone else. He also avoided running into any rattlesnakes or coyotes.

“I think I saw a tarantula,” Birkins said. . . .

John Mazur, former quarterback at El Camino Real and USC, will graduate in May from Wharton School of Business and Finance in Pennsylvania. Instead of going into business, Mazur might go into coaching and teaching. . . .

Keith Knoop, football coach at Burroughs, is so excited about freshman Gabriel Moise Jr. he’d be happy to start the 1999 season now.

“He’s a man in a boys’ attitude,” Knoop said of Moise, a 6-foot-1, 185-pound 14-year-old who moved to Burbank from Florida in the fall to live with his father.

“He’s a spectacular-looking kid with pure muscles.”

Moise played free safety, running back and receiver for the freshman football team and is attracting attention with his dunks for the freshman basketball team. One Burroughs coach went so far to predict Moise as the “next Jerry Rice.” Knoop will settle for the “next Kyle Cremarosa.” . . .

Steve Hagen, who attended Thousand Oaks High and Cal Lutheran, is California’s new offensive coordinator. He was an assistant at San Jose State and loves to pass the ball, which is a major reason the Bears are still in the running for quarterback Kyle Boller of Hart. . . .

Cal State Northridge has come up with the best import from Germany since Katarina Witt. Eckhard Walter, a 6-10 freshman volleyball player from Berlin, is going to challenge for All-American honors this season. . . .

Alex Holmes, an all-state tight end from Harvard-Westlake, will soon learn if the school will allow him to graduate this year. Academically, he’s a junior, but athletically he’s a senior. If the school clears the way for Holmes to graduate early, look for UCLA, Stanford and USC to engage in a recruiting battle for him. . . .

Sophomore Wes Hutchison of Glendale College, who pitched at Burroughs, and Jeremy Shields, a sophomore at Canyons who pitched at Hart, enter the baseball season as the top two junior college pitchers in the region. . . .

If Josh Smaler, baseball coach at Harvard-Westlake, wants his team to appear on NBC, he should start lobbying Wolverine freshman Kemper Ohlmeyer, son of NBC West Coast President Don Ohlmeyer. . . .

Alemany, which has been without a gymnasium since it was destroyed in the 1994 Northridge earthquake, will be building a new one “for sure,” Father James Anguiano, the principal, said.

The question is when the gym will be finished. It’s a $3.5 million project that Anguiano hopes can get underway this year. Final site plans have not been approved and permits must be obtained. . . .

Gianandrea Marcaccini, a former guard at Crespi and Valley, is averaging 12.9 minutes a game for Southern Illinois. He has started four of 11 games but is shooting only 28%.

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Eric Sondheimer’s local column appears Wednesday and Sunday. He can be reached at (818) 772-3422.