CALIFORNIA SPEEDWAY NOTEBOOK: MARTIN WINS IROC RACE.

Byline: Bill Schlotter Daily News Staff Writer

Winston Cup driver Mark Martin reasserted his claim to the title King of IROC on Saturday, winning for the fifth time in his last eight tries.

The three-time series champion took the lead on lap 13 of the 50-lap race, the second of the four-race IROC series. And though CART driver Al Unser Jr. was on his heels almost the entire rest of the way, Martin gave him no chance to get by.

``I can't believe we won this race again,'' said Martin, whose career seven IROC (International Race of Champions) victories are second only to the 11 wins of Unser and Dale Earnhardt.

Martin started in the 10th position next to Earnhardt and worked his way up while Randy LaJoie, Unser and Jeff Gordon took turns sharing the lead.

By lap 13, he was in position to make a move on Gordon, got by him, and battled Unser the rest of the way.

``My car was good in the corners,'' said Martin, who will start in the third position in today's California 500. ``But he would get runs on me in the straightaways. I just made sure I was in his way.''

If Unser had gotten by, Martin didn't think he could have regained the lead.

``If I had been behind him, I could never have passed him,'' Martin said.

La Canada's Tommy Kendall, the defending Trans Am champion, started on the pole but saw his chance to win scuttled by a crash in lap 7.

Kendall was running inside Indy Racing League driver Tony Stewart when the two cars collided. Kendall's went sideways and was hit by Arie Luyendyk, doing heavy damage to the front of Kendall's car.

``I was trying to follow Tony and I got down inside, but not far enough in,'' Kendall said. ``As soon as he started to come down, I knew it was over.

IROC mechanics got Kendall back on the track, but his damaged car limped home three laps down in last place.

Unser was second, Gordon third and Terry Labonte finished fourth.

Martin's victory put him in the points lead, with 45 points races remaining later this year at the Michigan Speedway and Indianapolis.

Gordon, who won the season's first race at Daytona, is second with 38 points, followed by Jeff Burton (30), Unser (26), Labonte (20), Earnhardt (17), Jarrett (16), Stewart and Luyendyk (14), LaJoie (13) and Jimmy Vasser (11). Kendall is last with eight points.

Wally's back: After resigning as driver of Team Sabco's No. 46 Chevrolet last week, Wally Dallenbach had no ride for today's California 500.

He decided to attend the race anyway, and Saturday was named to replace injured Todd Bodine in the Team Tobasco Pontiac.

``Todd was unconscious in the car for a period of time and he is extremely sore right now,'' said team owner Bob Hancher. ``He is capable of driving Sunday . . . but we are being extremely cautious.''

Dallenbach barely made the field, getting a provisional position to start 42nd.

Goodbye chrome dome: Darrell Waltrip suspects his chrome driving helmet has been interfering with radio signals between his car and crew chief. So he's decided to switch lids this week and wear a helmet of another material.

``Ever since I started using the chrome helmets, our team have had an unusual amount of radio problems,'' Waltrip said. ``(I heard) that Michael Andretti has run an all-chrome helmet in CART and had the same problems.

``This week will be a test. (We'll see) if the problems are really in the helmet or just in the driver's head.''

Already gone: All tickets for today's California 500 are sold out and more than 100,000 are expected to be at California Speedway for the event.

Pony express: Mike Skinner, still recuperating from back injuries suffered in a crash in Texas, will start today's race but turn the car over to Mike Dillon at the first pit stop.