MOTOR SPORTS: DRAG RACING SCHOOL EXPANDS.

Byline: Keith Lair

Frank Hawley's drag racing school at Pomona Raceway will expand to other cities now that British firm EMAP Petersen, which owns Petersen Publications, has purchased the school.

``It allows the school to open a site in Florida,'' said Stephen Cohen, the program coordinator for Hawley's other racing school venture, the Evernham/Hawley Race Training Center at Irwindale Speedway. ``It's a financial wheel and allows the company to grow.''

The school has operated at Pomona since 1985. The race training center, which opened two weeks ago, was not affected by the sale.

Move applauded: The $610 million sale of Penske Motorsports, which operated California Speedway and three other superspeedways, to the Bill France family-owned International Speedway Corp. is a good move, said Irwindale CEO Jim Williams.

``It was the right thing to do,'' said Williams, who was on Penske's board of directors until the sale of the company, dissolving the board. ``It's a marriage made in heaven. We'd been in negotiations for some time and it just made sense.''

The France family is the force behind NASCAR. ICS controls tracks in Daytona Beach, Fla., Talladega, Ala., Darlington, S.C., Phoenix and Watkins Glen, N.Y.

Roger Penske and his son Greg and Penske vice chairman Walt Czarnecki will become part of the ICS board of directors.

Williams insists the deal had nothing to do with finances and everything to do with racing.

``We had very little debt,'' said Williams, who will retire from his current job as head of Golden State Foods on June 1. ``We were very well capitalized and money was not a problem.''

The builders of the two short tracks were in attendance Friday night. Williams invited Perris Speedway builders (and brothers) Danny, Ken and Don Kazarian.

``I think the tracks really complement each other,'' Ken said. ``Dirt people like dirt racing and asphalt people like asphalt racing. This is is good for racing.''

Notes: Dusty McDonald of Simi Valley knocked nearly two-tenths of a second off his class track record during Late Model qualifying Friday night. McDonald's record of 19.074 seconds tops the previous mark of 19.203.