PASS WITH FLYING COLORS; SHAFER'S PASSION FOR RACING INCREASED WITH EACH SCHOOL PERFORMANCE.

Byline: BILL SCHLOTTER Motor Sports

For a guy who had a tough time taking racing seriously, North Hollywood product Jeff Shafer is doing all right.

Shafer, just hired to run a third car for the Precision Preparation, Inc. on the KOOL/Toyota Atlantic series, won four national championships during a nine-year run in the go-kart ranks. But it wasn't until he was named the top American student at the Elf Winfield driving school in France in 1995 that he began to get excited about his sport.

``When I did well at Winfield, it just really lit a fire,'' said Shafer, a 1993 Grant High graduate. ``It was the first time I had driven a car (instead of a go-kart). It just really seemed like something I wanted to do.''

Shafer's fire has been blazing since.

He was 15th and the highest rookie finisher at the 1996 Skip Barber Pro Racing Laguna Seca race. He was runner-up at the Barber Dodger run-offs later that year and won 10 Barber West Coast Formula Series events.

Last year, the 23-year-old was top student at the Team Green Academy and won three events in the U.S. Formula Ford 2000 Series.

All of which gave him the credentials he needed to win a ride on the Atlantic tour, a stepping stone to the CART open-wheel circuit.

``When I first worked with Jeff . . . he demonstrated a maturity and skill beyond his years,'' said Skip Harvey, the PPI Atlantic team manager and Shafer's instructor at the Skip Barber racing school. ``In the two years since then, he has honed those abilities. . . . I'm very excited to be working with him again.''

Shafer will drive a limited schedule for PPI this season beginning with the Atlantic stop in Cleveland in July. And he's hoping his employment with PPI will be extended to a full-out championship effort in 1999.

The ultimate goal is a ride with CART and Shafer figures catching a ride on a national tour has been the first step.

Kendall lands Winston Cup job:Driver Wally Dallenbach has left his Team SABCO Winston Cup job, leaving a temporary job open for Morgan Shepherd and La Canada's Tommy Kendall.

Shepherd will drive the No. 46 First Union Monte Carlo on oval tracks, beginning this weekend at the California Speedway.

Kendall, a four-time Trans Am road-racing champion, will drive road courses in at Sears Point in Sonoma (June 26-28) and Watkins Glen, N.Y. (Aug. 7-9).

This will be Kendall's second run with Team SABCO.

``Team SABCO and I definitely have some unfinished business to settle on a road course, especially at Sears Point,'' Kendall said. ``I was filling in for Kyle Petty in 1991. . . . We qualified fifth and ran in the top-five most of the day.

``Then I cut a tire while leading the final lap. It was a total heartbreaker.''

Pulled the plug: Gary Blachley has shut down his Blachley Racing Winston West team, leaving driver Craig Rayburn of Simi Valley without a ride.

Blachley said the move was decided by economic concerns.

``We have to have sponsorship and the only way we can have sponsorship is to have television,'' Blachley said. ``If they could tell us the rest of the races will be on television, the No. 9 car would be back.''

Rayburn said he will likely turn his attention to running a late model car at Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield.

Top dog: Winston Cup points leader Rusty Wallace was the winner in first-quarter voting for 1998 driver of the year. Top-fuel driver Cory McClenathan was second and Tony Stewart, who is driving in both the Indy Racing League and Busch Grand National circuit was third.

Yes, no: The Indy Racing League will start its 1999 season the same way this season began - with a January race at Walt Disney World Speedway in Orlando, Fla.

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck drivers will not be back, however, for the Sunday, Jan. 24 event.

NASCAR officials said opening in January, then not running a second event until April this season, was a marketing mistake they don't want to repeat.

Nuts and bolts: Cruz Pedregon slipped into a tie with John Force for second place in NHRA Funny Car competition after being eliminated in the quarterfinals Monday. . . . Robbie Gordon's seventh-place finish at Monday's Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix was the best for a Toyota-powered racer. Valencia's Bryan Herta had second most laps led, 42, but finished eighth and is now seventh in season points. . . . Simi Valley's Rick Hendrix won a 30-lap Western States midget car race in Las Vegas on Saturday and is second in season points. . . .KIEV-AM (870) has started a half-hour motor sports talk program Fridays at 5 p.m.

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