Racing is in the cars for Winston West’s Gilliland

Friday, June 6, 1997 | 5:47 a.m.

If Butch Gilliland had put his Winston Cup dream on the back burner he discovered about 150,000 reasons to move it to the front shelf in April.

That was the number of fans who turned out for the Winston Cup inaugural at the new Texas Motor Speedway, further validating NASCAR as a hot commodity beyond its Southeast stomping grounds.

Gilliland, 39, said if there's a market for West Coast races, there's probably a market for West Coast race drivers, too.

"That was a test to see if people on this side of the Mississippi were ready for Winston Cup racing," said the Anaheim, Calif., driver, who will try to pad his Winston West Series points lead in Saturday's NASCAR Cactus Clash at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

"As (West Coast) race car drivers, we have the same opportunity."

Since the dawn of Winston West's modern era in 1971, there have been a smattering of drivers who have used the series as a springboard to Winston Cup. Two of the more recent ones were 1990 Daytona 500 winner Derrike Cope and fellow Washington state native Chad Little.

But the reality is that the three-year-old NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series has yielded more opportunities for West Coast short track stars.

Nothing against the trucks, says Gilliland, "but the car series, Winston Cup and Busch, are where it's at."

"My personal goal is to get the proper funding to run some Winston Cup," added Gilliland, the only Winston West driver to dice with the Cup boys on the Sears Point road course last month. "I've got a truck and we've run selected truck races but the truck doesn't do anything for me. Real racing is in the cars."

And in Bill Stroppe Jr., Gilliland has a real race car owner.

With luminaries such as Bill Vukovich Sr., Rodger Ward, Parnelli Jones and, more recently, Jones' son P.J. and Craftsman Truck ace Ron Hornaday having competed under the Stroppe Motorsports banner, Gilliland figures he's well positioned for his shot at the big time.

With two wins already under his belt this season, he also is well positioned for a strong effort at LVMS. Gilliland finished sixth in last November's Winston West stop here against a star-studded field that included Winston Cup stalwarts Ken Schrader and Michael Waltrip and ARCA ace Tim Steele.

"But we crashed our good car (in practice)," Gilliland said. "We've got a rocket ship for Saturday."