Payton changes helmets // Gears up for debut as a race car driver

ROSAMOND, Calif. - It was between practice sessions and WalterPayton had his helmet off. The leading rusher in NFL history wastalking about the secret to a successful drive.

"You don't worry about the people who are ahead of you or behindyou," Payton said last week. "Your concentration has to be on whatyou're doing. Once you lose that concentration, that's when thingsgo awry."

What? You get tackled? You get hurt? You fumble?

"That's when you scrape the walls or spin out," Payton said.

Payton, 33, has traded his white shoes for a set of white walls.

Retired three months from pro football after 13 seasons with theBears, he is trying his hand at auto racing and plans to make hisdebut next Saturday in a pro-celebrity race at the Toyota Grand Prixof Long Beach.

If all goes well, he is considering entering as many as fiveSports Car Club of America events in 1988.

He has been getting ready for Long Beach by getting instructionand practice time at a track about 90 minutes north of Los Angeles(by posted speeds) and, though he is not quite as adept at racing ashe was at rushing, he isn't half bad.

"Right now, Walter has very good car control," said DannyMcKeever, Payton's instructor. "He's a little rough around the edges,but we're working on that and I have no doubt that he'll be a verysmooth driver."

The pro-celebrity race isn't exactly the Indianapolis 500.Although several professional racers such as Willy T. Ribbs andParnelli Jones are entered, they are handicapped by a delayed start.TV youth actor Jason Bateman won the race a year ago and he'll be inthe field again Saturday along with such unlikely competitors ascomedian Jay Leno and actress Susan Ruttan of "LA Law."

"The problem with these celebrity races is that it's embarrassingwhen you get lapped by someone like Helen Hayes," Leno said. "I liketo work on cars, but I'm no athlete."

That's OK. The athletes competing at Long Beach - includingformer San Francisco 49ers receiver Dwight Clark and ex-Cubs andWhite Sox outfielder Jay Johnstone - aren't professional drivers,either. This is, however, the way sometimes-professional racers suchas former Olympic decathlete Bruce Jenner got their start.

"You have to learn how to drive fast just like you have to learnhow to drive," McKeever said.

"They teach you the fundamentals," said Johnstone, a veteran of afew of these pro-celebrity functions. "It would be like me workingwith a kid in Little League. You teach them the basic fundamentalsyou want them to work on, then they have to go out and practice."

Payton said he is serious about racing, but at most it will be aserious hobby - serious because he knows of no other way to compete,a hobby because he plans to get in the fast lane via another route.

"My desire is to own an NFL team and, once that happens, then mygoal is to take that team from No. 30 or whatever it will be to No.1," Payton said. "Racing is something I can do three or four times ayear. All my attention and energy has to be dedicated to my team."

A dedicated Payton has shown over the years he was capable ofgreat quickness - on and off the field. It wasn't so long ago thatpolice caught him doing 90 mph on a 35-mph stretch of road not farfrom Bears camp in Lake Forest.

"It was 125 actually. I slowed down before he clocked me,"Payton said, grinning. "It was a real straight stretch where therewere no cars.

"This is a different experience. I'll tell you what, it makesyou a better driver on the street. I've slowed down more since I'vebeen doing this. I've found myself driving below the speed limit andwatching what I'm doing more. It changes you. It's not even funanymore to speed out there."

Of course, there's a big difference between cruising theexpressways in his Park Avenue and tearing off practice laps in asouped-up Celica.

"The bottom line for being a real successful race car driver isthe will to win," said Parnelli Jones, a former Indy 500 champ now insemi-retirement. "I don't know what it takes to be a running back,but it obviously takes dedication. If you believe in something, youcan be successful."

Payton already has shown he can hold his own in the crowd withwhich he'll be competing Saturday.

"The people that are doing it just for publicity will do OK -everyone can do that," said McKeever, a racing veteran for almost 30years and an instructor the last 20. "But you take Walter, he's got alot of desire. He's going to do very well.

"He is a competitive person. He was at the top of hisprofession, but he was that way because he's competitive. You can'tbe that good without wanting to."

Now, that's the secret to a successful drive.