BURIED, NOT DEAD; Gala at the new Riverside museum awakens memories of long-gone International Raceway.(NEWS)

Byline: PETE LYONS

His Majesty Dan, King of Riverside, took the stage to a standing ovation from 300 colleagues and enthusiasts. With that timeless Gurney grin splitting his face, he started telling stories about the raceway near his old hometown, the now-vanished road course he stamped as his own with so many dominating drives.

Sitting amid the laughing audience, Doug Magnon wore a grin, too. But his showed as much relief as it did appreciation of his guest's infectious humor. This magical evening, the culmination of years of dreaming and planning, was going even better than he'd dared hope.

The occasion: the first of what Magnon vows will be an annual Legends of River-side Racing Film Festival & Legends Gala late in March. The place: the temporary quarters of the new Riverside International Automotive Museum.

Though RIAM, as it is called on its Web site (www.riversideinternational.org), quietly opened to the public a couple of years ago, the film festival served as its debutante ball. To build the event, Magnon joined forces with Dave Wolin, who relocated and renamed what had been the Southern Yosemite Automotive Film Festival.

There were dozens of other honorees who were part of Riverside Raceway history, but making Gurney the keynoter was a no-brainer. "Who else? said Magnon. "Dan Gurney has always been my hero.

Like Gurney, Magnon grew up in this once-rural community on the edge of the desert east of greater Los Angeles. His father, Ray Magnon, was a high-school buddy of the town's favorite son. Along with neighbor Skip Hudson, they all went hot-rodding together in the late 1940s, and they all stayed in touch.