The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana • Page 29

STA i i tewart is only sier survive a .0.00 Pocono Irwin and Andretti pxit early with crashes, while Gordon cuts a tire in Pennsylvania 500. I jf nil ii. shares the lead this season with Jeff Burton with four wins each. Darrell Waltrip led in victories from 1981-84, sharing the top spot with Bobby Allison in 1983. The strong Pontiacs Jarrett is among the many drivers concerned about the Pon-tiac drivers when the series moves to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Aug.

7 Brickyard 400. Bobby Labonte has won both flat superspeedway races this season. Stewart, Andretti and Ward Burton have performed well on the same tracks. IMS is another flat track by Winston Cup standards. "They've got a good (aerodynamic) package for these tracks," Jarrett said.

"They have a lot of downforce without a lot of drag. That's a hard combination to beat." Notes Jarrett's series points lead over second-place Mark Martin is 254, the second-largest margin of the season. Jarrett, who was second Sunday, has finished in the top 10 in 16 consecutive races. Wally Dallenbach Jr. earned his sixth career top-five finish, but it was his first on an oval.

New Hendrick Motorsports driver Jerry Nadeau was involved in two accidents Sunday. He bumped Bill Elliott into the wall and came together with Geoffrey Bodine. The Associated Press contributed to this report. NASCAR NOTEBOOK him." Gordon led three times for 22 laps and was second to Dale Jar-rett when he cut a tire on lap 78. The incident occurred in the first turn, which left Gordon nearly 2 miles to shred rubber and tear up his right front.

"I'm just glad we didn't end up in the wall," he said. "It was just bad luck." Problems continue When Gordon's right front tire erupted, it was perhaps an appropriate exclamation point on a season gone awry. After opening 1999 with a victory in the Daytona 500, the 27-year-old driver looked poised for a run at a share of NASCAR history. But a rash of problems followed, making Gordon a long shot to tie Cale Yar-borough's record of three consecutive Winston Cup championships. The rubber flapped as wildly as a Pocono International Raceway crowd.

More than 100,000 fans cheered Gordon's latest mishap. His sixth terrible finish left him sixth in the points, 492 behind heir apparent Dale Jarrett. "I don't know if we're out of the points race or not," Gordon said. "You'll have to ask Dale Jarrett and those guys about that." Gordon still has a shot at one Winston Cup record. No one has led the circuit in victories for five consecutive seasons.

Gordon "Aht X- ROAD BLOCK: Kenny Irwin of Indianapolis managed to complete just 14 of 200 laps and finished 43rd in Sun-' day's Pennsylvania 500 after hitting the turn three wall at Pocono Inters national Raceway. 'I 1 'Zr SO CLOSE: Max Papis (front) was two turns from his first CART victory before running out of fuel at the U.S. 500. Effort fuels the notion Papis will soon find victory lane ByCurtCavin STAFF WRITER LONG POND, Pa. Tony Stewart overcame most of his problems in Sunday's Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono International Raceway and finished fourth.

The other Hoosiers in the race weren't so fortunate. Kenny Irwin, John Andretti and Jeff Gordon fell out of contention with various forms of bad luck. Irwin and Andretti crashed in separate accidents and became the first two retirees in the 43-car NASCAR Winston Cup field. Gordon cut a tire and finished 32nd. Irwin was so angry at Jimmy Spencer about their turn three contact that he charged Spencer on foot as he drove past later.

"I felt I gave him some room and he used more than what he had," Irwin said. Andretti was softer with his tone but no less direct. "We were passing a guy and the person behind me (Stewart) figured there was room underneath and 'went down in there," he said. "At Pocono, you're going so fast (entering turn one) that it only takes a tap to turn you around." Said Stewart: "I was on the brakes as hard as I could be. (But) I had half of my car underneath CART Continued from Page 1 second place, especially after we went a lap down earlier.

But today wasn't Max's day. It was my day." In another stellar show of wheel-to-wheel racing at 220 mph for three hours, which drew a paltry crowd estimated at 45,000, Papis had no equal on the high-banked, 2-mile Michigan International Speedway. The 29-year-old Italian also had no luck. "Max won the race; we lost it for him," said owner Bobby Rahal, who picked Papis to replace him in the Miller ReynardFordFirestone. "Our telemetry went out on our last pit stop and we had no idea of what kind of fuel mileage we were getting and where we were in the mixture.

"We had Max lean down his fuel and we were confident we had enough. Sometimes when the telemetry goes down, the car automatically goes full rich (which produces more speed but poorer fuel mileage)." But, even with the mechanical glitch, Rahal's team contributed to its demise by opting to go for a quick stop on lap 221 rather than giving Papis a full tank of methanol. It wasn't necessary because Papis could have taken a full tank of fuel and still retained command. Although there were 29 lead changes among seven drivers, Papis was in front for 143 of the 250 laps and easily pulled away from the drafting and dogfights behind him. "Other than the last lap, today was the nicest day of my life," said Papis, who spent his first three CART seasons driving the underpowered Toyota engine.

"Even with that last lap it was the nicest day of my life. "We dominated and did a fantastic Job," added Papis, who finished seventh. That Kanaan was even in position to win was a tribute to his savvy and Steve Home's team. Black-flagged on lap 80 while running third when the Gurney flap on his rear wing came loose, the 25-year-old Brazilian fell a lap behind in 11th place. That was frustrasting, but Steve kept calming me down and told me there were 170 laps left.

And they did a great job of getting the car working the last half of the race," said Kanaan, who started 11th and hadn't won a race since his 1997 387 Indiana's Only Center for ijf im, 4 Jk 1 Associated Press CART NOTEBOOK petition before Sunday. "Bobby (Rahal) gave me a fantastic car and was with me all the way. "Jim (Prescott, crew chief) and the guys gave me great pit stops and I had the time of my life all race. It's sad we didn't win, but it gives me more confidence we can the next time." When Jeff Krosnoff was killed in the Toronto race in July 1996, Papis was hired and drove the underpowered Toyota until replacing Rahal this season. He's been getting more and more competitive.

Said Rahal; "I'm devastated for Max because he dominated. His performance was the most dominating I have seen at this place. Like I said to him, he won the race and we lost it for him." Telemetry gone bad and less than a full load of fuel on his final pit stop sealed the former Formula One test driver's fate. Yet he refused to pout or whine or point fingers at anybody. "I am very proud of everyone on my team," said Papis, who coasted home in seventh place.

"We are a very tight team and we will become tougher and stronger and come back." Christian Fittipaldi gave Papis a hug and word of encouragement before the almost winner put things into a perspective not seen often these days. "If I couldn't win, I am happy for Tony because he is a great guy and a good friend. But we need to go away from here with a smile on our face and thinking we are the best. "Because we were, except for that last lap." mm mm IndianaDolis Staff BRICKYARD Continued from Page 1 Any one of the bunch, or more, could win the prestigious race at Indy, which is expected to lay out a $6 million purse. The Winston Cup drivers take this weekend off before arriving for the Brickyard.

Qualifying begins on Aug. 5. Stewart has yet to race a Winston Cup car in his home state, but he expects a competitive day like Sunday. The tracks are similarly laid out with flat corners and long, demanding straightaways. "Pocono is Pocono and Indy is Indy, but it will be another good show," he said.

Pocono's race on Sunday delivered 15 leaders. They swapped the top spot 27 times over 200 laps. And in between nine lengthy cautions was some of the best side-by-side racing that such 2.5-mile layouts can stage. "People will say we saved our best stuff for the end," said Labonte, who won by a surprising 8.6 seconds, "but we raced hard and I couldn't get to the front. There were too many good cars." Included in that were Ward Burton, Sterling Marlin and Dale Earnhardt, who at different moments looked as if they could win.

Labonte didn't get to the lead until lap 81, and by then much had transpired. Kenny Irwin and Jimmy Spencer tangled in the third turn of lap 15, knocking Irwin hard into the wall and out of the race. On lap 38, Ward Burton cut a right-front tire while leading and crashed in turn two. Eight laps later, Andretti's strong No. 43 went off line because of contact with Stewart's car.

Andretti crashed but was not injured. Stewart's car suffered right-front damage, and he pitted for repairs. When he returned, he was 31st. Gordon shredded a tire while running second to Jarrett on lap 78. He limped home 32nd, 14 laps off the pace.

The two-time defending series champ fell 492 points behind Jarrett and gave fifth place in the standings to Stewart, the top rookie. Marlin had an oil line failure, Qmega Mortgage Financial 'New Purchase Refinance DebtConsolidation Home Improvement Loans Loans to 125 Payoff tjn0 contracts Photo Greg Griffo VJinstonCup Pennsylvania 500 (Top finishers) Driver Car 1. Bobby Labonte Pontiac 2. Dale Jarrett Ford 3. Mark Martin Ford 4.

Tony Stewart Pontiac 5. Wally Dallenbach Chevrolet 6. Terry Labonte Chevrolet 7. Rich Bickle Pontiac, 8. Steve Park Chevrolet 9.

Dale Earnhardt Chevrolet 10. Mike Skinner Chevrolet Series points leaders: Jarrett Martin B. Labonte Jeff Burton Stewart 2,565. pushing him out of contention. Brief rain and a broken clutch interrupted Jarrett's dominance.

He lost six positions on each of his two final pit stops as his crew push-started him. At that point, the race was about fuel strategy. Labonte, Jeff Burton and Jarrett made the best call with final stops on lap 156. Burton Was the only car to contend with Labonte late, but he suffered transmission failure on lap 175. Labonte was so far in front that Stewart became the focus for spectators.

He returned from a lap-162 fuel stop in 13th place. His multi-lap exchange with Earnhardt, who had four fresh tires, was a sight to behold. "I'm happy about this (finish)," said Stewart, who finished a career-best fourth for the fourth time. "We knew we had to stop (for fuel), but when we came back, we were awfully good." Labonte won for the third time this season and the 10th time in his five-year Winston Cup career. He became the first driver to sweep Pocono's two mid-summer races in one season since the late Tim Richmond in 1986.

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His heart had just been ripped out on the final lap of a race that he dominated and deserved to win. But he wasn't "Mad Max" or "No Comment Max" or "Vanishing Max." He was class to the max. As well as he drove in Sunday's U.S. 500, Max Papis' postrace performance may have been even betJ ter. After running out of fuel only two turns from his first Championship Auto Racing Teams victory, the 29-year-old Italian was a picture of poise.

He hugged each one of his crew members and thanked them for such a great race car. He met with owner Bobby Rahal and a Miller Beer sponsor representative to try to cheer them up. Then take notes, Tony Stewart he faced the media. This was our day, just not our last lap," said Papis, who led 143 of the 200 laps in the Miller Reynard FordFirestone and had a comfortable edge over Tony Kannan' until his engine shut down going into turn three on lap 250. "I said many bad words in Italian that I cannot repeat on that last lap.

"But today we showed what I told you guys at the beginning of the season. Just wait, when we get our chemistry right, we will dominate." While everybody was bunched in exciting duels all afternoon on Michigan International Speedway's high banks, Papis was able to run away and hide. "I just let them play with each other and I kept it (the throttle) flat and pulled away," said Papis, who had never led a lap of CART com- U.S. 500 (Top finishers) Driver Car 1. Tony Kanaan R-H 2.

Juan Montoya R-H 3. Paul Tracy R-H 4. Michael Andretti S-F 5. Dario Franchitti R-H 6. Adrian Fernandez R-F 7.

Max Papis R-F 8. Christian Fittipaldi S-F 9. Jimmy Vasser R-H 10. Patrick Carpentier R-M Chassis: R-Reynard, S-Swift. Engines: H-Honda, F-Ford, M-Mercedes Series Points leaders: Montoya 129, Franchitti 116, Andretti 107, Fittipaldi 101, Fernandez 95.

piff? Indy Lights championship. While Paul Tracy, Michael Andretti and Dario Franchitti put on a tremendous duel for fourth place in the closing 20 laps, Papis stayed a couple of seconds ahead of Kanaan, who had about the same advantage on third-place Montoya. Just when it looked as if the Miller car was heading for its first win since 1992 with Rahal in the cockpit, it quit going into turn three. "No warning, it just quit. All I could do was scream said Papis.

Kanaan's reaction? "When I saw Max slow down, I backed off for a second, then slammed down the throttle," he said, "I lost all my speed and saw that red car (Montoya's) getting bigger and bigger in my mirror." Montoya, whose debut on a superspeedway was nothing short of impressive despite losing his rear brakes early and making pit stops an adventure, said he was surprised he came within a couple feet of his fifth win this year. "I thought it would be close, but not that close," said the 23-year-old Colombian, who started third and led 28 laps in the Target Reynard HondaFirestone. Impotence Premature Ejaculation Low Desire No Scalpel Vasectomy Complete Urology Over 300 units in stock and ready for delivery! Shop Safari Spa for all your home entertainment needs. Comprehensive iervCcS Sexual Medicine ss rm 90 5' 0602 We Take the Mvsterv Out of Your Financial il-70 THE GREY CLINIC fmStxntlMiittfini www.greyclinic.com 3V-823-9228.