The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana • Page 17

he Indianapolis Star Quick torn of events Dave Eichelberger (left) gains three strokes on one hole and goes on to beat Ed Dougherty for the U.S. Senior Open title. Page 7 Monday, July 12, 1339 ALTO RACING 2 BASEBALL 4 SCOREBOARD 6 PEARSON OPEN 8 WNBA 8 oIQ)OF US iJ '1 'I InfoUne: 624-4636 Online: www.stamews.com Wl(gtlf7 fn ji Women's soccer now faces hard task When the excitement of '99 World Cup fades, maintaining interest will be crucial for sport. i 1 ft 1 tty, Mi. X' First-time CART winner, enjoys a nice, long post-race lap to let the feeling sink in.

By Jim Litke ASSOCIATED PRESS LOS ANGELES The lasting image is of game-winning goal-scorer Branch Chastain sliding on her knees in the penalty box, celebrating the U.S. Women's World Cup triumph with a full-throated roar and waving her jersey instead of wearing it. What remains to be seen is whether a nation that fell under the spell of a sport and the female athletes who played it this summer will still love them both by next week. "Let's be real about this," Hank Steinbrecher, general secretary of the U.S. Soccer Federation, By Robin Miller STAFF WRITER ELKHART LAKE, Wis.

It might have been the slowest victory lap in Championship Auto Racing Teams history, but Christian Fittipaldi wanted to savor it. He had begun to wonder if he would ever know the feeling. After five years, 70 starts, one serious injury and a couple of near misses, Fittipaldi finally found victory lane Sunday in the TexacoHavoline 220 at Road America. Taking advantage of Juan Montoya's late misfortune, the 28-year-old Brazilian led the final seven laps and beat teammate Michael Andretti to the checkered flag by 1.06 seconds in his Kmart Swift FordFirestone. "It's a strange feeling," "We caught lightning in a bottle." Hank Steinbrecher, U.S.

soccer official said Sunday. "We caught lightning in a bottle. The Queen Mother doesn't have enough money to pay these what women said Fittipaldi, who hadn't won a race since 1991, when he was the Formula 3000 champion. "You have that mental Inside: Racing Insider column focuses on team owner Cal Wells. Page 2 Ml HiLT iiSj i it 0 V) 1 Associated Press I OWN THIS TRACK! Jeff Burton has won three consecutive years on the New Hampshire 1-mile oval.

Despite his victory, he remains more than 200 points behind Dale Jarrett in the season points battle. block because you know you're competitive, but you haven't won. "Everybody keeps telling you to stay calm, you know it's going to come, but to be honest you start to have your doubts. I am just so relieved and happy and proud of my team." It was obvious to the 70,000 spectators that this race belonged to Montoya, who led 46 of the 55 laps before a broken gearbox gave the FedEx Championship points leader a rare DNF (did not finish). But, other than the TargetGanassi team, nobody in the CART paddock was unhappy with the result.

Fittipaldi, who suffered a broken leg in 1997, is a popular driver who couldn't get over the hump. "I am very happy for Christian, he deserved it," said Max Papis, who finished fifth and came to the victory celebration to offer his congratulations. Starting fourth, Fittipaldi never strayed out of the top five and battled with Gil de Ferran, Adrian Fernandez and Andretti most of the afternoon around the 14-turn, 4-mile road course. Yet he was resigned to the fact Montoya was untouchable. "Early on, I knew that if nothing happened to Juan, I didn't think we could match him," said Fittipaldi, who became CARTs seventh winner in 10 races.

Despite a transmission that would jump from fifth to first gear at various times and caused him to spin once Montoya was still mastering the competition. "The car was brilliant. Without the gearbox, we'd urton wins from way back they deserve right now." Steinbrecher spoke minutes before Chastain and her teammates swept past during a parade at Disneyland. It marked the start of a two-day, two-coast whirlwind tour that will put the team in front of th cameras that missed them the first time around when they crisscrossed America en route to winning the 16-nation, 32 -game tournament that concluded Saturday with a 5-4 victory over China on penalty kicks after a scoreless tie at the Rose Bowl. The Americans' thrilling triumph produced the most-watched soccer game ever on U.S.

network television, with ABC estimating that 40 million viewers tuned in. The game posted a 13.3 overnight rating and a 32 share for the network, 4 percent more than the 'previous record, a 12.8 rating for the 1994 men's World Cup final, also played at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. The rating was almost double the 6.9 overnight for last year's men's World Cup final between Brazil and France. Meanwhile, Michelle Akers, 33, the oldest member of the American team, did not make the Disneyland parade because she was still recovering from heat exhaustion. And U.S.

coach Tony DiCicco skipped the festivities, too, saying he wanted to get back home to the wife and four sons he's barely seen since April. Both are expected to be back when the U.S. team resumes training in August. The Americans will meet several unnamed national teams in October's U.S. Open Cup.

The team will remain largely intact to defend its Olympic gold medal next summer in Sydney, Australia, and at the 2003 World Cup. For the moment, satisfying demand after this World Cup will be tough enough. Chastain turned up on Sunday morning news programs, stunned See SOCCER Page 3 With a good guess on fuel mileage, 38th starter winds his way to a Winston Cup triumph. See FITTIPALDI Page 2 iimiilf rT" 11 V. Roush's estimate that a 3-second fuel stop would get Burton to the end panned out.

Still, Burton realized he had stolen the race. "We didn't start 38th because it was a bad qualifying lap," he said of his position on the grid. "We were just slow all weekend." So slow that Burton figured there was little more to run for than points. He gave crew chief Frank Stoddard most of the credit. "We made five changes on the car this morning," Burton said.

"We got the car in contention when no one thought we could have." With car after car pitting near the end, it was anybody's race until the final two trips around the 1.058-mile oval. Kenny Wallace, never a factor in the race, finished second in a Chevrolet, 1.347 seconds behind for his best career finish. Gordon, who bumped his way by points leader Dale Jarrett on the final lap, finished third in a Chevy. "There are a lot more races," Jarrett See BURTON Page 2 Inside: So close but so far for rookie Tony Stewart. Page 2 started 38th in his Ford and wasn't even able to make a serious run for the lead.

Burton didn't try to minimize the problems he is having qualifying. "We just put the qualifying behind us and got on with the race," he said. "But we have to get better. We can't keep qualifying in the back." He moved up steadily through the race, and after everyone had pitted in the waning laps, only Stewart and John Andretti remained ahead of him. Both ran dry and stalled simultaneously on pit road, giving Burton his ninth career victory and fourth this year tying him with Jeff Gordon for the series lead.

"We knew it was probably going to be a lap-and-a-half gamble," said Greg Zi-padelli, Stewart's crew chief. "It turned out to be bigger than that." Stewart, who refused comment and left the track shortly after the race, apparently used more gas than expected, By Dick Brinster ASSOCIATED PRESS LOUDON, N.H. Jeff Burton thought he was out of chances. Then Tony Stewart ran out of gas. So Burton, who had dominated the Jiffy Lube 300 on the track the past two years, won Sunday with a 3-second pit stop.

Stewart, trying to become the first rookie to win since the late Davey Allison in 1987, came within two laps of doing it. But his Joe Gibbs Racing Pon-tiac went dry exiting the second turn on the 298th of 300 laps at New Hampshire International Speedway. "We were out to lunch," said Burton, who wasn't even fast enough to make the field. He got into the race on a provisional awarded to car owner Jack Roush, r1 Associated Press ONLY GOOD BREAKS: Christian Fittipaldi (above) took advantage of Juan Montoya's misfortune Sunday to earn his first CART win. Armstrong becomes toast of the Toiir Added festivities get fans primed for All-Star game Ahead this week xT) Stories set to appear this week the fatar sports "Zzr k- section.

Z7' American wins trial and takes the overall lead as the grueling mountain stages begin. All-Stars primed Watch for the profile of Cincinnati shortstop Barry Larkin ahead of Tuesday night's Ail-Star game in Boston. 'J to the top of cycling as nothing short of amazing. Wearing the red-white-and-blue jersey of the U.S. Postal Service team, Armstrong powered through the 35-mile course in 1 hour, 8 minutes, 36 seconds.

He rode at an average of almost 31 mph. Now Armstrong, once so severely ill almost everyone assumed his career was over, is a favorite as cycling's biggest race hits the Alps this week. Another American did not fare so well in Sunday's eighth stage. Bobby Julich, who came in third overall last year, fell on a steep descent and is out of the race. Julich, who rides for the French team Cofidis, was taken to a hospital and diagnosed with bruised ribs.

Nothing was broken, except his hopes for this year's Tour. Set? ARMSTRONG Page 3 Grading the Tribe By Howard Ulman ASSOCIATED PRESS BOSTON Matt Damon stepped to the plate, missed one pitch, hit four others foul and put only balls into fair territory. Not exactly a McGwiresque performance, but a crowd pleaser nonetheless. The actor from Cambridge, took part in Sunday's celebrity hitting challenge, part of five days of events leading to Tuesday night's All-Star game. So did actor Kevin Costner, who fared better.

"I came out to see Kevin Costner because I think he's cute and I wanted to see if he could play baseball," said Casey Levesque, 6, of Fall River, Mass. The last time the Ail-Star game was at Fenway Park was in 1961. There was no celebrity hitting challenge, no FanFest, no Home Run Derby, no Futures game. The spotlight was, simply, on the The Indianapolis Indians, taking a break for the International League All-Star game, receive a mid-year report card. Tuesday's game Who: American League vs.

National League Where: Fenway Park, Boston Time: 7 p.m. TV: WXIN-59 By Jocelyn Noveck ASSOCIATED PRESS METZ, France Along the roads of the Tour de France this year, fans chant for their favorite French, German and Swiss riders. Now they're shouting another name, too: "Armstrong." Lance Armstrong won a crucial time trial Sunday to regain the overall lead of the Tour de France. He led at every checkpoint and called his performance "one of the greatest victories of my life." Armstrong, 27, has a lot of admirers these days. Many see his comebafo from testicular cancer "4 IU M.P i rcircni Back in action Associated Press Pennant races resume as the second half of the big-league baseball season begins with more inter-league Thursday.

SETTING THE STAGE: Lance Armstrong blew away he field in Sunday's time trial. i See ALL-STAR Page 5.