The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana • Page 29

THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR WWW.INDYSTAR.COM Sports i.d MONDAY, JULY 29, 2002 D7 AUTO RACING Franchitti survives for Vancouver win CART Only 7 cars are running at the end of the street-course race filled with crashes. Molson Indy (Top finishers) Driver Car 1. Dario Franchitti L-H 2. Paul Tracy L-H 3. Tony Kanaan L-H 4.

Michel Jourdain Jr. L-F 5. Patrick Carpentier R-F 6. Michael Andretti L-H 7. Alex Tagliani R-F 8.

Adrian Fernandez L-H 9. Bruno Junqueira L-T 10. Mario Dominguez L-F Chassis: L-Lola, R-Reynard Engines: F-Ford, H-Honda, T-Toyota Series points leaders: Cristiano da Matta, 122; Franchitti, 84; Junqueira, 74; Jourdain, 74; Carpentier, 72 director, said the series' only driver-owner came away with only a bruise and contusion on his right hip. He was taken to a hospital for precautionary X-rays. The final two accidents erased the 11-second lead Franchitti had built over Tracy leaving the two nose to tail when the green flag waved again on lap 96.

"Everything was looking great until that last yellow and the red flag," Franchitti said. "I was a bit worried on the restart, but I got on it really hard on the restart trying to get a gap from PauL I don't know if he would have made a challenge and risk our finishing 1-2, but I didn't want to let him get close enough to try." He didn't. The Scot's Honda-powered Lola pulled away to a 2.6-second lead at the end of the first lap and cruised to the eighth win of his career, crossing the finish line 1.239 seconds ahead of Tracy. Tony Kanaan was third, followed by Michel Jourdain and Carpentier. Cristiano da Matta, who had been dominating the series, had his second bad race in a row.

In Cleveland, two weeks ago, he had an engine failure. This time, his drive shaft broke. Da Matta, who went into the race with a 51-point lead over Junqueira, now leads Franchitti by 38. Junqueira and Jourdain are tied for third, 48 points back. Da Matta, who had won four races in a row before his problems began, said, "It's disappointing that we dropped out of another race while leading, but those things happen in a season with so many races." Chuck Stoody Associated Press Race of attrition: Dario Franchit-ti holds up his trophy after winning the Molson Indy.

The win moved Franchitti moved into second in the CART points race. 7 lit. fifth caution of the race, Patrick Carpentier ignited the last and worst crash. Carpentier, who was running fourth but was on cold tires after a pit stop, spun in front of a pack of cars just nine laps from the end. Bruno Junqueira ran into the back of a braking Adrian Fernandez, sending him into the concrete wall Alex Tagliani, Carpentier's teammate, also was clipped by another car and hit the wall.

Debris was all over the track again and Fernandez had to be extricated from his car by safety workers, bringing out a red flag that lasted 16 minutes, 40 seconds. Fernandez was taken to the infield hospital on a stretcher, but Dr. Steve Olvey, CARTs medical N- Schroder's new role of racetrack owner brings challenges Breg Brlffo staff photo Family portrait AJ. Foyt IV holds up his trophy in victory lane after winning the Infiniti Pro Series race at Michigan International Speedway as his team owner and grandfather AJ. Foyt looks on.

Cheever considers options after his team's 1-? finish Associated Press VANCOUVER, British Columbia Dario Franchitti drove away from teammate Paul Tracy on Sunday in a five-lap sprint that capped a Vancouver Molson-Indy race full of crashes and attrition. Only seven of 18 starters were running at the end of the 100-lap race on the 1.781-mile temporary street course as Franchitti won here for the second time and earned his first victory since July of 2001 in Cleveland. On a restart after Shinji Naka-no's crash into a tire barrier scattered debris and brought out the NASCAR NOTEBOOK wasn't such a good thing, but it's getting better. It's still a lot of headaches, but they're smaller headaches now." Stewart visits hurt friend Tony Stewart used his afternoon off Saturday to visit Danny Lasoski in a Me-chanicsburg, hospital Lasoski, who drives a World of Outlaws sprint car owned by Stewart, was injured in a crash Friday night "Mentally he's ready to get back in the car, but physically he's not even close," said Stewart. Lasoski is in a tight battle with Steve Kinser for the Outlaws title.

The crash probably ends his chances of a repeat championship and renders him doubtful for Saturday's International Race of Champions finale at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Notes Robby Gordon drove with an air cast on his left ankle and heavy bandages on his right Sunday after severely spraining both in a motorcycle accident Saturday. He was injured attempting a hill jump on a motocross bike at a nearby motorsports park. Gordon finished 25th in Sunday's race. Winston Cup team owner Andy Petree plans to try to qualify for Friday night's NASCAR truck series race at Indianapolis Raceway Park.

Call Steve Ballard at 1-317-444-6184. Pennsylvania 500 (Top finishers) Driver Car Dodge Ford Dodge Ford Ford Chevrolet Pontiac Ford Chevrolet Ford 1. Bill Elliott 2. Kurt Busch 3. Sterling Marlin 4.

Dale Jarrett 5. Ryan Newman 6. Kevin Harvick 7. Tony Stewart 8. Matt Kenseth 9.

Terry Labonte 10. Ricky Rudd Series points leaders: Marlin, Mark Martin, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Busch, 2,540 While Park was fighting panic from being trapped inside, Earnhardt was fighting panic from fearing the worst. He quickly extricated himself and sprinted over to investigate. "I'm just glad he's OK," Earnhardt said. "There was nothing I could do on that wet grass.

I was trying to get away from him because I knew it was going to be a bad wreck once he got into the guard rail." Both were checked and released from the infield care center. Busch, 23, joked that he was 10 years old when Elliott last won at Pocono. "I would have thought that'd be the end of it," Busch said, "but here it is 2002 and he's still just as strong as ever." Elliott admitted he felt every one of his 46 years as he waited out the two long delays. "It puts its toll on you," he said. "I ain't gettin' no younger and every second was countin' on my clock." Call Steve Ballard at 1-317-444-6184.

CART team's Kool sponsor talks about move to IRL Associated Press Brown Williamson Tobacco Company's Kool brand, the primary sponsor for Team Green drivers Paul Tracy and Dario Franchitti, may not only be gone from CART in 2003, but could leave auto racing entirely. Burt Kremer, a consultant who heads up Kool's racing program and will have a strong say in its AUTO RACING ROUNDUP decision, said, "All I'm looking for is a return on our investment That's all." Kremer, interviewed Sunday before CART's race in Vancouver, British Columbia, painted a dark picture for Kool continuing in the series. He pointed out that the champ car series runs half its schedule outside the United States, which is Kool's target audience. He praised the work of new CART CEO and president Chris Pook and his staff, but said, "There just hasn't been enough time to see any kind of change happen. We haven't evolved to more of a U.S.

schedule. There just haven't been that many concrete positive developments." Kremer answered the speculation that the cigarette brand will move its sponsorship to the rival Indy Racing League by saying, "I am leaning to the other side, yes." All but one of the IRL's 16 races next season will be in the United States, and one of them is the Indianapolis 500, which Kremer called, "a large national event that happens to have race cars. CART does not have an event like that." Kremer said the final decision on the company's future in racing will be made in late August. He admitted one possible outcome could be a complete withdrawal from the sport. "Certainly it's a possibility we will not (be in racing next year)." he said.

Schumacher wins his 9th Michael Schumacher followed up his record-tying fifth Formula One championship by winning the German Grand Prix in Hocken-heim, Germany, on Sunday to equal another milestone. Schumacher led virtually from start to finish in his Ferrari to win a relatively uneventful race. It was Schumacher's ninth victory of the season, the fourth time he equaled his own record for the number of wins in a year. Nigel Mansell did it once, in 1992. Juan Pablo Montoya took advantage of a late pit stop by Michael's younger brother Ralf to move into second place.

Elsewhere Rain forced the postponement Sunday of the NHRA Northwest Nationals in Kent, with remaining eliminations set to resume today. Cory Kruseman won the championship of the USAC Indiana Sprint Week when rain forced cancellation of the final race Sunday night at Kokomo Speedway. Kruseman of Ventura, earned 418 points with four victories in the seven-race series to top J.J. Yeley of Phoenix, who had one win and 385 points. Veteran driver Robert Kasik, 56, of Roscoe, ILL, was killed when his car slammed into a wall of tires during a road race at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis.

on By Steve Ballard steve.ballardindystar.com LONG POND, Pa. Before trying to cash in for themselves in the Brickyard 400 on Sunday, Winston Cup veteran Ken Schrader and a few friends will try to raise some money to give away. Schrader has organized a "Night of Stars" autograph session and charity race for Wednesday night at 1-55 Raceway, a 3s-mile dirt track he co-owns in Pevely, Mo. Among the Winston Cup regulars scheduled to join Schrader in a 10-lap modifieds race is Kyle Petty, whose Victory Junction Gang Camp will get the bulk of the proceeds. Others who have committed include Dale Earnhardt Steve Park, Bill Elliott and Johnny Benson.

Schrader said Earnhardt and Park promised to be there despite their spectacular crash Sunday at Pocono Raceway. With several of the drivers' sponsors also getting involved, he hopes to raise as much as $100,000. Schrader said owning a racetrack has been more of a challenge than he expected not that he ever expected to own a racetrack. "I just went there with a buddy of mine to run a race and help out the guy who owned it and the next thing I know, I'm partners in a racetrack. I'm still not sure what happened," Schrader said with a laugh.

"The first couple of years, it Elliott Driver wants to continue winning momentum at Indy. FromDI caution. (Elliott) deserved to win if we didn't We'll just go to Indy and try to win up there." Marlin arrives at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with his lead up to 106 points over Mark Martin, who finished 13th Sunday. Jimmie Johnson (15th) trails by 144 points and Jeff Gordon (12th) by 188. Elliott said the information gained in two days of testing for the Brickyard 400 helped at Pocono.

"Maybe we can expand on that and make our Indy stuff a little bit better," he said. "Hopefully, we can go there and do what we did here." Besides Elliott's sweep, Casey Atwood won the pole and race in Saturday's ARCA event in a Ray Evernham-owned car. Of taking that momentum to Indianapolis, Evernham said, "The Brickyard is certainly special. I won it as a crew chief (with Gordon) and would love to earn that jewel as a car owner." Park, who twice in the past four years has been seriously injured in crashes, was extremely fortunate to walk away from his latest one. His car got sideways after a bump from Rusty Wallace and was T-boned by Earnhardt Neither could do anything about it as Earnhardt pushed his teammate through the wet infield grass and into a guard rail.

Park's car rolled three times and tore out about 80 feet of the barrier before coming to rest on its left side. uzzz lead) but it's OK because we know we can win a race." A close finish Sunday's rain-shortened Infiniti Pro Series race ended with two Indy-car legacies nearly side-by-side. And initially, neither A.J. Foyt IV nor Arie Luyendyk Jr. knew who should have been declared the winner.

Foyt was, by a nose. The victory was Foyt's second in three races in the fledgling series. A season-high 16 cars started the event. Notes Scheckter became the eighth winner in 11 IRL races this season and the fifth first-time winner. Overshadowed in the Scheckter-Cheever feuding was the first victory for Greg Beck's Indianapolis-based crew.

They were the new guys added when Cheever expanded to three cars for the weekend. Call Curt Cavin at 1-317-444-6409. was the IRL's most animated of the season. Scheckter and Cheever both poked fun at Cheever's single-car accident on lap 166. Everyone joked about which driver would be in charge of the team over the season's final four races.

"I am real proud that our drivers dominated," said Cheever, whose team led 137 laps. "Right now I would say it was almost a perfect weekend." Said Scheckter: "I could have won without the drama of the week because it hurt me personally more than anything. (But) I'm sitting here with a win now. Maybe (Cheever) was right (to make changes)." The inaugural IRL race at Michigan produced arguably the league's most thrilling event of the season. A stirring drive to the lead by Sarah Fisher had the crowd estimated at 30,000 standing with 16 laps to go.

She and Giaffone swapped the lead four times in the late stages as the top 12 drivers tussled late in the race. "There were a lot of elbows thrown," said Gil de Ferran, an exhausted fifth-place finisher, "but everyone (behaved) and it was a great race to be part of." Call Curt Cavin at 1-317-444-6409. ji i I i Hm i mm IRL NOTEBOOK from within at a moment's notice. "The last 30 laps today, I was looking at all the crew and all the determination," he said. "I was in the car (mentally) with both the drivers.

I enjoyed it immensely. It was very gratifying." Fisher happy with finish It certainly was the most gratifying eighth-place finish of Sarah Fisher's career. The third-year IRL driver led twice for four laps late in the 400-mile race, and she got to the front pack by passing both defending open-wheel champions Sam Hornish Jr. of the IRL and Gil de Ferran of CART in the same corner on lap 154. Only a late handling problem in her car kept Fisher from finishing higher.

"It was pretty much the most fun I've had in Indy-car racing," she said. "I tried to stay (in the Michigan Indy 400 (Top finishers) Driver Car 1. Tomas Scheckter D-l 2. Buddy Rice D-l 3. Felipe Giaffone G-C 4.

Tony Renna D-C 5. Gil de Ferran D-C 6. Helio Castroneves D-C 7. Sam Hornish Jr. D-C 8.

Sarah Fisher G-l 9. Scott Sharp D-C 10. Richie Hearn D-C Chassis: D-Dallara, G-G Force Engines: C-Chevrolet, l-lnfiniti Series points leaders: De Ferran, 377; Castroneves, 365; Hornish, 351; Giaffone, 330; Alex Barron, 261 nal to pit with everyone else under yellow. He climbed on Scheckter's tail and followed his path to the front Rice didn't know if it was enough to secure a full-time ride. "I'll sit down with Eddie and see if he has the funding and personnel and if he wants to run a third car," Rice said.

"I mean, I have to wait and see. I have no idea." The winner's news conference By Curt Cavin curtcavinindystar.com BROOKLYN, Mich. Ownerdriver Eddie Cheever Jr. knows he has a winning hand with his three-car team in the Indy Racing League. The question is, how does he play it the rest of the season and beyond? One possibility is surprising.

Cheever admitted Sunday he pondered retirement while watching rookie teammates To-mas Scheckter and Buddy Rice finish 1-2 in the Michigan Indy 400 at Michigan International Speedway. "I've always gone to races and looked at it from a driver's perspective for 30 years," the 44-year-old Cheever said. "Throughout this season with Tomas' blazing pace and determination, there have been times when I've enjoyed working and watching that progress more than I have (enjoyed) driving." Cheever has long maintained the decision to quit would come Scheckter Rookie from South Africa leads 122 of the 200 laps. From D1 said Scheckter, who had his regular crew and race coordinator taken away by Cheever. "I floored it from the beginning.

When I get angry I get focused." Cheever went to a jubilant victory lane but didn't make it all the way to Scheckter. Cheever said he wanted to let the rookie enjoy his first winning moment On the walk to the news conference, Cheever grabbed Scheckter's arm and said something inaudible to outsiders. Scheckter smiled. "The last 30 laps was the most fun I've had all year," said Cheever, whose Infiniti-powered team has crashed 11 cars this season but finished 1-2 Sunday with Scheckter and first-time IRL starter Buddy Rice. "I didn't think (Scheckter) had enough time to get back up there, but he cut through the field clinically and coldly." So did Rice, who was in the back part of the field on the lap 174 restart after missing the sig-.