The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana • Page 34

D2 MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2000 THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR Featuring the Shell 3C Rahal joining CART exodus to lead a Formula One team like old days for Gordon at Richmond otemberhlO, 2000 I 1 t'y 3-1 I ltj(t 'wl i 3 j. t- mrk I Big Penske finish: First-place finisher Helio Castroneves (right) and second-place finisher Gil de Ferran, both from Brazil, celebrate after the Shell 300. Castroneves won by 0.954 seconds. Teammates are big winners MONTEREY, Calif. Bobby Rahal will leave his interim position as CEO of Championship Auto Racing Teams In a couple of months and resume his duties running a race team.

But it will be in Formula One. Sources re The Racing Insider Robin Miller port that Rahal will take over the troubled Jaguar program for a minimum of two years, beginning in 2001, but continue to field a two-car effort of Kenny Brack and Max Papis in the FedEx Championship. A CART team owner, who requested anonymity, said Rahal is headed for the grand prix circuit, which visits Indianapolis in two weeks. Rahal has reportedly sold his home in Dublin, Ohio. "It leaked out to me, by accident, from one of the members of the Delaware Board (CARTs governing body)," the owner said.

"He said Bobby was leaving for a couple of years but isn't ready to announce it yet. "Imagine that, Formula One not only takes (Juan) Montoya, now they're raiding our owners. Sunday morning, Rahal denied he was moving into Formula One. That's an old rumor," replied Rahal when asked if he was going to be joining fellow CART owner Barry Green, who is taking over the reigns of the British American Racing F-l stable in 2001. There's been no discussion at that level.

I'd say it's a non-story. "Besides, I've got four children. It would not be a simple thing to just pick up and go." Green, whose champ car sponsor Kool is owned by British American Tobacco, will be reunited with '95 CART champ Jacques Villeneuve to try to sort out the disappointing BAR team. champ, will begin his F-l career next season for Frank Williams. Dan Davis, the director of North American racing for Ford, said, "I wouldn't say it's a bad rumor.

"I'm no longer Involved in roras r-i program, out never say never." Rahal, whose CART squad has been run by Scott Roembke in "his absence, is loyal to Ford, which purchased Jackie Stewart's F-l team last year and 1 renamed it Jaguar Racing. Rahal wanted to take '99 winner Brack to this year's Indian- LIUE SCOPS insiani uuus Weather Injuries, Trends Winners a 7 1 mi jBiv 4 Associated Press Paul Sakuma riguez, scrambled out of his Reynard-Honda and leaped onto a nearby fence, thrusting his arms in the air as the crowd cheered around the victory stand. "My team gave me a great car," he said. "I told them we were going to win, and we did." The last half of the 83-lap race on the hilly 2.238-mile, 11-turn circuit in the picturesque Monterey Peninsula was a fuel conservation effort by all of the drivers. When the 25-year-old Castroneves was asked whether he was concerned about making it to the end, he grinned and replied: "A lot.

But I trust my guys. They told me I could make it, and I did." Castroneves led all but two laps giving up the top spot to Juan Montoya during the first round of pit stops by the leaders and, at times, built margins of more than 4 seconds over either Montoya or de Ferran. Montoya lost any chance at the victory on lap 48 when his airjack collapsed under the car during his second stop and kept him on pit road for about 10 seconds too long. That gave the runner-up spot back to de Ferran. De Ferran, a 32-year-old driver, never let his teammate get too far ahead and finished just 0.954 seconds about eight car-lengths behind.

The winner averaged 104.949 mph. Although de Ferran moved past Michael Andretti into the series lead, the closest championship battle in CARTs history got even tighter. The top six drivers began the day separated by 20 points and ended the race just 17 apart. celebrate Bobby Rahal won three CART titles as a driver and is currently the organization's chief executive. apolis 500 but acquiesced to Ford's wishes and did not participate.

The three-time CART driving champion, who retired following the 1998 season, replaced Andrew Craig as CARTs president and CEO in June. Rahal has spent most of his waking hours since working on schedules, television contracts, rules and series sponsorships. Privately, he has said that as soon as CARTs 2000 season ends (Oct. 29 at Fontana, he'll be ready to step down. But as of now, there is no successor.

"We've asked Roger Bailey (who runs the Dayton Indy Lights series) to take the job, but he doesn't want to," said Pat Patrick, one of CARTs co-founders. "Steve Home (former CART owner) would be an ideal choice but right now we don't have anybody." Notes CART and the Indy Racing League are finally getting together. Next year, the Dayton Indy Lights series (owned by CART) will run with Tony George's all-oval series in the IRL's new venues at Kansas City and Chicago CARTs silly season has evidently taken a good turn for Jimmy Vasser. The 1996 CART champ has been offered a nice contract by the German racing company Zaks-peed, which will likely form a partnership with Gerry Forsythe and use his crew in Columbus, Ohio starting next year. Zaks-peed, which once competed in F-l, plans a two-car effort with a German and American driver.

The battle for driver Cristiano da Matta's contract appears to be among team owners Carl Haas, Morris Nunn and Frank Arciero. CART officially announced it will reduce horsepower for the next two years. In 2001, the turbocharger boost will be reduced from 40 inches to 37, and then to 34 in 2002, with the hopes of knocking the horsepower from 900 to 775. Contact Robin Miller at (317) 633-9184 or via e-mail at robin.millerstarnews.com http:speednet.starnews.com 1 BAHAMAS CRUISE 3f8-T-. GAME VACATION Meals, Entertainment, Parties Game Tickets.

Carnival December 14-17, 2000 www.cruiscfanaticf.cem 1-8QO-984FANS 3 267) Home of the Prop Bet! Halliime Betting Lines Player Matchups 1 Presidential Election Odds 1 Daily Golf Matchups 1 Dow-Jones Wagering AN( AK Driver Vs Driver Or Bv Phone Lfc XT' I'B rtf Castroneves wins; de Ferran comes in second and takes over CART points lead. By Mike Harris ASSOCIATED PRESS MONTEREY, Calif. Never very demonstrative, Roger Penske simply closed his eyes and stood quietly for a moment after his cars finished 1-2 in Sunday's featured Shell 300 in the Honda Grand Prix of Monterey. As Helio Castroneves celebrated his third victory of the season, and Penske teammate Gil de Ferran enjoyed the fact that he had vaulted into the CART points lead, Penske was thinking back to a year ago at Laguna Seca Raceway. "I doubt if we could have been any lower," he said.

This win is for Gonzalo. It means a lot to all of us on this team." Rookie Gonzalo Rodriguez, in only his second start for Penske's team which was then locked in a three-year winless string was killed in a crash during practice for the Monterey race. Penske immediately withdrew the car entered for Al Unser Jr. and left the track in disarray and sadness. Now, a year later, with two new drivers, some key personnel changes and a new car-engine-tire combination, Team Penske is again looking like the elite outfit that owns 104 victories and nine national championships.

This whole team has a can-do attitude, and they work ungodly hours to make sure everything is By Hank Kurz Jr. ASSOCIATED PRESS RICHMOND, Va. Jeff Gordon's Winston Cup season hasn't gone much like previous years, when he dominated and won almost everything. Instead, Gordon has largely been off the radar screen this year, his week-to-week performances leaving him in the background while Bobby Labonte, Dale Jarrett and Dale Earnhardt battle for victories and the series points championship. The Chevrolet 400 was like that, too, on Saturday night, until Gordon drove out of the shadows and into the spotlight at just the right time.

He put himself in position to win and did just that for the 52nd time in his career. Just like the old days. "When they dropped the green flag with 15 laps to go, I just drove in there as hard as I possibly could and hoped the thing would turn and I could get up beside Jeff," Gordon said of Jeff Burton, the leader until Gordon made his move on the first lap of a 15-lap dash to the finish. Gordon passed Burton before the first lap was completed and pulled away, leaving those giving chase to battle amongst themselves long enough to make it academic. Gordon beat Earnhardt by .744 seconds.

For Gordon, his third victory of the year also was a sign of things to come. Since finishing 33rd, 23rd, 36th and 23rd in four August races, he's finished fourth at Darlington and claimed his first victory under the lights at Richmond. "I'm thankful to get August out of the way and come into September," he said, crew chief Robbie Loomis shaking his head in agreement alongside. The last two weeks have been great and we've been able to show what we're capable of." And Gordon, driving his first full season without Ray Evern-ham in his pits and maybe with something to prove, has helped hold the team together, Loomis said. "Jeff has a meeting with us every Sunday before the race," Loomis said.

"He's been the real leader of this whole thing, and when he has those meetings, it keeps us pumped up. The guys see that we might not be getting the bottom line at the end of the day, but we're still going in the right direction." victory I feu BP ill i. i 4 ill Shell 300 (Top finishers) Driver Car 1. Helio Castroneves R-H 2. Gil de Ferran R-H 3.

Dario Franchitti R-H 4. Bryan Herta R-F 5. Kenny Brack R-F 6. Juan Montoya L-T 7. Maurlcio Gugelmin R-M 8.

Jimmy Vasser L-T 9. Patrick Carpenter R-F 10. Christian Fittipaldi L-F Chassis: R-Reynard, L-Lola, P-Penske. Engines: H-Honda, F-Ford, M-Mercedes, T-Toyota. Series Points leaders: de Ferran 132, Andretti 126, Paul Tracy 122, Adrian Fernandez 118, Brack 116.

right," said de Ferran, who gave Penske his first series leader since Paul Tracy was out front after the 11th race in 1997. Castroneves, who hadn't won a CART event prior to this season, and de Ferran have now combined to win five of the 16 races this season. The excited Castroneves, who also dedicated the victory to Rod 41 id in: i i 1 4 3 4 -I I I i I i ti: Schumacher can't II i rj ST js -4 WAGER BY PHONE OR NET Pro College Football Baseball All Sports AtcoMBt Special 15 Bonus 1 1H 3 Team Parlay 1 1. 1 31-1 4 Team Parlay CASINO Online MLB -rf- nj-rs V' i www.5dimes.com A Night of Racing Excitement at the Indianapolis Speedrome Saturday, September 23rd 2000 We're giving away FOUR FREE tickets to the first SOO lucky callers. CALL (31 7) 624-4636 ENTER CATEGORY 3400 Only one winning entry per household! Not for Resale, Italian Grand Prix win over Hakkinen comes in the wake of death of a track worker.

Associated Press MONZA, Italy A tearful Michael Schumacher found little reason to celebrate following his victory in Sunday's Italian Grand Prix. Schumacher's win was tempered by the death of a track worker. Paolo Ghislimberti, 33, a track crew member, was killed by flying debris following a first-lap chain collision. Schumacher, who broke into tears following the awards ceremony, would not say why he was crying and could not stop sobbing. "Sometimes there are questions which must not be made or answered," Schumacher said.

"I would just say I'm happy and exhausted. This means a lot to me. What happened in the race has only a secondary importance I'm very sad to hear about the death." Schumacher's Ferrari finished 3.81 seconds ahead of his McLaren rival, Mika Hakkinen. The victory was Schumacher's third in five years in the Formula One race and his sixth this season. Formula One's next stop is the revival of the U.S.

Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sept. 24. F-l hasn't raced in the United States in several years. The crash that killed Ghislimberti came on the second curve on the course. The crash sent seven cars off the track and left 15 drivers in the race.

The victory revived Schumacher's Formula One title hopes and touched off wild celebrations by the capacity crowd, unaware of the worker's death. Schumacher, who started from the pole, lost command only briefly when he pitted to refuel and change tires. Hakkinen, who at one point trailed the leader by 12 seconds, charged back in the laps. INDIANAPOLIS 31 7-624-4636 Xv-iu womutkhi mm of mwmtis sm NOW APPEARING Babes East Only Sept 1 1-Sept 16 O.V'v. jlfc.

girl, KYLIE KURVES look No catching him this time: Michael Schumacher maintains his lead Mika Hakkinen, the Formula One points leader. Schumacher won Only at: If its not a Babes why BUCKET OF BEER $10 EVERY TUES. 2 FOR TUESDAYS FREE ADMISSION TILL 6PM "West Mhm mJbimmmmmmmJk- I'm still in front. I was lucky to finish the race," Hakkinen said. Third-place finisher Ralf Schumacher was nearly a minute behind his brother.

Jos Verstappen was fourth, and Alexander Wurz was fifth. Michael Schumacher tied Ayrton Senna for second place dh the ca IWHliIMi' IIP a Associated Press Domenico Stinellis in the Italian Grand Prix over by 3.81 seconds. reer list of Grand Prix victories on Ferrari's home track. Alain Prost leads with 51. An Italian magistrate opened an investigation into the crash and questioned some of the drivers involved.

The International Auto Racing Federation requested a full report. "He had a little bit faster car, just enough," said Hakkinen, the two-time defending series champion. "In the final laps, Michael had no reason to push any more." With three races left, Hakkinen has 80 points, two more than Schumacher. Two points are not JClot, but If 'S ..4. 38th Lafayette Rd.

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