Arizona Republic from Phoenix, Arizona • Page 46

MotorSports C8 I KI1.Y. UNi: 21. 2002 The Arizona Republic ARIZONA RACES NOTES i- --jmmmmmmyYmmmmmmtwa mwmmgmr'tBawmm uw WJ yf MANZANITA SPEEDWAY Boat switching to Infiniti engine By Mark Armijo The Arizona Republic Friday: Super stocks, factory stocks, bombers. Saturday: International Motor Contest Association modifieds, minisprints, dwarf cars. Information: (602) 276-7575.

CANYON RACEWAY Friday: IMCA modifieds, ministocks, modified midgets. Saturday: Arizona Sprint Car Association, midgets, motorcycles, ATV. Information: (602) 258-RACE. FIREBIRD INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY Friday: Drag racing. Information: (602) 268-0200.

SPEEDWORLD MOTORPLEX Friday: Street trophy, pro trophy, gambler, time only, VIP lane drag racing. Saturday: NHRA Summit Racing ET Series. Information: (623) 388-2424. CENTRAL ARIZONA RACEWAY Saturday: Modifieds, street stocks, factory stocks, dwarf cars. Information: (520) 723-8888.

TUCSON RACEWAY PARK Saturday: NASCAR super late models, Grand American modifieds, factory stocks. Information: (520) 762-9200. SOUTHWESTERN INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY Saturday: Fuel Altered Nationals. Information: (520) 762-9700. Schedules subject to change THIS WEEKEND ON TV ilrii ri 1 Chuck BurtonAssociated Press Ricky Rudd says he enjoys the variety that road racing gives NASCAR to the course have lessened the challenge of driving at Sears Point Raceway in bonoma, laiir.

NASCAR's drivers divided on merits of road racing NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series O'Reilly 200 TV: 10 a.m. Saturday, ESPN Defending champion: Dennis Setzer Site: Millington, Tenn. Race 8 of 22 this season, set for 200 laps (150 miles). Skinny: No pole sitter has won a race this season, and the average winning starting position is 9.71. Web site: www.nascar.com Formula One European Grand Prix TV: 4:30 a.m.

Sunday, SPEED Defending champion: Michael Schumacher Site: Nurburgring, Germany. Race 9 of 17 this season, scheduled for 60 laps (191.76 miles) over a 3.196-mile road course. Skinny: With 43-point lead in the drivers standings, Schumacher has the equivalent of a four-race lead over Juan Pablo Montoya. Web site: www.formulal.com NASCAR Winston Cup Series DodgeSave Mart 350 TV: 11:30 a.m. Sunday, Fox Defending champion: Tony Stewart Site: Sonoma, Calif.

Race 16 of 36 this By Mark Armijo The Arizona Republic Hold the wine and cheese, please. If it were up to Jimmy Spencer, there wouldn't be a NASCAR road course race Sunday in California's Napa Valley. There would be a huge hole in the ground instead of Sears Point Race way in Sonoma. "Our sport has outgrown road rac ing," Spencer said. "If I had my options, I'd want to clear (Sears Point) and use it as a bomb-testing site.

I just don't think road racing has any part in our sport. I don't think it proves anything. I don't think the manufacturers learn anything. (And) I don't think the fans enjoy the racing that much." Johnny Benson crew chief James Ince sure doesn't enjoy it. Ince said he'd "send (NASCAR) a fruit basket" if the series eliminated road courses from the schedule.

"It's not that we dislike road races, but it isn't what we do," Ince said Contrary to Spencer and Ince, not everyone shuns the two road-course venues comprising NASCAR's 36-race schedule, which includes an August race at a twisting Watkins Glen International layout in upstate New York. "I like (road racing)," said Tony Stewart, a former World Karting Association national champion. "I've season, scheduled for 110 laps (220 miles) over 2-mile Sears Point road course. Skinny: Jeff Gordon has won seven road course races the past five seasons, all in the same Chevrolet Monte Carlo. But he'll be in a new car this weekend.

Others: ASA Racing Series at midnight Saturday on TNN; FIM World Superbike Series at 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. Sunday on SPEED. Mark Armijo ARMIJO'S PICKS No wins, no top-five finishes, no more patience. Billy Boat, who has slumped to No.

11 in the Indy Racing League drivers standings after finishing a strong fourth last season, is switching from Chevrolet horsepower to Infiniti beginning with the July 7 race at Kansas Speedway. "The objective with this team is to win races, and we feel Infiniti power is the best way to do that," said Boat, who co-owns the Deer Valley-based Billy Boat team. "We considered other Chevy engine builders, but with the way the Infinitis have run this year, we feel it's our best option." Although Chevy engines have powered drivers to all seven wins this season, rookie Tomas Scheckter, one of only four Infiniti drivers entered in next week's race at Richmond, has twice recorded the most laps led, including the Indianapolis 500. Boat hopes a string of better results during the season's second half would also spur interest from Toyota and Honda, engine manufacturers joining the series in 2003. Infiniti recently announced it would not return after the 2002 season.

"Everybody likes a winner, and if we can go out and prove our team can win races or run at the front, we feel it gives us a better bargaining position with any engine manufacturer," Boat said. Pit stops NASCAR and Britney Spears Productions have agreed to develop and produce a movie involving the stock car circuit. Spears will co-star as a fictional daughter of a successful, modern-day NASCAR team owner as a woman who "uses her knowledge and experience in the family business to inspire a former NASCAR driver to regain his desire to return to racing." Any bets on when the first rumors of a SpearsDale Earnhardt Jr. romance start ap pearing on pit road? Jim Maguire, hospitalized since May 4 after an accident at Firebird International Raceway Park in which he suffered smoke inhalation and second- and third-degree burns, died Wednesday. He was 62.

Maguire, who lived in Glen- dale, drove stock cars for sev eral years at Manzanita Speedway. He also made several NASCAR Winston West and Sports Car Club of America Trans-Am starts during his career. Visitation is from 1-4 p.m. Saturday at Messinger Mortu ary, 8555 E. Pinnacle Peak Road, Scottsdale.

The funeral also is Saturday at 4 p.m. I NASCAR's version of the Stanley Cup trophy is on display for three days beginning today at Phoenix International Raceway's downtown ticket office. IPIR officials are taking their ticket office on the road for six consecutive days begin ning Tuesday. Fans wanting to buy seats for the NASCAR races scheduled Nov. 7-10 can do so at Checker Auto Parts stores located in Yuma, Lake Havasu, Flagstaff, Show Low and Tuc son.

Call (602) 252-2227 for more information. 623 DodgeSave Mori 350 74 Pepsi 400 714 Tropicona 400 721 New England 300 728 Pennsylvania 500 84 Brickvord 400 81 1 Sirius Satellite dodio at the Glen 818 Pepsi 400 824 Sharpie 500 91 Mountain Dew Southern 500 97 Chevrolet Monte Carlo 400 915 New Hampshire 300 922 MBNA America 400 929 Protection One 400 106 EA Sports 500 1013 UAW-GM Quality 500 1020 Martinsville Speedway 1027 NAPA 500 113 Pop Secret Microwave Popcorn 400 110 Checker Auto Ports 500 1117 Homesieod Miami Speedwoy Schumacher is top ESPY nominee drivers. He says, however, that changes Chris Cook, a senior instructor at the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving located next to Firebird International Raceway Park, wasn't surprised to see Stew art roar into the winner's circle last season. "When he came to our class, he was light-years ahead of anybody else I've ever worked with," said Cook, who instructed Stewart three years ago. "He's got an unbelievably good feel for road racing, and that's very rare." So rare that most NASCAR Win ston Cup Series drivers still are trying to learn the finer points of turn ing right as well as left.

"But in order to be successful, you have to have a good turning car that can accelerate like a bank robber taking off from a heist," Hut Strick-lin said. Robby Gordon had that kind of car last year. He was leading with 11 laps to go, but stubbornly used up his tires while trying to fend off the lapped car of Kevin Harvick. "I learned something in that race," Gordon said. "I've got to be a little bit smarter of a guy at the wheel and not let stuff like that bother me." Gordon still likes his chances.

"I've got to be honest," he said. "I think I can pass in every corner there. There's plenty of places to pass there if you know how to pass on a road course." for a driver competing in the race for the first time, is a little like trying to climb Mount Everest. 4. Harvick.

He finished ninth in the 2001 drivers standings, but there were extenuating circumstances. Harvick was pressed into immediate duty following the tragic death of Dale Earnhardt in the season-opening Daytona 500, and despite missing the opener, still finished in the top 10 and won twice under tremendous pressure. Harvick also captured the Busch Series crown. 5. Hornish Some might say he deserves to be ranked higher.

Hornish won three of 13 races but also recorded an astonishing 11 top-five and 12 top-10 finishes en route to the IRL driving title. 6. De Ferran. It's not easy becoming a CART champion. The circuit is made up of short ovals, long ovals, permanent road courses and temporary street circuits.

De Ferran was good, winning twice to go along with the CART championship. Not good enough. 7. Force. Sorry, John, but a ninth straight Funny Car crown won't be enough to land a first ESPY.

Reach the reporter at (602) 444-8323 or at mark.armijoarizonarepublic.com. or 2 Payments of 549a faf itt NmwyWr. Mm not be awmhle al oibov rVograiwwi jlmt bemo. In i 1K1 (m (mmtmUmM 1 F-l Grand Prix of Europe WINNER: Juan Pablo Montoya. Can anyone stop Michael Schumacher? NASCAR Craftsman Truck O'Reilly 200 WINNER: Mike Bliss.

Lots of short-track experience. NASCAR WC DodgeSave Mart 350 WINNER: Jeff Gordon. Home sweet home. WEB WATCH always said it from Day 1 that it's nice to have something that is a little bit of a change from our normal daily grind." Stewart likely enjoys it even more after winning last year's race. Ricky Rudd, another former Sears Point winner, wouldn't mind more road races.

"I enjoy the variety," Rudd said. "On a scale of one to 10, with 10 being the most difficult, Sears Point used to be an eight or a nine. But with all the ongoing changes with the racetrack to put more grandstands in and make more straightaways, they've taken that track from a Level 8 down to a 4 or 5. "I think they've made it very easy, and what you're going to see from that is the racing continue to get a little closer because it doesn't take as much skill level to run up front as it used to a few years ago." Track management could put in a maze and it likely wouldn't matter to Jeff Gordon. Although Gordon is winless this season, he's won seven of the past 10 road course races, including three of the past four at Sears Point.

"The first time you go to a road course, you think you'll never be able to win one," Gordon said. "All of a sudden, you start clicking and getting comfortable with shifting and braking. And, then, you find yourself in victory lane." Past ESPY winners 2001 Bobby Labonte 2000 DaleJarrett 1999 Jeff Gordon 1998 Jeff Gordon 1997 Jimmy Vasser 1996 Jeff Gordon 1995 Al Unser Jr. 1994 Nigel Mansell 1993 Nigel Mansell an uneven Formula One playing field. But a fast car still would spin in its own tracks without a talented driver behind the steering wheel, and that driver is Schumacher.

Schumacher won 9 of 17 races last season and seemingly already had clinched the title by the first day of summer. Schumacher also broke the mark for all-time wins, surpassing Alain Prost, who had 51 career wins. 2. Gordon. Although Gordon didn't dominate, he still won a series-high six races and a fourth title.

3. Castroneves. Spiderman lives. Castroneves, who likes to climb chain-link fencing after bursts into the winner's circle, made three such ascents last season. Two came on the CART circuit, where he finished fourth in the drivers standings, and a third victory came in the Indianapolis 500, which Cable.

iwww.bgnracing.com If you're more interested in the NASCAR Busch Series than Winston Cup, this might be the place to go for all your Grand National news. It's easy to navigate and contains plenty of historical data as well as up-to-the-minute information. POINTS LEADERS By Mark Armijo The Arizona Republic Who will win the 2002 ESPY Award for best driver? This is who won't: John Force. By Force standards, he had a ho-hum 2001 National Hot Rod Association season, winning six Funny Car races in 13 final-round appearances. And if 11 wins in 2000 wasn't enough to convince the ESPN voting committee to select Force over 2001 ESPY winner Bobby Labonte, simple arithmetic tends to suggest he's got zero chance this year against the likes of Jeff Gordon, Gil de Ferran and Michael Schumacher.

At least Force was nominated. Some who weren't include Kenny Brack, who led all CART drivers with four wins during the 2001 season; Buddy Lazier, who also led the Indy Racing League with four wins; and Kenny Bernstein, who at age 56 won eight races and the NHRA Top Fuel championship. In addition to Force, Gordon, de Ferran and Schumacher, this year's best-driver list also includes Helio Castroneves, Kevin Harvick and Sam Hornish Jr. This is how The Arizona Republic would cast its vote, if it had one: 1. Schumacher.

Yes, we know Ferrari dominates NASCAR Winston Cup Point Leaders Through June 16 1. Sterling Marlin 2. Jimmie Johnson 3. Jeff Gordon 4. Marti Martin 5.

Matt Kensetfl 6. Rusty Wallace 7. Tony Stewart 8. Ricky fiudd 9. Kurt Busch 10.

Bill Elliott 4. Jason Keller 5. Kenny Wallace 6. Randy LaJoie 7. Bobby Hamilton Jr.

8. Scott Wimmer 9. Mike McLaughlin 10. Stacy Compton NASCAR Truck Standings Through June 7 1 David Starr 2 Rick Crawford 3 Ted Musgrave 4 Mike Bliss 5 Jason Leffler 6 Robert Pressley 7 Dennis Setzer 8 Travis Kvapil 9 Brendan Gaughan 10 Terry Cook 2163 2075 2035 2019 2003 1945 1922 1078 1061 1058 1041 953 949 928 915 911 894 2.164 2.054 2.054 1.990 1.974 1.972 1.935 1.870 1.838 1.825 2292 NASCAR Busch Standings Through June 2 2224 2182 1. Jack Sprague 2 Scott Riggs 3.

Greg Biffle NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing from the drivers seat. npnrp Tnnvi Virtual dashboards, in-car audio and real time stats. jr1 ft Switch from car to tar with your remote. 0jLOmJjrrm I I OV 0nlyonm www.cox.comphoenix VJi ibviainid fr CrSvW m. Digital i Dfe tc tirtfomft in Co wwbom ifiidefflui iwefrans SvtricnplKMt Cai 3kto' Cabte is iawW ocfes Ac IUSCU IK 'JU pockofi CwKeJSohor.

fan uiner -tvjre DiWKC i IC It-iroumg' DiaVWO ii wwi iwt of 9iMS IC WSaM 5 1 Hftnt twnroiot IK Htm fcsocaw kn MS.