The Palm Beach Post from West Palm Beach, Florida • Page 169

8B THE PALM BEACH POST SATURDAY, MAY 27, 2000 Saturday Extra WINSTON CUP SPOTLIGHT: COCA-COLA 600 WEEKLY EXTRAS WEDNESDAY: Golf 0222222213 THURSDAY: Outdoors SUNDAY: News Views WHEN: Sunday 6:05 p.m. TV: TBS WHERE Lowe's Motor Speedway, Concord, N.C. Lowe's moves on: Just a week after a pedestrian bridge collapsed after a race, injuring 107 people, Lowe's hosts the Coca-Cola 600 on auto racing's biggest day. Dale Earnhardt, is the polesitter, and defending champ Jeff Burton starts 28th. w-t --w IRL Indianapolis 500 Lineup for Sunday' race in Indianapolis at the 2'4 mile, Indianapolis Motor Speedway track with car number, driver, and four-lap qualification average speed in mph (r-denotes rookie) Row 1 t.

(1) Greg Ray 2. (9) r-Juan Montoya 3 (11) Eliseo Salazar 223471 223372 223231 Row 2 4. (32) Robby Gordon 5. (8) Scott Sharp a (14) Jeff Ward 222 885 222810 222 639 Row' 3 7. (1 0) Jimmy Vasser 221 .976 8.

1 92) Stan Wattles 221 508 9 24) Robbie Buhl 221 357 MiM WW "ISIO'x -ft $7w-- EE ft lL fcW SKIP PETERSONDayton Daily News Sarah Fisher discusses her car's performance with her car team. In three races, she's finished 25th in Texas, 13th in owner, Derrick Walker (left), and another member of her racing Phoenix and crashed in Las Vegas. Rookie to start in Row 7 Waltrip buys into Coca-Cola The Associated Press CONCORD, N.C. Down and seemingly out a day earlier, Darrell Waltrip was back in the Coca-Cola 600 Friday because of an accommodating driver and a last-minute business deal. Waltrip failed to qualify for Sunday's race, but was still able to gain entry into the event when Carl Long, an aspiring Winston Cup driver, agreed to give Waltrip the seat in his car.

Long, 32, had just made the first Winston Cup race of his career when Waltrip, a three-time series champion, asked him to give up D. Waltrip his spot. Long was happy to oblige. "I'm doing this for my future," he said. "Who can help me get noticed? Darrell.

Nobody knows Carl Long Darrell's floor sweepers make more than I do." The deal was finalized Friday after a night of negotiating. Waltrip's Carter-Haas team made a pitch to Thee Dixon, who owns the No. 85 Ford Long occasionally tries to qualify for Winston Cup races. Long had turned the 35th-best lap in qualifying, guaranteeing him a spot in the race. But the team had used an engine geared for qualifying, and didn't have a suitable one to last for the entire 600 miles of the race.

So Carter-Haas offered Dixon its sponsorship for the race if Waltrip could drive. Waltrip, who has won the race five times, is retiring at the end of the year and desperately wanted into the field. "I will make it worth his time, not monetarily, but IH take care of him," Waltrip said. The attention Long is receiving might be enough. "It's so hard to get a friend in this sport and I need some to make it," Long said.

"I heard Darrell call me his new best friend, so it looks like it's working out" Montoya earns Grand Prix pole: Michael Andretti will have the hometown crowd Saturday in the Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix in Nazareth, but Juan Montoya has the pole. Starting astride the Toyota-Lola of Montoya will be the Ford-Lola of Andretti teammate Christian Fittipaldi. The second row has the Honda-Reynards of Helio Castro-Neves and two-time Nazareth winner and points leader Paul Tracy. Blaney has CarQuest pole: Dave Blaney won the pole Thursday for the CarQuest Auto Parts 300 with a race qualifying record lap of 177.328 mph. Mark Martin will start second in today's race.

Elton Sawyer was the highest-qualifying NASCAR Busch Series regular in third. Two women, two (different' ways of thinking The Associated Press INDIANAPOLIS Sarah Fisher and Lyn St James will be the first women to race together in the Indianapolis 500. That doesn't mean they're close. Indy 500 notebook Fisher, 19, made it clear that she wants to bring a new attitude to Indy, where Janet Guthrie and St James had been the only women to make the field. "She helped kick the door open," the teenager said of St James.

"I want to blow it open. I want to win and I think that's maybe a different attitude." Fisher didn't speak glowingly of her experience at St James' driving school. "Lyn's school was more about the media aspects of racing, more about the idea of preparing your mind and body to race," Fisher said. "It didn't focus much of what you're doing in the race car. A lot of the info was not for me.

I didn't take a whole lot away from it" St James, who starts next-to-last in the 33-car field, conceded that she didn't have a close relationship with Fisher. "She came to my school about five years ago," St James said. "I really haven't spoken to her since." Driver released: Hideshi Matsuda, who broke his wrist and knee in a crash during Indianapolis 500 practice on Sunday, was released from Methodist Hospital on Friday. The 45-year-old Japanese driver also had a slight concussion. Forecast better The National Weather Service's predictions of a 60 to 70 percent chance of rain decreased to a 50 percent chance of scattered rain.

The highs will be in the low- to middle-70s I Row 4 10. (51) Eddie Cheever 11. (28) Mark Dismore 12! (5) Robby McGehee 221.270 220.970 220 661 Row 5 6t (4) Scott Goodyear 220 629 14. (18) r-Sam Homish Jr. 220 496 15; (98) Donnie Beechler 220.482 Row 6 16.

(91) Buddy Lazier 1-7: (50) r-Jason Letfler 18. (3) Al Unser Jr. 220 482 220 417 220 293 Row 7 19. (1 5) r-Sarah Fisher 220.237 2a (7) Stephan Gregoire 219 970 21 (88) r-Airton Dare 21 9.970 Row8 22. (12) Buzz Calkins 23.

(75) Richie Hearn 24. (55) Raul Boesel 219862 219816 222.113 Row 9 25: (27) Jimmy Kite 220 71 8 26. (33) r-Jaques Lazier 220.675 27. (23) Steve Knapp 220.290 Row 10 28. (16) Davey Hamilton 219 878 29.

(6) Jeret Schroeder 21 9.322 30. (22) Johnny Unser 21 9 .066 Row 11 31. (41) Billy Boat 218 872 32. (90) Lyn St. James 218 826 33.

(48) r-Andy Hillenburg 218.285 Winston Cup Coca Cola 600 Today's lineup for the race In Concord, N.C. at Lowe's Motor Speedway with qualifying position, car number, driver, make of car, and speed In mph: 1. (8) Dale Earnhardt, Chevy 2. (25) Jerry Nadeau. Chevy 3.

(94) Bill Elliott, Ford 4. (12) Jeremy Mayfield. Ford 5. (31) Mike Skinner, Chevy 6. (16) Kevin Lepage.

Ford 7. (18) Bobby Labonte, Pontiac 8. (88) Dale Jarrett, Ford 9. (20). Tony Stewart, Pontiac 10.

(55) Kenny Wallace. Chevy 11. (26) Jimmy Spencer, Ford 12. (7) Michael Waltnp, Chevy 13. (4) Bobby Hamilton, Chevy 14.

(24) Jeff Gordon, Chevy 15. (3) Dale Earnhardt, Chevy 16. (2) Rusty Wallace. Ford 17. (43) John Andrefti, Pontiac 18.

(1) Steve Park, Chevy 19. (6) Mark Martin, Ford 20. (28) Ricky Rudd, Ford 21. (17) MattKenseth, Ford 22. (50) Ricky Craven.

Chevy 23. (14) Rick Mast, Pontiac 24. (77) Robert Pressley, Ford 25. (11) Brett Bodine, Chevy 26. (32) Scott Pruett, Ford 27.

(33) Joe Nemechek, Chevy 28. (99) Jeff Burton, Ford 29. (60) Geoffrey Bodine, Chevy 30. (93) Dave Blaney, Pontiac 31. (22) Ward Burton, Pontiac 32.

(75) Wally Dallenbach, Ford 33. (42) Kenny Irwin, Chevy 34. (36) Ken Schrader, Pontiac 35. (85) Carl Long. Ford 186.034.

185.122. 184.894. 184.748. 184 483. 184.483.

184.200. 184.168. 183.755. 183.599. 183511.

183 480. 183.399. 183374. 183 324. 183 144.

183.132. 183 001. 182 989. 182 933. 182 846.

182.803. 182.797. 182.531. 182 531. 182.500.

182 476. 182.297. 182.125. 182 100. 181 971.

181.794. 181 531. 181.305. 181.293. 181.044.

Provisional. Provisional. 36. (40) Sterling Martin, Chevy 37. (5) Terry Labonte, Chevy 38.

(97) Chad Little, Ford 39 (10) Johnny Benson, PontiacProvisional. 40. (9) Stacy Compton, Ford Provisional. 41 (21 Elliott Sadler, Ford Provisional. 42.

(13) Robby Gordon, Ford Provisional. 43 (27) Mike Bliss, Pontiac Provisional. failed to qualify (15) Ted Musgrave, Ford 179 015. (44) Steve Grissom. Pontiac 175.171.

(90) Ed Berrier, Ford 174.780. (71 Dave Marcis. Chevy DNS. (66) Darrell Waltrip, Ford DNF. CART Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix Lineup for today's race (postponed from April 9) In Nazareth, at the Nazareth Speedway with car number in parenthesis, driver, time In seconds, and speed In mph: 1.

(1) Juan Montoya, 19 255 176 868. 2. (11) Christian Fittipaldi, 19.306 176 401. 3 (3) Helio Castro-Neves, 19.359 175 918. 4.

(26) Paul Tracy, 1 9 362 1 75.891 5 (2) Gil de Ferran, 19.391 175.628. 6 (8) Kenny Brack, 19 409 175 465. 7. (20) Roberto Moreno, 19 417 175.393. 8 (55) Tony Kanaan, 19 498 174 664.

9. (40) Adrian Fernandez, 19 552 174.182. 10. (32) Patnck Carpentier, 19.554 174 164. 11.

(12) Jimmy Vasser, 19 558 174.128. 12 (17) Mauricio Gugelmin, 19 656 173.260. Alex Tagliani, 19 695 172 917. 14 (27) Dario Franchitti, 19 695 172 917. 15.

(6) Michael Andretti, 19.755 172 392. 16. (7) Max Papis, 19 844 171 619. 17. (19) Takuya Kurosawa, 19.901 171.127.

Onol Servia. 19.933 170 852. 19. (18) Mark Blundell, 19.969 170 544. 20.

(97) Cnstiano da Matta, 20 075 169 644. 21. (16) Michel Jourdain 20 083 169 576. 22. (10) Noberto Fontana, 20.741 164.197.

Busch series Carquest Auto Parts 300 Lineup for today's race In Charlotte at Lowe's Motor Speedway with start position car number, driver, make of car, and qualifying speed In mph: 1(20) Dave Blaney. Pontiac 2. "(60) Mark Martin, Ford 3 (98) Elton Sawyer. Ford 4. (9) Jeff Burton, Ford 5 117) Matt Kenseth, Chevy 6 (24) Jeff Gordon, Chevy 7 81) Blaise Alexander, Chevy 8 (71) Kevin Lepage, Ford 9 (66) Todd Bodine, Chew 10 (53) Hank Parker, Chevy 1f.

(15) Mike Skinner, Chevy 12. (42) Kenny Irwin, Chevy 13. (21) Mike Dillon. Chevy 14. (87) Joe Nemechek, Chevy 15.

(26) B. Hamilton, Chevy 18. (77) Chad Chaffm, Ford 17. (35) Lyndon Amick, Chevy 18. (43) Jay Sauter, Chevy 19.

(0) Lance Hooper, Chevy 20. (12) Jimmy Spencer, Chevy 21. (90) Mike Stefanik, Chevy 22. (37) Tim Fedewa, Chevy 23. (18) Jason Letfler, Pontiac 24.

(00) Buckshot Jones, Chevy 29 (82) Glenn Allen; Chevy 28 (10) Jeff Green, Chevy 27. (5) Dick Tnckle. Chevy 28. (48) Mike McLaughlin, Chevy 2a (25) Kenny Wallace. Chevy 3a (30) Chad Little, Chevy 31.

(27) Casey Atwood, Chevy 32 (34) David Green, Chevy 33. (11) Jason Jarrett, Chevy 34. (22) Ward Burton, Pontiac 35. (61) Darrell Lanigan. Chevy 177 608 177 532.

177.148. 177 061. 177 032. 177 020. 176 916.

176 904 176 887. 176817. 176.765. 176 754. 176 748.

176 569. 176 499. 176 419. 176 338 176.321. 176 229 175 942.

175896. 175884 175 856. 175.798. 175 684. 175 633.

175 587. 175 547 175 541. 175 501. 175439. 175 302.

175.160. 174938 174746. 174 723. provisional, provisional, provisional, provisional, provisional. 38.

(3) Ron Homaday, Chevy 37. (1) Randy LaJoie, Chevy 38 (57) Jason Keller, Chevy 39. (2) Kevin Harvick, Chevy 40. (37) Kevin Grubb. Chevy 41.

(59) Phil Parsons. Chevy 42. (33) Tony Raines. Chew provisional. 43.

(92) Jimmie Johnson, Chevy provisional. INDY 500 From IB 1981 ever to start the world's most famous auto race. Just as historic, shell become only the third woman to compete in the 500, a race that first was run in 1911. Yet, while Janet Guthrie (1977-79) and Lyn St. James, who debuted in 1992 and at age 53 starts in the final row Sunday, came before her, neither of them got the kind of reception Fisher received.

Guthrie was booed by some and both women were merely tolerated by many. Neither because their Indy chance came late in their careers and always came with inferior race equipment was considered a real race rival by any of the front-runners. It's different with Fisher. Although she is just 5-feet-2 and 120 pounds, she is the biggest thing to hit Indy this year. She's being embraced not only by the fans, but by Indy 500 old-schoolers such as Al Unser the taciturn four-time winner who has taken her under his 60-year old wing and was heard again Thursday gushing, "She's special." As outspoken veteran Eddie Cheever, who won here two years ago and starts Sunday in Row 4 was saying: Tou can't teach somebody to be fast.

Either they have it or they don't and she has it." The Indy folks are just learning what many people around the Dayton area have known for a good while. Her favorite short track is Eldora Speedway, where she's often raced. Fisher, a no-nonsense driver from Commercial Point, competed at Shady Bowl outside DeGraff and last year set a Map record on the treacherous high banks of nearby Winchester (Ind.) Speedway. Her big break in racing came in October when car owner Dale Pelfrey hired her to make her Indy Racing League debut at the Texas Motor Speedway. Here at Indy where she is driving for car owner Derrick Walker, who signed her to a five-year contract one of her sponsors is Mead.

"I think a lot of the people who really get to know her see the same thing I do," said Walker, who had five Indy 500 winners when he headed Roger Penske's racing operation in the 1980s. "When I look at Sarah, I don't look at her as female. I look at her as an up and coming, rising star. She is someone we think has a big future in this business." She also has quite a past. Fisher inherited guts To understand Sarah's spunk said Reba, her mom you need to go back three generations to her grandmother, 85-year-old Evelyn Grindell, who 60 years ago when his race car hit in a wall during practice for a NASCAR event in New Hampshire.

While both Sarah and her mom acknowledged the danger involved in this pursuit, they quickly rationalized their situation and talked about how many more boys get hurt playing football every year. Rookie woes Fisher has never seen the Indy 500 in person and has only watched it on television a couple of times. She has raced just three IRL events, finishing 25th with Pelfrey last October when the timing chain in her car broke. She finished 13th at Phoenix earlier this year and then crashed during the Indy Vegas 300 last month. In that race she'd worked her way to second place before spinning in front of Eliseo Salazar.

Both cars were knocked out of the race and the 44-year-old Salazar, who had led the race awhile, was livid. In a TV interview after the wreck, he groused: This is serious business out here. This is not powder puff racing." He said Fisher was in over her head and should go back and "race with girls." Fisher, never one to get ruffled, was unfazed: "Yeah, I goofed. Big deal. I've seen him do the same before." She was right Salazar who later apologized does have of a bit of a reckless reputation.

Al Unser Jr. the driving mentor for IRL rookies quickly jumped to Fisher's defense: "She's not in over her head. Not at all. She responds really well with a car. Any time I've ever sat down and talked, she listened and then was able to go out and do what we talked about She never seems rattled." Unser loves her eagerness and curiosity.

He also believes she's "a racer at heart" a compliment like none he's ever given to an Indy rookie. While Unser supports her, veteran Mario Andretti isn't so flattering: "Women racers have never proven they can be competitive. I'm not talking about second or third. Until they win, they're not a factor. It's that simple." Fisher had an answer for him, too: "He's got a point I mean there hasn't been a dominant female.

With me this isn't a female issue. I'm not here to make a statement about women. And I won't do promotions that are exclusively about women. I'm a race car driver and I'm here to race. And I might just be a kid going into this right now, but I think its pretty neat I might be way ahead of schedule, but right now I pass clean, I hold my own and Sunday I'm going to drive my heart out And one day here I'm going to blow the doors open here." In some ways, she already has.

Women racers have never proven they can be competitive. I'm not talking about second or third. Until they win, they're not a factor. It's that MARIO ANDRETTI Indy 500 veteran got her pilot's license. Reba was racing go-karts when she met and beat Dave Fisher, the man who would end up her husband.

Sarah is Dave and Reba's only child and from the start she showed a precocious streak. She learned to swim before she was 1 and could play the piano at 3. When she was 5 she began racing quarter-midgets. Three years later she moved to go-karts, where she won three World Karting Association titles. Dave was racing go-karts then, too, but he soon found himself in the shadows: "I was coming home every night after getting beat and she was coming home those nights a winner.

I said we've got to switch our thinking here. We've got to put our efforts behind Sarah." St James who will be starting her seventh Indy 500 and finished 11th and won Rookie of the Year honors in 1992 likes what she sees in Fisher. "Sarah is really a product of Title LX. She grew up in an era, in a generation, when parents said it was OK for their little girls to do all the types of things little boys had been doing all along. When I was 19, 1 was trying to find a husband and working as a secretary.

I didn't come to Indy until I was 45. "But Sarah is a product of the system that produced (soccer stars) Mia Hamm and Julie Fouty and the WNBA's Cynthia Cooper. The country knows a woman can race and now there really is one coming." By the time she was 15, Fisher was competing in sprint cars and last year she had five victories on the midgets circuit. While racing, she was also a straight-A, National Honor Society student at Teays Valley. After graduation she had planned to attend Ohio State and study mechanical engineering, but then Pelfrey made her an offer she couldn't refuse.

"I won't ever forget Dale Pelfrey," Fisher said. "He gave me my first Indy car ride. He believed in me from the start" Amid all this euphoria is the sobering fact that another 19-year-old race car driver the much heralded Adam Petty, grandson of Richard Petty was killed recently.