The Times from Shreveport, Louisiana • Page 23

THE TIMES www.shreveporttimes.com SATURDAY, JUNE 30, 2001. 5C WlFWmPEw Sarah Fisher qualifies second at Richmond Before getting the call, Lazier expected to be home this weekend. When Schmidt called to offer him the ride, "I jumjjed in a heartbeat because I knew this team was going to have what it takes to be up front," the journeyman driver said. This is a tremendous opportunity for me." The SunTrust Indy Challenge tonight will be Iazier's 19lh career start in the series, fourth this year and first for Schmidt. "This is almost as good as doing it yourself," said Schmidt, who became a car owner after he was paralyzed in a practice crash last year.

i tflP NASCAR president Mike Helton believes Winston Cup racing remains in good shape despite the death of Dale Earnhardt, increased skepticism about driver safety, and scrutiny over how the circuit handled the tragedy. Fisher's starting spot broke her IRL record of a fourth at Kentucky as a rookie last season. She was actually through several drivers, drawing a roar from the sparse crowd, until Lazier bumper her late in the session. The lap for Fisher also came a day after she became the first driver to crash in practice, and missed the evening practice session. "It was a great comeback," she said, thanking her crew for fixing the minor damage she did to her car overnight "ITiey did a great job of putting the car back together and giving me an even better car." Jr AP the sake of reacting," Helton said, repeating what he said the day after Earnhardt's death.

Despite these problems, fans are watching the races in unprecedented numbers. TV ratings rose 29 percent in the first half of the season, thanks in part to the new TV contract with Fox. NBC and TNT take over the coverage beginning at Daytona. The second half of the season will offer even more challenges. Two weeks after the return to Daytona, the drivers go back to Loudon, N.H., the track where Adam Petty and Kenny Irwin died last year.

The football season starts about the same time NASCAR begins making its second trip of the year to many tracks. In some cities, ticket sales are a concern, although it's hard to pinpoint a cause: If the second-half gate is down, NASCAR easily could blame it on a slowing economy. Helton believes the sport is still getting stronger. "Dale meant a lot to a lot of people, and we acknowledge that," Helton said. "Like any other close friend or family member that you lose, you certainly miss that person a lot.

But NASCAR is in great shape, and I think the future is very bright." rather quickly. I've never done it before but I really felt comfortable (in my audition). I think it's going to be fun. "It's like anything else, be it a race team or broadcast team. I think chemistry is everything.

And we have great chemistry up in the booth and in the pits and I think that will show at Davtona, for starters." One thing that NBC and TNT will have to battle with that Fox did not will be the NFL in the fall. "We can't go and say we're going to beat up the NFL, that's the No. 1 sport in the country," Hood said. "But NASCAR is the No. 2 sport and it's growing." And NBC and TNT hope their coverage keeps fans in-tune.

"We've done our homework and accomplished what we've set out to accomplish," Waltrip said of Fox. "Now it's time for (NBC and TNT) to get a shot at it and see what they can do. We wish them all the best." and the 2001 Points Races WINSTON CUP 1. Jeff Gordon, 2. Dale Jarrett, 3.

Ricky Rudd, 4. lony Stewart, 5. Sterling Martin, 6. Rusty Wallace, 7. Johnny Benson, 8.

Bobby Labonte. 1.906: 9. Kevin Harvick, Gordon 10. Steve Park, 1,858. I BUSCH SERIES 1.

Kevin Harvick, 2. Greg Biffle, 3. Jeff Green, 4. Jason Keller, 5. Mike McLaughlin, 6.

Tony Raines, 7. Jeff Purvis, 8. Jimmie Johnson, 9. Elton Sawyer, 10. Chad Little, 1,810.

CRAFTSMAN TRUCK 1. Scott Riggs, 2. Joe Ruttman, 3. Jack Sprague, 4. Ricky Hendrick, Travis Kvapil, Ted Musgrave, 7.

Terry Cook, 8. Rick Crawford, 9. Randy Tolsma Riggs 10. Dennis Setzer, 1,244. CART SERIES Kenny Brack, 76; 2.

Helio Castroneves, 69; 3. Michael 53; 4. Christiano da Matta, 49; 5. Christian 'Fittipaldi, 46; 6. Dario Franchitti, 45; Gil de Ferran, Scott iDixon, 44; Paul Tracy, Jimmy Vasser, 40.

INDY RACING LEAGUE i'Sam Hornish, 229; 2. Eliseo Salazar, 173; 3. Scott Sharp, 4. Buddy Lazier, 167; 5. Felipe Giaffone, 166; 6.

Billy Boat, 147; 7. Jeff Ward, 120; 8. Buzz Calkins, 119; 9. Greg Ray, 10. Airton Dare, 114.

FORMULA ONE 1. Michael Schumacher, 68; 2. David Coulthard, 44; 3. Rubens -Barrichello, 26; 4. Ralf 25; 5.

Juan 'Montoya, 12; 6. Mika Hakkinen, 7. Nick Heidfeld, Jarno Truli, Jacques Villeneuve, Raikkonen, 7. 2001 Schedules WINSTON CUP JULY 7: Pepsi 400, Daytona International Speedway, 6:30 p.m., NBC (KTAL 6) JULY 15: Tropicana 400, Chicagoland Speedway, 1:30 p.m., NBC (KTAL 6) BUSCH SERIES SUNDAY: Sears DieHard 250, The Milwaukee Mile, noon, FX JULY 8: Watkins Glen 200, Watkins Glen International, 1 p.m., TNT CRAFTSMAN TRUCK TODAY: Sears DieHard 200, The Milwaukee Mile, noon, ESPN INDY RACING LEAGUE TODAY: Richmond Indy 200, Richmond International Raceway, 7 p.m., ESPN CART SERIES SUNDAY: Marconi Grand Prix, Burke Lakefront Park, noon, ABC (KTBS 3) FORMULA ONE SUNDAY: French Grand Prix, MagnyCours. TEXAS Vfl MOTOR SPEEDWAY 2001 Schedule Sept.

13 Wolf Brand Chili 100, UDTRA (Dirt Track) Sept. 14 Dallas Morning News Pole Day, NASCAR Craftsman Trucks and IRL Sept. 14 O'Reilly Texas Showdown, Pennzoil World of Outlaws (Dirt Track) Sept. 15 Fort Worth 400, NASCAR Craftsman Trucks Sept. 15 O'Reilly Texas Showdown, Pennzoil World of Outlaws (Dirt Track) Sept.

16 IRL, Lone Star 500 Oct. 12 13 Extreme Monster Truck Nationals (Dirt Track) nr Driver recovers from Thursday's crash; J. Lazier grabs pole. The Associated Press RICHMOND, Va. Jaques Lazier, who got a ride earlier this week, knocked Sarah Fisher aside Friday and won the pole for the Indy Racing Northern Light Series' debut at Richmond International Raceway.

Lazier turned a lap at a track-record 160.417 mph, depriving Fisher of her The Associated Press DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. The president of NASCAR believes Winston Cup racing remains in good shape despite the death of Dale Earnhardt, increased skepticism about driver safety, and scrutiny over how the circuit handled the tragedy. "I think there's a human factor you attach to sports that prevents you from being completely adequate," Mike Helton said in an interview with The Associated Press. "Still, I don't think we would have handled anything differently." Next week, NASCAR returns to Daytona Beach for the first time since Earnhardt died Feb. 18 on the final lap of the Daytona 500.

It's sure to be an emotional return, as drivers come back to the scene of the loss of the sport's best-known figure. Of course. Daytona is also the site of NASCAR headquarters and ground zero for the legal battle over Earnhardt's autopsy photos that has dragged on for months. At a heaiing where the autopsy photos were sealed, media lawyers accused NASCAR of conspiring with Earnhardt's widow to push for the legal action that kept the photos from being released to the public. That case was viewed as part of an attempt by NASCAR to withhold information surrounding Earnhardt's death and avoid coming to grips with the safety issues exacerbated by the tragedy.

NASCAR, for its part, believes the Earnhardt family's privacy should be respected. Gannett News Service The Fox network raised the bar with its coverage of the first half of the NASCAR Winston Cup season. Now, as the series heads to Daytona Beach, for the Pepsi 400 on July 7, the channels will switch for the final 20 races of the season. Starting next Saturday night, in the return to the track where racing legend Dale Earnhardt lost his life in the season-opening Daytona 500, NBC and Turner Sports are faced with the daunting task of living up to the coverage that Fox provided. "Fox brought a lot to our sport the first half of this year," Kyle Petty said.

"Just like CBS and ESPN got us to one level, Fox has taken us to another one, and I think everybody expects the same quality broadcasts from NBC." NBC and TNT are confident they will not let the viewers down. Allen Bestwick will be the primary announcer for the rest of the season, alongside Benny Parsons well known for his work on ESPN the past several seasons and driver Wally Dallenbach. They will replace the Fox team of announcer Mike Joy and color commentators Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds. "The bar has been elevated at the entertainment level," said Parsons, the 1973 Winston Cup champion. "At the having-fun level we haven't seen guys have more fun than Darrell (Waltrip), Larry (McReynolds) and Mike (Joy).

We'll have to tell the story, but we have to have fun as well. "I'll promise you one thing, though, I will not sing." Parsons was referring to Waltrip's crooning of, "You picked a fine time to leave me ioose wheel," when some drivers crashed out of races. The biggest thing Fox achieved was consistently high ratings. Whether or not it was the curiosity surrounding Earnhardt's death in the season-opening race, or the fact that the races are -broadcast on streamlined channels, the Winston Cup coverage on FoxFX averaged a 5.3 national rating and a 13 share, up until last Sunday's race at Sears Point in Sonoma, Calif. NBC will televise 13 races, including nine of the last 10.

Their marquee event will be the inaugural race at TUT (H first career pole. When no one else could match her 159.891 mph speed, though, Fisher still had the best start for a woman in IRL history. "This is bullring. This is what I grew up with," the 20-year-old Fisher said. "I'm so excited about tomorrow, wheel-to-wheel competition.

You'll have to get your elbows up. It'll get greasy tomorrow." Lazier sounded happy just to be here, and said he surprised himself. "We far exceeded our expectations," said the pole-sitter, who was named to drive for Sam Schmidt Motorsports in this race Wednesday. Helton acknowledged that NASCAR's public-relations effort may have left room for criticism. The sport once known for catering to the media and its fans was left open to accusations of a whitewash in the Earnhardt case.

"We ask to be considered a professional sport, and we have a strategy inside the company to grow the sport," Helton said. "As successful as we've been with that strategy, we have to understand and be conscious of the fact that the bigger we get, the bigger the challenges get We have to be prepared to handle them correctly." The second-guessing began immediately after Earnhardt's crash. Although he died on impact, it took about two hours for NASCAR to confirm the tragedy. Fox Sports had long switched away from its coverage, and many racing fans did not learn of his death until their late local news up to four hours after the race had ended. There were a lot of emotions that compounded the challenges we faced," Helton said.

"It seems that human error was not tolerated in these cases, but then again, it probably shouldn't be in this case." Five days later, NASCAR announced that the seatbelt in Earnhardt's car had separated before impact. That fueled speculation that his death wouldn't have been prevented by a Head and Neck Support device. Helton said the announcement was made to give as much information as possible to fans and, more importantly, drivers and their teams. He de- ave Chicagoland Speedway on July 15 and the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis on Aug. 5.

NBC will also broadcast the MBNA.com 400 from Dover Downs International Speedway on Sept. 23. TNT will televise seven races. "We're just thrilled we're getting handed off such a big audience from Fox," said Sam Hood, who will produce the NASCAR telecasts on NBCTNT. "We want to take advantage of the spectacle that is NASCAR.

We want to give people the 'Golden to put them exactly where they want to be. "The tone of total access is something we hope to carry throughout every telecast." NBC and TNT will have a little bit different look and feel. They have built a special "war wagon" for their pre-race shows. Like the huge tool boxes that adorn the pits of each team, it will be placed at the front of the starting grid before races as Bill Weber will host the pre-race shows from atop it before anchoring coverage from the pits during the events. "I think the biggest difference (vs.

Fox) is in pre-race philosophy," Hood said. "We've got Bill Weber in the middle of the action, not in a studio. We'll get you down there with the drivers throughout the telecast." Hood added that he does not believe viewers will have a "culture shock" when the channel switch takes place next week. "I think there's going to be a diverse feel," he said. "Well have a rock-and-roll feel, musically, setting the tone for telecasts.

Our opening theme will be a song by Metallica, Fuel for Fire. That will be different "In covering the races, though, our belief is that the race is the thing. We're there to cover the event We have some bells and whistles. We have basically the same technologies as Fox." Parsons said he spent the first half of the season following Fox's coverage. Well, that and golfing.

He is excited about his return to the broadcast booth. "If we could just get that fan an autograph, we'd have it made," he said, with a laugh. As for his observations on the first half of the season, Parsons said, "The highs have been terrific competition. Sarah Fisher, 20, crashed Thursdayi during practice for today's at Richmond, but recovered to post! the second-fastest qualifying Harvick captures Busch pole at Milwaukee; From Wire Reports i WEST ALUS. Wis.

Kevin; Harvick set a qualifying record at The Milwaukee Mile to earn the pole Sunday's Busch GNC Live Well 250. Harvick, the Busch points circled the flat oval in 29.394 seconds? at 122.474 mph Friday for his -fifth; pole of the season. He broke the qualifying record of 121.572 last year by Jeff Oreen. Changes to springs, the sway bar, right-rear spring and the tire pressure! by the Richard Childress Racing; team helped Harvick turn a record! lap in his Chevrolet. "We were loose into the corner and we knew what the problem was, so we threw a bunch of stuff at it and; fixed it," Harvick said.

"I think the weather helped us out a lot too, die; cloud cover and it got hot again. i "Sometimes you hit it sometimes; you don't We did this time, and that's just a credit to this race team." Greg Biffle, second in the points, standings, will start alongside; Harvick on the front row. BiffiVwill start on the front row for the first lime since winning the pole Rockingham, the season's second R0UNDUp Jason Keller and Jeff Green qualified third and' fourth. Bobby Hamilton Jr. will start; fifth, marking his sixth top-five start of the year.

Jamie McMurray qualified seventh, while NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series regular Joe Ruttman; qualified James Finch's Nor 1 Chevrolet seventh. 'v; 1 Mike Skinner, Elton Sawyer -and! Kenny Wallace rounded out thei' top 10 qualifiers. CRAFTSMAN TRUCKS: At West Attis. Jack Sprague captured a record -16th NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series pole Friday. leading the qualifying for today's GNC Live Well 200 at The Milwaukee Mile.

1 Sprague turned a non-record lap of 120.692 mph in his Hendrick Motorswrts Chevrolet truck, winning the pole position tor the 16th time in his 147 race series career. He had been tied with Joe Ruttman and 1995 series champion Mike Skinner with 15 poles. The pole was Sprague's third of the sea-) son and the third at the flat, one-mile ovaJ at State Fair Park. Ruttman just missed the record. The 56- year-old failed by just 0.092 seconds to win his third pole of the season.

Ruttmafi will start on the outside front row in Saturday's race after a run of 120.321 mph. "I got the old man," said Sprague. the polesitter last week in Memphis. "And poles in a row definitely feels great. i "We are really excited to be here at The Milwaukee Mile.

They call me Mile T-rack Jack. I hope we can live up to the name4o morrow." 0 Ted Musgrave. a three-time winner this season, qualified third in his Dodge RanVat 120.072. Kurt Busch. the defending cham-', pion, qualified fourth in a Ford at 119.944.

Terry Cook qualified his Ford fiftlS at 119.864. A pair of rookie drivers. Ricky Hendrick and Travis Kvapil, claimed the next two starting positions separated by just two-tfiou-; sandths of a second. --i Lance Norick, Scott Riggs and Coy Gibbs completed the top 10 qualifiers. Riggs.

who leads Ruttman by 53 poirSts entering Saturday's race, hadn't qualified out of the top five positions until Friday's time trials. 1 is FREE! is FUEE! CShc dimes www shrcveporttimcs.com to follow nied that the announcement was meant to shift the attention away from one of its most pressing safety issues the HANS device. Still, the aftershocks of the seat belt announcement have lingered. The HANS, which restrains the head and neck in the case of a violent, head-on accident, isn't mandatory in NASCAR. An independent expert appointed by the court in the autopsy-photo case said Earnhardt likely died from the kind of skull fracture the HANS is designed to prevent.

"As such, the restraint failure does not appear to have played a role in Mr. Earnhardt's fatal injury," Dr. Barry Myers wrote in a report released to the Orlando Sentinel, the newspaper that spearheaded the autopsy photo debate. The doctor stopped short of saying the HANS device would have saved Earnhardt. More drivers have voluntarily begun wearing the HANS device, although NASCAR still hasn't changed its safety standards.

Nor has NASCAR released results from its internal investigation into Earnhardt's death; that is still scheduled for August. "We're not going to react just for The races really have been good. Also, another highlight has been the audience Fox has been able to deliver. The absolute lowest has to be Earnhardt's death. The aftermath has been unbelievable.

I don't think anyone had any idea how endeared Dale Earnhardt was to the fans. The coverage that the death of Dale Earnhardt received was the most unbelievable thing that 1 have ever seen in racing." The newcomer to the NBCTNT booth will be Dallenbach, whose race team fell apart just before the Daytona 500. "My brother Paul is the one who heard they may be looking for a third person in the booth and he called me," said Dallenbach, who still hopes to drive next season. "I called Benny (Parsons) and he was meeting with the NBC people the next day. "I've always wanted to try it and it Buy Three Buy Three tough act See the your Shreveport Swamp Dragons take on Tulsa Drillers in exciting Texas League action.

Take the coupon below to Fair Grounds Field, buy three tickets to the game on Wednesday, July 4 and receive a fourth ticket absolutely and the il 3 This offer is good for all areas: general admission, upper or lower reserved, and Sky Box. Ticket office opens at 5 p.m. Gates open at 6 p.m. Game time is 7 p.m. Fireworks immediately after the game.

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