The Courier-News from Bridgewater, New Jersey • Page 13

THE COURIER-NEWSSaturday, August 7, 1993 B-3 AUTO RACING V- I 1 j-j IndyCar racing is at important crossroads Jf A I II. i rfr i II iff i 1 1 I Mi i A r1 flu I rj ers in cities like Miami ana Houston. Urban races tend to generate more attendance and revenue for the teams as well as value for the sponsors than races in rural locations do. But two members of the Board car owners Roger Penske and Carl Haas promote races at tracks far from population centers. They were not about to sacrifice any of the four races they promote, even if it benefited IndyCar racing as a whole.

Of course, no rival owner could seriously challenge their decisions since Haas is the American importer for the most popular chassis (Lola) while Penske owns a substantial share of Ilmor Engineering which produces the most popular brand of engine (Chevrolet) in the sport. Now the owners are mad and they are strongly considering changing the members of the board who refuse to support majority views. Ironically, it was precisely this issue a narrow-minded few setting policy based on personal interests instead of the best interests of the sport which caused the IndyCar organization to be formed 15 years ago. One of the original IndyCar Board members, former driver and car owner Dan Gurney, said words as true today as they were in 1979. "If it (IndyCar racing) was ever going to be a success it was going to have to make sense business-wise or it would crush itself," Gurney said.

"We were stagnated, dead in the water so to speak, and our road block was (the) board of directors. They were unresponsive to the idea that there needed to be a major overhaul and it was a feeling of pure frustration on our (the car owners') part. "We would all like to see the sport reach its full potential in our lifetime. We don't like to be whipped in the competition for the public's entertainment dollar when we sincerely feel we're part of the greatest sports entertainment going." Mosley, who are worried about the decreasing value of Fl. Formula 1 races have become boring processions over the last five years with no more than four cars capable of winning and races that are usually decided on the first lap, giving fans little to watch.

IndyCar rules, meanwhile, created parity and close competition (after 10 races, there have been five different winners and 10 different drivers in the top three). As international stars headed to IndyCar racing, interest grew and international TV viewer-ship and its value to advertisers soared. The value of Fl telecasts fell like a rock, much to the dismay of Ecclestone and Mosley. George also felt his power and value wane as the IndyCar organization built the series into a success where every event carried a purse of more than $1 million. If growth continued, the Indy 500 would soon lose all power to dictate policy to the owners.

George also sought to increase the value of his business by staging additional races at his track. The first was the Brickyard 400 NASCAR stock car race, but George is seeking more op portunities. One might be the U.S. Grand Prix for Fl cars, an event which hasn't been held for two years and which is not listed for 1994. Though Fl races are staged on road courses, such a course could easily be constructed in the infield of the Speedway.

With the leverage of being able to change Indy 500 car specifications on a whim (since the track is not governed by the IndyCar organization), George was able to force the car owners on the IndyCar Board to veto Brands Hatch. And he did so regardless of consequences to the sport. More upset over schedule But the owners were even more upset that the 1994 schedule did not include any new races. For 1994, serious proposals were made by promot Two decisions by IndyCar Board of Directors have angered the majority of team owners. JACK WEBER C-N Auto Racing Writer Not many people realize it, but right now IndyCar Racing is at its most important crossroads in a decade and a half.

Whatever path is ultimately taken will forever change the course of the sport. This week, the IndyCar Board of Directors made two decisions which angered and frustrated the majority of the IndyCar team owners. First, the Board voted not to stage a demonstration race at Brands Hatch, England, at the end of the season despite the fact that the majority of the owners favored the race. Second, the Board voted to go to the same 16 locations in 1994 as it did in 1993 again ignoring most of the owners who favored new venues at such places as Brands Hatch or Miami. The majority of the owners now feel that personal interests of three members of the board Tony George, president of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and Roger Penske and Carl Haas, both car owners received priority over actions which would benefit all IndyCar teams.

Issue of power and greed Regarding Brands Hatch, three people George, Max Mosley (president of the FIA, the international governing body of racing and Formula 1) and Bernie Ecclestone (vice president of the FIA) prevented the race from happening. And like many other things in life, the issue was one of power and greed. For three years, George has been courted and wooed by Ecclestone and MOTOR SPORTS Courier-News photo by Dave Adornato Leonard Marshall (70) and his new Jet teammates watch practice Friday at Hofstra University. MARSHALL: Former Giant likes his Jet life Horton knows that luck is on his side Continued from Page B-1 defense is what it might do for Marshall's career. Instead of banging helmets head-on with 300-pound offensive linemen in the Giants' previous system, Marshall will, theoretically, be shooting past those linemen in a flash and harassing opposing quarterbacks.

"We're a gap control team," Coslet says. "Instead of taking one player on and being responsible for the right and the left of him, we're going to just shoot him in one gap and he's responsible for that one gap. "Leonard has great quickness for a man his size," Coslet says of the 6-4, 288-pound Marshall. "He fits that mold. With the big 300-pound guards and tackles now that you face, you don't always want to just take them on flush.

So we think, No. 1, this will prolong his career because it won't be as physically demanding a thing, smash-mouth one-on-one, and it'll allow us to use his quickness." Even in the two-gap system, Marshall got his share of the quarterback. He's accumulated 79 Vi sacks in 10 years, including a career-high 15 'a in 1985. His best years since '85 were 1986, when he had 12, 1989, when he had 9Vj and 1991, when he sacked the quarterback 11 times. Marshall was voted to the Pro Bowl in 1985, '86 and '90.

His production did fall off dramatically in 1992, when he finished with four sacks. He was, however, nursing a knee injury early in the season. It was the first time in Marshall's career that he missed games because of GIANTS in 1993. He's ecstatic about the coaching staff, comparing defensive coordinator Pete Carroll to Belichick and calling defensive line coach Greg Robinson "a wonderful guy." Marshall admits to being apprehensive about what his feelings will be at 8 p.m. on Sunday, Aug.

21, when the Jets play the Giants in a preseason game at Giants Stadium. Looking at himself in the mirror on the way out to the field, wearing that Jets' kelly green might be enough to make Marshall a little light-headed. "That will be quite a bit different," Marshall says. "I've been wearing blue No. 70 all my career.

For me, always seeing (former Giants legend) Sam Huff (who also wore 70) and telling him how proud I am to wear the number and to uphold what the number stood for years later, it meant a lot to me. "Every year I walked onto the field, I always thought I represented the old players that played for the Giants. That's all I tried to do." And now he's leading a completely different life, yet playing in the same stadium. As melancholy as Marshall gets when he talks about his 10 years with the Giants, make no mistake "He's excited as hell, he really is," Coslet says. "He thinks this is his position and this is what he can really excel at.

Like I told him, 'We'll I hope he's right." Bengals coach Dave Shula plans to start wide receivers Carl Pickens and Jeff Query. Veterans Eddie Brown and former Miami Dolphins wideout Mark Duper are also expected to play. Lamar Rogers and Tony Savage are sidelined with injuries and will probably be replaced by ends Roosevelt Nix and rookie Ty Parten on Cincinnati's defensive line. The Bengals' all-time scoring leader, placekicker Jim Breech, will skip the game as the coaches look at two rookies, Doug Pelphrey from Kentucky and free agent Roman Anderson. Moan for title cluding a 45-foot birdie on the fourth hole that drew her to 3-down.

Moan, an incoming freshman at Princeton University, missed hitting greens in regulation on the 8th and 9th holes, lost both holes to Rogers and was only 1-up entering the final nine. Rogers drew even on the par-5 11th hole when Moan picked up after her fifth shot, still off the green. Her problems included hitting under a tree, chipping out and then wedging into deep rough over the green. injury. Should be back Obviously, the Jets believe he's completely back.

"He's really quick that's what just impressed us on film about him when we were studying him on film when we were pursuing him in free agency," Coslet says. "This guy is quick, he can shoot the gaps, he's a real instinctive player. Very instinctive. I think he'll fit perfectly." So, of course, does Marshall, who feels like he's been exiled the last two years in former Giants head coach Ray Handley's mixed-up system. There is something else which now drives Marshall.

Something utterly tantalizing and ego-engulfing. "In a sense it's a shot in the arm," Marshall says. "I think to go from a team that won and was so successful in New York and go to another one and try to do the same thing again if I win a championship (with the Jets) I wonder if it's the first time it ever happened in a major city, that a guy has left one club and done it with another?" Marshall says his only regret jumping from the Giants to Jets was leaving his friends behind. "I can't lie to you," Marshall says. "I will always be a Giant.

No matter what, I will always be a Giant because I had 10 wonderful years of my life spent there with a bunch of great people." But he is now consumed with the many things he has to look forward to Graham is competing with second-year pro Dave Brown, from Duke, for the backup job. Reeves said he chose Graham to play Saturday because of his Ohio background. Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor also is expected to play. David Klingler, the second-year pro who opens as Cincinnati's No. 1 quarterback, is to play the first half.

Jay Schroeder, the former Washington and Los Angeles Raiders starter adjusting to his new role as a backup, will start the second half and play into the fourth quarter, when reserve Erik Wilhelm will finish up. Plainfield Country Club. Rogers' big comeback started late in the morning when she won the 16th and 18th holes with pars to go 4-down. The momentum carried through after the lunch break for Rogers, who won seven holes, compared to two for Moan. "The putts kept dropping for her in the afternoon," Moan said.

"It was happening for her. It was just the opposite in the morning when I was making the putts." Moan's morning putting, which helped her fire an even-par 74, was awesome. Her 27 putts included 10 one-putt greens. She canned a 15-foot eagle putt on a short par-5 hole, and stroked birdie putts of 30, 30, 25, 15 and two feet. "She just kept knocking in those 50 footers," said Rogers, a two-time Metropolitan girls champ.

"I was extremely worried. I thought I might get killed 10 and 9." Fashioned the key shots But it was Rogers who fashioned the key shots in the afternoon 18, particularly on the five par-3 holes, which she played in 2-under-par. She had two super sand blast shots and four 1-nutt greens on the Dar-3s. in Somerville racer Jimmy Horton escaped serious injury in a wreck at Talladega Superspeedway two weeks ago. By The Associated Press Jimmy Horton hadn't gotten much notoriety in his stock car racing career until he went over the wall two weeks ago at Talladega Superspeedway.

The racer from Somerville, a part-timer on NASCAR's Winston Cup circuit who wants to become a regular, escaped serious injury in the spectacular wreck in which his spinning car became airborne, rolled onto the concrete barrier in Talladega's first turn, went over and spun down a 50-foot earthen bank. It landed, battered and steaming, on its wheels on a perimeter road outside the track. The TV views, including one from a FLEMINGTON SPEEDWAY Graham to spell Simms at QB Wall Stadium cars will Ohio native Kent Graham to see action Saturday night as the Giants visit the Cincinnati Bengals. WILMINGTON, Ohio (AP) The starting quarterbacks are not likely to play for very long Saturday night in the exhibition game between the Cincinnati Bengals and New York Giants. Giants coach Dan Reeves plans to have Phil Simms take the first 20 snaps or so before giving way to Kent Graham, an eighth-round draft pick last year from Ohio State.

GOLF blimp, gave viewers ample reason to understand why Horton was lucky to escape without a much worse fate. "You gotta have some luck if you're gonna succeed in this business, and when I look back on what happened at Talladega, I guess you can say that luck was definitely on my side," Horton said. "It's not the kind of luck we usually talk about because that's the kind of luck that gives you a better finish, gets you through an accident, gets you a yellow flag at the right time, or something happens that puts you in a position to win a race. "But, for me to be able to walk away from that wrecked race car with nothing more than a scrape on my ankle and a bruised nose and cheek, I realize just how lucky I was." Horton remembers the whole incident, although he thought he was in the infield when the dust started flying, not outside the track. "The first person I saw after the car landed on its wheels on a service road at the bottom of the embank- run in close packs, always side-by-side.

I think they'll continue to do the same next year but they'll do it every week." Schedule already booked Kuhl said he couldn't make the class a weekly fixture at his track this year because the timing of their split from Wall was bad. When the drivers announced they were boycotting Wall until they received a larger purse, the date was April 1 and Kuhl had already inked his entire schedule for the year. "We couldn't cancel shows for any of our regular divisions," Kuhl said. "And we certainly couldn't hurt our regular Flemington modified drivers by bringing in another headline class at the last minute." Indeed, Flemington's hybrid modified which are more aerodynamic and use bigger engines than their Wall counterparts, are the track's number one division and race for a weekly purse which exceeds $11,000. Some teams expressed concern that the addition of the Wall cars every week would take some prestige from their class.

But Kuhl maintains that the two modified classes will retain their identities in 1993. He said they will combine to help Flemington draw large crowds. "Next year, we'll have one of the most unique shows around," Kuhl said. "No other track can claim to have two top-notch divisions sharing the headlines every week." Kuhl said that the Late Models and fRAGirsiG Jimmy Horton survived crash at Talladega ment was a state trooper," Horton said. "He wanted me to wait in there until help came.

But I just took the steering wheel off and climbed out." The incident won't slow Horton down very much. His team has four more cars and he plans to test at Richmond and North Wilkesboro and race at Michigan, Richmond, Dover, Rockingham, Atlanta, and possibly North Wilkesboro. return in '94 Great American Street Stocks, Flemington's support classes, will return in 1994. But he said that there will be some weeks when at least one division has the night off. The distance that the Wall will be called NASCAR modi-fieds next year, will run their features is not certain.

Kuhl expects to make an announcement concerning that fact later this year. The only other question regarding the Wall cars in '94 is whether they will be eligible to earn NASCAR Winston Racing Series regional points. Only the Flemington modifieds earn points this year, but Kuhl said he will talk with NASCAR officials in Dayto-na Beach, to determine if two headline classes are eligible to run for the regional championship. Twin 20-lappers tonight Tonight's racing program, which begins at 5:30 p.m., features a twin 20-lap main event card for the Flemington Modifieds. Each race offers $1,350 to its winner.

Also on the schedule is a 25-lap race for the Deluccia Series Late Models. Jimmy Horton, a Bridgewa-ter native who now lives in Lebanon, and Doug Hoffman of Allentown, the track's two-time defending modified champion, are expected to compete in the division's event. A 100-lap Enduro race will round out the evening's events. General Admission is $13, and children 12-and-under will be admitted free of charge. Plainfield's Rogers outlasts Flemington Speedway owner Paul Kuhl announces next season's schedule.

By KEVIN KOVAC C-N Auto Racing Writer RARITAN TOWNSHIP Flemington Speedway owner Paul Kuhl likes the asphalt modified stock cars so much, he's announced that they will be a weekly attraction at his Vi-mile track in 1994. Kuhl, 66, added the low-slung mo-difieds to Flemington's schedule this season after their regular Saturday night track, Wall Stadium in Belmar, dropped them from regular competition over a purse dispute. The cars have run bi-weekly features at the Hunterdon County oval since the beginning of June. "They've put on some exciting shows this year," Kuhl said. "They've Lisa Rogers sinks a putt on the last green to win the N.J.

Women's Amateur Championship Friday. By GEORGE GOVLICK Courier-News Writer SPARTA Tournament golf doesn't get more exciting than the final putt on the last green deciding the championship. Lisa Rogers of Plainfield experienced the elation of victory here Friday in the New Jersey Women's Amateur Golf Championship when her 6-foot par putt dropped dead center for a 1-up triumph. Mary Moan of Far Hills felt the pang of defeat when Rogers' putt found the bottom of the cup on the 36th hole of the double round match at Lake Mohawk Golf Club. It was a tough loss for Moan, 18, who had jumped to a 6-up lead after the first 15 holes.

Rogers, 21, found her putting touch and dominated the afternoon 18 holes with even-par golf. "What I'm most proud of is that she could have given up and thrown in the towel when she was so far behind," said Lisa's father, John H.G. Rogers a seven-time club champion at Stevenson wins two SANDS POINT, N.Y. (AP) Medalist Tom Stevenson won two matches Friday and advanced to the semifinals of the Metropolitan Golf Association Amateur Championships. Stevenson, of Milford, beat Jim Wilhelny of Weston, and Brad Kittsley of Scarborough, N.Y., both by 4 and 3 scores.

In today's semifinals, Stevenson meets Jeff Putman of Bernardsville. Putman defeated Ken Dardis of Stamford, 6 and 5, then took Jeff Thomas of Edison, 3 and 2. 1.