The Daily News-Journal from Murfreesboro, Tennessee • 14

6B Daily News Journal, Murfreesboro, Monday, July 16, 2001 Auto Racing Oetbssosh Imme mm roa By Jim Davis facing writer r- GLADEVILLE i Shcl- byville's Bill Christie and Mike 'Gjissqm each notctfed wiris in $unayV National Sport Association races at Nashville Superspeedway. Christie won his second race in a row at the track in the Baby Jjirand division and Grissom won the; inaugural race forthe: Pro- ff DNJ photo by Jim Davis Bill Christie, left, leads Marshall Pugh onto the road course during Sunday's NASA Baby Grand race at Nashville Superspeedway. Christie held off Pugh for his second straight victory. two more of these this year. This is a rental from Twin Fountains and it really handled.

I might just unaiienger envision. Grissom is a veteran of 25 years, of racing in several different types of cars. His win comes on the heels of a fourth-place finish in the Open Wheel divi- Saturday night at Duck River Speedway. "A I C'Vm wore out and my ears are still ringing," said Grissom after climbing from his car. "I lost my muffler and the noise was deafening and it was hot.

I sat back and watched the two front cars going for the lead on the first lap and when they got together and I was able tq get by them." Hewas riding in third behind Josh Adams and Billy Black Etheridge when the two tangled, lost momentum and Grissom sprinted by both. Twin Fountains Raceway Park General Manager, Alex Nagey moved up through the field to finished second. "When I first saw the two of them going after it, I thought, This isn't Grissom Gris- som said. "But I decided to just stay where I was to see what would happen. When I saw them going into the infield, I went on by them.

"I had driven one other road race in Atlanta and got the crap scared out of me, so to finish first is really neat," he continued. "I'm just tickled to win the first race for the division and there is 1 rent an- me other Pro enger Chal and see 1 I 1 can do it I again. For Nagey, another experienced driver, it was the cars to race and that showed it. "It was fun to get out here and race and have a good time. It took awhile to knock the rust off but it was great." Christie won the first race ever on the Superspeedway road course in May as part of the NASA weekend activities.

He dominated that 18-lap event but Sunday his win didn't come as easy as runner-up Marshall Pugh of Crossville applied heated pressure until his car faded near the end of the race. "In the last race, I drove a car that had been set up for road racing," said Christie, a national point champion in the class. "This race is a different car that is set up for oval racing. We weren't very good in practice on Saturday but we worked hard overnight to get some more horsepower and handling." Christie won the qualifying race earlier in the day but claimed he was still down on speed. The problem was still evident in the main feature race as Pugh consistently closed on Christie's bumper when the two left the main track for thS road course.

"It really showed how much underpowered we were in the feature," Christie said. "I knew he (Pugh) was behind me. I just tried to hold my line and stay smooth and hope to outlast him. "That is two wins in a row, hopefully I will get lucky in the next two events, find a good car to get into and win two more." Grissom first time he (Continued from page IB) for a few moments, but was awake and alert when removed from the car. Skinner, who also crashed Friday in practice, was limping -and was helpedto-the ambu--lance by two safety workers.

He was transported by ambulance to a hospital, where he was diagnosed with a mild concussion and a fractured left ankle before being treated and released. Later in the race, Jerry Nadeau, who led several times and appeared to have a good shot at his second win, lost an oil line and Roy "Buckshot" Jones slid through the oil and hit the wall hard. Jones was examined for pain in his left knee and took fluids for dehydration on the hot, humid afternoon. He was later released from the track's infield medical center. The final caution flag flew on lap 258 when Tony Stewart slowed and was tapped from behind by Sterling Marlin.

Stewart, who had been running eighth, spun and hit the wall. He was not injured, but the caution bunched the field for a restart five laps from the end and gave runner-up Robert Pressiey one last shot at Harvick. Pressiey, whose best previous finish was third place earlier this year in Texas, tried to psyche out the rookie leader, driving right up on his rear bumper several times before the green flag came out for the start of lap 263. "Me and Kevin's never raced Pressiey said. wanted to just shake him up a little bit and maybe make him run a little wide in turn one.

I thought if I could get my nose under him, I might be able to get by him. I just wanted to rattle his cage." The kid didn't fluster, though he did call the experience "nerve-wracking." "I knew we had the car to win it and I just tried to keep it smooth and not do anything Harvick said. It was no contest, with Pfessley more concerned about keeping Ricky Rudd behind him than pushing Harvick, who won by 0.649 seconds about five car-lengths over Press-ley's Ford. Rudd was third, followed by Dale Jarrett, Jimmy Spencer, Martin, Matt Kenseth and rookie Kurt Busch, all in Fords. Marlin and Bill Elliott were ninth and 10th in Dodges, while last week's winner, Dale Earnhardt was next in another Chevy.

Jeff Gordon, who came into the race with a 48-point lead over Jarrett in the season standings, overcame a 28th-place start to become a contender until a late-race engine problem relegated him to 17th, the last car on the lead lap. With the season at the halfway point, Jarrett moved into a tie with Gordon for the points lead, with Rudd just 18 points behind. By The Associated Press At Chicagoland Speedway Lap Length: 1.5 miles 1. (6) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 267, $162,500. 2.

(13) Robert Pressiey, Ford 267, $126,600. 3. (3) Ricky Rudd, Ford, 267, $1 12,600. 4. (11) Dale Jarrett, Ford, 267, $101,300.

5. (2) Jimmy Ford, 267, $94,200.. 6. (18) Mark Martin, Ford, 267, $77,100. 7.

(37) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 267, $70,650. 8. (31) Kurt Busch, Ford, 267, $68,100. 9. (9) Sterling Martin, Dodge, 267, $65 900 10.

(4) Elliott, Dodge, 267, $71,080. 11. (36) Dale Earnhardt Jr, Chevrolet, 267, $70,800. 12. (35) Dave Blaney, Dodge, 267, $54,800.

11 (21) Rusty Wallace, Ford, 267, $69,300. 14. (1) Todd Bodine, Ford, 267, $58,300. 15. (20) Elliott Sadler, Ford, 267, $71,600.

16. (5) Joe Nemechek, Chevrolet, 267; $62,600. 17. (28) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 267, $68,300. im-PW-- 18.

(32) Jeff Burton, Ford, 266, $69,100, 19. (10) Brett Bodine, Ford, 266, $52,000. 20. (26) Ward Burton, Dodge, 266, $62,600. 21.

(33) Ricky Craven, Ford, 266, $52900 22. (39) Michael Waitn'p, Chevrolet 266, $57,900. 23. (23) John Andretti, Dodge, 266, $58,900. 24.

(15) Jason Leffler, Dodge, 266, $58,600. 25. (40) Terry Labonte, Chevrolet, 266; $58,300. 26. (25) Stacy Compton, Dodge, 266, $50500.

27. (34) Johnny Benson, Pontiac, 266, 28. (17) Casey Atwood, Dodge, 265, $46,700. 29. (12) Ken Schrader, Pontiac, 265, $54,500.

30. (22) Bobby Hamilton, Chevrolet, 264, $54,800. 31. (42) Hut Stricklin, Ford, 262, $46,100. 32.

(38) Jeremy Mayfield, Ford, 259, $63,900. 33. (27) Tony Stewart, Pontiac, 257, crash, $65,900. 34. (19) Kevin Lepage, Chevrolet, 255, $45500.

35. (41) Robby Gordon, Ford, 252, $53,300. 36. (29) Jeff Green, Chevrolet, 243, engine failure, $45,100. 400iM 37.

(8) Jerry Nadeau, Chevrolet, 239, engine failure, $52,900. 38: (43) Buckshot Jones, Dodge, 184, crash, $52,700. 39. (24) Bobby Labonte, Pontiac, 168, engine failure, $69,500. 40.

(16) Ron Homaday Jr, Pontiac, 150, engine failure, $44,300. 41. (30) Steve Park, Chevrolet, 134, fly wheel, $52,100. 42. (7) Mike Skinner, Chevrolet, 22, crash, $51,900.

43. (14) Andy Houston, ford, 3, engine failure, $43,950. Race Statistics Winner's Average Speed: 121.200 mph. Time of Pace: 3 hours, 18 minutes, 16 seconds. Wfz isjf Margin of Victory: 0.649.

Caution Flags: 10 for 56 laps. Lead among 10 drivers. Lap Leaders: IBodine 1-6; Rudd 7-31; Harvick 32-42; Martin 43-50; Benson 51-53; Spencer 54-103; Harvick 104; Biabonte 105-106; Sadler 107-108; Nadeau 109-137; Harvick 138-187; Nemechek 188-204; Harvick 205-229; Martin 230-241; Harvick 242-267. Top 10 in Points: J.Gordon, 2,515. Jarrett, 2,515.

Rudd, 2,497. Wallace, 2,308. Martin, 2,297, Stewart, 2,266, rtervick, 2,172. Earnhardt 2,140. B.Labonte, 2,1 12.

had raced in almost two years. "Maybe I should never have rented Mike that, rce car," Nagey said with a laugh, who drove a car owned by Steve Harrison and Danny Jones of Murfreesboro. "We always say that we give our customers good Andretti nets record seventh Molson Indy win TORONTO (AP) Michael Andretti, shuffled to last place on the first lap of the CART Molson Indy, took advantage of 11 cautions and won the race on Sunday for the seventh time in its 16-year history. Andretti's second straight win here broke a CART record he shared with Al Unser Jr. for most wins in one event.

Unser won Long Beach six times when he raced in CART. Alex Tagliani was second and Adrian Fernandez was third, followed by Alex Za-nardi and rookie Scott Dixon. Polesitter Gil de Ferran, who led the first 50 laps and seemed on his way to victory for Team Penske, wrecked the right rear of his car on lap 76 in a collision at turn 3 with Cristiano of da Matta and was through for the day. That wreck cut the 26-car field in half. The top two drivers in the series also went out two thirds of the way through the race.

Leader Kenny Brack of Team Rahal, who started third, lost his engine on lap 62 while he was running sixth. Penske's Helio Castroneves, 14 points behind Brack, parked his Reynard-Honda four laps later after his engine caught fire. Dario Franchitti, third in the standings, was running in second when he lost his engine on lap 32. Andretti, who won this race four times in a five-year span in the early 1990s, seemed out of contention just seconds into the 95-lap race on the temporary street cir- and engine troubles knocked out the leaders. Andretti took the lead on a restart at lap 72, and held a seven-second advantage when Christian Fittipaldi and rookie Bruno Junqueira crashed together on the 88th to bring out the final caution.

That set up a five-lap shootout, but Andretti, who made four pit stops, pulled away to a four-second lead and cruised to the stunning victory, the 41st of his career, most in CART history, and first this year. The race had three cautions on the first nine laps. A four-car pileup on the fifth lap brought out the second caution. Roberto Moreno caused it when he spun out at turn 5, a 90-degree left-hander, and collected Dixon, Jimmy Yasser, and da Matta. Just moments later, Toronto native Paul Tracy slammed the back of Oriol Servia on lap 9 to bring out the third caution.

Servia had moved to eighth when Tracy made contact. Servia, running two laps down, eventually was knocked out of the race on lap 42 when Japan's Tora Takagi slammed his car from behind, lifting it off the track and hard into the wall at turn 3, the tightest turn on the 1 1 -curve circuit. Takagi also caused the seventh caution, slamming Moreno on lap 48. Tracy, who has finished on the podium here the last two races, managed to climb back to sixth at the finish after dropping out of the top 20 early in the race. AP photo Michael Andretti sprays champagne as he celebrates on the victory podium after winning the CART Molson Indy in Toronto Sunday.

The win was Andretti's seventh win in Toronto. cuit. Andretti, who started 13th, hit the wall at turn 3 on the first lap when Dixon drove inside his Reynard-Honda ancf knocked it sideways. Andretti was shuffled to the back of the 26-car field at the restart but slowly made his way back up as accidents Hakkinen takes British GP if i fiyy 111 LLzA XT' Harrahf. The 200-mph Indy Car stars AND the tickets to see them underthe lights in the Harrah's 200, July 19-21 at the new I Nashville Superspeedway! Watch Indy 500 veterans Al Unser Jr, Eddie Cheever Jr and sophomore cprKAtinn Sarah Fichcr hat Hp it nut in NASHVILLE SUPERSPEEDWAY july mi.

moot Jllly 1921 the lndV Racing Northern Light Series inaugural appearance on Nashville Superspeedway's super-quick 1.33-mile oval. mm 1 times at the beginning of races. But the most disappointing moment of the season came when his clutch blew while he was leading on the final lap of the Spanish Grand Prix. That race April 29 became one of Schumacher's six victories this year. With his second-place finish Sunday, the German driver gained more valuable ground as he closes in on his fourth series title.

David Coulthard, whose McLaren spun out with a suspension problem on the third lap, did not score a point. Coulthard trails Schumacher 84-47 after 11 of 17 races. The winner of a race gets 10 points with six going to the second-place finisher. After that it's 4-3-2-1 for the other scoring positions. "Gaining six points on Coulthard, obviously it works in my favor," Schumacher said.

"Now there are still 60 points to go. It's nice to know. I'd rather sit here and say it's over, but it's not." Schumacher will get his next chance to tie Prost before his compatriots in the German Grand Prix on July 29 in SILVERSTONE, England (AP) Mika Hakkinen finally became the topic of something other than retirement speculation when he won the British Grand Prix on Sunday. The victory was the first this season for the two-time Formula One champion. It also prevented polesitter Michael Schumacher from tying Alain Prost's career record of 51 victories.

Hakkinen's McLaren-powered Mercedes passed Schumacher's Ferrari on the fifth of 60 laps on the 3. 194-mile road course and won by 33 seconds. Hakkinen, who started second on the grid, got his 19th career victory and his first since last "It feel pretty good after all these troubles gpfng on this year," he said "It Was good to win. It made a great show." Until winning Sunday, the Finn had been busy answering questions about retirement. His put them to rest this weekend byt" saying, le wpuld return, although it might not be to his seat ifi a McLaren.

The victory was sweet in a bitter season in which Hakki-nen's car failed to start three Plus, the great open-wheel doubleheader includes the always-competitive USAC Silver Bullet Championship Recycle Used Oil 100. Order your tickets now for some hot racing on a cool summer night! Call TOLL FREE (866) RACE-TIX. Or, order online at nashvillesuperspeedway.com SPWBLILE SUPERSPEEDIVAY.