The Kansas City Star from Kansas City, Missouri • 51

SPORTS DAILY SPOTLIGHT MOTORSPORTS TIIK HANNAH CITY UTAH Dll Friday May 2tt IU9D Rival series discuss reuniting But IRCs George says his group CART no closer to settlement ON THE NET sure to check out wwwthatsracln com an internet site updated every day of the year with Jftglftton Cup racing news Cttojrfor dally live reports on what's happening in the sport and find it first at wwwthatsraclncom By IM PEDLEY The Kansu City Star If I POLL POSITION finish better in Coca-Cola 600: Dale Earnhardt or Dale Jr? torsports which just announced it will merge with Interna tional Motor-sports George said "Hut nothing came out of the meetings that led me to believe we are any closer to a philosophy (on what a reunited open-wheel organization would be The philosophy George spoke of involves issues such as where the races would be run and what the engine and chassis specifications would be In short they would be the same issues that led the IRL to split with CART in 1995 Since that time CART has continued to run many of its races on road courses and the IRL strictly on ovals The IRL also has instituted and is listed on the slock exchange There has also been talk that the two series could get together just once each year at track the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Forget it George said A reunification would have "to t)e something longer lasting and more meaningful than he said George also said that not too much should be made of the fact that France has been involved in the talks more of a courtesy he said not trying to cast himself as the guy with all the answers" George said no more talks would be held until after Indy 500 But after that he said talks may resume important to engage in process to engage in George said rules governing chassis and engine specs in an effort to keep costs down "There is still a very big be tween the two sides involving those issue tieorge said ITiere have been rumors coming out of the CART camp this week that the talks have been productive In an interview with The Star last week Craig acknowledged that talks were being held At that time he refused to discus the nature of the talks or whether he thought they were productive George speculated Thursday that he thought maybe GART was floating rumors of a productive meeting to reap financial gain "Maybe trying to give a glimmer of hope so that they cm keep their stock prices where they want them to George said (ART is a publicly held company Register your vote and comments on wwwthatsracincom Last week we asked: Should events like The Winston and the Bud Shootout be replaced by Winston Cup points races at other tracks? There were 5930 votes: 29 GSHHi 7100 INDIANAPOIJS IRL founder and president Tony George said Thursday that he and Andrew Craig chairman of the board and chief executive officer of CART have talked recently about reuniting the two premier open-wheel racing scries George said NASCAR president Bill France Jr has been trying to broker the deal But George also said the talks produced no substantive results and the Indy Racing League and Championship Auto Racing Teams are no closer to getting back together than they were before the talks started can confirm there have been meetings with Andrew Bill and Roger (Penske head of Penske Mo STOP 'N' GO Race fans everywhere once again we beg you to be careful when you're walking around a Winston Cup track Not every paved surface is meant to be a sidewalk The really wide ones paved in black asphalt with the yellow and white lines painted on them? They're called roads encouraged to walk on the sides of them but that middle part is for cars The center line is not meant to be used as a guide for two guys carrying a cooler Reducing power is latest safety move NEXT UP By JIM PEDLEY The Kansas City Star INDIANAPOLIS Engines have become the latest target in the Indy Racing efforts to improve driver and spectator safety IRL executive director Leo Mehl announced Thursday that beginning with Coca-Cola 600 Where: Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord NC a L5-mile high-banked trioval The 600-mile race is run in 400 laps When: 5:05 pm Sunday Qualifying was Wednesday night and Thursday afternoon Purse: $2733688 TV: TBS Rptloe Live on Performance Racing Network affiliates beginning at 5:15 pm What we know: Nobody has won the 600 three straight times but Jeff Gordon has a shot to do it this year Gordon has won three times in this day-into-night race but he has never won the track's October daylight race The question is: Could this race be the capper to the greatest single-day performance in racing history? Tony Stewart has never won the Indianapolis 500 but car reliability and not driver performance has been his downfall in the past He also has yet to win a Winston Cup points race but his showing last weekend in The Winston and the Winston Open was eye-popping A daily double of historic proportions is almost too much to expect Or is it? the June 12 Longhorn 500 at Texas Motor Speedway engines will be restricted to running at 10000 revolutions per minute or lower That is down 300 rpms from what the engines ran in the first part of the 1999 season and down 500 rpms from what IRL cars ran in The Associated Press BY THE NUMBERS Davey tires were smoking as he pulled away during pit-stop competition Thursday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway team won the competition in 14560 seconds 1998 Winston Cup points leaders The top drivers in Winston Cup standings as of May 15: motives for his opinion like to go Carburetion Day was Thursday and that means it was the last time the cars will be on the track until race day Sam Schmidt ran the fastest lap in the two-hour practice going 222458 mph Had he run that fast during qualifying he would have entered the race as the eighth qualifier instead of the seventh which is where he will start Sunday But going fast is not the main goal on carb day "We had several things we wanted to accomplish this morning" Schmidt said "We wanted to scuff the tires and we wanted to check out the electrical systems We wanted to make sure the motor installation went in correctly We accomplished them Tony Stewart said: "We just went out and made sure the car have any It was an East High School reunion Thursday at Indy Veteran racing writer and publicist Bill I fill and John Hollansworth Sr father of rookie driver John Hollansworth Jr hooked up and exchanged memories of their days at East The attended the school 51 years ago They make the off ficial reunion Saturday because it was pole day at Indy The team of Davey Hamilton won the pit-stop competition Thursday team beat Kenny in the finals Eight teams competed in the competition The teams changed four tires and simulated a fuel-hose connection The winning time was 14560 seconds When rpms go down horsepower usually follows When horsepower goes down speeds usually follow And that is the intent of the decision announced at Indianapolis Motor Speedway "We are trying to contain Mehl said are trying to contain Mehl indicted that the decision was made with the deadly incident that happened last month at Motor Speedway in Concord NC in mind "We need to show Bruton (Smith owner of Lqwe's and Texas Motor Speedway) and Humpy (Wheeler manager of the track) and those guys that we are responding to the tragedy at Mehl said "This is one of the ways we are doing Another way was announced ear- lier this week when the IRL revealed it was going to use a suspension tethering system to combat the problem of debris flying off the cars after they wreck It was wheels and suspension parts that catapulted into the grandstands at Motor Speedway killing three people Lowering the revs which will be accomplished by way of rev limiters already in place on the engines will reduce about 25 horsepower The rev limiters are programmed by IRL officials and cannot be changed by teams Speeds will come down about 3 mph in qualifying and a bit more in races as a result of the rpm reduction Mehl said The top qualifiers at Indy this week are running about 225 mph At Texas speeds are about the same Mehl was asked how low he would like speeds at IRL races to be "As long as the cars are stable as long as the wheel (restraint) systems work we are going about the right speed he said The decision to limit revs was made "because we want that to go Driver Greg Ray called the decision a mistake because of its timing (the two weeks until the Texas race) give us enough time to said Ray who will start 500 from the middle of the front row Mehl shmgged off such criticism "It is absolutely not a he said we do to improve safety is not a Mehl then ventured a guess on IRL: Race coming to KC area Continued from D-l For more auto racing coverage visit The Star 5 Web site and click on Sports Phoenix And we do very very well there The drivers like them and the fans like them To reach Jim Pedley assistant sports editor for the 77 te Star call 234-4860 or send e-mail to eral other tracks that currently feature IRL races "We are committed to running on George said "We want to support those who are building them Nation said: "We are racing on a number of NASCAR tracks right now Atlanta Charlotte Dover a major market with a major facility We think we are going to be very popular The track will be a good fit also It will be IV2 miles with intermediate banking and will be similar to sev NEXT RACE: Saturday Carquest Auto Parts 300 Concord NC 12:05 pm TBS Grass Up? 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