Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 21

SATURDAY, JULY 25, 1998DETROIT FREE PRESS 7B Blast lUfSjaeKStfyrtta fragamifctwafe Mfc tookie Renna lives out his dream as he wins Indy Lights pole BY STKVE CROWE Free IVess sp-trts Vilt-r BROOKLYN, Mich. When Tony Renna was 8, he dared dream of one day going fast at Michigan Speedway, and of one day driving for Roger Penske who owns the speedway and Team Penske, the most success-'Ei'il ever in Indy-car racing. Well, cross off the going-fast part. Renna, 22, took the pole Friday for today's Detroit News 1()(), an Indy Lights race. Renna, of Deland, 'did a two-mile lap at 184.054 m.p.h., a Lights track record.

said of Rick Mears and Danny Sullivan. That was kind of the era. I started really paying attention to Indy cars in like '84, and I remember so well the Danny Sullivan spin-and-win at Indy in '85. That was the first taste of this racing I really saw, and it hooked me." Regarding the dream about driving for Penske, Renna said: "Absolutely, no doubt. I mean, isn't that the dream of just about everybody?" SOMEWHAT SLOWER: Perhaps the Hand-ford Device's official debut as a speed-sapping device Friday was a success.

Which makes one wonder how fast the CART FedEx cars might have flown with the old wing. The new substitute wing, also to be used this fall at California Speedway, was expected to trim about 10 to 15 m.p.h. off speeds in practice Friday for Sunday's U.S. 500. But Friday's top lap 232.004 m.p.h.

by Adrian Fernandez's Reynard-Ford Cosworth in the morning session was only about 2.5 m.p.h. off the track-record 234.665 of Jimmy Vasser in July 1996. In the afternoon session, the day's second-best lap (231.051 m.p.h.) was recorded by Michael Andretti's Swift-Ford Cosworth. Also in Friday's top five were Paul Tracy (230.769), series leader Alex Zanardi (230.525) and Bobby Rahal (230.407). In the day's only such incident, Robby Gordon's Reynard-Toyota made hard, left-side contact with the wall in Turn 2 as practice ended.

Gordon, unlike his demolished car, was not hurt NASCAR: Ward Burton won the pole for Sunday's Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono. His Pontiac's top speed was 168.805 m.p.h. Jeff Gordon's Chevrolet was run-; ner-up at 168.249. Rusty Wallace's' Ford finished third at 167.936. FORMULA ONE: Michael Schumacher can take the lead in the drivers' standings and move Ferrari closer to the championship in Sunday's Austrian Grand Prix in Spielberg.

Schumacher trails Miki Hakkinen of McLaren-Mercedes by two points. In Friday's free practice, Schumacher had only the seventh fastest time over two sessions. The starting grid will be determined in today's qualifying. David Coulthard posted the fastest time of one minute, 13.703 seconds over the 2.6-mile lap. 5 In the only other Lights race at Michigan, David Empringham won the pole in 1996 at 183.549 m.p.h.

Strangely, because of no caution periods, Empringham's winning race average of 184.593 was even faster. Through friends of his family who knew Penske, Renna got first-hand looks at the race team as a youngster. "I was around the team a little, and met Rick and Danny," Renna Davis becomes league's richest back CART's grand plan for U.S. 500 comes up short A' field during a drill at the Cowboys' camp at Wichita Falls, Texas. The drill was part of new coach Chan Gailey's plan to help Iryin beat double-teaming.

"I love it," Irvin said. "I was really loving it until I saw big Leon Lett out there. If it had been a real game, I might have been in trouble." NEW YORK JETS: Where Dennis Byrd sat at training camp is within sight of Nassau Coliseum, where Chinese gymnast Sang Lan was paralyzed in a practice fall. On Nov. 29, 1992, while playing for the Jets, Byrd collided with teammate Scott Mersereau during a game against Kansas City and was temporarily paralyzed with a fractured vertebra.

The injury was career-ending. Byrd, who now walks with no aids, spent 90 minutes meeting with Sang at Nassau County Medical Center, speaking to her through an interpreter. Sang is being treated with Sygen, an experimental drug that helped Byrd recover. "I encourage anyone who has the opportunity to take GM1," Byrd said, referring to another name for Sygen, which helps regenerate the nerve endings in the spinal column. "It is very encouraging.

I had a very severe injury and certainly think Sygen played a role in my recovery." He then rushed for 1,538 yards in 1996 and 1,750 yards in 1997, and capped last season with his Super Bowl performance. The Broncos tore up the three years remaining on his contract. ATLANTA: Defensive tackle Nathan Davis, a 6 foot-5, 310-pound tackle drafted out of Indiana last year, quit the Falcons on the team's second day of camp at Suwanee, saying he had no desire to play. "If someone doesn't want to be here, we don't want to force them," Atlanta coach Dan Reeves said. "He wasn't ready mentally and just didn't seem to push himself." CHICAGO: Edgar Bennett was the No.

1 halfback as the Bears began practice Friday at Platteville, Wis. The full-speed contact drills were his first since he ruptured an Achilles tendon a year ago while playing for Green Bay. DALLAS: Wide receiver Michael Irvin caught passes coming out of the back- Weekend races U.S. 500 WHAT: U.S. 500, 12th of 19 CART FedEx series events.

WHEN: 1 p.m. Sunday. WHERE: Michigan Speedway, Brooklyn. TVRADIO: ABC (Channel 7 in Detroit; WWJ-AM (950), WTKA-AM(1050). SUPPORT RACE: Detroit News 100 (Indy Lights), 3 p.m.

today (taped on ESPN2.6 p.m.). SCHEDULE: Today -CART practice, 9-10 a.m.; Indy Lights warm-up, a.m.; CART qualifying, p.m.; Detroit News 100, 3 p.m.; CART drivers autograph session, 4:30 p.m.; Sunday CART warm-up, a.m. TICKETS: Today $20. Sunday plenty remain, Call 1-800-354-1010 or 1-517-592-6672. West Michigan Grand Prix WHAT: Inaugural West Michigan Grand Prix, eighth of 13 SCCA Trans-Am events.

WHEN: 1 p.m. Sunday. WHERE: Scott Brayton Memorial Street Circuit, a 1.58-mile temporary street course in downtown Grand Rapids. RACE LENGTH: 64 laps (101.12 miles). TV: Speedvision (live); Fox Sports Net (Aug.

8. noon). SUPPORT RACES: SCCA World Challenge Touring One, 3 p.tn. Sunday; Touring Two, 4 p.m. today (Speedvision, July 31, 8 p.m.); Keller Ford Vintage Grand Prix, 5:15 p.m.

today and 4:15 p.m. Sunday; Barber Dodge Pro, 11:30 a.m. Sunday. TICKETS: Today $15. Sunday $20 general admission ($30 pass covers both days).

Tickets Plus 1-800-585-3737 or 1-616-222-4000. More information 1-616-336-7749. TODAY'S SCHEDULE: World Challenge qualifying, 9-10 a.m.; Barber Dodge qualifying, Trans-Am qualifying, p.m.; Trans-Am practice, Barber Dodge qualifying, World Challenge T2 race, Vintage Grand Prix Race, drew 140,000 and Sunday's race CART's marquee event will draw half that many. During every off-season they add seats to Michigan Speedway, but Roger Penske who owns a team in NASCAR and CART as well as the track adds them to accommodate the good of boys and girls who come for the stock cars. NASCAR is the circuit that's filling auto racing's coffers these days.

Because it has the most pure form of racing machines unlike the NASCAR cars, which start out resembling what you have in your garage open-wheel racing should be the pinnacle of the sport, where the best drivers drive the best machines before the biggest crowds. Instead, it is a sport strangling itself with in-fighting, poor marketing and lack of thoughtful promotion. Bobby Rahal, who is retiring at the end of this season, has called Michigan Speedway "one of those places I always thank God when I walk out of there. It's one of those places that you really don't look forward to going to because it's so fast and the risk factor is so high, yet you get there and you get going and the next thing you know you're caught up in it and now you want to be the fastest." The U.S. 500 will probably be a heck of a race.

The races at this track usually are. They are fast and suspenseful and they are worth the money and the time. And, more and more, they are run before empty seats. To leave a message for Charlie Vincent, call 1-313-223-4535. Charlie Vincent, from Page IB Zanardi and JJ Lehto and Mark Blun-dell and the other foreign-born drivers, who are becoming increasingly dominant in CART.

Today's Indy-car races both in CART and the Indy Racing league belong to Zanardi from Italy and Adrian Fernandez from Mexico and Dario Franchitti from Scotland and Arie Luyendyk and Marco Greco and Gil de Ferran, men who can tell you who Enzo Ferrari was but who have no clue about Roy Rogers. More and more of the best young drivers from the United States turn their backs on Indy-car racing, which once was the domain of Bobby and Al Unser, A. J. Foyt and Johnny Rutherford, men born and bred in the American Southwest. Zanardi has won four CART races in a row and celebrates each by spinning his car in circles after he has crossed the start-finish line.

He will be favored to win again Sunday, and Friday afternoon because a number of journalists had asked for a piece of his time he held a 35-minute press conference between practice sessions at Michigan Speedway. Drivers with his talent and understanding of public relations are few, though, and the rumor is that next year he will go to Formula One. Meanwhile, the Indy Racing League draws small crowds for all of its races outside of Indianapolis, and CART scrambles to keep its numbers respectable. Nothing illustrates the difference between open-wheel crowds and NASCAR as well as the fact that the NASCAR race at Brooklyn in June Will the real Scott Mitchell please stand up? mi rm Ctt tm fosser not taking backseat to his teammate's success Free Press News Services 1 GREELEY, Colo. Terrell Davis became the NFL's highest-paid running back Friday, signing a nine-year rontract that essentially keeps him with the Denver Broncos for the rest of his career.

Sources said the contract is worth $56.1 million, including an signing bonus. The Super Howl MVP confirmed the deal which tops the contract of teammate John Elway when he reported to training camp Friday. "Mike (Shanahan, the coach) has 'Said from my first day that if you hard, you'll get rewarded for it," Davis said. "Fortunately for me, I've worked hard for three years, and it's all paid off. I knew it was coming." The Broncos, who restructured Davis' contract after the sixth-round draft choice rushed for 1,117 yards his rookie year in 1995, agreed to renegotiate again if Davis had consecutive seasons.

Barry shows classic form at camp LlONS, from Page 1 second-highest total in NFL history 1 last year, has an unprecedented nine consecutive rushing seasons in his nine-year career and an equally unprecedented four consecutive years with 1,500 yards or more rushing. If anything, he gets a little smarter in his play, a little slicker in his maneuvers, maybe even a little more convincing with his physical skills as he ages. "Even with him you look to see, 'Well, has he still got that Ross said. "And he does. And I expected that.

I didn't see where he'd lost anything." Although he has carried the ball at least 2 13 times and as often as 342 times a season, Sanders has avoided serious injuries for most of his career. Only in 1993, when he missed five games with a knee injury and then came back to scorch the Green Bay "Packers for 169 yards in a playoff' "game, did he miss significant playing time. "Barry takes good care of himself, lie's in good shape and he's a conscientious person when it conies to "preparing," Ross said. "1 can't put a time on him, but "I know this: He's got a lot more time in my opinion. "I'm not talking about six or seven years now.

But I think he has at least -three good years left." Ross compares him to recently "retired Marcus Allen, the former Oakland Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs running back. "Guys who are that size where -they're not overly heavy, big, thick guys have a better chance of Tasting," Ross said. "Their style en- "ables them to do that. Barry is an evade guy. I Ic knows how to avoid a hit.

That helps him and helps prolong Moore-Lions Dri-av SHARP, from Page IB -very positive relationship between players and management, and that can only help the team." There's a sense of respect at the beginning of this training camp that "wasn't there for Bobby Ross' predecessors. You might even call it fear. old-fashioned military man, Ross demands discipline and order. You have a problem with your "rontract? Take it up with management after the season. It's time now to concentrate solely on football.

"Oh, yeah, Coach Ross had a lot to do with my deciding to be here for the first practice," said Moore, who still was fined for missing Thursday's reporting deadline. "L'e's created an attitude, a mindset, -on achieving a main goal. That's something we haven't seen too much of around here before so I didn't want to do i "Physically, I don't think I'm that much different than I was five years ago," he said. "I'm just fortunate. Of course, sitting here now I don't feel a lot different, but going through a whole season at 30 may be different.

With his 10th season coming up, Sanders has accumulated virtually all of the individual honors a player could want, but the prize that would mean the most a Super Bowl title is still there as a motivation. "It's not too late," he said. "I feel my chances are better now than at any other time." At 30, NFL life is still good. And hope still abounds. "I'm glad I'm here," Sanders said, grinning.

"This is where I've always wanted to be at 30 years old." MOORE FINED: Herman Moore confirmed that Ross fined him for failing to report with the other veterans Thursday. Neither Moore nor Ross cited a specific amount, but it's believed Moore's tardiness cost him is the number such former All-Pros as Bubba Baker, Doug English and Billy Sims, who committed the sin of asking management to pay them on a scale comparable to the elite at their positions. The Lions were notorious for throwing around quarters like they were manhole covers. When Russ Thomas was general manager, they didn't open up the vault without a fight. Thomas is probably spinning in his grave at the thought of this new peaceful coexistence.

"They've created a feeling that you will be taken care if you do your job well," said Johnnie Morton who, as an unrestricted free agent, signed a five-year, $15 million contract in February. "1 didn't talk to Herman about his situation in the last week, but I wasn't worried because I know there's a commitment in this team to reward those who are deserving. It's helped create fWEgi rewire rmr (his career) a long time. "Even though he gets a lot of work and he takes hits, he knows how to avoid the hit. If he needs to step out of bounds that's OK, that's fine with me.

And he does that sometimes." More often than stepping out of bounds, Sanders makes a move that leaves a defender grasping at air. It is a skill he had when he arrived in the NI'L, and he still changes directions with uncanny timing. The best explanation of Sanders' continuing excellence is his natural talent. But he works hard at maximizing it, takes care of himself, and has an even disposition that enables him to handle the good times and bad times he has endured with the Lions. Although he has frequently frustrated his coaches Wayne Fontes, who drafted him, and Ross, who inherited him with his lack of interest in off-season training programs and minicamps, no lions player is in better shape or better prepared to play than Sanders.

pact: Football anything that could possibly disrupt that focus." Ross' influence even permeated the top branches of the front office. Schmidt is Ross' boss, but he hinted that Ross strongly suggested that Schmidt and salary cap director Tom Iewand make sure that all the rookies were signed before rookie camp started this week. There's no room for excuses on Ross' taut ship. "What you're seeing is largely attributable to Ross," Schmidt said. "He's a straight-up guy without a dishonest bone in his body.

His focus rubs off on the other aspects of this team and you wind up wanting to do everything possible to help because you truly believe that his objectives are attainable. And we hope that we're laying to rest the old perceptions of this organization." What might be perception to Schmidt was deeply rooted reality to be back with Ganassi next year. "There are a lot of rumors, and a lot of them are blown out of proportion," Vasser said. "I don't see any reason why I shouldn't be here. Nothing is finalized 100 percent yet, but I really see no reason not to be back.

It's as simple as that." Where CART stands in terms of a marquee race a la Indianapolis is hardly that simple. CART hasn't been part of the Indy 500 since 1995, and the next year the series scheduled the U.S. 500 for the same day as Indianapolis. Vasser won, though CART abandoned the head-to-head attack after one try. The U.S.

500 now takes the date previously reserved for Michigan's Marlboro 500. "Yeah, it was a big deal, and it still is a bit," Vasser said of his victory. "But the U.S. 500 really isn't the same as it was the first year, when it went head to head with Indy and so forth. Now it's to me pretty much what the (Marlboro) 500 was.

It's reverted back almost. It's a 500-miler, and 500-milers are important races. But really, there's no more points and no more money for this race. Our marquee 500-mile race is going to be atFontana." That's the two-mile California track also owned by Roger Penske. It hosts the first CART Championship 500 worth $1 million to win on Nov.

1. Given the ego seemingly necessary to do what Vasser does, sitting in Zanardi's backseat would seem a potentially painful ride. "But I'm not sure ego's the right word; I think confidence is," Vasser said. "Sure, it's hard to keep that confidence up all the time. There isn't anybody in the paddock that doesn't question themselves a little when they're not getting the job done.

But one of these days, those big winds of fortune are going to start blowing our way again." To leave a message for Steve Crowe, call 1-313-222-21 15. U.S. 500 from Page IB every race and the first to take the title without having previously won a race. But for most of this year, Vasser has mostly been second fiddle to Zanardi, who's chasing a second straight CART title, third straight for team owner Chip Ganassi. With last Sunday's third-place finish at Toronto, Vasser vaulted past Greg Moore into second place in points, 69 behind Zanardi (175-106).

In 11 starts, Vasser's Target-backed Reynard-Honda has 10 top-10 finishes, including victories at Nazareth, Pa. (April 26) and Milwaukee (May 31). "Right now, we're doing a pretty good job without all the breaks having come our way," Vasser said. "We've had some mechanical stuff. We were in a position to win a few more races, anyway.

"I felt like we should have won St. Louis, but we lost a weight jacker (and finished fourth) and Alex wound up winning. "Really, I could be the one with five or six wins pretty easily. But it doesn't work that way. So I don't trip out when Alex is having good luck, and I don't trip out when I'm having bad luck, either." Vasser concedes it might seem he has taken a backseat to Zanardi.

"But you've got to give credit where credit's due," Vasser said. "I mean, he's having great success, and I'm happy for him really. He's doing well and deserves everything he gets for that. While it might appear with all the success he's having that I'm getting shuffled to the back, from a team standpoint, I'm really not. "My guys are still my guys.

We've had some bad luck, but we're taking it in stride and coming back out swinging every weekend. We still feel that we're in this thing. Until we're out of it mathematically, we're going to give it 100 percent. "So to be honest, I really don't feel the way you might imagine." And Vasser does think that, despite rumors to the contrary, he will $5,000. "It's only fair," Mooresaid.

NOTEBOOK: Ross was pleased with the first day of double sessions. "I think we're a little more exact and little more precise with things now," he said. "As a result we're not on the ground and not rolling. They know what they have to do and where they fit. That part of it was good." Offensive tackle Juan Roque and defensive end Kerwin Waldroup, both coming off knee injuries, are being limited to one session a day of hard work.

Fullback Tommy Vardell did "an exceptional job," Ross said, by bench-pressing 225 pounds 32 times during strength testing Thursday. Rookie quarterback Charlie Batch got the coaches' attention with consistently accurate throws during the first workout. Attendance at the workouts was estimated at 6,600. Drew Sharp contributed to this report. To leave a message for Curt Sylvester, call 1-313-222-2621.

one priority a strong attitude." Moore's base salary of $2.7 million this year is further dwarfed by Cris Carter's four-year, $23.5 million contract, the new standard for receiver salaries. Another 100 receptions this fall would make Moore the first NFX receiver ever with four straight, raising the financial stakes higher. But rather than fall victim to his ego, Moore realized that the smartest decision was. to report. Why risk alienating himself with Ross, his teammates and the public? Especially, when you know the team's hands are bound by the league salary cap.

"My complete concentration right now is on football," Moore said. "I'm focused on doing my job and helping this team get to a Super Bowl." Another two words rarely associated with this franchise. To leave a message for Drew Sharp, call 1-313-223-4055..