Columnist Ron Kantowski: NASCAR becoming a predictable pastime

Friday, May 30, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

Two of the most common perceptions in motor sports are that Roger Penske dominates Indy car racing and NASCAR Winston Cup offers the most competitive racing on earth.

Although it's easy to understand how those beliefs were formed, neither is exactly true.

What is true is that Marlboro Team Penske driver Paul Tracy has won the last three CART races and will be trying to equal a series record with a fourth straight win at The Milwaukee Mile Sunday. But in two of those victories, Tracy trailed with two laps to go and appeared headed for a runner-up finish before the pacesetters (Bobby Rahal at Rio and rookie Patrick Carpentier at St. Louis last week) ran short of fuel.

Moreover, until Tracy's binge, Penske hadn't won a race in two years. And the last time his cars and drivers were eligible to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 (in 1995), they didn't. They were too slow.

What is also true is that NASCAR, like most series, is becoming the domain of a select few teams. All by his lonesome, Jeff Gordon has won five of the 11 races held so far -- six if you count The Winston, an all-star, nonpoints event.

While the racing leading up to the finish remains entertaining, Winston Cup has become somewhat predictable. Forty-two cars start every race, but the great majority are just tooling around for points.

"Right now, (only) five guys can probably win a race," said Joe Nemechek, driver of the No. 42 BellSouth Monte Carlo.

"At certain tracks, some underdogs can come into the picture and run good. (But) the odds are definitely against you. Basically, you're running for second place."

Nemechek credits -- or discredits -- NASCAR's "living" rule book for the shift in power. In an effort to provide an equal playing field for the Chevrolets and Fords -- pity the poor Pontiac runners -- NASCAR keeps changing the heights of the rear spoilers. It has yet to achieve the desired result.

The rules, said Nemechek, should be set in stone. If one team or driver winds up dominating, so be it.

"When you're a 20th-place car and they change the rules, it really hurts the smaller guys," he said. "You don't have all the means to change your body every week."

Nemechek suggested the rules changes have been made only to slow Gordon and they haven't succeeded. Meanwhile, the other Chevy teams and drivers have suffered. Gordon is the only Chevy winner this year.

"Why penalize everybody for one man or one team's perfection?

"I almost think it's harder to win a Busch race than a Cup race right now," said Nemechek, who captured last week's Busch stop at Charlotte. "The rules aren't different between the manufacturers on the Busch circuit."

Backmarkers

Las Vegas Motor Speedway CEO Richie Clyne is listed among the "Fresh Faces in the Background" section of Racer Magazine's The Racer Dozen -- an annual story on the most influential people in motor sports. Reads the caption under Clyne's photo: "After years of planning, Clyne finally assembled the finance to see his dream, Las Vegas Motor Speedway and its surrounding motorsports park, become a partial reality. What's there is impressively state of the art but it remains unfinished and has yet to yield an income stream that's satisfactory to his backers." ... Glenn Menard, a former vice president of the Meyer Motorsports NHRA complex in Ennis, Texas, has been named director of marketing at LVMS. ... The LVMS-based Derek Daly Speedcentre is sponsoring the QMI Volkswagen GTI VR being driven by Robert Kleinman and Gary Gerson in the One Lap of America race which starts Saturday and will conclude June 7. The 5,725-mile sojourn will pass through Las Vegas Tuesday. ... Kmart/RC Cola Ford Winston Cup driver Jeremy Mayfield on Dover's Monster Mile, site of this weekend's NASCAR stop: "If you mated Rockingham (N.C.) and Bristol (Tenn.), Dover is what the child would look like." ... Tony Raines' victory in last weekend's NASCAR Craftsman Truck race at Odessa, Mo., marked Dodge's first win in a major race since Nov. 20, 1977, when the late Neil Bonnett drove a Dodge Charger to victory at the Los Angeles Times 500 at defunct Ontario Motor Speedway. ... Local driver Wayne Jacks was credited with 19th place at last weekend's NASCAR Winston West Carquest 200 at Bakersfield, Calif., exiting after 110 of 200 laps with a broken camshaft. ... Las Vegan Jimmy Vasser will attempt to keep his 23-race running-at-the-finish streak intact at Sunday's PPG CART Miller 200 at The Milwaukee Mile. Henderson's Richie Hearn, coming off a career-best ninth place at St. Louis last weekend, also is entered. ... Ivan Stewart has drawn the featured Trophy Truck division's No. 1 starting position for next weekend's SCORE Baja 500 desert off-road race. Bob Gordon, father of Indy car and Winston Cup driver Robby Gordon, drew the No. 1 pill for the pro and sportsman race. ... Quotable: Indy car veteran Mike Groff, on his frequent Indy 500 run-ins and near misses with Dr. Jack Miller, the so-called Racing Dentist. "These cars are so easy to drive, even dentists can drive them."

RON KANTOWSKIis a Las Vegas SUN sportswriter. His motor sports column appears Fridays. He can be reached on the Internet at Ron@lasvegassun.com. For the latest in the world of auto racing, check out the SUN Racing web site at http://www.lasvegassun.com/sun/dossier/sports/racing/