Goodyear has good night at LVMS, tops 204 mph

Thursday, Oct. 9, 1997 | 8:11 a.m.

Scott Goodyear, ironically running on Firestone tires, took advantage of cooler track temperatures and posted the fastest speed in the first night of practice for Saturday's Indy Racing League Las Vegas 500K at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

He drove his Treadway Racing G-Force Aurora to a fast-lap of 204.313 mph around the 1.5-mile superspeedway late Wednesday night when the track temperature had dropped to 70 degrees.

In Wednesday's early practice session, Brazilian Affonso Giaffone had the fast lap of 202.954 when the track temperature was 77 degrees.

"We didn't run that much first thing this afternoon ... but I think the track changed a very minor amount," Goodyear said. "We just kept making some adjustments for it and going through some of the things that we wanted to try. We're pretty pleased with the car so far."

Las Vegas resident Davey Hamilton, who trails IRL points leader Tony Stewart by 10 points going into the season finale, posted the second-fastest speed (204.105) -- also in Wednesday's late session -- before losing an engine. Goodyear and Hamilton were the only two of the 31 drivers to top the 204-mph mark on the first day of practice.

"We ran the car hard," Hamilton said. "The session wasn't absolutely perfect but we decided it was close enough and we went with a long-run setup. We ran 201 and 202 for a 20-lap run until we broke a motor. We're going to go back to the garage and have a fresh one put in the car.

"It's an important race and I'm going for it. A.J. (Foyt, the team owner) gave me a great car and now I've got to keep the motor in it."

Qualifying for the Las Vegas 500K will be held tonight from 8 to 9:30.

It didn't take a lap of 204-plus for Goodyear to experience first-hand what he already knew about LVMS.

"The one thing about this track is it's definitely fast," Goodyear said. "Usually at places like Charlotte, you've got the bankings you sort of ride up upon and drive on through. Here, with the flatter track, you're much more cognizant of what the car is doing."

Goodyear said he wouldn't be surprised to see speeds climb to the high 205s or low 206s by tonight's qualifying session.

"I think that there is probably another couple of miles an hour if everything goes well -- I don't see much more than that," he said. "I think we'll see 205s, you might see 206 possibly. But it takes momentum at this track to get going, so it'll be interesting to see what happens in qualifying."

* SCHMIDT UPDATE: Henderson resident Sam Schmidt struggled through Wednesday's early practice session, posting the second-slowest time of 28.925 (186.690 mph) but came back strong in the late session and got over the 200 mph mark (200.826). "We had problems the first session," Schmidt said. "I don't know what it was but I felt a real bad vibration in the car and it kept pushing. We should have run that (fast time) in the first session ... but I think we're real close. We've got one more practice (tonight) and hopefully we can get up around 202, 203 -- that will be our goal." Schmidt ran a 202-mph lap two weeks ago during an open IRL test at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

* FLYING KITE: Team Scandia driver Jimmy Kite showed no ill effects Wednesday from a slight concussion he suffered Sept. 23 in a crash during a Goodyear tire test in Phoenix, posting the second-fastest time (26.623 -- 202.832 mph) in the first practice session. Kite, who fell off to 200.975 in the late practice, did not get clearance from doctors to drive in Saturday's Las Vegas 500K until Monday. Kite, an IRL rookie, posted the fastest speed (206.430 mph) in an open IRL test at LVMS last month. Kite is driving the No. 33 Old Navy Dallara/Aurora this weekend.

* BOAT SAILS: IRL rookie Billy Boat had the first mishap during Wednesday's early practice session when he hit the wall in turn two and wrecked his Conseco A.J. Foyt Racing Team G-Force/Aurora. Boat, who ran only six laps before the incident, pulled out his backup car for Wednesday's late practice session and ran a fast lap of 195.482 mph.

* IRL DISPUTE: Charlotte Motor Speedway officials are fuming about the IRL scheduling its 1998 date at CMS for July 25. The IRL's inaugural venture into the heart of stock-car racing country was a huge success, drawing a crowd of more than 73,000, but CMS officials maintain the reason the race was such a hit was because it was held on a weekend when NASCAR's Winston Cup Series was not running. Charlotte had asked that its 1998 date be July 18, when the Winston Cup Series is idle, but the IRL assigned that date to Dover Downs. While stopping short of saying they won't run the race, CMS spokesman Jerry Gappens was quoted as saying, "We're certainly not pleased with the cards that they have given us to play with ... (and) we're in the process of evaluating the scenario." Gappens added that although CMS parent company Speedway Motorsports Inc. has a three-year deal with the IRL to hold Indy-car races at Charlotte, "We have not signed an event sanction agreement for next July 25." An IRL spokesperson said the 1998 schedule "probably won't be changed."