Practice cut short at LVMS

Friday, Sept. 19, 1997 | 9:18 a.m.

Practice sessions for the Las Vegas SportsCar Grand Prix were suspended Thursday afternoon as the constant traffic started chewing up the pavement in turn five of the 1.94-mile infield road course.

"The track's starting to come up out there and they've got to do something about it," said World SportsCar Championship driver and actor Craig T. Nelson. Nelson and the other WSC drivers had both their afternoon practice runs canceled as a result of the track damage.

Las Vegas Motor Speedway officials said in a prepared statement that repairs to the area would be made immediately and that practice would resume this morning. Qualifying in six divisions was scheduled to begin at 1:30 this afternoon.

"The damage is not that bad but the repair crews felt it would be easier to fix now rather than wait for it to get worse," said Sid Priddle, vice president of communications for Professional SportsCar Racing.

Today's schedule includes a three-hour race for the Speedvision Cup for stock sports cars, which begins at 7 p.m.

* SIR WAYNE?: Doyle Racing lead driver Wayne Taylor, the defending Exxon World SportsCar champion, was honored this week by his native South Africa by being knighted. Taylor, who is in Las Vegas this week for the Professional SportsCar Grand Prix presented by F A O Schwarz, sent a representative to pick up the nation's colors, a medal he received along with his knighthood. "It's quite an honor, really," said the modest Taylor, who also was named his country's sportsman of the year.

* LIGHTS, CAMERAS... : Actor Paul Newman originally had planned to drive in Saturday's Exxon Supreme GT Series race at LVMS, but had to withdraw because of a scheduling conflict with a movie he is filming. ... Another actor, Jason Priestley of "Beverly Hills 90210" fame, is eighth in the drivers point standings in GTS-1. Craig T. Nelson of television's "Coach" is 27th in the Exxon World SportsCar Championship drivers points race.

* QUICK SPINS: A record field of 21 cars is entered in the two-hour Exxon World SportsCar Championship Race, slated to start at 8:30 Saturday night. ... John Paul Jr. will make his return to SportsCar racing this weekend after recovering from injuries suffered during practice for the Indy 500 in May. ... Off-road racing standouts and White Lightning teammates Dale White and Mike Peterson of Las Vegas will make their professional road-racing debuts in Saturday's Exxon Supreme GT Series race. ... Of all the divisions running Saturday at LVMS, the GTS-2 series features the closest battle for the drivers' points championship. Larry Schumacher and John O'Steen are tied for the lead with 156 points with four races remaining. ... Yokohama Tire Corporation will donate as much as $5,000 to Mothers Against Drunk Driving of Southern Nevada at this weekend's SportsCar Grand Prix. The exact total of the donation will be based upon the success of cars in the GTS-3 event that are racing on Yokohama Tires.