Friday, April 17, 1998 | 12:35 p.m.
BRIAN HILDERBRAND is a Las Vegas SUN sportswriter. His motor sports column appears Fridays. He can be reached on the Internet at [email protected]. For the latest in the world of auto racing, check out the SUN Racing web site at http://www. lasvegassun.com/sports/racing/
Mike Petersen loves going at a breakneck pace in whatever he does, be it running the Westward Ho Hotel and Casino, riding a jet ski or driving an off-road truck or sports car.
Petersen's need for speed, however, resulted in a broken neck when he ran his jet ski into a sandbar when he was 21 years old. He was forced to give up a promising off-road racing career but the 28-year-old Westward Ho vice president couldn't completely give up racing.
"I broke my neck a few years back and my mom and dad told me they didn't think it was a good idea for me to race anymore," Petersen said. "I put racing on the back burner for a while. Obviously, I quit for reasons that are very important to my family."
Two and half years ago, Petersen got into open-wheel pavement racing and -- despite the threat of reinjuring his neck -- is now co-owner and co-driver of a Porsche RSR 993 that will compete in next weekend's Toshiba Copiers & Fax Nevada Grand Prix at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Petersen, a lifelong Las Vegas resident, will be co-driving with fellow team owner Dale White of Las Vegas and Don Kitch of Seattle in the GT3 class of the Professional Sports Car Racing event.
Despite the obvious danger associated with racing -- especially for someone who already has broken his neck -- Petersen said the reward is well worth the risk.
"Yes, there is an inherent risk for me to be out there but it's something that I'm willing to take my chances with," Petersen said.
"I don't drive as much as I'd like because my neck can't handle it. But if I can drive the car for 15 to 20 minutes during a race, that's a lifetime to me; that's what I like to do."
Pro Sports Car's format of mandatory driver changes during the 3-hour, 45-minute race makes makes the series the ideal venue for Peterson to pursue his love of racing.
"That's how we chose to do this, for that specific reason," Petersen said.
"In other series if you have to get out of the car, you're definitely sunk. At least in Sports Car, we still have a really, really good chance to win with the driver change so it has worked out really good for all of us, actually."
Because of the smooth racing surface at LVMS, Petersen said he hopes he can stay in the car for as much as an hour before giving up the driving duties to White and Kitch.
"I really enjoy the practicing and stuff but I think, in the race, I get pretty worked up and my neck gets really stiff so it makes it pretty tough on me," Petersen said.
"Here in Vegas, it's a pretty smooth track so I can probably drive close to an hour, which is a normal driving stint, so it works out pretty well."
Petersen's association with White and his White Lightning Racing team has worked out pretty well for all sides. White and Petersen debuted the Westward Ho-sponsored Porsche in the 12 Hours of Sebring last month and finished 19th overall and sixth in class.
"We went (to Sebring) with the intention just to finish," Petersen said. "Normally, if you finish you do pretty well. We didn't finish where we would have liked to have finished, but we finished sixth in our class and 19th overall. Considering we started 35th overall, we were pretty happy with it.
"What we want to accomplish next weekend is maybe to move up quite a bit in the (starting) order and maybe finish in the top five in our class. We want to slowly work our way up, hopefully."
* NASCAR: As a result of the myriad crashes at Texas Motor Speedway two weeks ago, three Winston Cup regulars will be sidelined for this week's Goody's Headache Powder 500 at the half-mile Martinsville Speedway. Jeff Green will replace Derrike Cope in the Gumout Pontiac, Rich Bickle will sub for Greg Sacks in the Thorn Apple Valley Ford and Morgan Shepherd will stand in for Mike Skinner in the Lowe's Chevrolet. ... Brewco Motorsports team manager Todd Wilkerson suffered a fractured left wrist and elbow during a pit-lane accident during last weekend's Busch Series race at Hickory Motor Speedway. Wilkerson was injured when he jumped off the team's pit cart just as Kevin Grubb's car crashed into it. Grubb had been involved in a crash on the front stretch and lost control of his steering and brakes, careening into pit lane.
* CART: Robby Gordon will make his debut in the Panasonic-Duskin Reynard/Toyota when the CART FedEx Championship Series visits Nazareth Speedway April 26. Gordon, a two-time CART winner who is returning to the series after spending last season in NASCAR's Winston Cup Series, sat on the pole for the 1995 CART race at Nazareth and has qualified in the top four in each of his past two starts on the one-mile oval. ... Officials from Sportsman's Park in Cicero, Ill., and CART have announced a fall, 1999 race for Chicago Motor Speedway at Sportsman's Park. CART team owner Chip Ganassi and the National Jockey Club, owners of Sportsman's Park, are designing a dual-purpose facility that will host both a CART race on a one-mile paved oval and horse racing events on a seven-furlong track. Construction will begin this summer.
* IRL: Defending IRL champion Tony Stewart posted the fastest lap at 220.302 mph during an open practice session Thursday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in preparation for the May 24 Indianapolis 500. Stewart was followed by Scott Sharp at 219.555, Scott Goodyear at 219.223 and Eddie Cheever at 218.707. Five other drivers, including defending Indy 500 champion Arie Luyendyk and Henderson resident Sam Schmidt, were above 215 mph. ... Jeff Ward, who finished third in the Indy 500 last year and was rookie of the year, crashed late in Thursday's practice when his car went sideways through the south short chute and hit the wall going into the second turn. Ward was not injured.
* BACKMARKERS: The NMA World Mini motocross races continue through Sunday at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway motocross track. Gates open at 6 a.m. through each day with qualifiers beginning at 7 a.m. Main events are scheduled for Saturday and Sunday in each class. ... Five divisions are scheduled to compete Saturday night during NASCAR Winston Racing Series action at the 3/8ths-mile paved oval at LVMS. Late Models, Limited Late Models, Grand American Modifieds, Mini Stocks and Legends will be running under the lights. Gates open at 4 p.m. and the main events will start at 8 p.m.
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