Columnist Ron Kantowski: New Speedway owner sets record straight

Tuesday, Dec. 15, 1998 | 10:03 a.m.

Ron Kantowski's notes column appears Tuesday. Reach him at ron@ lasvegassun.com or 259-4088.

Like the guy who drives a NASCAR transporter from Charlotte to Fontana, Calif., on back-to-back race weekends, Bruton Smith wants Las Vegas race fans to know one thing -- as far as his ownership of Las Vegas Motor Speedway is concerned, he's in it for the long haul.

Commenting on a report in the morning newspaper last Friday that suggested his ownership of LVMS might be short-lived, Smith set the record straight at Monday's news conference that welcomed him to Las Vegas.

"We paid $150 million for the Speedway and $65 million for some other things -- the other things being no less than 1.4 million square feet of office and warehouse space," he said. "We will not keep that.

"We plan to sell the office and warehouse and probably, in the very immediate future, you'll see an announcement where we will sell that property.

"But we plan on keeping the Speedway."

But here's a thought:

The "warehouse," as Smith keeps referring to the Speedway Industrial Park which opened months behind schedule and was a white elephant from the start, might be a good place for Las Vegan Shruti Misra to store all the precious gems and metals the morning paper said she had acquired in her alleged bid to purchase the Minnesota Vikings this past summer.

For race fans with short memories, Misra's wealth was roughly equal to Dick Trickle's Winston Cup career victory total.

Virtual Bowl

The FANSonly Network, the largest collegiate sports site on the Internet, is running a 16-team Virtual Championship Series NCAA football championship tournament in conjunction with CBS SportsLine. The results were culled using 3-in-1 Football, a text-based computer game/program available through Lance Haffner Games of Nashville, Tenn.

The 15 teams in the Bowl Championship Series and one at-large team (Michigan) were seeded 1-16 based on the final BCS standings and incorporated into the present bowl structure. Two of the eight first-round games (Wisconsin over Florida and Virginia over UCLA) featured upsets.

The first-round results:

* Music City Bowl: (1) Tennessee 20, (16) Michigan 13

* Peach Bowl: (9) Wisconsin 18, (8) Florida 3

* Holiday Bowl: (12) Virginia 31, (5) UCLA 3

* Liberty Bowl: Ohio State 41, (13) Arkansas 0

* Sun Bowl: (3) Kansas State 38, (14) Georgia Tech 17

* Alamo Bowl: (6) Texas A&M 13, (11) Nebraska 10

* Insight.com Bowl: (7) Arizona 48, (10) Tulane 28

* Outback Bowl: (2) Florida State 45, (15) Syracuse 24

Users of CBS SportsLine (cbs.sportsline.com) can access box scores for each game and track progress of the tournament, including editorial coverage.

Indians reservation

Indiana University of Pennsylvania is the latest NCAA member considering dropping its nickname -- Indians -- in deference to political correctness.

If it follows through, Indiana Light would join the following list of schools who have changed their mascots in recent years:

* Adams State College (Indians to Grizzlies).

* Alcorn State (Scalping Braves to Braves).

* Eastern Michigan (Hurons to Eagles).

* Juniata College (Indians to Eagles).

* Marquette (Warriors to Golden Eagles).

* Miami of Ohio (Redskins to RedHawks).

* Springfield College (Chiefs to Pride).

* St. John's University (Redmen to Red Storm).

Some of the schools who still use ethnic nicknames include Utah (Utes), Notre Dame (Fighting Irish), Central Michigan (Chippewas) and Florida State (Seminoles).

Around the horn

Whoever says fighting is a necessary part of a hockey game should take a look at the Ottawa Senators, who remain in contention in the Northeast Division despite being involved in an NHL-low six fights (of 446) this season. ... Tim Neverett, the veteran play-by-play voice of the Las Vegas Thunder, is a solid pro in the booth who should warrant consideration from UNLV for either its football or basketball positions, if either comes open. ... The NHL's Washington Capitals, on their way from San Jose to Chicago, will practice at the Las Vegas Ice Gardens (3896 Swenson) from 10 a.m.-11:30 a.m. Wednesday. The public is welcome. ... Sports Illustrated listed eight basketball players who had transferred from Boston College to other schools but was remiss in not including UNLV's Brian Keefe, who began his career at BC. ...

Absolutely true

One of the former Northwestern football players implicated in the Wildcats' point-shaving scheme is named Chris Gamble. ... The ball that Manuel Petit kicked into the net for the final goal in France's 3-0 victory over Brazil in this summer's World Cup final was expected to fetch $25,000 at a Christie's auction, until referee Said Belqola, who was given the ball as a lovely parting gift, decided to keep it for himself. ... Helen Reddy wasn't a scribe: According to a Women's Sports Foundation report using USA Today, The Boston Globe, The Orange County (Calif.) Register and the The Dallas Morning News as a model, female athletes receive less than 3.5 percent of those papers' media coverage.