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Monday, July 27, 1998 | 10:49 a.m.

Three local fare well in U.S. 500

Jimmy Vasser knew exactly where he wanted to be going into the final lap of the CART FedEx Championship Series U.S. 500 at Michigan Speedway. Unfortunately for the Las Vegas resident, he was in the lead when the white flag waved.

"We joked before the race that you didn't want to be the leader on the white-flag lap and that's exactly how it worked out today," Vasser said Sunday after finishing second to Greg Moore.

Vasser was one of three Southern Nevada residents to finish in the top 10 in Round 12 of the 19-race series. Richie Hearn of Henderson finished a career-best fifth and led 11 laps and Paul Tracy of Las Vegas was ninth and led 22 laps.

The race was marred by the deaths of three spectators, who were hit by a tire and wheel that flew into the fourth-turn grandstands after Adrian Fernandez made hard contact with the wall on lap 175. Six other fans received injuries as a result of the incident.

"It's terrible, a tragedy," Vasser said. "We don't want to see that happen."

Vasser, who grabbed the lead from Moore on the penultimate lap, couldn't hold off the Canadian for the final two miles. Moore dipped under Vasser in turn one and held on for the win in one of the most remarkable CART races in its 20-year history.

There were a series-record 62 lead changes among nine drivers -- shattering the previous mark of 27 lead changes set at Michigan in 1982 and matched in 1985.

"It was a good race -- it was a lot of fun," Vasser said. "I hate to come in second like that but it was a fantastic race. Greg Moore did a good job; I had to give him a little room there and he got underneath me.

"I just led the wrong lap, I guess."

Vasser said he felt his Target Reynard/Honda going away from him on the last lap.

"It seemed like I could pass somebody and pull out a bit but they just came flying right back on me. We might have had a little problem there at the end because when I got off by myself, I was pulling about a thousand less (RPMs) than I should. So there might have been something a little wrong with our top-end speed."

Like most of the estimated 60,000 fans in attendance, Hearn said he enjoyed the close, NASCAR-like racing that came about as the result of a new rear wing CART adopted in an attempt to slow down the cars.

"I told everybody it was going to be a good race," Hearn said. "We ran three wide, we drafted, we slingshot each other. It reminded me of my old go-kart days."

Tracy was challenging for the lead until he was forced to the pits because of a loose rear wheel with 30 laps remaining.

"The car was great," Tracy said of his Team Kool Green Reynard/Honda. "We weren't the fastest on the straightaway but I think we were one of the best handling cars. My strength was coming off the turns; guys would pass me on the straight but I'd pass them coming off the turn.

"This team is ready to win, we've just got to get everything together. We made seven pit stops and on the last one, the right rear tire guy did not get the wheel up on the drive pegs properly. When I went out, I could feel the rear was wobbly right away so I had to come back in and that put us at the back of the field."

Vasser, Hearn and Tracy fared better than their Southern Nevada counterparts in the rival Indy Racing League. In Saturday night's IRL Visionaire 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Davey Hamilton of Las Vegas and Sam Schmidt of Henderson both battled ill-tempered cars and finished seventh and 14th, respectively.