Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: In-car camera keeps Schmidt on the track

Friday, June 26, 1998 | 9 a.m.

BRIAN HILDERBRAND is a Las Vegas SUN sportswriter. His motor sports column appears Fridays. He can be reached on the Internet at bh@lasvegassun.com. For the latest in the world of auto racing, check out the SUN Racing web site at http://www. lasvegassun.com/sports/racing/

Sam Schmidt has mixed emotions going into this weekend's Pep Boys Indy Racing League Pennzoil 200 at New Hampshire International Speedway.

On one hand, the Henderson resident is grateful to have picked up some much-needed financing to allow him to extend his racing season another week. On the other hand, Schmidt wishes he was running anywhere but the mile oval in Loudon.

"Frankly, I'm not really looking forward to New Hampshire because I didn't have very good luck there last year," Schmidt said of crashing twice last year, during practice and again in the race. "I think we're miles ahead of where we were at this time last year but you're just a little nervous when you crashed twice there the last time you were at the place."

Schmidt, owner and driver of the No. 99 Best Western Gold Crown Racing Special, is on a race-by-race schedule because of a limited budget. His 26th-place finish last month in the Indianapolis 500 netted Schmidt $215,300 and a one-off sponsorship deal allowed him to race three weeks ago at Texas.

Securing an in-car camera for Sunday's race will allow Schmidt to run this weekend without falling too far in debt.

"Indy kind of caught us up from our bills and got us paid up to date," Schmidt said. "We got a little bit of one-time-only sponsorship at Texas and that kind of got us going for there. We've got an in-car camera at Loudon this weekend (and) I sold that for a little bit of money.

"As long as we remain in the top 20 in points, we get an extra start bonus. That, combined with what we arranged for the in-car camera has got us through this race. The money is starting to trickle in a little bit from Best Western (but) it's certainly not enough to guarantee us a program for the rest of the year. But things are hopeful."

Schmidt, who qualified sixth-fastest at Indy, said that effort proved what he can do, given the time to test like some of the more well-funded teams.

"We dedicated two days to it -- now, two days wasn't nearly the testing that a lot of people had, but two days for us was more than we have at other places," Schmidt said.

"I feel we're at the point now where we could have the potential to run in the top five. We don't have the money to have extra motors to go testing, to go do the things to run consistently up front. I think it's possibly a little optimistic to say that we've got a really, really good shot of winning races just because we don't have the financial (resources) to consistently run up front.

"I think the elements are in place, we just need a little bit more financial backing to go testing and do some development work on the motors."

A unique sponsorship arrangement with Best Western is beginning to bring some money to the team, Schmidt said, but he won't know until after New Hampshire whether or not he will be able to run all of the remaining six IRL races.

"We would like to, at this point, say we would for sure be at Texas in September and Vegas in October," he said. "I think that no matter what we'll be at those two races because I know I can generate some local sponsorship around here and Texas was a great race for us -- even though we started nine laps down, when we were running I felt very comfortable so I'm going to do everything possible to go back there."

* NASCAR: American Equipment Racing team owner Howard "Buz" McCall has tapped CART FedEx Series driver Robby Gordon to drive his Caterpillar-sponsored Chevrolet in Saturday's Winston Cup event at Sears Point Raceway in Sonoma, Calif. "Our team is in a unique position, to have Robby drive our car at Sears Point," McCall said. "He's an excellent road racer and will be in a familiar environment (Sears Point). In my opinion, it's a perfect combination." Gordon also drives the No. 24 Arciero-Wells Reynard/Toyota on the CART FedEx circuit. Winston Cup veteran Morgan Shepherd will drive the No. 96 Caterpillar Chevrolet in the Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway on Sat., July 4. ... Sears Point Raceway has been reconfigured, shortening the road course from 2.52 to 1.949 miles by eliminating the carousel between turns 4 and 7. ... Both Rusty Wallace and Ernie Irvan have two career wins at Sears Point.

* CART: Las Vegas resident Jimmy Vasser is the only driver to have completed all nine races this season. Vasser, who has two wins this season and is third in series points, leads CART in both laps completed (1,417 of a possible 1,420) and miles completed (2,025.926 of 2,030.479). ... Vasser's Target/Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Alex Zanardi, who leads the series with four wins, has 12 victories in 41 career CART starts. ... Richie Hearn of Henderson improved 13 places from his 23rd starting spot and finished 10th last weekend at Portland. It was Hearn's fourth top-10 finish of the season. "A top-10 finish after starting 23rd certainly qualifies as a good day," Hearn said. "I struggled with the car all day ... but I'm pleased we were able to give our sponsors a strong finish after the way the weekend started." Hearn's Budweiser Swift/Ford debuted a "Louie the Lizard" decal at Portland.

* BACKMARKERS: Precision Preparation, Inc. has signed Las Vegas resident Jeff Shafer as its driver in selected KOOL/Toyota Atlantic Championship series races. Shafer, who also serves as an instructor at the Derek Daly Performance Driving Academy at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, finished seventh in his Toyota Atlantic debut earlier this month in Milwaukee. ... Three divisions of racing -- one with twin main events -- will highlight NASCAR Winston Racing Series action Saturday night at the 3/8ths-mile paved oval at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Gates will open at 4 p.m. with preliminaries scheduled to start at 7 p.m. and main events slated for 8. Included will be Late Model Sportsman, Limited Late Models and Grand American Modifieds. Dubbed the Las Vegas Auto Parts 100, the evening will include a total of 100 laps of main-event racing in three divisions. The key showdown will be twin 25-lap main events in the Late Model Sportsman division, where Mike Ray has nine wins in 10 starts this season.