Columnist Ron Kantowski: NASCAR a big sucess in the desert

Monday, March 2, 1998 | 5:54 a.m.

RON KANTOWSKI is Las Vegas SUN sports editor.

THERE WERE at least two major conclusions to be drawn from Sunday's inaugural Las Vegas 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

The first is that LVMS finally proved itself a capable host of a major league auto racing event.

The second is that anybody who believes Winston Cup racing is three parts show and one part sport, with more rehearsed finishes than a professional wrestling match, wasn't among the 111,000 who jammed into motor sports' newest jewel of a race track.

Contrary to what the Motor Racing Network broadcast crew spewed onto the airways as the closing laps clicked off -- "It was a great day of racing ... it couldn't have been done better anywhere else in the country" -- the fact of the matter is that it does get better (at least at the finish) at most places Winston Cup goes.

Race winner Mark Martin crossed the finish line 1.7 seconds ahead of Jeff Burton. In NASCAR, that's like from here to Pahrump.

Martin slowed perceptibly during his last couple of trips around the 1.5-mile oval, which nearly made it possible for him and his Roush Racing teammate Burton to appear in the same photographer's shot as the cars came down for the checkered flag. But the outcome never was in doubt.

"The fans are on their feet, waving their hats," crowed the MRN guys as Martin roared toward the finish.

No, they weren't. They were sitting on their butts, waiting for the yellow flag that inevitably seems to wave late in a Winston Cup race and bunches the field for a dramatic sprint to the finish.

But the yellow flag was unfurled about as often as an umbrella on Sunday. There were only two harmless spins (by Kenny Irwin and Jeff Green), neither one of which resulted in wall contact.

With El Nino having blown its engine early in the week and the day having dawned sunny and pleasant, it was, as one press box pundit groaned in reference to the single-file procession of cars at the front of the pack, a nice day for a parade.

"Whether it was the kind of show everybody had hoped to see here or not, I can't answer that," said a diplomatic Martin. "But I know I passed a whole lot of race cars. That is racing to me."

But to the race fan? Well, here's something that I never thought I'd say in a million years: The end of last year's Indy Racing League event at LVMS actually was more exciting than Sunday's Winston Cup finish.

So two of the things NASCAR is most noted for -- close and slam-bang (often literal) finishes -- never materialized. That surely must have disappointed many of the neophyte race fans on hand.

But with the Cup drivers keeping the shiny side up, they'll all be back to race another day. And so, too, will the fans be back to cheer them on, Sunday's anticlimactic finish notwithstanding.

Stock car fans are more true blue than a favorite bloodhound. When tickets go on sale for next year's race, and with so many exciting finishes yet to follow, they will have long since forgotten Sunday's rather pedestrian one.

NASCAR awards its races on a yearly basis, meaning that it will be until fall until Las Vegas learns if its Winston Cup will runneth over to a second race. But Sunday's event was well received and appeared to go off smoothly -- probably the closest thing to a hitch on LVMS property transpired when a couple of workers shoved an ice sculpture of a race car through the press room window.

So rest comfortably, local race fans. Somewhere in NASCAR chief Bill France Jr.'s desk drawer there's a rubber stamp with the LVMS logo on it.