Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Gordan plans all-out run in defense of Cal 500 title

Friday, May 1, 1998 | 11:33 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/

Jeff Gordon hopes to run a less conservative race when NASCAR's Winston Cup Series returns to California Speedway this weekend.

In winning last year's inaugural California 500 in Fontana, Gordon drove the last few laps around the two-mile tri-oval on fumes after pitting for the last time with 55 laps remaining.

The fuel-stop strategy forced Gordon to conserve his fuel during the closing laps.

"(Crew crew chief Ray Evernham) got me nervous," Gordon said of last year's race. "I wasn't nervous until he started telling me to conserve, conserve, conserve. I was letting off in the corners, trying to draft off everybody I could. With about five (laps) to go, I was really, really conserving -- even down the straightaways and letting the car roll into the corners.

"We're definitely not planning on making this year's 500 into an economy run again. You just don't plan on things like that. Circumstances develop during the race. You just have to adjust and hope you make the right decision."

Gordon's Rainbow Warriors team made the right call, as Gordon's No. 24 Monte Carlo ran out of gas during his victory lap, forcing him to take a shortcut to Victory Lane.

Gordon went on to win five other races following the California 500 and captured his second Winston Cup Series championship. This year, Gordon comes into Fontana with two wins and is fifth in points, 73 behind series leader Rusty Wallace.

Wallace is hoping for a stronger finish in Fontana this year after a disappointing 14th-place showing in the inaugural race. In addition to padding his points lead, Wallace would like to do well because team owner Roger Penske also owns the California Speedway.

"We weren't as strong there last year as we had hoped to be. So, in order to be better prepared this time around, we allotted one of our tests for California," Wallace said. "It's a high-profile race that pays a big purse ($2.4 million). All the sponsors look for a great performance because of the importance of the Southern California market.

"On top of that, it's one of Roger's tracks, so you can see that there are so many reasons that we want to do well."

* NASCAR: ABC Sports' coverage of the Diehard 500 from Talladega Superspeedway last Sunday received a 5.7 national rating, making it ABC's highest rated NASCAR event ever. The previous record was held by the 1997 California 500 with a 5.5 rating. The 5.7 national rating was up 39 percent from the 1997 DieHard 500. ... NASCAR has announced the Featherlite Southwest Series will expand its schedule to include a street race in downtown Los Angeles on Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 7. The race is the first of its kind on the streets of a major city for the Southwest Series, although teams already compete at the 1.949-mile Sears Point Raceway road course in Sonoma, Calif., and the 1.944-mile Portland (Ore.) International Raceway road course. The Ford/NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Series LA Street Race will take place on a 1.4-mile, six-turn course that borders the Sports Arena, Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, USC and the new California ScienCenter. ... Team owners Tom Gloy and Bobby Rahal have severed ties with driver Dave Rezendes for their Icehouse Beer Ford truck on the Craftsman Truck Series circuit. The team will announce a replacement for Rezendes "in the near future," according to a statement. ... Busch Series driver Joe Nemechek and his crew chief, Brian Pattie, were fined $5,000 each by NASCAR after illegal stop nuts were found on the shock absorbers of Nemechek's car following his victory in last weekend's Touchstone Energy 300 at Talladega Superspeedway.

* CART: PacWest Racing Group drivers Mark Blundell and Mauricio Gugelmin sustained no serious injuries following separate crashes in Monday's Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix at Nazareth (Pa.) Speedway. PacWest crewman Tim Douthat, who was struck by Blundell's car during a pit stop, also was not seriously injured. All three were taken to a local hospital and released after x-rays proved negative.

* IRL: Danny "Chocolate" Myers, the gasman for Dale Earnhardt's NASCAR Winston Cup team, will attempt to perform rare double duty on May 24. Myers will serve as the fuel man for one of A.J. Foyt's three entries in the Indianapolis 500, then plans to jet to Charlotte Motor Speedway to gas Earnhardt's GM Goodwrench Chevrolet in the Coca-Cola 600. Only one person, John Andretti, has performed the driving doubleheader, competing in the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 on the same day in 1994. Myers plans to become the first crew member to accomplish the feat.

* BACKMARKERS: With Yamaha rider Jeremy McGrath having wrapped up his fifth AMA Supercross 250cc title in six years last weekend in Dallas, the featured battle in Saturday night's series finale at Sam Boyd Stadium will be for the 125cc world title. Eastern Region Supercross champion Ricky Carmichael, an 18-year-old from Florida, will race for the world title against 32-year-old John Dowd, the oldest rider to win a regional title. Carmichael rewrote the Supercross record book this winter by winning all eight Eastern Region races. Yamaha rider Doug Henry is the defending Las Vegas race winner in the 250cc class. ... The most unique sponsor during last weekend's Professional Sports Car Racing Nevada Grand Prix at Las Vegas Motor Speedway was Clonaid, which backed a Toyota Supra Turbo in the Speedvision Cup. Clonaid is the world's first human cloning company. ... Glen Burke heads the Limited Late Model Division when the NASCAR Winston Racing Series returns to action Saturday night at the 3/8ths-mile paved LVMS oval. Also running this week will be Late Models, Minis, Legends and the American Truck Series. Gates open at 4 p.m. with racing set to start at 8 p.m. Burke has 98 points this year and leads Thane Alderman and Steve Burke in the Limited Late Model standings.