Primadonna revved up over Indy 500 publicity

Friday, May 29, 1998 | 11:08 a.m.

For the folks at Primadonna Resorts Inc., last Sunday's Indy 500 was like looking gift horsepower in the mouth.

The hotel-casino conglomerate out at the Nevada/California border had signed a one-off associate sponsorship deal with the ISM Racing team, thinking a strong run by drivers Jeff Ward (who finished third in last year's 500) or Jim Guthrie (a surprise winner at Phoenix in 1997) might bring the Primadonna group some instant publicity.

But it was the third ISM driver, little-known Steve Knapp of Wisconsin, who outdrove his more experienced teammates to a startling third-place finish in his first-ever Indy-car race.

Better yet, as far as the Primadonna folks were concerned, is that Knapp handled his postrace interview on national television like a true racing veteran. The first words out of Knapp's mouth were a heartfelt thank-you to Primadonna, for financing his month of May at the famous Brickyard.

"We were really excited about that," Primadonna Resorts Inc., CEO Mike Villamore said about receiving the king-sized plug. "We've already heard from a lot of our customers about it."

Villamore said Primadonna become involved with ISM as a result of the relationship between Ward and Gary Primm, who grew up together in Southern California.

All three ISM cars carried Primadonna decals on their sidepods, and a Primadonna logo was prominently displayed on Ward's helmet during a prerace interview.

"We thought Jeff would be up there ... and then he forgets to mention us during the Victory Banquet," Villamore said good-naturedly. "But Steve nailed us good during the banquet, too. We received some great publicity."

So much that Primadonna is considering extending its support of the ISM team to October's Las Vegas 500K Indy Racing League stop at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and perhaps even beyond.

"We're discussing that," Villamore said. "We like the team and we like the drivers."

* BOAT RACING AT LAUGHLIN: The popular Formula One Professional Racing Outboard Performance (P.R.O.P) tour will stop at Laughlin this weekend, highlighting the annual Laughlin River Days celebration. Nearly 50 professional racers will be vying for a $40,000 purse during the Colorado River event. Qualifying heats are set for 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday with Sunday's action getting under way at 9 a.m. The championship final is set for 4 p.m. Sunday. General admission tickets are $5 with children 12-under admitted free. For more information, call 1-800-4-LAUGHLIN.

* LVMS SHORT TRACK: Las Vegan and longtime local businessman Jerry Spilsbury will continue his chase of Mike Ray Saturday night, when Quality Mechanical Night highlights NASCAR Winston Racing Series action at the 3/8ths-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway paved oval. Ray has run to six Late Model Sportsman triumphs in seven tries, capitalizing on the absence of defending track champion Dick Cobb, and leads the NASCAR Winston Racing Series Pacific Coast Region points standings ahead of Robert Hogge of San Jose Speedway, Jim Pettit II of Watsonville Speedway and Gary Tamborelli of Cajon Speedway. Also scheduled Saturday night are the Grand American Modifieds, Limited Late Models and Legends. Gates open at 4 p.m., with qualifying at 5:35 p.m. and preliminary heats at 6:40 p.m. Main events are set for 8:05 p.m. Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for military, seniors and kids 6-12. Kids 6-under will be admitted free.

* FLORES RECOVERING: Professional personal watercraft racer Rob Flores of Henderson still is recovering from a serious bout with chicken pox as he heads to Texas this weekend for Round 3 of the eight-race IJSBA Big Red Jet Sports Tour. Racing for the Mission Yamaha team of Mission Viejo, Calif., Flores has had two weeks to recuperate after starting the season while very ill with two races in Florida. He opened the year in Titusville on May 10 with a disappointing 11th place finish in the Pro Ski class and could manage no better than seventh in Ft. Lauderdale May 17. Currently sixth in points on the 1998 tour, Flores won five races last year and finished a close second in Pro Ski to national champion Jeff Jacobs.

* NASCAR: Daytona Beach resident Mark Martin, one of the hottest drivers in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series with three victories in 1998, is the first official entrant for an open test at Daytona International Speedway June 8-10. The special test session will give participating teams an advance look at the Speedway's new state-of-the-art lighting system, which is being installed in preparation for the inaugural nighttime running of the Pepsi 400 July 4. Others scheduled for the test are Martin's Roush Racing teammate Jeff Burton, 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup champion Rusty Wallace, Bobby Hamilton, Michael Waltrip, Kenny Irwin, Mike Skinner, Steve Grissom, Kenny Wallace, Dennis Setzer, David Green, Greg Sacks and Dan Pardus. ... "Good to Go", a behind the scenes look at Winston Cup racing commemorating NASCAR's 50th-year anniversary, will air from 6-7 p.m. Sunday on TBS (Prime Cable Channel 7).

* CART: The Milwaukee Mile, site of Sunday's Miller Lite 200 FedEx Championship Series event, has been kind to two of the three Las Vegas-area drivers entered in Round 7 of the 19-race championship. New Las Vegan Paul Tracy (KOOL Reynard Honda) won the race in 1995 and has been the polesitter at Milwaukee in each of the past two years. Fellow Las Vegan Jimmy Vasser (Target Reynard Honda) finished third in last year's race. Vasser, the 1996 CART champion, enters the weekend fourth in championship points. Henderson's Richie Hearn (Budweiser/Ralph's Swift Ford) will be making his second start at the venerable track on the Wisconsin State Fairgrounds.

* IRL: Next week's True Value 500 will be the first race of the "Texas Two-Step" Championship, a bonus program that will reward performance in the two IRL events at Texas Motor Speedway this summer. The Pep Boys IRL driver who scores the most points in the True Value 500 June 6 and the Lone Star 500 Sept. 20 will earn a $100,000 bonus. Second place aggregate in the two Texas races will pay $50,000. ... Jim Guthrie, who suffered a broken arm and leg in a frightening crash in last Sunday's Indy 500, has returned home to Albuquerque, N.M. He will miss next weekend's True Value 500 but hopes to be ready for the June 28 IRL stop at New Hampshire International Raceway. ... Mistaken identity: Indy 500 champion Eddie Cheever referred to Henderson's Sam Schmidt as "Stan Smith" on RPM 2Night this week. Cheever narrowly avoided a seven-car crash that was triggered when Schmidt and Las Vegan Davey Hamilton touched wheels while racing into turn 3. Stan Smith, by the way, is a former professional tennis player. Perhaps Cheever thought Schmidt and Hamilton committed a double fault by serving all those cars into the wall.