Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Robby Gordon on both sides of open-wheel fence

Friday, April 9, 1999 | 10:50 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand's motor sports notebook appears Friday. His golf notebook appears Wednesday. Reach him at bh@lasvegassun.com or 259-4089.

Robby Gordon will make history, of sorts, next month when he becomes the first driver to step from the ranks of CART to compete in the Indianapolis 500.

Last month, Gordon became the first full-time CART driver to enter the Indianapolis 500 since the rival Indy Racing League was formed in 1996, effectively eliminating CART teams from the Greatest Spectacle in Racing. The Indy 500 is run by Indianapolis Motor Speedway president Tony George, who founded the IRL.

Gordon, the lone owner/driver in CART, said he expects to have no problems moving from his turbo-powered Champ car to the normally aspirated IRL car.

"The IRL car is honestly an easier car to drive," Gordon said before he left for Japan to compete in tonight's Firestone Firehawk 500 at Twin Ring Motegi (9 p.m., ESPN). "There are a few differences between the cars. The IRL car, of course, is not as technically advanced as a CART car.

"But as far as driving the car, they are pretty similar. The only difference is a CART car is closing in on the 900 horsepower range (and) the IRL car is around 700 horsepower, so you do notice a bit of horsepower difference."

Gordon formed Team Gordon in January with John Menard and Mike Held to campaign a Reynard/Toyota in the CART FedEx Championship Series. Gordon will drive in the Indy 500 in a G-Force/Aurora owned by Menard, who also fields a car for Greg Ray in the IRL.

Gordon is so comfortable with the two cars that he intends to run the CART race on May 29 at Gateway International Raceway near St. Louis, then compete the next day in the Indy 500.

"Hey, it's a free world," Gordon said of his decision to run in the two rival series on the same weekend. "You can do what you want to do nowadays.

"I'm very fortunate that we hooked up with John Menard and the people from (sponsor) Johns Manville. Without those guys, we wouldn't be getting the opportunity. It's something I've always liked to do; we just like to race cars."

Gordon recently tested his IRL ride at the Brickyard and said he felt comfortable with the speeds he turned.

"When we tested at the Speedway (last) week, I want to say our fifth lap, we were flat, wide open all four corners," Gordon said. "From there, we trimmed some downforce off it and we were up in the 223 (mph) range, and that's pretty fast for 700 horsepower."

Billy Boat sat on the pole for last year's Indy 500 with a qualifying speed of 223.503 mph.

"I think a good goalpost right now is Greg Ray, who won the pole (at Phoenix International Raceway two weeks ago)," Gordon said. "We're within a mile (an hour) of him right now."

* NASCAR: Jeff Gordon will attempt to continue his mastery of the half-mile Bristol Motor Speedway oval Sunday when he goes after his fifth consecutive win in the spring race at Bristol.

Gordon, however, will be nursing bruised ribs and a bruised chin, injuries he suffered in a single-car crash two weeks ago at Texas Motor Speedway. Gordon called the accident "the hardest hit I've ever had."

Rusty Wallace has won the last two poles for the spring race at Bristol and finished second both times. In 1997, Wallace was leading on the final lap when Gordon tapped Wallace from behind, getting him out of shape and allowing Gordon to take the lead and the checkered flag.

"That was the famous 'love tap' episode," Wallace said. "To have won the pole and led the most laps and see a win slip away the way it did, it's something that's hard to forget." ...

The ESPN2 cable network has announced plans to televise two NASCAR Winston West Series races next month on a tape-delayed basis: The Auto Club 200 at California Motor Speedway on May 1 and the May 16 race from Pikes Peak International Raceway.

* CART: Las Vegas resident Paul Tracy will make his 1999 CART debut tonight in Motegi, Japan, after sitting out the season opener due to a much-publicized one-race suspension.

"I'm looking forward to Motegi for a lot of reasons," Tracy said. "Number one, it'll be my first race of the year so I'm anxious to get going and to get my '99 season with Team KOOL Green off to a good start.

"I'm confident I can do that because we had a strong race at Motegi last year and we were competitive on the speedways throughout the season. Plus, I'm sure Honda and Firestone will pull out all the stops."

Rain washed out qualifying for last year's race and Tracy was forced to start 16th, based on his practice speed. Tracy drove his Reynard/Honda to a fifth-place finish. ...

Tarso Marques, a 23-year-old Brazilian, will substitute for the injured Al Unser Jr. and drive the Marlboro Penske/Mercedes in tonight's race in Japan.

* IRL: Last week turned out to be a good news/bad news proposition for IRL driver Scott Goodyear.

On March 28, Goodyear notched his first IRL win at Phoenix International Raceway. Three days later, his Pennzoil Panther Racing show car was stolen from a hotel parking lot while Goodyear was in Burlington, Ontario, Canada, for a promotional appearance.

"I guess I have more fans in Canada than I thought," Goodyear cracked. "I didn't realize that winning the Phoenix MCI WorldCom 200 would create a frenzy big enough to steal the show car."

Thieves made away with not only the show car, but the truck and trailer used to haul the car to Canada.

Pennzoil Panther Racing is offering a reward for the return of the show car, truck and trailer. The reward is an all-expenses-paid trip for two to the Indy 500 on May 30. Anyone with information on the car's whereabouts is encouraged to call (905) 825-4747, extension 2316. ...

Henderson resident Sam Schmidt was one of seven drivers nominated for the inaugural U.S. F2000 Hall of Fame class.

Before getting a ride in the IRL in 1997, Schmidt won two races and finished fourth in points in the U.S. F2000 National Championship. He became the first driver to go from the F2000 ranks to the Indianapolis 500.

Other drivers nominated for the Hall of Fame were CART standout Greg Moore and IRL regulars Greg Ray and Steve Knapp. Two to five drivers are expected to be inducted into the Hall of Fame later this year.

* BACKMARKERS: Las Vegas native Brendan Gaughan earned the first pavement racing victory of his career last week in the Super Late Model division at the new Irwindale (Calif.) Speedway.

"We had a fast car and we were pulling about a car length each lap," said Gaughan, who was making his 19th start in the fastest of NASCAR's Winston Racing Series stock car classes.

Because of late afternoon rains, the race was shortened from 50 laps to 20 laps to comply with the track's 11 p.m. curfew.

"If we had run the full 50-lap race ... I think we would have ended up with a pretty good-sized lead; our car was that strong," Gaughan said.

A Rookie of the Year contender in the Winston West Series, Gaughan said the win reinforced his belief that he is more than just a talented off-road racer.

"I had been having some doubts lately about my (driving) abilities, so we really needed this win," he said. "It really felt good that several of the (Winston West crew) guys from the Walker Evans shop were watching. Now we all know that I can actually win on the pavement."

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