Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Rudd has plenty on the line at Indianapolis

Friday, Aug. 6, 1999 | 10:31 a.m.

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

Ricky Rudd may have more incentive to win the Brickyard 400 than any of the other 42 drivers in Saturday's race.

And it has little to do with a handsome payday or extending Rudd's streak of 16 consecutive NASCAR Winston Cup seasons with at least one win.

It has everything to do with Rudd securing a sponsor for next season after he learned last month that his sponsor of nine years, Tide, was not renewing its agreement for the 2000 season.

"This race is probably more important to us than most teams right now," Rudd acknowledged. "It's not much of a secret we're sponsor-hunting, and nothing seems to pick you up in that area more than a really good run in a really big race.

"For a lot of teams, winning this race could mean $1 million. For Rudd Performance Motorsports, winning this race could mean several million dollars, talking about sponsorship in the future."

That's not to say, however, that a bad finish Saturday would ruin Rudd's chances of landing a sponsor.

"I'm not saying Indy is a make-or-break race for us; it's far from that," Rudd said. "But it could be a real boost to getting us to where we need to be in sponsorship. We got started later than we would have liked, so we're coming from behind on the sponsorship angle. We're working hard on it and I think we'll be okay."

Rudd, who won the 1997 Brickyard 400, said he likes his chances going into the 160-lap race on the legendary 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

"Anytime you go to a track where you've won before you feel pretty good," he said. "The fact that not too many people have been able to win at Indianapolis in a stock car helps some, too. It's a morale booster for the team. It gives everybody a pretty good feeling."

While the Brickyard 400 pays the same points as every other race on the Winston Cup circuit, Rudd admitted that there is something special about winning at the Brickyard. "The Brickyard 400 is a big race, an important race," Rudd said. "All of the races are important since they all give you the same number of points but there are always races that stick out a little more in people's minds. This race, the Daytona 500, Charlotte, Darlington, Talladega and a few others, those are the ones that first come to your mind when you talk about NASCAR Winston Cup racing.

"Everybody brings out their very best stuff and puts a lot of time and effort into these kinds of races. When you win one of those, like the Brickyard 400, you know you've beaten the best."

And then there's The Streak. Rudd has won at least one race in every season since 1983 and he said it is important to him and his team to keep it alive.

"We have a really good winning streak going as a team and I have a really good winning streak going as a driver," Rudd said.

* NASCAR: Cal Wells, owner of PPI Motorsports, and McDonald's Racing Team have named Anthony Lazzaro driver for the McDonald's NASCAR Busch Series Team, which will begin competing full-time next season.

Lazzaro, 32, of Acworth, Ga., currently drives a Formula Atlantic car for PPI. He is leading the points chase for the 1999 KOOL/Toyota Atlantic Championship and earned his third win of the season last weekend in Trois-Rivieres, Quebec.

"I couldn't be happier," Lazzaro said. "The opportunity to take on the challenge of NASCAR competition with PPI and an incredible partner like McDonald's is the opportunity of a lifetime. I feel very lucky to have been at a point in my career where I could be considered seriously for this program, and it is an honor to have been selected." ...

Officials of Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte, N.C., have unveiled plans for a new grandstand that will create nearly 11,000 new seats on the 1.5-mile track's front stretch.

Construction has already begun on the new Ford Grandstand, which is a three-level design incorporating expanded Speedway Club veranda seating and a covered, open-air VIP tier -- topped off with the highest deck of seats ever installed at LMS.

The addition of 10,254 seats will increase Lowe's Motor Speedway's capacity to 167,254 -- second only to Indianapolis Motor Speedway and it's 250,000-plus seats. ...

The longest running team owner-driver combination in the NASCAR Busch Series -- six years -- will come to an end following the 1999 racing season as Cicci-Welliver Racing announced it will not renew Mike McLaughlin's contract for 2000. McLaughlin has five wins and 66 top-10 finishes in the Goulds Pumps Chevrolet.

* CART: Newman/Haas Racing driver Christian Fittipaldi, hospitalized Monday following a testing accident at Gateway International Raceway, could miss a minimum of eight weeks due to a subdural hematoma in the left frontal region of his head.

A subdural hematoma is a collection of blood between the covering of the brain and surface of the brain, but Fittipaldi's doctors said the hematoma is getting smaller and will not require surgery.

Roberto Moreno was named Fittipaldi's replacement for Sunday's Tenneco Automotive Grand Prix of Detroit at The Raceway on Belle Isle. Moreno had been the substitute for PacWest Racing driver Mark Blundell, who was injured in a testing accident at Gateway in May, for the past eight races, but relinquishes the ride this weekend as Blundell is set to return.

Moreno has been outstanding in his stint as a substitute, recording PPG Cup points in six of his eight starts for PacWest Racing. His top finish was fourth at Gateway and Toronto and, despite missing the first four events of the season, he ranks 11th in the FedEx Championship Series points championship.

* IRL: Although talk of an IRL-CART truce has died down in the past week, sources familiar with the negotiations between the two open-wheel series have told the Sun that a formal announcement on a merger is expected by the Vegas.com 500 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in late September.

IRL founder Tony George and CART chairman Andrew Craig reportedly have come to terms to form one unified series for the 2001 season, and that both series will run at next year's Indianapolis 500. CART has been excluded from running at Indy since 1995.

The unified series would run about 26 races a year, according to sources, on a combination of oval tracks and street and road circuits, and that Las Vegas Motor Speedway's 1.5-mile oval would definitely be included on the expanded schedule.

* BACKMARKERS: Las Vegas Motor Speedway will offer 2-for-1 admission Saturday evening at the 1/3-mile dirt oval. "Fan Appreciation Night" will feature prizes for every fan and special giveaways including two tickets to the Vegas.com 500 Pep Boys Indy Racing League event and The Orleans 250 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at LVMS in September.

Legends, Dwarfs, Street Stocks and IMCA Modifieds will highlight Saturday night's racing program. Spectator gates open at 6 p.m.; racing starts at 8. ...

LVMS officials have added Saturday, Aug. 14, to the 3/8-mile paved oval schedule with competition in NASCAR Late Models, Limited Late Models and Grand American Modifieds. The race was added to accommodate NASCAR's requirement of 18 feature races per year in the NASCAR Late Model division.

The quarter-mile drag strip at LVMS also will be open Saturday night with racing in the Pro, Sportsman, Street, Motorcycle and Jr. Dragsters categories. Gates open at 3 p.m.; eliminations are scheduled for 8:30.

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