Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Goodyear on his way to a great year?

Friday, Aug. 20, 1999 | 12:32 p.m.

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

All things considered, Scott Goodyear feels fortunate to be leading the Indy Racing League championship with three races remaining.

Even if it is by only two points.

Goodyear has held the lead in the points battle ever since winning the Longhorn 500 at Texas Motor Speedway in June. But he has seen his advantage dwindle after mechanical problems ruined strong runs at Atlanta Motor Speedway in July and at Dover Downs International Speedway earlier this month.

"We're not leading by what we were mid-year, but we had some engine-related problems this year," Goodyear said during a break in testing this week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. "We left a lot of points on the table and we had sort of hoped that by this point now that we would probably have a bit of a cushion."

Instead, Goodyear heads into next weekend's race at Pikes Peak International Raceway leading Greg Ray by two points and third-place Kenny Brack, the defending IRL champion, by 14. The top five drivers in the IRL are separated by only 24 points.

Despite mechanical failures at the Indianapolis 500 and two other races, Goodyear said he is right where he wanted to be at this point in the season.

"I said all year that we never looked at it that we were in good shape as far as the championship," he said. "We said we just wanted to go out and be in contention to win every race and the championship will take care of itself, and that's our theory.

"Theoretically, if we didn't have such a strong beginning of the season and built up a cushion, then we probably wouldn't be leading right now, so there's some good things there."

Although the next race is always the most important to a driver, Goodyear said the Vegas.com 500 at LVMS in late September could prove to be a pivotal race in deciding this year's championship.

"They're all important races," Goodyear said of the remaining three events. "It has really come down to a three-race season because the first three guys in the series right now are so close; it has come down to where it's going to be between the top five guys, there's no doubt about it.

"You'll probably pare that down a little bit after Pikes Peak next weekend, so I think Vegas could be the turning point in the championship, really, because you want to do well here and have things well in hand by the time you go to Texas."

Goodyear said he likes his chances in the final three races because two of them -- Las Vegas and Texas -- will be contested on 1.5-mile ovals.

" I like them all ... but my favorite is the mile-and-a-half track and that should play into our hand here and also at Texas," he said. "The key thing for us right now is two-fold: win the championship and win Texas. If we win Texas, it's an extra million-dollar bonus."

* NASCAR: Stanton Barrett, part-time Hollywood stuntman and driver of Junie Donlavey's Ford in the Winston Cup Series, offered this unique analysis on the prospect of anyone catching Dale Jarrett in the Winston Cup points race:

"There is this stunt I've done for a couple of movies where they need somebody flying off a motorcycle," Barrett said. "They hook a 100-foot chain to the motorcycle and I climb on. No padding. No special protective clothing. No soft, special place to land. I hop on the motorcycle and run it as fast as I can until the chain catches. Then it flings me off the motorcycle, and I'm supposed to do a flip or two before I slam into the asphalt.

"I'd have a better chance of getting (Jarrett) to ride that motorcycle than anybody does of catching him in the points." ...

Sam's Town Hotel & Gambling Hall in Tunica, Miss., will serve as the title sponsor of the NASCAR Busch Series race at Memphis Motorsports Park on Oct. 31. Sam's Town is a subsidiary of Las Vegas-based Boyd Gaming Corp., which also is sponsoring the Busch Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway next March.

* CART: Dario Franchitti, who leads the CART FedEx Championship Series in points, said he might head for Formula One after his contract with Team Kool Green expires at the end of the 2000 season.

"That's always been in the back of my mind," Franchitti told the Associated Press. "For now, I just want to win a championship here, but I have to say I'd like to try F1 in the not-too-distant future." ...

Target/Chip Ganassi Racing teammates Jimmy Vasser and Juan Montoya will have more than enough incentive to do well in Sunday's Target Grand Prix at the new Chicago Motor Speedway.

Not only is Target the presenting sponsor of the race, but team owner Chip Ganassi built the state-of-the-art 1-mile oval.

"This is a very important race for us," Vasser, a Las Vegas resident, said. "For our team, every race is important from here until (the season-ender in) Fontana.

"We're going to keep racing for wins and with Juan so close in the points chase, every point that I can earn is taking away points from the competition. This team is shooting for a fourth straight championship, so a podium finish at the Target Grand Prix could be the boost we need to put us in position to get another PPG Cup."

Vasser started Ganassi Racing's run of three straight CART championships in 1996. Alex Zanardi won in 1997 and 1998 before leaving for Formula One, and his replacement, Montoya, is second in points (and has five wins) going into Sunday's race.

"I've seen so many new tracks this year that you might think this would just be another track for me, but it is very important for us," Montoya said. "We're one point behind (Franchitti) in the championship, so ... of course this race is huge.

"Everyone on the team wants to win the Target Grand Prix and give our partner a nice gift for the first race here."

* IRL: Henderson's Sam Schmidt is the only driver to record top-10 finishes in the three previous IRL races held on 1-mile ovals. Schmidt finished ninth at Phoenix in March, second at Pikes Peak in June and fifth at Dover earlier this month. ...

In each of the past two seasons, the Pikes Peak race has played a hand in determining the eventual series champion. Tony Stewart won the Radisson 200 in 1997 and went on to win the championship. Kenny Brack won last year's race there and was crowned IRL champion after finishing 10th two months later in Las Vegas.

* BACKMARKERS: For the third time this season, Las Vegas Motor Speedway officials were forced to penalize a race winner at the short track.

Two Limited Late Model drivers lost their points and prize money this week for running illegal cylinder heads at the 3/8-mile paved oval.

Glen Burke and Dennis Rock Jr. were penalized after finishing first and fourth, respectively, in the Limited Late Model main event. The heads from the top four cars in the main event were taken to an engine inspector and were returned to the drivers Wednesday. ...

The NASCAR Winston Racing Series returns to the the LVMS 3/8-mile paved oval Saturday night. All firefighters with identification will be admitted free as part of a "One Hot Night" promotion. The Clark County Fire Department will display a fire engine, and drivers will throw candy to the fans.

Racing action will include Legends, Limited Late Models, Grand American Modifieds and Bandoleros. Gates open at 5 p.m. with racing scheduled to start at 7.

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