Las Vegas mayor to serve as honorary starter for LV 400

Thursday, Feb. 18, 1999 | 11:07 a.m.

Mayor Jan Jones will serve as the honorary starter of the Las Vegas 400 NASCAR Winston Cup race, to be held March 7 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and longtime Las Vegas resident Wayne Newton will again serve as the event's grand marshal, LVMS officials announced today.

Jones, who recently announced she is stepping out of the political spotlight, said she was looking forward to waving the green flag to start the 43-car field for the second annual race.

"I've always enjoyed auto racing, but never really thought I'd get the chance to do something like this," Jones said. "This will undoubtedly be the thrill of a lifetime."

Brittany Breed, a 10-year-old Las Vegas resident and Country Music Organization of America Junior Entertainer of the Year, has been named to sing the national anthem.

Breed, a straight-A, fifth-grade student at Warren Walker Elementary in Las Vegas, has performed all over the country, including at the Nashville Palace at the Opry House in Nashville, Tenn.

The Las Vegas 400 NASCAR Winston Cup Week includes three days of racing on a pair of tracks. The Pennzoil World of Outlaws will run on the 1/2-mile dirt oval on March 5 and 6 and the NASCAR Winston West series (March 5), NASCAR Busch Series (March 6) and NASCAR Winston Cup Series (March 7) will compete on the 1.5-mile superspeedway.

LVMS general manager Chris Powell said Wednesday that tickets still are available for all races, but predicted that the Winston Cup event soon will sell out. Tickets for each of the LVMS events and can be purchased by calling the ticket office at 644-4443.