Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Hamilton gets shot to race in opener

Friday, Jan. 15, 1999 | 11:11 a.m.

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

Davey Hamilton still isn't quite sure how it came about, but the Las Vegas resident will be racing after all in next weekend's Indy Racing League season opener at Walt Disney World Speedway in Orlando, Fla.

As late as Monday night, Hamilton and his Galles Racing team had not secured a sponsor for their Dallara/Aurora and therefore did not have the funds to go racing.

By Tuesday night, however, some of Hamilton's colleagues in the IRL had managed to piece together a makeshift "team" that would allow Hamilton to make the race.

"I'll be honest with you, I don't know what happened," Hamilton said. "A lot of people came together and chipped in. I feel honored because a lot of other teams and sponsors and people wanted me there.

"It's not really even our team -- it's this guy's car, that guy's pit equipment ... it's a pretty wild deal."

So wild, in fact, that Hamilton wasn't even sure Wednesday what type of car he would be driving.

Team owner Rick Galles, who restarted the team he sold a year ago to Bob Nienhouse, was able to fill in the blanks for his driver.

"Two or three days ago, I got a call from a friend of mine who used to work for me ... and he said, 'We'd really like to see Davey run at Orlando, would you mind if we hired him?' I told him that was strictly up to Davey. Davey didn't feel like he wanted to go run with another team and he decided not to.

"Then they came back and said, 'maybe we could lend you some of our equipment,' so they lent us a little bit of equipment. Then I went to G-Force and they gave me a car that they could supply us for the race. My engine builder had a motor for us and I just felt like everybody was trying to help us so much ... I said, 'if everybody is going to try this hard, maybe I'd better try.' "

Not that driving a borrowed car and pit equipment is Galles' idea of an ideal racing situation.

"It's really against my better judgment because we haven't tested and we really haven't prepared like I normally would like to have our team prepare, but it's kind of gratifying to have so many people really try to help you," Galles said.

"We're not as prepared as I'd like to be because we haven't tested and we've never run this car. But my guys have enough experience and Davey has a good enough head on his shoulders that maybe we can pull this off."

Galles added that IRL founder and president Tony George and executive director Leo Mehl have agreed to give Hamilton some time on the track prior to the opening of practice in order to shake down the car.

Hamilton, who has finished second in points in each of the past two seasons, said he is grateful for the opportunity to be able to race next weekend.

"It makes me feel good that they want me there like that and all the other teams and drivers do as well," Hamilton said. "I really don't even know who to thank yet. It's a pretty wild deal but at least we'll be there."

Galles, who once fielded cars in the Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) series, said the scenario reminded him of his old Saturday night short-track racing days.

"It's kind of like the old-time racing deal: you show up and put everything together in the parking lot and go racing," Galles said. "It's certainly going to be a challenge, but I know it means a lot to Davey to be able to go down there and race, so it's important to me, too."

* NASCAR: Adam Petty, the 18-year-old son of Winston Cup star Kyle Petty, and the grandson of legendary Richard Petty, announced this week that he will run the entire Busch Grand National Series this year. The Busch Series visits Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 6. ...

The Sam's Town 300 Busch Series race from Las Vegas will be televised by ESPN2 this year. ... The extra 20,000 tickets for the March 7 Las Vegas 400 Winston Cup event at LVMS are now on sale at the speedway ticket office. Call 644-4443 for tickets or ticket information.

* CART: Robby Gordon ended months of speculation this week by formally announcing that he has formed Team Gordon with partners John Menard and Mike Held and will run the 1999 CART season in a Toyota-powered Swift.

Gordon's car will carry sponsorship from Menards home improvement stores, Panasonic, The Johns Manville Company and Duracell. The 30-year-old Southern California native is the series' only owner/driver.

"I may be a team owner on paper, and my name will appear on the side of the transporter, but in my eyes I'm a driver, period," Gordon said. "For me, Team Gordon is an opportunity to secure my passion as a driver for years to come, much like Bobby Rahal did six or seven years ago.

"We've been building, running and winning with our team in SCORE off-road racing for the last five years and we fully intend to carry that success into CART."

Menard becomes the first owner to be involved in both CART and the rival Indy Racing League series. Gordon indicated there is a "very good chance" that he will will run this year's Indianapolis 500 for Menard.

* IRL: Henderson resident Sam Schmidt posted the second-fastest overall speed among nine drivers during a recent two-day test at Walt Disney World Speedway.

Schmidt, driving the No. 99 Sprint PCS G-Force/Aurora for Treadway Racing, was clocked at 169.611 mph -- second only to Scott Goodyear's 169.819 mph in the Pennzoil Panther Racing G-Force/Aurora.

Defending series champion Kenny Brack was third fastest in A.J. Foyt's Dallara/Aurora at 169.595. ...

National USAC champion Jason Leffler will make his IRL debut next week as a Treadway Racing teammate to Schmidt. It has not been determined how many races Leffler will run, but team owner Fred Treadway said he is confident that funding will be reached to maintain his effort throughout 1999.

Leffler, who won both the USAC National Silver Crown Championship and the Midget Championship in 1998, is excited about the opportunity to race after serving as a test driver for Treadway the past year.

"I couldn't be happier than to run in the IRL this year," he said. "Tony George and the IRL have created an awesome opportunity for drivers like myself to fulfill our dreams.

"I am really excited to become a member of the Treadway team. They have really extended themselves in finding opportunities within the IRL for me and I am looking forward to my first race."