Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Andretti skeptical of F1 success at Indy

Friday, July 9, 1999 | 9:32 a.m.

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

Don't count Michael Andretti among those who believe an American Formula One race will be a smashing success in Indianapolis.

Andretti, who spent one year racing in F1 and holds the CART record for most career victories with 38, said he doesn't believe Americans will express the same interest as Europeans have for the international racing series.

"I think they're sort of misjudging (interest) a little bit," Andretti said. "I think there's going to be some interest but ... I don't think it's going to be as big of an event as a lot of people think it is, in my opinion."

Las Vegas was F1 president Bernie Ecclestone's first choice for the U.S. Grand Prix, but awarded it to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway after a bid to build a road course here was voted down by county officials.

Andretti, who made his first CART start in Las Vegas in 1983, said he doesn't believe Indianapolis will be a lure for the jet-set crowd that follows the F1 circuit.

"I think the demographics are quite different in Indianapolis," Andretti said, "and it's going to be quite a bit of a culture shock for the fans when they do get there, when they find out that they can't even get within a quarter of a mile of any race cars or any drivers.

"I think that's going to be a big adjustment for the fans (in Europe). I think you're going to have interest the first year, but I think it's going to turn a lot of fans off for the following years."

Indianapolis Motor Speedway is undergoing a multi-million-dollar renovation to incorporate a permanent 2.61-mile road course into the 2.5-mile Speedway. The inaugural United States Grand Prix will be run on Sunday, Sept. 24 next year.

* NASCAR: Mark Martin underwent surgery on Wednesday to repair a broken tibia plateau in his left knee. Martin suffered the injury in a crash during Saturday's Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Raceway.

Doctor inserted a screw in Martin's knee to hold the tibia in place. Martin will wear a knee brace, which will allow him to drive the No. 6 Valvoline Ford Taurus in Sunday's race at New Hampshire International Speedway.

Martin also suffered a fractured bone in his left wrist and sore ribs in the accident, which was caused when he cut a tire and slammed into the wall. ...

Last Saturday night's Pepsi 400 from Daytona was the first-ever auto race to be broadcast live in prime time by a network (CBS) failed to surpass the ratings posted by this year's Las Vegas 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

The Pepsi 400 drew a 5.4 rating and a 13 share while the March 7 Las Vegas Winston Cup race pulled in a 6.0 rating and 15 share on ABC. The Las Vegas race ranks as the second-highest rated Winston Cup event of the season behind the Daytona 500 (9.6/25). ...

Ernie Irvan's contract to drive for MB2 Motorsports has been extended through the 2000 Winston Cup season.

Irvan joined the team last year and has won three poles and posted 16 top-10 finishes. He is 22nd in the 1999 driver standings heading into Sunday's event in Loudon, N.H. Irvan has 15 career victories, but none since 1997. ...

NASCAR officials on Wednesday fined Scott Eggleston, the crew chief on Sterling Marlin's Chevrolet, $50,000 for an illegal insert found in the intake manifold on the car during a pre-race inspection prior to the Pepsi 400.

* CART: Las Vegas resident Paul Tracy will be looking to sweep the Wisconsin Champ Car races with a win in Sunday's Texaco/Havoline 200 at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisc.

Tracy scored his first win of the 1999 CART FedEx Championship Series season in the Motorola 300 in May on the famed Milwaukee Mile in West Allis, Wisc.

"I'd love to sweep the Wisconsin Champ Car races," Tracy said. "My wife, Liisa, is from Crivitz (Wisc.), so I'm already an honorary cheesehead. Maybe winning at Milwaukee and Road America in the same year would make it official.

"I've always gone pretty well at Milwaukee and Road America. I've led every race I've ever run at Milwaukee and I've had some success at Road America as well."

Tracy has finished fifth or better in each of the past three FedEx Championship Series events in the Team Kool Green Reynard/Honda, including his victory at Milwaukee.

"This year's win at Milwaukee was huge for me personally but also for the guys on my side of Team KOOL Green," Tracy said. "We had a tough season in 1998 but this year we've been competitive almost every weekend.

"It was just a matter of keeping our heads down, believing in ourselves and in what we were doing, and just staying consistent. Really, that's the way we'll approach it ... then, it's just a matter of maintaining a consistent level of performance and driving a smart race." ...

Valvoline, which has been the primary sponsor for Derrick Walker Racing since 1992, is ending its sponsorship agreement with the team at the conclusion of this year.

Walker Racing driver Gil de Ferran won last month's Budweiser/G.I. Joe's 200 in Portland and is second in the point standings going into Sunday's race at Road America.

* IRL: No driver is more eagerly anticipating next weekend's IRL race at Atlanta Motor Speedway than Jimmy Kite. Kite, a longtime Georgia resident, had to skip last year's race -- which would have been his first at AMS -- when the team he was driving for skipped the race.

"My emotions were probably a lot like someone who has missed the Indianapolis 500, because to me the Atlanta race was the most important event on the schedule," Kite said of last year's race. "Knowing I was so close, but so far away, I just couldn't stand it."

Kite said it has been his dream to race at the 1.54-mile oval since he attended a NASCAR Winston Cup race there 10 years ago as a 13 year old.

"Ever since that first day, I dreamed about racing there," Kite said. "We lived just down the road from the track, so it was kind of natural that it would become a special place to me." ...

Indianapolis Motor Speedway president and IRL founder Tony George will be behind the wheel of a midget car this weekend in the Summer Sizzle '99 USAC midget competition at 16th Street Speedway in Indianapolis.

George, who won a 1997 Legends feature on the quarter-mile oval, will join his son, USAC regular Eddie Carpenter, in the $140,000 event.

* BACKMARKERS: Las Vegas driver Kurt Busch, who leads the NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Series point standings, is featured in a story about the series' two "young lions" in this month's issue of NASCAR Magazine. The article compares the racing careers of the 20-year-old Busch and 23-year-old Matt Crafton of Tulare, Calif. ...

Despite an off-week for the July 4 holiday, Scott Gafforini of Las Vegas maintained his slim lead in the NASCAR Winston Racing Series Sunbelt Region standings, while Tom Hardy from Lanier National Speedway in Gainesville, Ga., moved into the second spot.

Gafforini has a Competition Performance Index (CPI) rating of 0.8485 in the region while Trimmer is second at 0.8077.

The regional champions will be decided following the conclusion of the NASCAR Winston Racing Series season on Sept. 12. The NASCAR Winston Racing Series national championship will then be determined by a ranking of the regional champions using the CPI. ...

The NASCAR Winston Racing Series returns to Las Vegas Motor Speedway's 3/8-mile paved oval Saturday night. Late Model Sportsman, Grand American Modifieds, Limited Late Models, Legends, Street Stocks and Bandoleros will highlight the program. Spectator gates open at 5 p.m.; racing starts at 7:45. ...

The American Motorcyclist Association Superbike race, scheduled for Oct. 1-3 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, has been canceled. Although officials from LVMS and the AMA could not come to terms on a sanctioning fee, LVMS general manager Chris Powell did not rule out the possibility of the series returning to the Speedway next year.

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