Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Speculation on second race proves unfounded

Wednesday, July 14, 1999 | 12:23 p.m.

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

The Internet rumor mill kicked into high gear almost as soon as the checkered flag dropped on last Sunday's NASCAR Winston Cup race at Sears Point Raceway in Sonoma, Calif.

Fueled by comments from NASCAR senior vice president Mike Helton, the gossip mongers had Sears Point owner Bruton Smith moving his Winston Cup date from Northern California to either Las Vegas Motor Speedway or Texas Motor Speedway -- two tracks under Smith's Speedway Motorsports Inc., umbrella.

Helton said publicly that NASCAR is disappointed in the lack of facilities for drivers and crews at Sears Point and offered this thinly-veiled threat:

"(The market) certainly allows us to tolerate (the tracks's shortcomings) longer," Helton said. "But I don't know when you come to the end of 'longer.' We tolerate it in the expectation that all those things will be fixed."

And Smith has been critical of the myriad roadblocks he has run into while trying to get local government to approve expansion and improvement plans, as well as the less-than-warm welcome from local residents since he bought the track three years ago.

"Everybody loves us (in Sonoma) except about 12 people who object to everything," Smith said. "They even object to people objecting.

"And it just cramps my style to have to go at the speed of California on this thing. Californians are great, but there are a few people who are absolutely absurd. We don't deal with them, but we encounter them."

LVMS general manager Chris Powell said that Smith "has never suggested" that he would consider moving his Winston Cup date from Sears Point to Las Vegas.

"It has never even come up, not even casually, in our conversations," Powell said this week. "All I know is what I've read on the Internet."

That is not to say, however, that Smith isn't confident he will receive a second Winston Cup date at Texas Motor Speedway -- perhaps as early as next year. Smith never was awarded a Cup date at Texas; he moved one of the dates from North Wilkesboro Speedway to Texas after purchasing the former track.

In an interview with the Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal this week, Smith said, "I assume we'll be on the new schedule for next year (with a second Texas date). We're just waiting for NASCAR to give us that date for Texas."

As for Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Smith continues to hold out hope that NASCAR will award the 1.5-mile superspeedway a second Winston Cup date, although Helton and NASCAR president Bill France have said repeatedly that is not likely to happen.

* NASCAR: Las Vegas Motor Speedway general manager Chris Powell said he is "all for" a plan to build a downtown arena to lure an NBA or NHL franchise, and does not view it as direct competition to the Speedway.

"I think anything that is good for the community is good for the Speedway," Powell said. "We would welcome it and support it and we would certainly like to believe anybody involved with the proposed arena would support us as well." ...

Saturday's Pepsi 400 Winston Cup race from Daytona International Speedway will be the first race to be televised live by a network in prime time. The race will be televised by CBS (KLAS Channel 8 in Las Vegas) beginning at 5 p.m. (PDT). ...

U.S. Tobacco Company has announced that it will not renew its sponsorship of Ken Schrader's Skoal Bandit Racing Chevrolet next year. Another high-profile sponsor, Tide, won't be back with Ricky Rudd in 2000. ...

Sold USA.com will offer the late Alan Kulwicki's famous "Underbird" Winston Cup car to launch its new on-line auction service. The car, which carried Kulwicki to the 1992 Winston Cup championship, will be up for bid through Aug. 3. The minimum bid on the car is $100,000.

Sold USA.com is a subsidiary of Speedway Motorsports Inc., which is owned by Las Vegas Motor Speedway chairman Bruton Smith.

* CART: Two CART teams, Team Kool Green and Arciero-Wells Racing, are participating in a program designed to create opportunities for African-American race-car drivers.

The CART-created program, announced Thursday, will select three African-American drivers who will be given Toyota-Atlantic tests with Arciero-Wells and the potential for Indy Lights tests with Team Kool Green.

CART will work in conjunction with Miller Racing Group, a second-generation African-American-owned racing team which has managed race teams in several major race series.

"The very nature of our sport encourages inclusion and CART provides open access in all three of its race series," CART chairman Andrew Craig said. "We wish to take a more pro-active role in developing driver participation in our sport by minorities."

* IRL: Jonathan Byrd Racing announced it was suspending operations following the Indy 500 until the team can find a sponsor, leaving John Paul Jr. without a ride. ...

Tri Star Motorsports, owned in part by 1997 IRL champion Tony Stewart, withdrew from last weekend's race at Pikes Peak International Raceway, but the team insists it will be in Atlanta for the July 17 race.

* BACKMARKERS: A group of Houston-area investors are planning to build a $100 million motor sports complex that will seat 100,000. The group already is talking to NASCAR and the Indy Racing League about bringing major-league races to the track. ...

Scott Gafforini of Las Vegas holds a slim lead over Carl Trimmer in the NASCAR Winston Racing Series Sunbelt Region. Gafforini has six wins in ten starts while Trimmer, who races out of Tucson Raceway Park, has visited victory lane four times in nine starts. ...

Several local racers will journey to Indianapolis later this month for the sixth annual National Hot Rod Association Junior Drag Racing National Championships at Indianapolis Raceway Park.

Representing Las Vegas at the event will be Tanna Sanders, Ty Sanders and Kayla Krieger. Tyler Whiteside, another Las Vegan, will compete for a team from Georgia.

George Phillips, field services director for the NHRA and competition director for the Junior Drag Racing League, said more than 850 youngsters will participate from virtually every state and will compete for academic scholarships instead of prize money. ...

Bill Soard, a UNLV graduate and Las Vegas resident, has been named vice president of finance for Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Soard joined LVMS from Medical Innovations, a national home health care provider, where he served as chief financial officer and western regional director.