Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Schmidt hoping to make it two in a row

Friday, Oct. 15, 1999 | 9:11 a.m.

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

JUSTIN, Texas -- Sam Schmidt thrust himself into the Indy Racing League championship picture with his victory three weeks ago in the Vegas.com 500 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Now, the 35-year-old Henderson resident is heading into Sunday's season finale at Texas Motor Speedway looking to notch another win -- in the race, not necessarily the championship.

As a result of his first career IRL win in Las Vegas, Schmidt vaulted from 12th to third in the points and trails series leader Greg Ray by 30 points. Defending IRL champion Kenny Brack is second, 13 points behind Ray.

Although he has a legitimate chance to capture the championship in his first year driving for Treadway Racing, Schmidt is thinking less about winning the title (and a $1 million bonus) than taking the checkered flag in Sunday's Mall.com 500.

"We can win the race and (Ray) can still win the championship," Schmidt said. "We're still 30 points out so the way I look at it is it's still Greg's championship to lose. I think he's going to be a little conservative and we've got nothing to lose."

Meaning Schmidt will hold nothing back in the season finale.

"You always want to win and we really feel like, in the last six or seven races, we've had a pretty likely shot of winning going into the race," he said. "We were confident in Vegas that we had the car to beat and we just had to be patient all day and find it there at the end.

"It's the same thing (this weekend) ... we've got a good shot at the pole, so we're going to do everything we can to get that and then work on our race setup and work on being around all day and hopefully be at the front all day and put ourselves in a position to win the thing at the end."

While Schmidt conceded that there are a number of drivers capable of winning Sunday's race, there are probably none who have as much confidence, considering LVMS and Texas Motor Speedway both are 1.5-mile ovals.

"There really are probably 10 people who can win the race, but I think we have got as good a shot as anybody, if not better, because we don't have to be conservative during the race; we can run hard all day," Schmidt said.

"I'm encouraged that it's a mile-and-a-half and I'm also encouraged that we're driving on Firestones -- I think that's definitely the tire to have in Texas with the banking and potentially the heat and the humidity. I'm pretty stoked going in that we've got the type of package that can win the race."

Schmidt said that in order to win the championship, he has to win Sunday's race. If he does, and also sits on the pole and leads the most laps in the race, he could win the title if Ray finishes eighth or worse and Brack third or worse.

The way Schmidt sees it, the pressure will be on Ray and Brack going into the 208-lap race.

"I really don't feel any pressure -- no more than normal," Schmidt said. "(Ray) is the one under pressure, he's the one who has a 13-point lead over Kenny and a 30-point lead over me.

"He has to kind of protect that and there's big pressure on him not to lose the championship. We're just going to do everything we can to win (the race) and then we'll see what happens."

* NASCAR: Richard Petty's 29-year relationship with primary sponsor STP will come to an end next summer when General Mills takes over on Petty's No. 43 Pontiac.

STP will be the primary sponsor of the No. 43 car, driven by John Andretti, through the June, 2000, race at Sears Point Raceway in Sonoma, Calif. General Mills will take over the primary sponsorship at the Pepsi 400 in July, and will feature its Cheerios brand in the car's paint scheme. ...

NASCAR officials announced Thursday they have fined car owner Kyle Petty and crew chief Jim Murray for rules violations found following second-round qualifying for last Saturday's All Pro Bumper to Bumper 300 at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte, N.C.

Petty, owner of son Adam Petty's Chevrolet, was fined $15,000, and Murray was fined $2,500 after an inspection revealed alterations to the car's carburetor.

* CART: Juan Montoya will have plenty of incentive to win Saturday's Honda Indy 300 at Surfers Paradise in Australia.

With a victory in the penultimate CART race of the season, Montoya could tie the FedEx Championship Series record of eight victories in a season, established by Michael Andretti in 1991 and matched by Al Unser Jr. in 1994.

Montoya already owns the series rookie record of seven victories and has tied Nigel Mansell's 1993 rookie mark of seven pole positions.

Montoya, with 929 laps led this season, needs 37 more to move into second place on CART's single-season laps led list, passing Michael Andretti's 1991 total of 965. Andretti's 1992 total of 1,136 laps led tops the list.

If Montoya leaves Australia leading Dario Franchitti by 22 points or more, he would clinch the CART championship. He holds a 13-point lead over Franchitti going into the Honda Indy 300. ...

Marlboro Team Penske will switch from Mercedes to Honda engines for the 2000 season, team owner Roger Penske announced this week. Gil de Ferran and Greg Moore, who will move to Team Penske next season, will begin testing the new Reynard/Honda cars after the conclusion of the 1999 season.

* IRL: Willy T. Ribbs, who made his IRL debut in last month's Vegas.com 500 at Las Vegas, will not compete in Sunday's Mall.com 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.

Ribbs completed only 16 laps in Las Vegas before hitting the wall in Turn 4 and dropping out of the race. Team owner Dennis McCormack said Ribbs will concentrate on testing the remainder of the year in preparation for a full season in 200.

McCormack has not named a driver for the Mall.com 500. ...

Sarah Fisher will attempt to become the youngest driver and second female to compete in an IRL event this weekend. Fisher will attempt to qualify the No. 48 Team Pelfrey entry for Sunday's IRL season-ender.

* BACKMARKERS: The largest division finals field in NHRA history -- 835 cars -- will gather this weekend in Las Vegas for the NHRA Pacific Division Sears Craftsman E.T. Finals at Las Vegas Motor Speedway's 1/4-mile drag strip.

Eliminations begin Saturday with Sportsman racing starting at 3 p.m. followed by Pro. The evening concludes at 6 p.m. with the Race of Champions featuring champions from all division tracks. The weekend culminates Sunday with eliminations starting at 9 a.m.

Tickets include grandstand and pit admission and are $15 per day for adults, $6 per day for seniors, college students and military. The weekend pass is $35. ...

Mark Weber piloted the Las Vegas-based U-10 Unlimited Hydroplane to a second-place finish (behind Dave Villwock in Miss Budweiser) at last weekend's season-ending race in Hawaii.

Weber clinched third place for Kim and Debbie Gregory's U-10 in the boat championship and wrapped up second place for himself in the drivers championship.

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