Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Ray still confident despite LVMS crashes

Friday, Sept. 10, 1999 | 6:03 a.m.

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

The last time Greg Ray walked out of Las Vegas Motor Speedway, he was lucky to be walking.

Ray, who leads the Indy Racing League championship going into the final two races of the season, crashed two cars within an hour during an Aug. 17 tire test at the 1.5-mile superspeedway.

But the 33-year-old Texan hasn't let that incident effect his confidence heading into the Sept. 26 Vegas.com 500 at LVMS. In fact, Ray said he considers the incidents part of his continuous learning experience.

"When you do what we do, things are going to happen from time to time," Ray said of the LVMS test. "If you're a basketball player and you line up at the free-throw line, there are only so many times you can make it before you miss.

"Unfortunately, in our business, when you miss it hurts a little more because you're going faster and you tear up some race cars."

Ray, a three-time winner this season, said he was "90-percent sure" the first accident was the result of a broken part in the rear end of his Gliddens-Menard Dallara/Aurora. The second incident, he said, occurred after he switched to a backup car that didn't have the same setup as the first car he wrecked, and the wind began picking up.

After the fact, Ray said he probably should not have taken the backup car out so soon after putting his first car into the turn-four wall.

"I felt OK physically and mentally ... but any time you take a big crash, unless it's race weekend, you probably shouldn't get back in the race car," he said. "In retrospect ... it was maybe a little bit too much to ask."

Despite leaving Las Vegas with a bruised ego, Ray said his confidence will remain high when he returns to the Speedway for the penultimate race of the season. Ray went to Pikes Peak International Raceway a week after the test crashes at Las Vegas and won the Colorado 200.

"Even though we had a bad test there, I know we'll be quick and we'll stay focused and do our job," Ray said.

"I definitely was nice and calm getting ready for the second Colorado race and it all came right."

* NASCAR: Native Las Vegan Brendan Gaughan earned a Winston West Series career-best finish of second place at last weekend's Bank One 250 in Salt Lake City.

"It was a great day," Gaughan, who qualified 14th for the 250-lap race, said. "This is my best finish to date in this year's series and I couldn't be more pleased. I managed to steer clear of trouble and bring the car home."

Gaughan moved up one spot to 13th place in the series standings and remained fourth in the rookie-of-the-year race.

* CART: Las Vegas resident Jimmy Vasser has posted top-five finishes in his last four CART FedEx Championship Series starts, including back-to-back podium efforts of third at Chicago and Vancouver.

Vasser has scored points in six consecutive races heading into Sunday's Honda Grand Prix of Monterey at Laguna Seca Raceway, where he has a win and three top-five finishes in the past four years.

"We have a lot of confidence heading to Laguna Seca," Vasser said. "This time of year, the whole team is usually clicking, and these past few races have proven that. Both (teammate Juan Montoya) and I are benefiting from an experienced team that is communicating and performing at a very high level."

* IRL: Willy T. Ribbs, who ran 46 races in CART from 1990 to 1994, is expected to make his IRL debut in the Sept. 26 Vegas.com 500 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Ribbs, who will become the first African-American driver to compete in the IRL, tested last week in Las Vegas with PDM Racing. ...

Sarah Fisher, the 18-year-old girl who last week passed her IRL rookie test at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, has lined up a sponsor and is scheduled to make her IRL debut Oct. 17 at Texas Motor Speedway.

Mead Carbonless Papers, which has sponsored Fisher's sprint car for the past five years, will bankroll her effort in the Lone Star 500 at TMS. ...

IRL and CART team owner John Menard is branching out into NASCAR, and will field an entry in the Craftsman Truck Series next season. Menard said he may even look at a NASCAR Winston Cup venture in the future, which could include IRL driver Greg Ray.

Menard also said that a reunification of CART and the IRL may not be necessary to the long-term success of open-wheel racing.

"I really don't believe that getting CART and the IRL back together again is going to solve all of open-wheel racing's problems -- I just don't see that as a magic wand," Menard said. "I'd love to see us get together for a couple of Super Bowls where we get some sort of a rule equivalency, at least for a couple of races."

* BACKMARKERS: Nearly 150 vehicles, competing in 16 classes for cars and trucks, will begin taking the green flag at 7 a.m. Saturday for the fourth running of the SCORE Las Vegas Primm 300. Vehicles will leave the start/finish line area, located in the special events compound on the grounds of Buffalo Bill's hotel-casino in Primm, every 30 seconds and will run over a reconfigured 72.3-mile course. ...

Rob MacCachren of Las Vegas won the fifth annual $100,000 Borg-Warner World Championship Shootout last weekend at Crandon International Off-Road Raceway in Crandon, Wisc. MacCachren out-dueled a field of 19 off-road trucks, taking the lead on the third lap of the 10-lap event and cruising to a 10-second win. MacCachren earned more than $31,000 for winning what is billed as the richest professional off-road race ever held. ...

The NASCAR Late Model championship will be decided Saturday night on the 3/8-mile paved oval at LVMS. Scott Gafforini holds a slim 10-point lead over Chris Lowden going into the final points race of the season. Also running Saturday night will be the Grand American Modifieds, Legends, Limited Late Models, Street Stocks, Mini Stocks and Bandoleros. The Grand American Modifieds will run two main events. Gates open at 5 p.m., with racing starting at 7.