Points leader Ray has tough day

Monday, Sept. 27, 1999 | 11:13 a.m.

It was hard for Greg Ray to find anything to smile about following his disastrous run in Sunday's Indy Racing League Vegas.com 500 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Had it not been for Henderson resident Sam Schmidt's victory, Ray would have been in a completely dour mood.

Ray entered the race with a 44-point lead over Scott Goodyear in the IRL championship battle and could have clinched the title in Las Vegas had he left with a 56-point edge.

Instead, Ray ran into trouble midway through the race, eventually dropped out and finished 21st.

Ray now heads to the season finale at Texas Motor Speedway with a narrow 13-point lead over defending series champion Kenny Brack and leads Schmidt by only 30 points.

Ray's troubles started on lap 105 when he and Mark Dismore made contact.

"It's really disappointing," Ray said of his day. "I was just taking it easy since this is a 500K (312-mile) race. We were running the same pace as the leaders. Unfortunately, Mark Dismore had a hard time with Turn 4.

"I had a good run on him, but he blocked me low. I went on the high side and showed him my nose. I have no idea why he came into me. He just moved up and bumped me."

Things only got worse from there.

"We came in and changed the front end but for some reason, the impact broke the timing chain. It's hard that something like that will effect our championship run.

"We're going to have to go to Texas with our guns blazing."

Ray was happy, however, that Schmidt pulled off his first IRL win.

"Sam is my best friend in the paddock," Ray said. "He has been so close (to winning this year), second here last year. I'm just really excited for him."

* LEAVE IT TO CHEEVER: Eddie Cheever, the only owner/driver in the IRL campaigning the Nissan Infiniti engine, had one of the fastest cars on the track Sunday until he blew an engine 137 laps into the race.

"It's naturally very unfortunate," Cheever, who led twice for 32 laps but finished 17th, said. "The guys did everything right today, the engine was strong and the car was running extremely well. I really thought we had it today.

"We've been trying new bits in the engine and we may have pushed the envelope too far today."

Nissan still is looking for its first win in the IRL with the Infiniti engine.

* BROKEN RIBBS: Veteran driver Willy T. Ribbs, making his first start in the IRL, was the first car to drop out of the Vegas.com 500.

Ribbs spun out going into Turn 4 on lap 18 and hit the wall hard with his Cole Brothers Water G-Force/Aurora. Ribbs was the second of several cars that didn't make the adjustment to the changing track conditions.

"It was slick," Ribbs said of the LVMS racing surface. "I do know that I wasn't doing anything any different than any other lap, and I think it just swapped ends.

"I didn't think the track was going away that fast."

* TURN FOR THE WORSE: Ribbs wasn't the only driver to have trouble between Turns 3 and 4 Sunday.

Of the 11 caution flags that slowed the Vegas.com 500, six were the direct result of either cars spinning or making contact with the outside wall in Turn 4.

Schmidt said some of the incidents, particularly those involving just one car, were the result of drivers not doing their homework.

"The track was changing constantly and I tried to express to people, when they were asking me about the track leading up to the race, it's a pretty fussy track," he said. "I watch the American flag on the backstretch -- it's a big flag, you can't miss it. I saw it every lap and sometimes it was blowing this way, and the next time it would be blowing that way.

* OOPS: Sunday's pre-race motorcycle jumping exhibition, which was promoted by IRL driver Davey Hamilton, was canceled when one of the riders was injured while practicing for the event.

Alan Wyatt of Medford, Ore., was airlifted to University Medical Center after sustaining back and neck injuries when he fell on the track's apron Sunday morning.

Wyatt was awake and alert and in stable condition Sunday afternoon. A LVMS spokesman said Wyatt was moving his hands and feet before he was taken by air ambulance to the hospital.