Vasser team to skip LVMS event

Thursday, March 30, 2000 | 10:12 a.m.

Jimmy Vasser finally got to turn some laps at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. But his Wednesday test session in preparation for the Indianapolis 500 may be his last action on his home track -- unless LVMS lands a Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) race.

Vasser said that CART team owner Chip Ganassi had decided Wednesday afternoon not to race in next month's Indy Racing Northern Light Series event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

"We're not going to race here, we just want to get familiar with the (IRNLS) car so when we take it to Indy, we know what it does," Vasser said after putting in approximately 120 laps. It was the first time the Las Vegas resident had driven on the 1.5-mile superspeedway.

Earlier in the day, Ganassi said it was unlikely that either Vasser or Target/Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Juan Montoya would compete in the rival IRNLS race April 22 in Las Vegas.

Ganassi said the timing of the CART race in Rio de Janeiro on April 30 would make it nearly impossible to get the team's equipment from Las Vegas to the team's headquarters in Indianapolis in time to be shipped to Brazil.

"People-wise we're OK, but I don't think that we can physically get some of the stuff that we need here back to Indy to get on the flight to Brazil," Ganassi said.

"It's a bit of a mess trying to make it all happen. I don't know what we're doing but it doesn't look good right now for being here. I feel bad because it looks like a great facility here and it's a great town."

Vasser was competitive in his first outing in the G-Force/Aurora, posting a fast lap of 205.5 mph. IRNLS regulars Tyce Carlson and Scott Sharp were quickest at 206.2 mph in the first of the two-day test.

"I think we could have gone a lot quicker at the end but we didn't have our best setup on," Vasser said. "But we're not here to go super quick, we're just trying to learn about the car.

"More impressive for us is we ran a 204.8 when it was windy and hot, in the middle of the day, so we figured there was a 206 there this evening, but it's all right."

Montoya, the reigning CART champion, did not test the car Wednesday, but was to take over for Vasser today.

Vasser said there were more similarities than differences in the IRNLS and Champ cars.

"The one difference I do feel is the power response (in the IRNLS car) is not as much, but I know it has a little more drag and downforce as well and that could have something to do with it," said Vasser, who finished fourth in Sunday's CART season opener at Miami-Homestead Speedway. "The chassis feels fairly similar.

"The car feels good -- really stable. It's real easy to go flat out around here with that car. This car here doesn't take as much attention as the Champ car does, say, at Homestead."

* NOTES: Hubbard-Immke Racing and driver Tyce Carlson announced today that the Flamingo Hilton hotel-casino would sponsor their IRNLS Dallara/Aurora for the Las Vegas 500 April 22 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Carlson said he hoped the Flamingo would extend the sponsorship for the remaining six races after Las Vegas. ...

Mark Dismore and Scott Goodyear also participated in Wednesday's test session at LVMS. Following the nine-hour test, Dismore and Kelley Racing teammate Scott Sharp posed with Steve Harwell, lead singer of the rock band Smashmouth and a Henderson resident, for a Rolling Stone magazine photo shoot. Smashmouth will perform in concert following the Las Vegas 500. ...

NHRA Pro Stock driver George Marnell of Las Vegas will make the first pass on the new drag strip at LVMS Friday at 4:30 p.m., in preparation for next weekend's NHRA SummitRacing.com Nationals.