Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: For now, McGrath to remain on two wheels

Friday, May 5, 2000 | 10:03 a.m.

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

With an unprecedented seven AMA Supercross championships and 69 main-event victories, Jeremy McGrath has nothing left to prove in dirt-bike racing.

Although he continues to dominate what generally is considered a young man's sport at the ripe old age of 28, McGrath said he has no intentions of following former Supercross champion Jeff Ward's lead and making the move to racing on four wheels.

At least not right now.

"I'd like to try a bunch of different things, but I'm not really ready for a schedule like I have now," McGrath said as he prepared for Saturday's EA Sports Supercross season finale at Sam Boyd Stadium.

"I'd like to try it eventually, but it would be nice to have more of a regular home life than I have now. If I was to retire from Supercross and a have a little break for a while, maybe it's something I'd be interested in trying."

McGrath, who wrapped up his seventh Supercross title in eight years last weekend in Joliet, Ill., and has won nine of the 15 250cc main events this season, said he still has the desire to compete -- and win -- for Team Mazda Chaparral Yamaha.

"When I was 25, I didn't think I'd be riding past 27 but I'm having a great time," he said. "I'll be 29 in November but I'm still going strong and I don't see why I can't continue to ride for a while."

And while McGrath said he could envision himself driving open-wheel race cars in the future, he said he wouldn't make the change just for change's sake.

"I get more of a charge if I can dominate," McGrath said. "There's really nothing like the thrill of victory and if you lose that (desire), it's time to hang up the boots.

"I like open-wheel racing and I like NASCAR ... but if I got into something like that, it would have to be with a good team and a good car. It would be very hard to leave at the level I'm at now and start all over again on the ground floor."

* NASCAR: PPI Motorsports and Doug Richert, crew chief for the No. 32 Tide Ford driven by Scott Pruett, have mutually agreed to part ways. Joe Garone, program director for PPI Motorsports' NASCAR Winston Cup and Busch teams and former crew chief for the No. 94 McDonald's Ford, temporarily will serve as crew chief for the No. 32 team. ...

Peter Sospenzo, crew chief for Jeremy Mayfield's No. 12 who already has been suspended by NASCAR for a previous rules violation, Thursday was fined $25,000 by the sanctioning body for rules violations found in the postrace inspection after Sunday's NAPA Auto Parts 500 at California Speedway.

Mayfield's Ford Taurus was found to be under the the specified height requirement. On Tuesday, Sospenzo was suspended until June 6 when it was determined by NASCAR that an illegal fuel additive had been used in Mayfield's car during the April 16 race in Talladega, Ala. ...

In what proved to be a busy week for NASCAR officials, Dale Earnhardt's crew chief, Kevin Hamlin, was fined $2,000 for rules violations discovered during an inspection of the No. 3 Chevrolet prior to the Fontana race. ...

NASCAR officials fined James Ince, crew chief for the No. 50 Tyler Jet Motorsports Pontiac driven by Johnny Benson, $10,440 for rules violations after last Saturday's Winston West Series race at California Speedway in Fontana. Benson won the race, but a postrace inspection revealed his car's engine to have parts that did not conform to NASCAR rules. ...

* CART: Swift Engineering and Dale Coyne Racing have formed a new FedEx Championship Series entry which will debut at the May 13 Firestone Firehawk 500 at Twin Ring Motegi, Japan. The Ford-powered Swift will be driven by Brazilian Tarso Marques with sponsorship from Panasonic.

Marques made six starts in the FedEx Championship Series last season, with a best finish of ninth for Marlboro Team Penske at Rio de Janeiro. ...

During 22 seasons covering 327 CART races, a driver has claimed victory from a double-digit starting position only 29 times.

Remarkably, Adrian Fernandez' win in Sunday's Rio 200 marked the third time in three events this season that the race winner has started outside the top 10.

Fernandez won Sunday after starting 16th, Paul Tracy won the April 16 Grand Prix of Long Beach from the 17th starting position and Max Papis won the season opener in Homestead after starting 13th.

Only once prior to this season have drivers recorded wins from double-digit starting positions in consecutive events: Roberto Guerrero drove from 22nd to first at Phoenix in 1987 and Al Unser drove from 20th to victory at Indianapolis the following race.

* IRNLS: Al Unser Jr., who earned his first open-wheel racing win in five years last month at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, said he will be a man on a mission going into this month's Indianapolis 500.

But his mission has nothing to do with matching his uncle Bobby's mark of three Indy 500 wins or closing in on his father's record of four victories.

"My hunger is real strong on making the show -- and that's it," said Unser, who failed to qualify for the 500 on his last visit to the Brickyard, in 1995. "That's what we've got to do right now, and that's all I'm after. We'll start really thinking about the race once we get this thing in the show and make sure we're going to be here on Memorial (Day) weekend.

"If (winning a third time) could ever happen that would be really neat. I could join Uncle Bobby as a three-time winner, and Johnny Rutherford (but) I haven't really given it much thought. My main focus has been getting that thing in the show and going from there."

* NHRA: NBA veteran Tom Hammonds will trade his Minnesota Timberwolves uniform for a fire suit when he returns to the NHRA Winston Drag Racing Series at the Matco Tools Spring Supernationals in Englishtown, N.J., later this month.

Hammonds, who drives the Winnebago/GM Performance Parts Chevrolet Camaro Z28 in the Pro Stock category, will compete in 13 NHRA events now that the Timberwolves have been eliminated from the NBA playoffs.

Hammonds plans to spend several days next week testing at Gateway International Raceway in Madison, Ill., before he turns a wheel at Englishtown.

"NHRA is like the NBA of drag racing," he said. "Without some kind of training camp program, I would be in trouble. These cars are going so fast you have to be totally concentrating on what you are doing in order to avoid any kind of mishaps. I just need to totally clear my head for a good three to four days before I begin driving competitively."

Hammonds' career-best elapsed time is 6.992 seconds and his career-best speed is 197.54 mph since beginning his NHRA career in 1996.

* BACKMARKERS: West McLaren-Mercedes driver David Coulthard is expected to race in this weekend's Formula One Spanish Grand Prix despite being involved in a crash of a private aircraft on Tuesday.

Coulthard, his fiancee and his personal trainer all survived the crash in which both the pilot and co-pilot were killed. The chartered aircraft, which left Britain's Farnborough airport on a flight to Nice, France, was forced to make an emergency landing at Lyon airport in France. ...

NASCAR Late Models, Grand American Modifieds, Legends, Chargers, Mini Stocks and Bandoleros will compete in round three of the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series Saturday night at Las Vegas Motor Speedway's 3/8-mile paved oval.

Gates open at 5 p.m. and racing will start at 6.