Columnist Ron Kantowski: Youths thank CART stars for wheel good time

Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2000 | 9:24 a.m.

Ron Kantowski's notes column appears Tuesday. His page one column appears Thursday. Reach him at ron@lasvegassun.com or 259-4088.

Imagine showing up for high school baseball practice and finding Greg Maddux and Derek Jeter in the batting cage. Or going one-on-one with Kobe Bryant. Or tossing the football around with Peyton Manning.

That sort of fantasy become reality for 200-plus youngsters who turned out for last weekend's Stars of Tomorrow go-kart challenge at the Las Vegas Karting Center near Sloan. They were presented with the rare opportunity to go wheel-to-wheel with many of the stars in the CART Fed-Ex Championship Series.

Just four days removed from blistering the California Speedway oval at speeds exceeding 240 mph, champ car drivers Paul Tracy of Las Vegas, Alex Barron, Memo Gidley, Alex Tagliani, Casey Mears, Henderson's Richie Hearn and Bryan Herta (the track proprietor) took time out to zip around the 13-turn, 7/8-mile Las Vegas road course in their souped-up karts.

They also joined Champ Car magazine editor Jeremy Shaw in nominating five of the go-kart drivers for a three-day session at the Skip Barber Racing School later this month, after which they will receive the ultimate prize -- a two-day test drive in the Team Rahal Champ car on a temporary California Speedway road course Dec. 11.

"Bryan did a real good job with this whole event," said Gidley, who gave John Della Penna's Champ car several good rides during the just-concluded CART season and beat his professional cohorts in the Stars of Today Challenge held Sunday in conjunction with the event.

"I really appreciate what he's doing for some deserving talent, and for karting in general. So many times in the past, people in karting have planned big events, promised this and that, then failed to deliver. Bryan has done everything he promised this weekend, and more."

Kevin Christensen, 20, of Castiac Calif.; Jason Bowles, 18, Ontario, Calif.; Jonathan Bomarito, 18, Salinas, Calif.; AJ Allmendinger, 17, Hollister, Calif.; and Brett Buckwalter, 18, Novato, Calif., will be moving on to the Barber school at Laguna Seca Raceway, courtesy of the Champ car guys and their sponsors.

None is a bigger supporter of go-kart racing than the hard-charging Tracy, who sponsors a five-kart team of young racers and spent most of the weekend with his sweatshirt sleeves rolled up, setting up the karts for his aspiring speed merchants.

"I've been involved in karting my whole life and this is one way I can give back to the sport that helped me," said Tracy, driver of the Team KOOL Green Honda Reynard who won three races this season and remained in the season title hunt before blowing his engine in the finale at Fontana.

Tracy and his racing understudies will be back at the Karting Center this weekend for a national event featuring many of the country's top go-kart racers. Call 260-6355 or visit the Las Vegas Karting Center website (www.lasvegaskarting.com) for details.

Around the horn

When Down was aced out of the Dodgers' job by fellow unknown Jim Tracy last week, it marked the third time he narrowly missed out on a skipper's job. Dallimore said Down also was a finalist for the Orioles' and Angels' posts in recent seasons.

"He's a good guy. He certainly deserves it," Dallimore said of Down, who plans to resign as Dodgers' hitting instructor to pursue another job in baseball.

Dallimore, who parlayed his relationship with Down into a stint as the Orioles' pitching coach at triple-A Rochester in the Baltimore system a couple of seasons ago, is officially retired these days, having taken up hunting, fishing and golf in his hometown of Reno.

But he remains the favorite coach of every sportswriter or sportscaster who ever needed a lively quote or soundbite on deadline.

"Nobody gave you guys quotes like I did, did they?" Dallimore said before hanging up, once again telling it like it is.

The only person who might be able to shed light on what may have prompted Halpern to take his own life, then-girlfriend Staci Columbo, refused to be interviewed or otherwise cooperate with author Tim Struby.

A housekeeper at a Minneapolis hotel said that if cleanliness is next to Godliness, then Rider has a date with the devil. Or at least the Hoover people.

"The Atlanta team was here last week," the housekeeper said to Steve Aschburner of the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune last spring during a conversation the columnist recently recalled. "They were pretty nice. The nicest one was that Mr. (LaPhonso) Ellis.

"He was very polite. Very friendly man. The others were nice. All except for that J.R. Rider. His room was a mess, and it smelled."

And here you thought combustible engines and the Clippers were the only things in LA that emit a foul odor.