Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Title not No. 1 goal for LV’s Tracy

Friday, Sept. 8, 2000 | 10:29 a.m.

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

With five races remaining in the season, Paul Tracy admittedly is in the best position of his career to win his first CART championship.

But despite the fact the Las Vegas resident trails series leader Michael Andretti by only six points heading into the final quarter of the season, Tracy insists winning the championship is not foremost in his mind.

"We are not focusing on the championship so much," Tracy said. "I think that was maybe a bit of our problem in the middle of the season ... all we were worried about was points, points, points.

"What we are focusing on now is having fun and having a good time and going out there and giving our best effort to have a good race."

It may be difficult for the 31-year-old Tracy not to dwell on the championship battle considering that he has won at four of the five tracks remaining on the schedule -- and has two wins at Laguna Seca Raceway, the site of Sunday's Honda Grand Prix of Monterey.

Tracy opened the season with three straight podium finishes, including a win in the Long Beach Grand Prix, and held the points lead until the eighth race of the season.

It was during a stretch of five straight races in which Tracy did not finish above 10th place that the Team Kool Green driver decided to stop thinking about the championship.

"We were just through the middle part of the season when we were leading the championship, we were thinking, 'O.K., we have got to finish in the top five; that is all we have got to do every week.'

"(We were) just concentrating too much on just trying to (score) points alone and not just having good races and going out there to race. We decided that we are going to go out there and race and race as hard as we can and go as fast as we can and wherever we end up at the end of the year is what is going to happen."

That mind-set has resulted in two straight wins for Tracy, who now has a series-leading three victories this season.

"It has worked the last two races, so hopefully it will work the next five," Tracy said.

Tracy followed his win at Long Beach earlier in the year with a victory at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisc., two weeks ago and an emotional win last weekend in Vancouver.

The Vancouver win was special for Tracy in that it came in the home province of his close friend, the late Greg Moore.

"Not only was it a great day," Tracy said of his win in Vancouver, "but it was a great week and I think, you know, the atmosphere at the race was just so fantastic. It was more of a celebration of Greg's life and I think the whole weekend with ... me being able to win and all of his friends doing well in the race, I think it just gave everybody some closure and put everybody in a different frame of mind."

Roush engineers have developed a system that includes two sensors -- one in the intake manifold and one in the brake system -- which both measure pressure. If the driver is applying 850-900 pounds of brake pressure, as he would if the throttle were to stick, and there is enough pressure in the intake manifold indicating the engine is at or near full throttle, the ignition shuts off.

Jeff Burton tested the system last week at Darlington Raceway under the watchful eye of Steve Peterson from NASCAR. Peterson was so encouraged by the system that NASCAR has asked Roush Racing to proceed with the development and production of the system for NASCAR teams. ...

Winston Cup driver Kenny Wallace will leave Andy Petree Racing at the conclusion of this season and will drive for Eel River Racing in 2001.

The Target/Chip Ganassi Racing driver has collected five points-paying results in eight career starts at Laguna Seca, including a victory in 1997.

"With all of our great races and memories at Laguna Seca, I get excited just thinking about racing there," said Vasser, who trails points leader Michael Andretti by 40 points with five races remaining.

"Being from (California), I look forward to getting back here. Plus, it's where I clinched the championship a few years back (1996), so it definitely means a lot to me. Hopefully there's still some of that Laguna Seca luck left there for me and we can make a run at the checkered flag."

"Greg now is in the second year of a five-year contract," Menard said. "We'll keep on going with a one-car team."

Menard and Ray teamed to win the 1999 Indy Racing League championship and will stay together and race in the expanded Northern Light Series in 2001. Menard also quashed rumors that Ray was looking to make a jump to NASCAR. "Someday that's something Greg may want to do in his career, but we've got a situation now that I think Greg feels he's got a pretty good situation where he's at," Menard said.

"I know Greg would be a success in any series he would run, but as it stands now he's given every indication of fulfilling the contract."

Gary Clapshaw, whose unsponsored "Spirit of Las Vegas" Top Fuel Dragster team is based in the Las Vegas Motor Speedway industrial park, qualified 15th and advanced to the final round, where he red-lighted and lost to points leader Tony Schumacher.

Local businessman George Marnell qualified 13th fastest in Pro Stock and advanced to his first final eliminations since March 19. Marnell defeated Warren Johnson in the first round of eliminations when Johnson's car broke on the burnout.

Marnell, who outqualified Jeg Coughlin and Jim Yates, lost to Mark Pawuk in the second round. ...

The NHRA is back in Englishtown, N.J., today and tomorrow to complete the rain-delayed Matco Tools Spring Supernationals. The elimination fields were set in May before rain hit Old Bridge Township Raceway Park.

Larry Dixon heads into Englishtown as the fastest Top Fuel qualifier while Jim Epler took the pole in Funny Car.

With wins in both Late Model main events last Saturday at The Bullring, Dick Cobb moved into second place in the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series Sunbelt Region standings. Cobb trails Larry Hunter of Sandia (New Mexico) Speedway by .002 points heading into the final weekend for the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series. The regional title is worth $40,550 while second place pays $17,800. ...

The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway will host the Friday Night Import challenge presented by National Performance Center, with a winner-take-all purse of $1000. The final E.T. Bracket Series points race of the season will be held Saturday night at The Strip.