Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Rahal move won’t hurt LVMS’ CART shot

Friday, Sept. 22, 2000 | 9:37 a.m.

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

Bobby Rahal's decision to step down as interim president and CEO of Championship Auto Racing Teams in November should not have a negative impact on Las Vegas Motor Speedway's attempt to land a CART race for the 2002 season.

Rahal has spoken highly of Las Vegas' 1.5-mile superspeedway since taking over as interim president in June and indicated that it was "only a matter of time" before the open-wheel series adds LVMS to its schedule.

During a teleconference this week to formally announce his appointment as CEO of Jaguar Racing in Formula One, Rahal said Las Vegas still was being considered to host a CART race in 2002.

Rahal confirmed a report in the Sun that the series plans to announce its 2002 schedule before the end of this year. CART already has announced an expanded 23-race schedule for next season.

"I think we can get ... a lot of it done (this year)," Rahal said. "I'm not sure if I can get everything done because, frankly, some of it is dependent on TV. Some of this is dependent on getting some of these extensions of our current agreements, and obviously there's new tracks, like Las Vegas, for our teams to (consider).

"I expressed to our promoters just yesterday, we have a board meeting coming up in the next several weeks and we are going to try to address those extensions, renewals and the new tracks we are going to go to."

Industry sources have told the Sun that when CART announces its 2002 schedule, Las Vegas Motor Speedway almost certainly will be one of the new circuits on it.

Rahal also took exception to the notion that open-wheel racing in America is in trouble. Despite declining TV ratings and sagging attendance at many of its oval-track races, Rahal said the CART series is as strong as ever.

"We could potentially have six more cars than we have today," Rahal said. "Right now, I've probably got seven or eight (venues) outside of the ones that are up for renewal anyway, all looking to have a race. Now, this doesn't sound like a formula that's dying.

"We still have some challenges ... but I do believe that the positives outweigh the negatives. There are things we've got to fix and fix as fast as we possibly can. But I do think we have some awfully strong positives, one of which may be the most important thing being we have the best racing going."

Although Rahal will be moving to England in his new position with Jaguar Racing, he said he will remain active as co-owner (with TV personality David Letterman) of Team Rahal in the CART series.

Wheeler said he came to the decision after reviewing the engineering results from an Aug. 29 crash test at the speedway, as well as other research data.

The energy-absorbing material, an encapsulated polystyrene barrier, originally was designed for use as floating boat docks. ...

Petty Enterprises announced Thursday that Buckshot Jones will drive the No. 44 Dodge Intrepid R/T, with primary sponsorship from Georgia-Pacific, next season.

Bobby Hamilton has been signed by Andy Petree Racing to drive the No. 55 Square D Chevrolet in 2001. Hamilton will replace Kenny Wallace, who will leave the team at the end of the season.

The announcement has bolstered speculation that TKG owner Barry Green will field a third car next season for Michael Andretti, who will not return to Newman-Haas in 2001.

Green already fields car for drivers Paul Tracy of Las Vegas and Dario Franchitti.

"The opportunity to run with Treadway/Hubbard Racing is a great thrill for me," Hamilton said. "Treadway's on-track performance speaks for itself and, as a driver, you always look forward to working with the best."

Hamilton, the only driver to compete in every IRL race, has 13 top-five and 22 top-10 finishes in his career. He finished second in the season points championship in both 1997 and 1998.

With five races remaining, however, Bernstein finds himself fifth in the Top Fuel category, 310 points behind front-running Gary Scelzi.

"It's the fourth quarter and we're trailing by a couple of touchdowns," Bernstein said of his title hopes. "We started the season with two number-one qualifying efforts and won the inaugural race at The Strip in Las Vegas, finished runner-up at St. Louis and Richmond, but we have fallen off considerably in the last several races."

Bernstein has four Funny Car championships (1985-1988) and one Top Fuel title (1996) and is the only driver in NHRA history to have won championships in Funny Car and Top Fuel.

Bernstein said he hopes to turn around his recent run of bad luck at next weekend's Advance Auto Parts NHRA Nationals in Topeka, Kan.

"We made it to the final round at Topeka three years in a row ('96, '97, and '98), and won the event in 1997," he said. "We would like to be able to reprise that scenario and start another march to victory circle. We need a morale boost."

NASCAR Weekly Racing Series Sunbelt Region champion Dick Cobb, Chuck Trickle, Mike Ayers and Steve Anderson will attempt to represent Las Vegas in the Southwest Series' only visit to Las Vegas this season.

The 3/8-mile paved oval at Bullring will be the third different track configuration that the Southwest Series has used in Las Vegas. The touring series has competed on the road course inside the 2.5-mile superspeedway and the old 3/8-mile paved oval at LVMS.

In addition to the StarNursery.com 250, the MSRA Pro 4 Series Late Models will run a 30-lap feature prior to the main event. Gates open at 4 p.m. and qualifying begins at 5 for the StarNursery.com 250. The MSRA Pro 4 event starts at 7:30 and the Southwest Series race will follow. ...

The official drawing for starting positions for November's Tecate SCORE Baja 2000 will be held Saturday at SCORE headquarters in Los Angeles.

While entries will be accepted through pre-race registration in Ensenada, Mexico, on Nov. 10 and 11, nearly three-quarters of the anticipated 250 entries are expected to be officially entered in time for Saturday's computerized drawing.

The course for the Nov. 12-16 Baja 2000 will snake from Ensenada to Cabo San Lucas in Baja California.