Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Andretti: Three is no crowd at Team Green

Friday, Sept. 29, 2000 | 11:38 a.m.

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

Paul Tracy and Michael Andretti have had more than a few on-track incidents over the years, and the two have traded an equal amount of verbal jabs about each other's driving styles.

Now, the two will be teammates in the CART FedEx Championship Series beginning with the 2001 season.

Andretti officially announced this week that he will be driving the No. 39 Team Motorola entry, owned by Barry Green. Green also field cars for Tracy and Dario Franchitti under the Team Kool Green banner.

But Andretti insisted that no hard feelings exist between him and Tracy, a Las Vegas resident.

"I don't have a problem with Paul," Andretti said. "Unfortunately, we have had some get-togethers on the racetrack, but we have those with other guys as well (and) so has Paul; it is just a part of racing.

"A lot of people have got to remember that we were teammates at Newman/Haas (in 1995) and never once did I have any confrontation with Paul. So I don't see that as a problem."

In fact, Andretti added, he is looking forward to working with Tracy next season.

"I have a lot of respect for Paul's ability to set up a race car and I think he is going to be giving a lot of information to us that hopefully we can use," he said. "I think both guys have a good feel for the car and I know Paul ... there are a lot of things that Paul does on the race car I was able to use when we were teammates."

With CART eliminating in-season testing next season, Andretti said being a part of a three-car team will be crucial.

"I think if you look at the way the rules are next year, having that information -- that extra information of the three cars -- I think is going to be a real advantage," he said.

"That is one of the things I looked at in doing this (deal), because the way the rules are going, track time is going to be very sparse and if you have an extra car out there learning, that is going to be so much better for all of us."

Although Andretti's car will be prepared and maintained out of Green's Indianapolis race shop, Green said there will be a distinction between the Motorola car and the Team Kool Green cars on race day.

"In this case, once we leave this race shop we have two teams: We have Team KOOL Green and we have Team Motorola," Green said. "At this point in time, Paul's real teammate is Dario and he is the only one out there driving a green and white car. Michael is going to be driving a blue and white car and driving for Team Motorola.

"You have to understand the reason why these two teams are under the same umbrella is for no other reason than to try and have the fastest three cars out there."

* NASCAR: Las Vegas native Kurt Busch said the magnitude of his accomplishment of making it to the Winston Cup Series finally hit him when he lined up for driver introductions about a half hour before the start of last Sunday's MBNA.com 400 at Dover Downs International Speedway.

"It was tough to grasp it (at first)," Busch said. "It began to sink in when my name was introduced tenth on the starting lineup at Dover Downs in front of 140,000 fans -- something I had never seen before.

"And to start the race next to Jeff Gordon and (behind) Dale Jarrett and to have Dale Earnhardt behind me; guys that I normally watched on TV when I was a kid. It was really a solidifying moment for me just to be part of that group and to know that I had made it to the pinnacle of the sport." ...

Roush Racing held a two-day audition this week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to find replacement drivers next year for Greg Biffle and Kurt Busch in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Biffle is leaving the truck series for a full-time ride with Roush in the Busch Series and Busch will be driving the No. 97 Ford for Roush in the Winston Cup Series.

Competing for the two openings were truck series driver Scott Riggs, Re/Max Challenge Series driver Nathan Haseleu and Late Model drivers Tim Peters and Chuck Hossfeld. Biffle also was on hand for the audition.

* CART: Paul Tracy enters Sunday's Grand Prix of Houston as the defending race winner and with high hopes of closing in on series leader Gil de Ferran. Tracy is fourth in the championship with three races remaining, but is only 15 points behind de Ferran.

"The streets of Houston look like a great opportunity to score some big points and improve our position in the championship," Tracy said. "The Team Kool Green engineers have hit on a setup for the street circuits, and we have won Houston two years in a row. I intend to do everything I can to make it three.

"It's amazing that there are probably as many as five or six of us with a decent shot at winning the championship with three races to go. The title is obviously going to go down to the wire and if we can keep having the type of success we have had in Houston, it will certainly be a big boost to our championship hopes."

Tracy's three wins (tied with Helio Castroneves and Juan Montoya for series high) this season have come on either temporary street courses (Long Beach, Vancouver) or permanent road courses (Road America).

* IRL: Minnesota-based IRL team owner Corey Coulson has signed rookie driver Chris Bingham of Bellevue, Wash., to drive for Team Coulson in the season finale Oct. 15 at Texas Motor Speedway.

Bingham, a veteran of the sports-car ranks, will go through the IRL's Rookie Orientation Program next week at Texas Motor Speedway. ...

Going into the final event of the season, three drivers remain in contention for the IRL championship. Buddy Lazier leads the standings with 258 points, Scott Goodyear is second with 220 points and Eddie Cheever is third with 217.

* NHRA: Tony Schumacher's pass of 4.535 seconds at 324.57 mph in his U.S. Army Top Fuel Dragster during second-round qualifying at Reading, Pa., was the quickest elapsed time since the NHRA implemented the 90-percent nitro-methane rule at the beginning of the 2000 season. It also was a track record for speed at Maple Grove Raceway. ...

Gary Scelzi has six victories on the season, one short of the most Top Fuel victories in one year. His runner-up finish in Reading propelled him into the lead of a tight points battle, eight ahead of Schumacher.

* BACKMARKERS: The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway will host the Import Finals and a test-n-tune session on Friday and the NMRA Pro Star Motorcycles on. Gates open at 5 p.m. on Friday and 4 p.m. on Saturday. ...

IMCA Modifieds will race at The Bullring at LVMS tonight. Gates open at 6 p.m. and practice starts at 7. On Saturday, The Bullring will host the Speed Truck Challenge, Late Models, Legends, Chargers, Mini Stocks and Bandoleros. Gates open at 5 p.m. and races start at 7.

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