Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Tracy sees title in Kool Green’s future

Friday, April 6, 2001 | 9:21 a.m.

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

Paul Tracy went into the 2000 CART FedEx Championship Series season with the belief that he would have his best chance of winning a championship since he drove for Roger Penske in the early '90s.

The 32-year-old Las Vegas resident went into the final race of the season with a mathematical chance of winning the series title, but finished third.

Despite a multitude of off-season changes, including gaining a new crew chief, Tracy again is confident that he can earn his first CART championship this season.

"I really think so," Tracy said as he prepared for Sunday's Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. "I think I'm driving as well as I ever have, the team is working well, I have a great group of guys and we got off to a good start.

"But we have a long way to go and I think what we have to focus on is not making mistakes and making sure we score points every race."

Tracy is off to a good start on both counts this season. His crew was nearly flawless in the pits during the season opener last month in Monterrey, Mexico, and Tracy drove his Team Kool Green Honda/Reynard to a third-place finish.

"It's always good to get off to a good start and to bring a trophy home in the first race is always good because it builds confidence in the team," Tracy said. "We have had a few weeks off and a lot of time to get prepared for the next one so I think we'll have a good weekend."

Tracy, the defending champion of the Long Beach Grand Prix, had one of his best races of the 2000 season on the 1.968-mile temporary street circuit. Tracy started a disappointing 17th but charged to the front and led the final 21 laps en route to his first of three wins last season.

Tracy also said he is encouraged by the addition of Michael Andretti under the Team Kool Green umbrella.

"I think it has been a good addition," Tracy said. "I think if you ask anybody in the pits, they would give their right arm to be able to look at Michael Andretti's telemetry and what his setup is going to be ... and we have that opportunity.

"Michael looks at our data and we look at his; it's an open book. It's an extra set of eyes, really, to see what's going on out there and I think it's going to help our team tremendously having three cars. I know it's a lot of work but I think now that it's up and going, I don't think it's a detriment to the team, it's a benefit."

* NASCAR: Native Las Vegan Kurt Busch officially will debut his newly sponsored Winston Cup Ford Taurus this weekend in the Virginia 500 at Martinsville Speedway. Newell Rubbermaid's Sharpie brand markers will be the primary sponsor of the blue and black Roush Racing Taurus.

Busch, who finished a career-high fourth in last Sunday's Harrah's 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, was the highest finishing rookie in the race and trails Kevin Harvick by 12 points in the Raybestos Rookie of the Year standings.

* CART: Jimmy Vasser of Las Vegas, who finished sixth in the season-opening race in Monterrey, Mexico, said his move this season to Patrick Racing has re-energized him.

"It was an easy transition; I slid right in," said Vasser, who spent the past six seasons with Target/Chip Ganassi Racing. "Their philosophy is similar to mine (in that) you have to finish races and get points. And we'll be in a position to win races and we won't want to fumble the ball then.

"I don't think it's either Patrick Racing's or my style of racing to try to force anything. When you try to force things, you might get away with it once in a while, but more often than not you're going to end up in the tires. I think you're going to see good things out of us this year."

Vasser and the CART FedEx Championship Series is in Southern California this weekend for Sunday's Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach -- a race Vasser won during his 1996 championship season.

* IRL: Treadway-Hubbard Racing will donate one dollar to the Sam Schmidt Paralysis Foundation for every race lap completed by both Sam Schmidt Motorsports and Treadway-Hubbard Racing for the entire 2001 Indy Racing League season.

Schmidt is a Henderson resident who drove for Treadway Racing in 1999 and won the Vegas.com 500 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway that season. Schmidt, who was paralyzed in a testing crash in Orlando in January 2000, established the Sam Schmidt Paralysis Foundation two months later.

Schmidt formed his racing team earlier this year with assistance from Treadway-Hubbard Racing.

* NHRA: Shaun Anderson, a junior at Clark High School, won the Castrol GTX "Top Techs" sweepstakes and will spend this weekend's SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals as an honorary crew member for NHRA Funny Car driver John Force.

Castrol North American designed the Top Techs program to recognize high school students for their excellent work in the auto-shop classroom, and to give students across the nation a first-hand, unique experience of life on the track as an honorary pit crew member. In 10 cities nationwide, Castrol GTX will recognize a local student as an honorary member of the John Force Racing team.

"I love kids and I love cars so the Top Techs program is really exciting for me," Force said. "It gives young people a chance to see the opportunities available to them in the automotive field and it gives all of us a chance to meet the mechanics and crew chiefs of the future. I think it's a great program for Castrol, for NHRA and for John Force Racing."

* BACKMARKERS: The Mechanix Wear Speed Trucks will make their first of six visits to The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Saturday night with a 75-lap feature. The program, which begins at 7 p.m., will include Late Models, Grand American Modifieds, Legends Cars and Chargers. ...

Ricky Carmichael won his ninth consecutive race last weekend in St. Louis and extended his points lead over Jeremy McGrath in the 250cc class of the EA Sports Supercross Series. Carmichael holds a 39-point lead over McGrath heading into the 12th of 16 races. The series concludes at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas on May 5.