Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Hornish likely to make racing history at age 22

Wednesday, July 18, 2001 | 10:02 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. Reach him at bh@lasvegassun.com or 259-4089.

Sam Hornish Jr. is poised to become the youngest national champion in the history of American open-wheel racing.

Hornish, who turned 22 on July 2, holds a 60-point over defending Indy Racing League champion Buddy Lazier going into Saturday's Harrah's 200 at Nashville Superspeedway.

In the 91 years since open-wheel racing first crowned a national champion, no driver younger than 24 ever has worn the crown. Three drivers -- Louis Meyer (1928), Billy Arnold (1930) and Jacques Villeneuve (1995) -- all won national championships at the age of 24.

Hornish is coming off a second-place finish in the Ameristar Casino Indy 200 July 8 at Kansas Speedway -- a finish he said he gladly would take in the remaining five races.

"Hey, we'll finish second all year long as long as somebody else wins every time, because that just means we keep moving the points up," he said. "It's a nice thing to be able to go out there and improve on our points lead."

The youngest IRL champion is Buzz Calkins, who was 25 when he shared the inaugural three-race series title with Scott Sharp in 1996.

Last year's IRL champion, Lazier, was 32. Greg Ray was 33 when he won the title in 1999, Kenny Brack was 32 when he won it in 1998 and Tony Stewart was 26 when he was crowned champion in 1997.

Schumacher was one of 10 drivers practicing at Monza when his Ferrari lost control and skidded off the course, hitting the protective wall.

Schumacher, who is in position to win his fourth driver's title, was rushed to a hospital, where he was checked for less than 30 minutes.

The 32-year-old German returned to the Ferrari garage at the Monza complex without any apparent injuries.

"He says he's fine and he's looking very calm," a Ferrari team spokesman said of Schumacher. "It was quite a big accident."

Giancarlo Fisichella, driving his Benetton Renault behind Schumacher, called Schumacher's impact with the wall "violent."

Following consultation with its engine manufacturers, CART will require Champ Cars to use the 3/4-inch case extension for the remainder of the season, beginning with the Michigan 500 this weekend at Michigan International Speedway. "It's good news to hear that finally we have managed to put this pop-off valve issue behind us and move on," team owner Derrick Walker said. "However, it has highlighted some of the procedural issues which, in some respects, have distorted our focus on what has really happened here."

USAC requested improvements be made to the racing surface following a test at Nashville in May. After the improvements were made, however, USAC officials deemed the speeds would be too fast for the cars.

"It appears the additional grinding carried out after the May test has produced a surface that is too good for our Silver Bullet racecars," USAC president Johnny Capels said. "The additional speeds achieved, due to the smoothness and the excellent traction of the new surface, are beyond the design capabilities of our racecars."

The IRL event on Saturday night will not be affected.