Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Vasser’s ride safe, Hamilton’s iffy

Friday, June 8, 2001 | 10:26 a.m.

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

Rumors were making the rounds during the past week concerning Las Vegas open-wheel drivers Jimmy Vasser and Davey Hamilton being forced to park their cars due to lack of major sponsorship.

Fortunately for Vasser, who drives for Patrick Racing in the CART series, the rumor was unfounded. Patrick Racing general manager Jim McGee on Thursday insisted that Vasser would have a ride for the remainder of the season -- and beyond.

"Jimmy's with us for this year, for next year and the year after," McGee said from the team's Indianapolis headquarters. "We have the funding to run the program for the whole year and that's what's going to happen."

Hamilton, who drives for Henderson resident Sam Schmidt in the rival Indy Racing League, may not be so lucky.

Schmidt said that if he can't find a primary sponsor and Hamilton should drop out of the top 20 in points, he could be forced to close the operation for the remainder of the year.

"For sure, we're going to run Texas (Saturday) and Colorado (June 17)," Schmidt said. "Basically, we'll keep going at least as long as we're in the top 20 in points because you get show-up money for that -- we can't run on that, but it helps.

"If we were to happen to fall out of the top 20, that would discourage me pretty bad and I'd have to make some tough calls at that point. The thing that's going to hurt us the most is if we have a big crash."

Going into Saturday's Casino Magic 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, Hamilton is 18th in IRL points.

Vasser, on the other hand, is tied for third in the CART championship with three top-five finishes in five starts. The Las Vegas resident was running third last Sunday at Milwaukee until he was taken out of the race by rookie driver Tora Takagi.

"Jimmy can win this championship," McGee said. "Unfortunately, we had a bad incident at Milwaukee ... otherwise, he would be second in the points.

"Now we're getting to the part of the season where I think we can really make some points and, for sure, he's going to win some races this year."

"Geoffrey has a terrific amount of knowledge and experience," team owner Frank Cicci said. "The Busch cars are a lot more like Winston Cup cars now with the increased horsepower. I think he can excel in this division of racing and put the Phillips 66 car up front."

Cicci-Welliver released Fedewa Monday evening.

"It's a real unfortunate situation," Cicci said. "Tim is a great guy. We just could not get the chemistry right with the team." ...

Scott Pruett will drive the No. 33 Oakwood Homes Chevrolet in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series road course race at Sears Point Raceway in Sonoma, Calif., later this month.

Pruett qualified ninth at Sears Point last season and was leading the race before a broken transmission put him out of the race. Pruett is subbing for Joe Nemechek, who broke his right shoulder and arm during a testing crash at Dover Downs International Speedway last month.

Brack said his experience on ovals during a three-year career in the IRL has helped him in his first two seasons in CART.

"The Champ Cars and the Indy Cars are pretty similar on the ovals," Brack said. "The difference is the power in the Champ Car; with the turbocharged engine, the Champ Car has more horsepower." ...

ESPN.com columnist Robin Miller reported that CART has decided on a new engine formula, which is similar to the Indy Racing League's, but it will not debut until 2004.

Miller reported that CART's board of directors will vote next week to adopt a normally aspirated engine to replace the turbocharged motors that have powered champ cars since the series' inception in 1979.

The IRL uses a 3.5-liter, normally aspirated engine with a rev limiter. CART is considering a 3.5-liter (or smaller) engine without a rev limiter.

Goodyear suffered a lower back fracture in an accident in the Indianapolis 500 and will spend the next few weeks recuperating. Unser has competed 13 times in the IROC series and won the championship in 1986, his rookie year in IROC, and again in 1988. Four of Unser's 11 wins have come at Michigan International Speedway. ...

Excite@Home has ended its sponsorship of Cheever's Indy Racing League entry, effective immediately.

"We were very pleased to partner with Excite@Home and we enjoyed a great relationship with them," team owner Eddie Cheever said. With the support of Excite@Home, Cheever Indy Racing earned the first IRL win for Infiniti Motorsports at Pikes Peak last June and made a strong run at the series championship.

Smith will assume his new duties immediately, but under an agreement between the teams will remain as a consultant to Team Koretsky through the remainder of 2001. Team Koretsky will revert back to a single-car operation with Koretsky handling the driving duties and Eddie Guarnaccia, Jr., turning the wrenches.

The NASCAR Weekly Racing Series continues at the Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Saturday night with competition in Late Models, Grand American Modifieds, Chargers and Legends Cars. Gates open at 5 p.m.

Rookie-of-the-Year contender Jason Allen leads the Late Model division's points chase with 205, followed closely by veteran Wayne Jacks (197), Billy Newman (192), Ray Hooper Jr. (189) and 2000 champion Dick Cobb (181). Allen also is sixth in the NASCAR Sunbelt Region points.