Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Gaughan expecting to go 2-for-2 this weekend

Thursday, Oct. 11, 2001 | 9:54 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. Reach him at bh@lasvegassun.com or 259-4089. The weekly NHRA Drag Racing notebook will return next Thursday.

If nothing else, Brendan Gaughan is confident.

The 26-year-old Las Vegas native will be competing in both the NASCAR Winston West and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and he said he fully expects to win both races.

Putting his money where his mouth is, Gaughan said he placed a wager on himself to win Sunday's Orleans 350 truck race.

"Hey, this is Vegas and it isn't unethical to bet on yourself to win," Gaughan said. "I read on the Internet that I'm 8-to-1 in the truck race so I went down and put $500 on myself and I can't wait to go down and collect it."

Gaughan is listed by Station Casinos as the favorite (2-1) to win Saturday's 24 Hour Fitness 100 Winston West race, but didn't place a wager on that race because of the low odds.

In addition to the prospect of a nice payoff if he should win Sunday's truck race, Gaughan has plenty of motivation going into the weekend. The reigning Winston West series champion, Gaughan enters the penultimate race of the season with a 25-point lead over Mark Reed. He also is prepared to move to the truck series full-time in 2002 and would like to have a strong showing in Sunday's race.

But Gaughan insisted he isn't taking anything away from his run for a second consecutive Winston West championship by competing in the truck race.

"They both are important," he said. "Everybody wants to focus on the trucks, but the car is important because that's why we have an opportunity to drive the truck, because people notice what we do in the car. We've got to go finish (the championship) for our sponsor, NAPA, win that race and then jump over to the truck.

"We know we've got a great car and we've been testing out there a ton. We definitely think the car is ready to go and we definitely think we're ready to put some distance between us and Mark."

Gaughan is equally excited about the new Dodge truck his Las Vegas-based Orleans Racing team has built for the race. In five starts in the Truck Series this season, Gaughan has three top-10 finishes, including a second place at Texas Motor Speedway and a third place at Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield, Calif.

"To me, it's as good as Jack (Sprague's), Scott (Riggs') or Ted (Musgrave's) -- any of their trucks," Gaughan said. "It's a brand-new truck and it's fast. We tested it at Texas World Speedway and it was better than we thought it would be."

Racing at home might prove to be a distraction for some drivers, but Gaughan said he is looking forward to this weekend's races because having his family and friends at the track will give him added incentive.

"It's always nice to race at home," he said. "Mom and dad come to most of the races but it's great to have all my buddies and high school friends out here. It adds to the pressure but I love the pressure; pressure is a good thing for me.

"I believe (LVMS) is one of the best tracks in the country and it's home and not everybody gets to race in their own backyard. Everybody has a race that's in their area, but to be born and raised and to live in Las Vegas and to be able to race here is pretty cool."