Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Vasser ready to make jump to Team Rahal

Friday, Sept. 7, 2001 | 9:20 a.m.

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

CART's "silly season" is in full swing and team owner Bobby Rahal has been at the center of two of the biggest driver moves.

Last month, Rahal lost driver Kenny Brack -- who is embroiled in a battle for the series championship -- to Target/Chip Ganassi Racing. Over the weekend, Rahal hired Las Vegas resident Jimmy Vasser to drive one of his two cars next season.

Vasser, who is in his first season with Patrick Racing, has nine career CART wins and won the series championship in 1996 while driving for Ganassi.

The hiring of Vasser fulfills half of the promise Rahal made earlier this year when he said he would like to have two Americans driving for him in 2002. Rahal's two current drivers -- Brack and Max Papis -- are from Sweden and Italy, respectively. It is believed Rahal will not renew Papis' contract for next season.

Although Rahal has not officially announced the hiring of Vasser, the 35-year-old Southern California native confirmed that he would be driving for Team Rahal next season.

"Pat (Patrick) had the option on me and he chose not to take it so I'm finally getting together with Bobby," Vasser told espn.com. "I really enjoyed working with (Patrick Racing general manager) Jim McGee and the guys at Patrick's, but I'm looking forward to running for Team Rahal and also going to Indy."

Vasser began the season with four straight top-10 finishes and was fifth in the championship until being plagued with a string of bad luck. Vasser has only one points-paying finish in his past 10 races and has dropped to 14th in points.

It is not known whether Vasser will drive Rahal's No. 8 Shell-sponsored Ford/Lola or the No. 7 Miller Lite car. It is believed that Rahal is looking at Alex Barron and Buddy Rice to fill the other seat for next season.

"This event also will give us another opportunity to reach out with CART racing to the large and growing group of Hispanic fans who are attracted to our sport."

The race will be held on the road course at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, which is approximately 15 minutes from the center of Mexico City. Race organizers plan to invest $25-30 million in improvements to the facility.

Although the league has not issued a release on Reif's firing, it is believed that the primary reason for his departure was his inability to deliver on his promise to find primary sponsorship for all the series' race teams. More than half of the teams competing in the series are doing so without full funding.

Reif, local racing fans will remember, questioned Las Vegas as a viable market for the IRL prior to the series' final race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in April, 2000. Only about 20,000 fans attended that race, which was won by Al Unser Jr.

Ray will replace Donnie Beechler in the No. 11 Harrah's-sponsored car for the season finale. It will mark the first race in which Foyt has used an Infiniti engine.

Busch became the 20th driver to qualify for the Budweiser Shootout, which will kick off the 2002 NASCAR Winston Cup season.

Tickets for the fifth annual UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 Winston Cup race on Sunday, March 3 and the Sam's Town 300 Busch Series race on Saturday, March 2 will be available Tuesday at the LVMS ticket office and on the Internet at www.lvms.com.

Tickets for the Pennzoil World of Outlaws races Feb. 28 and March 1-2 at the LVMS half-mile dirt track also go on sale Tuesday.

Local drivers Spencer Clark and Casey Kingsland and NHRA Top Fuel competitor Cory McClenathan also are scheduled to compete in the 50-lap Speed Trucks race.

The Speed Truck main event will be taped for broadcast on Fox Sports West (Cox Cable channel 49) on Saturday, Sept. 22 at 9 a.m. and Sunday, Sept. 23 at 9:30 a.m.