Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Gaughan suspects his truck was sabotaged — twice

Tuesday, July 30, 2002 | 10:41 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at bh@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4089.

Brendan Gaughan isn't the paranoid type, but the Las Vegas driver hasn't ruled out sabotage as the cause of problems he encountered in a pair of races earlier this month.

Gaughan, a rookie in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, had a plug wire come off at the start of races at Kansas Speedway and Kentucky Speedway on consecutive weekends.

"We've gone to so many different conclusions for that (problem), we've even gone to somebody actually pulling them off," Gaughan said.

"Every other explanation is just as preposterous, so thinking that somebody reached up there and actually pulled one off, in impound or something, is not as impossible as it seems because there is no explanation for what happened."

Gaughan said his Las Vegas-based Orleans Racing team and engine builder Kevin Kroyer took extraordinary measures to make sure the problem didn't resurface two weeks ago at New Hampshire International Speedway.

"(At New Hampshire), we had them siliconed on and we went over to Ray Evernham's (Winston Cup) team and got a special thing that they make for their cars -- little keepers they make -- and installed them.

"Five minutes before (the race started), Kevin was allowed, through NASCAR, to open the hood and check each plug wire. We also drilled a hole through each (plug wire) boot so the gasses could escape if it was a gas build-up problem.

"We took it pretty seriously."

Gaughan has had no plug-wire problems in his past two races, including his 18th-place effort Saturday at Michigan International Speedway.

Gaughan said he has been using the same plug-wire manufacturer since he began racing and the set he had on his No. 62 NAPA Auto Parts Dodge at Kansas Speedway was a different set than he ran the following week at Kentucky Speedway.

"Once is just a racing thing but the second time ... we don't know what it is that happened," Gaughan said.

Gaughan, who leads the NCTS Rookie of the Year standings by 43 points over Bill Lester, spent Monday afternoon testing his truck at Irwindale Speedway in Southern California to prepare for Friday's Power Stroke Diesel 200 at Indianapolis Raceway Park.

"(Crew chief) Shane Wilson has been to IRP before and he thinks running that truck at Irwindale will have us ready enough for IRP," Gaughan said. "We've had a few successful laps around Irwindale in the past."

Gaughan won all three NASCAR Winston West Series races at Irwindale last season en route to his second straight Winston West championship.

"This is the first time I had to play hurt," Gordon said. "I understand I'm in the wrong there for getting hurt but you've got to have a little bit of fun in your life, too. It was just unfortunate timing."

Gordon was scheduled to test Monday and today at the Watkins Glen road course, but Richard Childress Racing cancelled the test because of Gordon's injuries.

Busch moved from eighth to fifth in points with his sixth top-five finish of the season.