Friday, June 14, 2002 | 9:10 a.m.
Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at [email protected] or (702) 259-4089.
Irwindale Speedway has had four drivers die in racing accidents since the half-mile track opened in 1999, but Las Vegas driver Brendan Gaughan insists the Southern California track is not inherently dangerous.
Less than a week after Tucson's John Baker died in an accident in a NASCAR Southwest Series race Saturday night at Irwindale, speedway officials announced Wednesday that they had canceled this weekend's racing and would reconfigure the track before it reopens June 22.
Doug Stokes, who handles publicity for Irwindale Speedway, said Thursday that the track is in the process of closing up the track entrance in Turn Two, near where Baker's accident occurred.
According to published reports, Baker was running eighth or ninth when Greg Voigt of Santa Barbara, Calif., bumped him from behind as the cars came out of Turn Two. Baker's car slid into one of the entrances on the backstretch and hit headfirst. Baker, 49, was wearing a head-and-neck restraint, as mandated by NASCAR.
Gaughan, who estimated he has raced at Irwindale at least a dozen times, said he saw only one problem area with the track -- but it isn't the area in which Baker's accident occurred.
"I don't think it is a hazardous track," said Gaughan, who won three NASCAR Winston West races at Irwindale last season before moving to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. "Irwindale is a great racetrack (but) the only thing I don't like about Irwindale is the pit exit lane -- how you get off the racetrack going into Turn One -- that's the only thing that I've ever thought was not very good about it.
"I think Irwindale is a well-designed racetrack. Would I like to see them move the pit exit lane? Yes -- maybe a little further toward the corner, where it's not such a sharp edge. Other than that, I think it's a great track."
Gaughan said there are two other openings in the concrete wall along the backstretch, which are designed for cars to enter the track from the pits. He said he believed those entrances posed no safety problems.
"I wasn't there (Saturday night) and I don't know exactly what happened," Gaughan said. "I feel sorry for what happened to John and my heart goes out to his family, but I don't believe that there's anything wrong with the track to say that it caused that.
"It sounds like it was just a racing thing and he hit at the exact wrong place. Racing is dangerous (but) I believe it's safer than flying and I believe it's safer than driving my own passenger car. We all know the risks and it's part of what we do. Nobody likes to think about it, nobody likes it when it happens, but it is a choice that we have all made."
NASCAR, which sanctioned Saturday night's race, reportedly is investigating the fatal crash but Stokes said the changes now being made to the track are not being done at NASCAR's request.
"That was a decision we made here," Stokes said.
A viewing and memorial service for Baker will be held tonight in Tucson. Baker, who is survived by a wife and twin 16-month-old boys, will be buried Saturday in Tucson.
The 2002 UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 at LVMS was held on Sunday, March 3.
The magazine quoted sources from FIA as saying Rubens Barrichello, Schumacher's Ferrari teammate, would be awarded the race win when the governing body meets June 26. Ferrari sports director Jean Todt ordered Barrichello to slow down in the final 100 yards of the May 12 race and allow Schumacher to pass for the win.
If Schumacher is stripped of the title, he would get six points for finishing second instead of the 10 points awarded to the winner.
Jimmy Makar, crew chief for Bobby Labonte's No. 18 Interstate Batteries Pontiac, said the changes do not go far enough to make the Pontiac equal to the Fords and Chevrolets.
"We didn't get quite as much as we probably needed and all that we asked for, but it's better than nothing," Makar said.
"It's a step in the right direction. Whether it's going to make enough of a difference to close the gap enough to where our cars are less on the edge all the time, I don't know if it will be quite enough to do that or not. We'll just have to wait and see until we get on the racetrack with it."
In 1995, while driving for Target/Chip Ganassi Racing, Vasser finished second in the race but was awarded the victory after Al Unser Jr.'s winning car failed to pass the postrace inspection. Unser later was reinstated as the race winner.
"That really wasn't the way I wanted to win my first CART race," Vasser said. "I wanted to take the checkered flag first, not later after everything was over for the day. I was able to come back later (in 1996) and win my first race at Homestead.
"I would like to finally win that race at Portland. My luck hasn't been very good there over the years."
Vasser has not finished higher than eighth at Portland since 1995.
Schmidt and Hearn, who drives for Schmidt's Indy Racing League team, will be on hand to assist Drivers Edge founder Jeff Payne and other professional drivers as they provide comprehensive real-life training for approximately 300 young drivers in an effort to combat increasing statistics on teen accidents and driving fatalities.
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