Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: NASCAR shifts race date to California

Friday, June 13, 2003 | 9:09 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.

Officials from NASCAR and International Speedway Corp. this morning formally announced what had been the worst-kept secret in NASCAR: California Speedway will receive a coveted second Winston Cup race in 2004.

The race, a 500-miler, will be Sunday night, Sept. 5, and will replace the Southern 500 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, which has been run on Labor Day weekend since 1950. Darlington will continue to be the site of two annual Winston Cup races while North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham will lose one of its two races to Darlington. All three tracks are owned by ISC, which is controlled by NASCAR's France family.

The 2-mile oval in Fontana, Calif., also hosts the Auto Club 500 in April. Although the speedway does not have lights, it recently received approval from the San Bernardino County Planning Commission to install the required lighting to run a prime-time event.

The addition of a second Winston Cup race at California Speedway is the first race added in the western portion of the United States since the inaugural race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 1998. Starting in 2004, the series will stage six events in the West with single races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway, Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif., and Phoenix International Raceway and two races at California Speedway.

Winston Cup driver Jimmie Johnson, a Southern California native, said the West was overdue for more Winston Cup races.

"There are a lot of race fans out there that are craving this and wanting (more races)." Johnson said recently. "The more dates that we can have out there -- even if it's just another track in the area or something -- but we need more West Coast dates.

"There is a huge fan base out there that is wanting it."

This morning's announcement is the first step in what NASCAR chairman Bill France Jr. termed "Realignment 2004 and Beyond" -- a plan to more equally distribute Winston Cup races throughout the country. Of the 36 races on this year's schedule, 19 are in the Southeastern states of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia and Florida, and all but seven are east of the Mississippi River.

Bruton Smith, who owns Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway, has stated he would like second Winston Cup races at both of those tracks. France suggested earlier this year that Smith could move races from one or more of his other tracks to accomplish that but Smith has said there is "zero chance" he would do that.

IRL vice president Ken Ungar confirmed last weekend that LVMS and the Milwaukee Mile were under consideration for races in 2004. LVMS general manager Chris Powell said Thursday that the two sides still were talking, but that an agreement has not yet been reached.

LVMS hosted the IRL from 1996 to 2000 but has not staged an open-wheel race the past three seasons.

In his absence, Franchitti was replaced by Dan Wheldon (Japan), Robby Gordon (Indy) and Bryan Herta (Texas).

Herta will drive the No. 27 Ford-Cosworth/Lola beginning at Sunday's Grand Prix of Monterey at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, where he has two CART victories.

According to a release put out by the team, Lemarie "has decided to move on to other opportunities." He posted two 10th-place finishes in his first two races this season and scored championship points in three of his six starts. Lemarie, 35, was 16th in CART points.

Boss, 34, replaces rookie Alex Yoong, whose best finish in four races this season was ninth in Monterrey, Mexico.

Cowin, 23, fell approximately 15 feet and landed on his head after climbing on a crane to take pictures outside his Johnson City, Tenn., hotel in March. Cowin was in a coma when he arrived at the hospital but was released a week later after making what his doctors termed a "miracle recovery."

Allen and Pfankuch have 249 points to lead Class 1-2/1600 and the SCORE overall points standings. Second overall with 233 points is Class 1 leader Dale Ebberts of Canyon Lake, Calif.

After finishing second in the season-opening Laughlin Desert Challenge in January, winning the San Felipe 250 and finishing third in the Baja 500 in the featured Trophy Truck division, the team of Gus Vildosola, of Mexicali, Mexico, and Las Vegan Rob MacCachren have moved to the front of the class for 750-horsepower, unlimited-production trucks.

Behind Vildosola and MacCachren in the Trophy Truck standings are Las Vegas brothers and defending season champs Tim and Ed Herbst.

Troy Herbst of Las Vegas, who teamed with Larry Roeseler to win the overall title at the Baja 500, is third in Class 1 and tied for seventh overall.