Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Owner Stewart hopes he got point across

Friday, March 7, 2003 | 9:22 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.

In Tony Stewart's first season as a World of Outlaws car owner, he won the series championship with driver Danny Lasoski.

Last season, Lasoski was poised to repeat as WoO champion until he was injured in a hot-lap accident in Mechanicsburg, Pa., and was forced to sit out several races.

When he did return to the track five weeks later, Lasoski picked right up where he left off and won the main event in Cottage Grove, Ore.

Stewart was pleased with his driver's successful return from his injuries, which included a bruised lung and fractured ribs and left ankle. But he wasn't happy that Lasoski rushed his return to the No. 20 J.D. Byrider Eagle.

"What frustrated me is he lied to me about his injuries," Stewart said while in Las Vegas last weekend for the UAW-DaimlerChrylser 400. "Being a driver myself, I was more concerned about him being healthy than him winning a championship.

"He just told me he had bruised ribs -- which feel worse than broken ribs, they say -- but he had broken ribs. I honestly don't even know what was wrong with his ankle; who knows if he was telling me the truth on that."

The incident led Stewart to sit down with his longtime friend and driver and establish some guidelines.

"I basically made a rule that if he's to get injured like that again, both his wife and I are to speak to the doctor and know what's right and wrong on it before I release him to get back in the car," Stewart said of Lasoski, who leads the WoO points standings after three races.

Stewart, who drives for team owner Joe Gibbs in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series, said he understood Lasoski's motivation for trying to cover up the extent of his injuries. Stewart admitted to doing the same thing in order to get back into a car as soon as possible.

"Well, I have done that but I don't have a wife and two children and I won't let him put himself in jeopardy like that again," Stewart said. "Danny's one of my best friends and he knew he couldn't win the championship but he still was in the mentality of a short-track racer: 'I've got to go out and race so I can make money.'

"The thing is, I was going to pay him regardless so, to me, it was more important (that he be healthy). The reason we did this deal was to take care of him and his family, and to put him in a race car with broken ribs wasn't taking care of him. He won't be doing that anymore."

Stewart must be taking his cue as a team owner from Gibbs. Stewart said Gibbs is the first car owner who has treated him as a person rather than a commodity.

The race easily was the weekend's most-watched sports program with 11.3 million viewers, an 8 percent increase in comparison to last year's race, and made it the highest-rated race in the event's six-year history.

"I only passed out twice -- really, it was more like one and a half times -- but I never had to use the safety (air sickness) bags," McGehee said. "The first time I passed out for a few seconds was when we were doing the Immelman (maneuver). We were flying straight and level and then we pulled up into a quick climb. We went to seven and a half Gs. I was able to stay awake for the first half.

"We started that one at 500 feet, and I woke up at 11,000 feet. I had to put the pieces together and figure out where I was there for a minute. The second time was also right at seven and a half Gs, when we were doing a split S. The whole flight was amazing."

The seven and a half Gs is about double what McGehee would experience in a turn driving his IndyCar Series car.

In 1991, Kenny Bernstein took his first Top Fuel victory in his second start in the category -- also at Firebird. The difference, of course, is that the elder Bernstein was no rookie when he accomplished the feat. Bernstein had earned 30 NHRA Funny Car victories before moving to the Top Fuel ranks in 1991.

Brandon Bernstein joined a short list of professional drivers who have won in their first two starts: K.C. Spurlock (1990), Gary Scelzi (1997) and Darrell Russell (2001) each won in their first national event while Jeg Coughlin (1997) and Larry Dixon (1995) won in their second starts.

The team is owned by Las Vegas businessman Michael Petersen and managed by longtime local racer Dale White.

"Adrenaline X" will feature eight professional athletes, paired in co-ed teams, competing in extreme sports such as snowboarding and motocross. The athletes participating in the special were Travis Rice, Jim Rippey, Tom Gilles, JF Pelchat, Hana Beaman, Janna Meyen, Doriane Vidal and Victoria Jealouse.

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