Friday, Oct. 3, 2003 | 9:54 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.
As a 12-year veteran of the CART Champ Car Series, Jimmy Vasser has experienced both the best and worst of the open-wheel racing series from its glory days of the early '90s to its current financially troubled state.
But Vasser, a 37-year-old Las Vegas resident, isn't about to give up on CART, which is in the process of being purchased by a group that includes current team owners Paul Gentilozzi, Gerald Forsythe and Kevin Kalkhoven.
Gentilozzi and Kalkhoven met with the series' owner and drivers and outlined their vision for the future of the sport, which includes mixing entertainment and racing in an attempt to make each CART race weekend an event -- along the lines of the hugely popular Long Beach Grand Prix. The plan also includes a race/concert weekend next season on the 1.5-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway oval.
"I'm a big booster for CART," said Vasser, who won the series championship in 1996 while driving for Target/Chip Ganassi Racing. "I really believe in the product and I really believe what Gentilozzi and Kalkhoven want to do with CART in the future is the right thing.
"They need to do (the event concept) with CART and I think they can certainly achieve that in Las Vegas. I really believe in (Gentilozzi's and Kalkhoven's) vision and where they're going with it and I really want to be a part of it into the future and maybe finish my career here -- as well as competing in the Indy 500."
But for open-wheel racing to return to prominence in the United States, Vasser said, the proposed buyout of CART is only the first step. Merging CART -- or whatever it will be called next year -- and the rival Indy Racing League into one series also is paramount, he said.
"Deep down, I really, really wish that both sides could get together and create one series. Whether that's wishful thinking or not, I don't know, but certainly the first step that needs to happen for that to take place would be to take CART private again. Certainly, they can't get together with CART (being) a public company.
"How great would it be with just one series? Take the nine or 10 best races in CART and the nine or 10 best races in the IRL and create one great series again, like it was. What has been achieved by this split? Nothing but confusion. It has been bad for the fans -- the fans are the ones who have lost. In my opinion, it really needs to happen."
In the short term, however, Vasser said he believed CART would be on the path to recovery if the proposed sale to Open Wheel Racing Series LLC passes muster with the Securities and Exchange Commission and CART stockholders. Adding a race in his adopted hometown of Las Vegas, Vasser said, is another step in the right direction.
In addition to Vasser, CART drivers Paul Tracy, Patrick Carpentier and Alex Tagliani also call Las Vegas home.
"The Champ Cars will be real quick and put on a good race (at LVMS)," Vasser said. "Basically, they're very much the same cars that ran the very first (IRL) race out there -- the race that Richie Hearn won.
"It's fantastic -- I love Vegas and it's great for me. I know ... with all the drivers who do live in Vegas and the support we get, we've got a great fan base in Las Vegas. I think it's going to be great."
Renna was serving as an instructor at the Derek Daly Performance Driving Academy at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway last spring when he was hired as a test driver for Kelley Racing. Less than a month after joining the team, he was tabbed to replace Al Unser Jr. in the team's IRL entry when Unser entered rehab for an addiction to alcohol.
Renna, 26, drove in six races for Kelley Racing in 2002 and finished a career-best fourth at Michigan International Speedway last July. He resumed his test-driver status with the team this season but ran a second Kelley Racing entry in the Indianapolis 500 and finished seventh as a rookie in that race.
Renna will run as a teammate to current IRL championship co-leader Scott Dixon. Renna and Dixon also were teammates in the Indy Lights series with PacWest Racing in 2000.
"This is a great opportunity for me," Renna said. "They are a first-class organization and are dedicated to one thing -- winning. When the opportunity came up, it was hard to keep the smile off of my face. I wish that the season was starting now, not ending.
"I have to thank Chip, Target and the whole organization for giving me the chance to drive here."
According to the folks at Nielsen, 260,000 households tuned into Saturday's Speed Channel telecast of the Las Vegas 350 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race from Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The figure represents a 106 percent increase over the 126,000 households that tuned into the 2002 event.
"It was a really hard hit -- one of the hardest I've ever taken," Foyt said of the accident. "But my guys did a great job setting up the safety equipment in the car. All the equipment, including the LaJoie seat, did its job."
"There is no doubt last week was scary for everyone," Sadler said. "It looked worse than it turned out to be, but the guys at Robert Yates Racing built me a car that withstood a wreck at 186 miles per hour."
The event will begin with the IJSBA Novice and Masters National Finals (Sunday through Tuesday) and will be followed by the 2003 IJSBA Expert and Amateur World Finals (Thursday and Friday) and conclude with the IJSBA Pro and Pro-Am World Finals (next Friday through Sunday).
A complete schedule of events can be found at www.dsmevents.com/worldfinals/ schedule.htm.
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