Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2003 | 9:52 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.
Despite a pole-winning effort in his first race in more than three months, Henderson resident Richie Hearn once again is uncertain about his racing future as the Indy Racing League heads into the final two races of the season.
Hearn stepped into the No. 2 Team Menard Dallara/Chevrolet for last weekend's race at Chicagoland Speedway, replacing Jaques Lazier, and put the car on the pole. He led the first 37 laps of the race before handling problems with car relegated him to a 14th-place finish.
With injured driver Vitor Meira slated to return to the Team Menard car for next weekend's race at California Speedway, Hearn likely will sit out the remainder of the IRL season without a ride.
"I don't know about the future," Hearn said after turning his first competitive laps since the Indianapolis 500 in May. "I'd like to definitely run with (Team Menard) again (but) Vitor will be back. It'll be hard, even thought I qualified on the pole."
Although the three-month layoff didn't appear to affect Hearn during his qualifying effort, he said the time out of the seat made a difference on race day.
"It's hard to do this once every six months -- running in a pack of cars like that," he said. "I know I probably could have done better on my in-laps on my pit stops, but that's what you get for not racing. I hope I can get a ride and just keep working on it."
Fifteen of the top 20 WoO drivers will travel to Parramatta City Raceway Jan. 8-10 to run the first points event of the 2004 season and compete for a purse of $148,000.
"We are thrilled to bring the World of Outlaws series to Australia and Parramatta City Raceway," WoO president Ted Johnson said. "This definitely progresses our series into a truly international championship. Australians drivers have raced with the World of Outlaws for many years and this is a logical and exciting progression for our organization."
Steve Kinser said he couldn't wait to open the 2004 season in Australia.
"It is well known that I have had a long and close relationship with Parramatta City Raceway and the people involved with it," Kinser said. "I am excited that we are heading 'Down Under' to race in 2004."
Defending World Series Sprint Cars champion Daryn Pittman and 2003 Parramatta City Raceway Parts Plus winner Joey Saldana will join Kinser, Tatnell and two-time Grand Annual Sprint Car Classic and Summer Slam winner Donny Schatz in the milestone event.
As part of the multiyear contract between the World of Outlaws and Parramatta City Raceway, the series also will race in Australia in 2005 and 2006.
The victory was the 19th consecutive top-10 finish for Kinser, who won his 11th career Gold Cup championship.
This weekend, the World of Outlaws Series heads to Hollywood Hills Speedway in San Felipe Pueblo, N.M., where Kinser has won all six of the feature races on the 3/8-mile oval.
The O'Reilly World of Outlaws series will conclude the season Oct. 31-Nov. 1 at the dirt track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
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