Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Champ speed at LVMS still won’t touch Luyendyk

Wednesday, Aug. 18, 2004 | 9:35 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.

Arie Luyendyk's open-wheel track record at Las Vegas Motor Speedway will not be in jeopardy when the Champ Car World Series rolls into town next month for the series' inaugural visit to the 1.5-mile superspeedway.

Luyendyk established the track record of 226.491 mph in a first-generation Indy Racing League car in 1996 -- a mark that likely never will fall as both the IRL and Champ Cars have taken measures in recent years to reduce speeds.

Fifteen of the 18 Champ Car World Series drivers are in Las Vegas today for a one-day test and the top speeds for the Sept. 25 race are expected to be in the 210-mph range.

"We could make it so the cars would be (full throttle) all the way around the track," Champ Car director of technology Lee Dykstra said, "but that is not a situation we want our guys to be in; we want to set it up so they have to drive the car and use their skills.

"By taking out some of the downforce, we will give them cars that are challenging to drive while still being very competitive."

The top seven drivers in the Champ Car points standings, including series leader Sebastien Bourdais, are taking part in the test, which runs from 2 to 10 p.m. and is open to the public, free of charge. All four Las Vegas residents competing in the series -- Paul Tracy, Alex Tagliani, Patrick Carpentier and Jimmy Vasser -- also are taking part in today's session.

"This is going to be an important test for all the teams," Vasser, the 1996 series champion, said. "Once this race was added to the schedule, we have an aerodynamic package that we are all a little unsure of. Plus, most of these drivers have never even seen the track."

The Sept. 25 Champ Car race will be only the second oval race of the season for the series, which races primarily on temporary street courses and permanent road courses. The other oval race this season was June 5 at The Milwaukee Mile in West Allis, Wisc.

The only drivers not expected to be testing today at LVMS are Dale Coyne Racing's Oriol Servia and Gaston Mazzacane and RuSPORT's A.J. Allmendinger.

The Champ Car Las Vegas 400 will be a 400-kilometer race (249 miles, 166 laps) and is scheduled to begin at approximately 9 p.m. The Champ Car race will be preceded by the Las Vegas 350 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race.

But it sounds as if Rice is more excited about the opportunity to drive a Bradley military tank -- which he will do Thursday at Fort Carson in Colorado -- than visiting the White House.

"That should be an awesome experience," Rice said. "It should be very cool to drive and maybe shoot some stuff."

Gregg, making his IPS debut last weekend, went out Friday and knocked Luyendyk off the pole for Saturday's race. Later in the qualifying session, Gregg's teammate, series leader Thiago Medeiros, knocked Luyendyk off the front row.

Gregg and Medeiros went on to finish fifth and sixth, respectively, in Saturday's race while Luyendyk took fourth.

Schmidt, a former IRL race winner, resides in Henderson.