Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Panther Racing brings Bell back to U.S.

Friday, July 2, 2004 | 9:42 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.

Panther Racing has named Townsend Bell to replace Mark Taylor in the team's No. 2 Dallara/Chevrolet beginning with Sunday's Indy Racing League IndyCar Series race at Kansas Speedway, the team announced Thursday.

Bell replaces Taylor, who parted ways with the team following last weekend's race at Richmond International Raceway.

Bell, a 29-year-old California native, spent last season racing in the European F3000 series after making 11 starts in the CART (now the Champ Car World Series) in 2001 and 2002.

"I'm very happy that Panther Racing has given me this opportunity," Bell said. "The Indy Racing League is a great series that continues to grow in popularity.

"Panther has enjoyed great success and I'm hoping to add to their accomplishments. I'm looking forward to racing in the United States and being back on the ovals. I've raced against a lot of the drivers in the series so it will be good to renew some rivalries as well."

Bell made two starts in CART in 2001 and finished 13th and 12th in the series' European swing to Germany and England. He earned a full-time ride with Patrick Racing in 2002 but was released after nine races. His best finish in that series was a fourth place at Portland International Raceway. He also earned a seventh-place finish at Laguna Seca Raceway.

Bell won the Indy Lights championship in 2001, winning six of 12 races and scoring eight poles. He also won the Indy Lights Rookie of the Year award in 2000 and finished second in the championship to Scott Dixon, the reigning IRL champion.

"Townsend Bell is a talented racecar driver with a lot of experience in very diverse forms of racing," Panther Racing co-owner John Barnes said. "He's been on Panther Racing's radar for some time now and we're excited about having him in the Menards/Johns Manville Chevrolet. Throughout his career, he has always been quick, aggressive and smart."

"If they had just left it like it was, we wouldn't be running into all this controversy right now," Petty said. "We'd still be running our races like what they're supposed to be run and everything would be OK.

"It's very, very confusing to the competitors and the fans, and the press don't know what to write because they're confused, too. On top of that, nobody is as confused as NASCAR. I don't see no way to back up; the fans have got used to that now."

Petty, who this weekend is celebrating the 20th anniversary of his 200th career NASCAR victory, also said he isn't a big fan of the proposed green-white-checkered finish.

"They did all this stuff originally to keep from racing back to the flag because it was dangerous," he said. "It's not near as dangerous as throwing that green flag with two or three laps to go -- that's the worst thing in the world that can happen to the racers no matter if they run second or third instead of winning the race.

"One of the first (times) we did it was at Darlington when they threw (the green flag) with two or three laps to go and they crashed about half the field down there in (turns) one and two. It's really dumb to do stuff like that."

NASCAR chairman Brian France said this week that NASCAR was "studying that whole idea of how we might give ourselves more opportunities to finish under a green-flag scenario." However, France stopped short of saying the sanctioning body would implement the green-white-checkered rule that is in use in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.

Matos, the 2003 Formula Dodge National Champion, qualified fifth in the No. 70 Showtime/Samsung Mazda for the 28-lap race.

"We're very pleased," Hearn said of the debut of his team, which is based near the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. "Raphael never put a foot wrong all weekend. It was a good start for us; we got 32 points towards the championship and that is what is really important.

"We didn't have any problems all weekend and we learned a lot. The car is good for (this weekend) and that is really important to a new team with their first two races being back to back. We set our goal as a top 10 and we bettered that with a top five so we're really pleased."

The Hearn Motorsports team will be in Lakeville, Conn., this weekend for Round 3 of the Star Mazda Series at Lime Rock Park.

Aaron McMorran, 16, Nick Herda, 16, and Thomas Lovelady, 15, of Las Vegas and Spencer Clark, 17, of North Las Vegas were the four fastest drivers in the local open qualifier, which was one of 58 held nationwide from March 15 to June 13. The four fastest drivers at each local open qualifier advanced to the second round of the program.

The four local drivers will be among 221 participating in run-offs later this summer to determine who advances to the third stage of the program, which is designed to identify and develop young American drivers for a possible career in Formula One.

Matt Jaskol of Las Vegas was one of the four winners of last year's Red Bull Driver Search program and currently is competing in the Formula BMW USA Championship, where he has two victories in six races.

"Cleveland is a place that really started Champ Car on the path of staging successful events at temporary racing facilities -- something that has helped us take racing to the heart of major urban markets," CCWS co-owner Paul Gentilozzi said. "As an owner as well as a competitor, this track and this city are very special to me and I feel that the support we have always gotten from the Cleveland fans made this announcement possible."

Saturday's Grand Prix of Cleveland will mark the 23rd time the Champ Cars have run on the temporary road course on the Burke Lakefront Airport tarmac.

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