Wednesday, July 28, 2004 | 9:46 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.
Reigning Indy Racing League champion Scott Dixon has been cleared by doctors to race Sunday at Michigan International Speedway after two accidents Saturday at The Milwaukee Mile forced Dixon to sit out Sunday's race.
Dixon hit the wall in Turn 2 at Milwaukee during a practice session Saturday, but he was not injured. He later returned to the track in his backup car and hit the wall in Turn 4 during his second qualifying lap. Dixon suffered a sprained left ankle and a torn ligament and bone chip at the base of his right thumb in the incident.
Dixon will wear a brace on his right hand during this weekend's race at Michigan and then will undergo minor surgery to repair the ligament and secure the bone chip in his thumb.
"I'm really happy to know that I'll be able to get behind the wheel this coming weekend in Michigan since both the ankle and the thumb are feeling much better," Dixon said. "I'll be fitted for a brace for my thumb in the next few days simply to make it more comfortable to drive, but I'm sure it'll be fine by race day.
"This past weekend on track was very disappointing for all of us at Target Chip Ganassi Racing. However, while it has been a rough season to date, it is a credit to this Target team to see how hard the crew has been working to get the cars ready to race -- not just this past weekend but every single time out there. I just want to get back to racing as soon as possible and get back on top where we should be."
Dixon was sixth in the IRL standings, 137 points behind front-runner Tony Kanaan, going into the Milwaukee race but slipped one spot and now is 157 points behind Kanaan with seven races remaining.
PRIZE PUPIL: Rookie A.J. Allmendinger, who finished third behind Las Vegas resident Paul Tracy and Michel Jourdain Jr. in Sunday's Champ Car World Series race in Vancouver, British Columbia, got his open-wheel career jump-started while racing go-karts for Tracy's karting team.
Allmendinger, 22, is a two-time International Karting Federation Grand National Champion who earned his first Champ Car test in 2000, while driving for Paul Tracy Karting, through the inaugural Champ Cars "Stars of Tomorrow" development program.
"It was a great day for A.J.," an obviously proud Tracy said Sunday. "And it's really a testament, not to my karting team or anything like that, but to the whole (Champ Car) ladder system -- from Stars up through the whole system.
"A.J. has gone through the whole system right from the beginning to now, and it was a great day for not only him and also me but also the guy who runs my karting team for me, Tim Pappas."
Sunday's finish marked Allmendinger's first podium in the Champ Car series and fourth top-10 finish this season. His best previous finish was fifth at Milwaukee last month.
F1 NOTES: Michael Schumacher, who tied his own Formula One record with his 11th victory of the season last weekend in Germany, has completed the past 50 F1 races without a mechanical failure. Although he has retired from several races due to accidents, Schumacher has not been sideline due to a mechanical failure since the 2001 German Grand Prix. ...
Monaco Grand Prix winner Jarno Trulli announced in Germany that he would leave the Mild Seven Renault team at the end of the season. He said he would detail his plans for 2005 "in due course."
OUTLAWS UPDATES: World of Outlaws driver Tyler Walker will make his NASCAR Busch Series debut Saturday at Pikes Peak International Raceway in Kasey Kahne's No. 38 Dodge. Kahne will be unable to make the race because of the Nextel Cup Series is racing this weekend at Pocono Raceway. Tyler twice this season has qualified the Busch car for Kahne. Walker also will race in the Aug. 7 Busch Series event at Indianapolis Raceway Park in a car owned by BACE Motorsports. ...
Mark Kinser led all 25 laps and recorded his second World of Outlaws main-event victory of the season Monday night at Orange County Fair Speedway in Middletown, NY. Daryn Pittman was second, Steve Kinser took third and Danny Lasoski was fourth. Steve Kinser leads Lasoski by 60 points in the WoO standings.
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