Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2004 | 9:56 a.m.
Ron Kantowski is a Las Vegas Sun sports writer. Reach him at [email protected] or (702) 259-4088.
According to published reports and eyewitness accounts there were no more than 10,000 diehards in the stands for UNLV's latest loss at Sam Boyd Stadium Saturday night.
That's roughly the same number of fans who were standing in line for a turkey leg during the "Double Down in the Desert," a unique motor sports doubleheader featuring the NASCAR Craftsman Trucks and Champ Car World Series Indy-style cars at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
I was going to say that anybody who doesn't think auto racing is king of the Southern Nevada sports scene wasn't at the track Saturday night. But then, seemingly everybody was at the track Saturday night, at least once traffic thinned out.
Taking advantage of discounted tickets, a throng estimated at 80,000 turned out to watch "worlds collide," as the radio ads proclaimed, noting the disparity of speed and style between the trucks and Champ Cars. But the beauty of the evening, at least for this racing enthusiast, was that very little collided on the track.
There were 53 racing vehicles going around in the circles during the course of the evening in addition to a car driven by Las Vegas resident Paul Tracy, which almost completed the pace lap before its drive train broke. The only one that left on the end of a wrecker was driven by a girl (not that there's anything wrong with that).
Safety was such a concern that the Champ Cars, almost too fast for superspeedways such as ours, were fitted with an aerodynamic package that slowed them by some 25 mph. To literally be on the safe side, LVMS blocked out the lower sections of the massive grandstands to prevent spectators from being hit by foreign objects or, considering the birthplaces of most of the Champ Car participants, foreign drivers.
But the Champ Car guys, like the truckers before them, put on a safe and exciting show.
Shane Hmiel won the truck race by executing a bump-and-run maneuver on Todd Bodine that would have done Deion Sanders proud. Just two laps from the finish, Hmiel nudged Bodine's rear deck, getting his yellow-and-black No. 30 truck looser than Paris Hilton after a half dozen Zimas. With Bodine getting every which way and loose, Hmiel drove under him for the win and celebrated by throwing his helmet into the crowd. Now that's what I call a souvenir.
The Champ Car finish was even more dramatic. During a breathtaking 20-lap sprint to the checkered flag, teammates Sebastien Bourdais and Bruno Junqueira ran virtually in lock step. They were so side-by-side that depending where you were sitting, Junqueira's car seem to disappear alongside Bourdais'. They swapped the lead eight times during the final 16 laps with Bourdais nosing ahead as the cars raced to the line.
The margin of victory was 0.066 of a second. That's less time than it takes Carl Lewis to sneeze.
Unfortunately, hardly anybody saw the amazing duel to the checkered flag. By the time Bourdais flashed across the finish line it was just a few minutes before midnight. By then, the majority of fans had visions of sugar plums and Dale Earnhardt Jr. dancing in their heads.
The stands were nearly empty at the finish, leading one to draw the conclusion that the crux of the huge crowd comprised NASCAR fans. Or those who had to get up for church in the morning.
If you were there Saturday as a neutral observer, you might argue that wheel-to-wheel racing at more than 200 mph is a lot more exciting than anything NASCAR has to offer. But if you argued that at LVMS Saturday night, you would have lost. There was a lot more beer and pretzels than wine and cheese in the grandstands.
I'm convinced that if you put a NASCAR decal and a big number "8" on Jed Clampett's jalopy, 40,000 fans would show up to watch it sputter around the track. And buy an Elly May Racing T-shirt on the way out.
But with most of its top teams having bolted to the rival Indy Racing League (principally because it runs the Indy 500, the only open wheel race that still matters in this country), Champ Car should be commended for patching together a decent show as second fiddle.
"It's nice to see all these people in the stands," team principal Neil Mickleright told Tracy via the in-car radio as the Champ Cars idled on the starting grid. "And they're still coming in."
But by that time (the race didn't start until 10:15 p.m.) a lot were going out, too.
If LVMS reprises the doubleheader next year as expected, perhaps it will adjust to give Champ Car a little more bang for its buck(s).
Sources claim Champ Car paid LVMS as much as $500,000 for the right to follow the trucks onto the oval, which Chris Powell, the track's general manager, refuted. Well, sort of refuted.
When Speed Channel's Dave Despain asked Powell about the speedway extorting that kind of money from a series that, judging by its paltry 18-car field, can ill afford it, he tap-danced around it like Ben Vereen. The following day, Powell was a little more aggressive in denying that Champ Car paid out the gearbox but refused to be drawn into a discussion regarding dollars and cents. Or, in this case, dollars and sense.
When you're getting as many dollars as LVMS reportedly did from Champ Car, it makes sense to share the track. It also would make sense to start the truck race around 6 p.m. next year, the original plan before TV started whining like Tony Stewart.
But, hey, give Powell and his staff credit for turning the event into a money-maker. And for seeing the bigger, or at least faster, picture.
When it comes to auto racing, NASCAR and Champ Car are like apples and oranges. But if Saturday proved anything, it's that it's possible to mix them together in a huge 1.5-mile bowl and come up with fruit salad.
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