Racing briefs for August 22, 2005

Monday, Aug. 22, 2005 | 8:58 a.m.

Raikkonen inches closer to Alonso

At Istanbul, Turkey, Kimi Raikkonen is doing his best to slow Fernando Alonso's steady progress toward the Formula One title.

The McLaren driver won his second consecutive race and fifth of the season at the Turkish Grand Prix. However, with Alonso finishing second it put him in the driver's seat for the rush to the title.

The Spainiard has a 24-point lead with five races left.

"Alonso keeps finishing second, so we just need to do the best we can," Raikkonen said. "You never know what might happen in these races, so (gaining) two points is better than nothing."

Fuller upsets Schumacher

At Memphis, Tenn., part-time driver "Hot" Rod Fuller upset defending series champion Tony Schumacher in the O'Reilly Mid-South Nationals, winning the Top Fuel final with a quarter-mile run of 4.612 seconds at 313.07 mph.

By advancing to the final round, Schumacher pulled within four points of first-place Doug Kalitta in the season standings.

Qualifying crash kills two spectators

At Mount Vernon, Ill., a car crashed into the stands at a southern Illinois raceway, killing two spectators and injuring six others, officials said. The driver also was hurt.

It was not immediately known what caused the car to leave the quarter-mile dirt oval track at Mount Vernon Raceway on Saturday night, state police said. The driver was doing a qualification run and was the only car on the track at the time.

The dead were identified as Donald Roznowski, 51, and Jeff Conner, 18.

-- Sun wire services