Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Next attempt to bring F1 racing to Vegas not promising, either

Friday, June 24, 2005 | 9:43 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.

Here we go again.

Overshadowed by last weekend's Formula One debacle in Indianapolis was a news item that a "group from Las Vegas" had met with F1 czar Bernie Ecclestone the weekend before in Montreal about bringing the F1 circus to our fair city.

"I want to have (a race) on the Strip, or part of the Strip, anyway," the Indianapolis Star quoted Ecclestone as saying last weekend.

Neither Ecclestone nor Renault boss Flavio Briatore, who leaked the Las Vegas tidbit during the Montreal race weekend, identified the Las Vegas group or whom they represent. Some media reports have suggested the Steve Wynn is behind a bid to lure Formula One here -- again.

This would be at least the fourth attempt to bring the international racing circuit to Las Vegas since it staged two races in the Caesars Palace parking lot in 1981 and 1982. The first proposal surfaced in the early 90's as the MGM Grand Hotel was about to open.

That project fizzled but was quickly revived by Wynn, who envisioned running part of the race on the Strip. When it became painfully clear that Wynn could not get any of his fellow hotel/casino owners to agree to close a portion of the Strip for several days, he dropped the plan.

A group headed by Southern California's Tommy Baker -- and with Ecclestone's explicit approval -- attempted in 1998 to secure a piece of property at the south end of the Strip for a combination F1 circuit and golf course. After a prolonged bidding process and ensuing vote by the Clark County Commission, Baker's group lost out to a local golf course developer and the Bali Hai Golf Club now sits on the site of the proposed F1 track.

While Las Vegas certainly is an attractive site for another American Formula One race, it is likely this latest bid to woo the world's most popular form of motor sport will suffer the same fate as those before it -- especially if Ecclestone has designs on racing on a portion of the Strip.

If Steve Wynn couldn't get it done, it's not likely to happen.

WASHINGTON TRACK: NASCAR's desire to extend its reach into the Pacific Northwest moved a step closer to reality as International Speedway Corp. officials announced Thursday that they intend to build an 80,000-seat speedway in Kitsap County near Seattle.

ISC vice president Grant Lynch said the company has secured an option to purchase approximately 950 acres of land about 20 miles west of Seattle -- across the Puget Sound -- for the motor sports facility.

Details of the speedway were not disclosed, but the Kitsap (Wash.) Sun reported Thursday that the track would be between 7/8 of a mile and 1.2 miles in length. Construction on the speedway is expected to begin in 2007 or 2008 and the facility would open for racing in 2010, the Sun reported.

Although the track has not been guaranteed a NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race, that is believed to be a formality because the France family controls both ISC and NASCAR. It has been speculated that ISC would move one of its less-successful races -- perhaps one of its two California Speedway dates -- to the Washington track once it opens.

MOVING UP: Spencer Clark, who leads the Super Late Models points standings at The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, will attempt to make his NASCAR Southwest Series debut in Saturday's race at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif.

Clark, 18, will pilot local businessman Craig Keough's Chevrolet in the 64-lap support race to Sunday's NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race.

"We have had a lot of success at The Bullring this year and have run a couple of West races and done real well there, too," said Clark, who has won five of the past 6 Super Late Models races at The Bullring.

"I love road-course racing and I love Infineon Raceway, plus there are some (Nextel) Cup guys in the field. I am really looking forward to getting out there and putting on a good show."

Las Vegas native Kyle Busch, Michael Waltrip, Travis Kvapil and Hermie Sadler are among the Nextel Cup regulars who have entered Saturday's Southwest Series race.

ON THE ROAD: Las Vegas resident Alex Haase posted a fifth-place finish Tuesday night in his second Legends Car race for Kyle Busch Motorsports during the Hardee's Summer Shootout Series at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C.

Haase, 15, is driving the entire 10-week Shootout Series for Busch, who also serves as Haase's crew chief. The races are held on a quarter-mile oval on the frontstretch at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

"I see a lot of talent in him and a lot of the attributes that a driver needs," Busch said of Haase. "I just want him to run consistent lap times and to finish up front if we can.

"We haven't had the best luck with the field draws and it is hard to do well when you are starting back in the pack. We are also still working to build the driver and crew chief relationship because I haven't worked with Alex from that standpoint."

OLD TIMEY: The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway will utilize a manual scoreboard beginning this Saturday evening while track officials await a replacement for the electronic board which has been rendered inoperable due to a lightning strike earlier this year.

"It looks like we're going to be getting a new (electronic) scoreboard, but I'll be damned if we have nothing (in the interim)," LVMS general manager Chris Powell said. "Manual scoreboards were used for many years in NASCAR's early days, and ... this will give race fans a true taste of grassroots racing."

Saturday night's weekly racing card features Late Models, Chargers, Legend Cars, Bullring Bombers and Bandoleros. Spectator gates open at 5 p.m., qualifying begins at 6 and racing is scheduled to start at 7:15.

SCORE LEADERS: Las Vegans Rob MacCachren and Bryan Freeman continue to lead both the Overall and Class 1-2/1600 after three of five points races in the 2005 SCORE Desert Series.

MacCachren, the 2001 SCORE Overall champion, and Freeman teamed to win the Baja 500 earlier this month for their second class victory of the season. MacCachren, who has11 SCORE class race wins since 2001, has 231 points and leads Class 1 points leaders Andy McMillin and Scott McMillin by 22 points.

The next event on the 2005 SCORE schedule is the inaugural SCORE Las Vegas Terrible's Cup I, to be held July 29-30 at the dirt track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.