MOTOR RACING NOTES : Mansell Is Working Way Up From 1 to 10 as Indy Car Driver

Nigel Mansell’s introduction to Indy car racing has gone about as smoothly as it could.

Not only has the reigning Formula One champion shown he can handle oval racing in his first brief at an oval track last month in Phoenix, but now he has set an unofficial record on the road course at Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, where the Indy car series closes its season.

Mansell, driving one of Carl Haas’ new Ford Cosworth XB-powered Lolas, toured the track in 1:11.00. Records can be set only in qualifying or during a race, but that time is faster than the Laguna Seca record of 1:11.185 set last October by Michael Andretti.

Asked how close to being comfortable he is in the heavier, less sophisticated Indy-cars, Mansell said, “When it comes to the team, the crew, the mechanics and the sponsors, then I think I’m at a 10. On a scale of driving the car, I’m at a 1.”

His biggest adjustment has been going back to a manual transmission after a couple of years of using Formula One’s semi-automatic, push-button gear selector.

“It’s difficult to remember to move my hand all the time,” he said. “As you can see, we’re getting close because I’m taking all the knuckles off. I reckon after we finish our testing at Laguna Seca, Phoenix and at Indianapolis, before we go to Australia (for the season-opener on March 21), I think I’ll be about an 8 or a 9.”

The first NASCAR Winston Cup race at New Hampshire International Raceway is scheduled for July 11. But it’s been a success practically from the day that it was announced last fall.

Bob Bahre, who had the vision, the drive and the werewithall to build the first new superspeedway in the United States since 1969, says he sold out the track’s 57,200 permanent seats so fast that he didn’t even save any house seats for VIPs.

The demand has been so incredible, according to Bahre, that he already has arranged for 3,770 temporary seats--all sold immediately upon being offered--and is desperately looking for room to put in more temporary seats around the one-mile oval in Concord, N.H.

The biggest crowd at the track so far was the 50,000 that showed up last July for the inaugural Indy car race on a cool, rainy afternoon.

Speaking of new tracks, Miami entrepreneur Ralph Sanchez, who has promoted IMSA sports car and Indy car races for more than a decade, is optimistic that he will be able to build a proposed circuit in suburban Hampstead, the town that was so brutalized last year by Hurricane Andrew.

The jobs that the new facility will provide--both in the building of it and the operation after it is open--as well as the commercial dollars it would bring to the devastated area, have helped make officials of Dade County, the state of Florida and the federal government mostly agreeable to the plan.

Financing is nearly completed and Sanchez says he hopes groundbreaking can take place between June 1-15, with the track operational in the fall of 1994.

Sanchez, who will promote IMSA’s Miami Grand Prix on Feb. 21, is hopeful of running two races on his downtown street circuit next spring, including an Indy car event.

“For a promoter, doing one race a year just does not make economic sense,” Sanchez said.

Felix Sabates raised more than a few eyebrows recently when he went public with his Winston Cup team’s budget for 1992.

During a seminar last month on the costs of racing during the Charlotte Motor Speedway’s annual winter press tour, Sabates said he spent $5.7 million.

Asked to break that down, the Cuban-born Charlotte, N.C., businessman said it included, among other things, a $1.5 million payroll, $304,000 for travel, $161,000 for tires and $19,000 for NASCAR licenses.

By way of comparison, reigning Winston Cup champion Alan Kulwicki, who runs his whole operation and doesn’t have to pay his driver the way Sabates pays Kyle Petty, says his budget for last season “was less than half” Sabates’.

Asked if he thought, as some people charged, that Sabates was simply paying out too much because of bad management, Kulwicki said, “Not at all. Felix is an absentee owner. A lot of times, he’s just not there to decide whether to spend money on this part or that piece or if something is really needed. He has to rely on his people to make those decisions and not be calling him every half an hour.

“My situation is much different. I’m right there most of the time to make those decisions and to try to keep the costs down. Plus, I have to keep the costs down because I don’t have the type of money that Felix has.”

Sabates is one of the biggest electronics distributors in America.

The beat goes on in IMSA for Jack Roush, whose GTS cars have now won their division an unprecedented nine straight times in the grueling Daytona 24 Hours sports car endurance race.

Roush Ford Mustangs with an all-star driver lineup finished second, third and eighth overall in the twice-around-the-clock event last weekend.

Mark Martin, who drove in the winning car and also is Roush’s No. 1 driver in the Winston Cup series, said, “I drive for one hell of a man. It’s really gratifying to have the opportunity to race with the team that’s won this race nine years in a row.

“Going into the race, we thought we had a shot at winning overall, and we’re only eight laps behind the overall winner (a Toyota Eagle prototype),” Martin added. “This isn’t a NASCAR race, and I have no vested interest like the guys that race these cars year-round, but I’m proud to be associated with this effort.

“I can’t believe how good this new Mustang drives and handles, but the superstars are the guys back in the (pits) who build and prepare this car so it’s capable of standing up to this kind of torture for 24 hours.”

Roush, known for his reliable and powerful engines and his attention to detail, was thinking about the 1994 race within minutes of the end of the 1993 event.

“It’s fantastic. I can’t believe it’s over. I can’t believe we made it through this again,” he said. “This just heightens the excitement for next year. Just think of it--going for No. 10 in a row. That’s going to keep us up for many nights getting ready.”