MOTOR RACING ROUNDUP : Mansell’s Indy Car Victory an Inside Job

Nigel Mansell celebrated his 40th birthday Sunday by winning the New England 200 after a stirring a three-car duel with Paul Tracy and Emerson Fittipaldi.

Mansell passed Tracy in traffic on Lap 197 and prevailed by .45 seconds, with Fittipaldi, Tracy’s teammate, 8.8 seconds behind.

“If you’ve got to turn 40, this is the way to do it,” Mansell said. “This was pure racing at its best.

“I’ve been in some races in the past, wheel-to-wheel at 200 m.p.h. with Ayrton Senna (in Formula One), and I’ll tell you it doesn’t even come close to what we’ve done today. You see, what you have is traffic and racing through traffic, and you have to have discipline out there.”

Mansell’s Lola-Ford started from the pole and led the first 40 laps before Tracy, taking advantage of a different racing line, put his Penske-Chevrolet in front.

Through three days of practice, drivers had avoided the slick inside of the 1.058-mile New Hampshire International Speedway at Loudon. But on Sunday, Tracy, 24, gambled early and found his car worked well in the lower groove.

Fittipaldi, seeing the success of his Penske teammate, also began running on the inside.

Mansell regained the lead after the top three made pit stops, but Tracy moved up with a sensational outside-inside move past Fittipaldi and Mansell on Lap 86.

Tracy took his last lead by passing Mansell on Lap 174, and they took turns going at each other the rest of the way.

In the last 10 laps, Mansell also began racing down in the lowest groove and caught Tracy at the end of the backstretch.

Mansell completed 200 laps at an average speed of 130.148 m.p.h., some 3 m.p.h. slower than the 133.621 by Bobby Rahal in last year’s inaugural race.

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Six laps from the end of the Budweiser at the Glen at Watkins Glen, N.Y., Mark Martin took advantage of a crash involving front-running Kyle Petty and Dale Earnhardt to win.

Martin, in a Ford Thunderbird, started from the pole in the 90-lap, 220.5-mile NASCAR Winston Cup race on the road course after qualifying with a track record 119.118 m.p.h. But two long pit stops put him far behind.

First, Martin had to come back from 25th place after his crew had trouble with a damaged lug nut on Lap 53 during a caution-flag stop. He again lost ground during a stop under yellow on Lap 77, falling from third to 16th.

Martin charged toward the front, moving to third on Lap 84.

On the next trip around the 2.45-mile, 11-turn course, Petty’s Pontiac Grand Prix brushed against a curb in the third turn and began to slide. Earnhardt tried to move past on the outside but slammed his Chevrolet Lumina into Petty.

Martin earned $166,110, which included a $98,800 bonus for winning from the top qualifying spot. He won by 3.84 seconds, averaging 84.77 m.p.h. in a race slowed for 21 laps by caution.

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John Force claimed a record eighth win of the season at the sixth annual Jolly Rancher Candies Nationals at Kent, Wash.

The $1,022,200 event was the 12th stop in the 18-race NHRA Winston Drag Racing Series.

Force, of Yorba Linda, covered the quarter-mile distance in 5.171 seconds at 287.72 m.p.h. in the Castrol GTX Olds Cutlass to Cruz Pedregon’s 5.317 at 222.38.

Tommy Johnson, Jr., of Ottumwa, Iowa, took the top-fuel title over Cory McClenathan. Johnson, 25, had a 4.988 at 278.37 in the Mopar Xpress Lube Special.

Kurt Johnson, 30, took the pro-stock title over Mark Pawuk, the event’s defending champion. Johnson had a 7.159 at 193.05 in the Gary Chimeri Racing Olds Cutlass to edge Pawuk at 7.187 and 191.61.