WINTER OLYMPICS / NOTEBOOK

Rejected previously by the American Arbitration Assn. and a state court in Chicago, bobsled driver Bruce Rosselli has now filed suit in an Indianapolis federal court, charging there was a conspiracy against him in the Olympic trials and asking the court to order new trials.

Rosselli’s suit names driver Brian Shimer and the U.S. Skeleton and Bobsled Federation.

“The heart of his conspiracy case is his contention that the federation favored one team over another (during the trials) because of friendship,” Executive Director Matt Roy said from Lake Placid, N.Y.

“That’s so ridiculous the arbitrator didn’t even ask to hear our side of it (during the Jan. 29-30 hearing). He told Bruce he had heard enough and that he hadn’t proved there was conspiracy.”

Rosselli asked a state court to vacate the ruling on Feb. 4, but was denied.

His contention is that driver Jim Herberich, who qualified for the Olympic team along with Shimer and Randy Will, should not have been allowed to use the steel runners off the sled of injured driver Chuck Leonowitz because Leonowitz had entrusted the equipment to the federation. Rosselli charges that the federation turned it over to Shimer, who turned it over to Herberich.

Olympic bobsled competition begins Feb. 19, and Roy said it is too late to hold new trials and too late to change a roster submitted on Jan. 31.