Irvan Gets Back Behind Wheel, Sets Record

Ernie Irvan, who was unconscious for two days after a near-fatal practice accident on Aug. 20 at Michigan Speedway, got back into a race car for the first time since the crash and set an unofficial course record at the Darlington Raceway on Tuesday in his Busch Grand National car.

“I was just trying to find out if I can run again. I don’t think I forgot anything,” said Irvan, who still wears a patch on his damaged left eye.

His vision gradually is improving, and Irvan and Winston Cup team owner Robert Yates thought it was time to test it.

Irvan, who signed on to Yates’ Texaco-Havoline Ford team in 1993, was shaky at first, sliding loosely through the turns.

He ran a four-lap set that produced a turn of 162.510 m.p.h. in his Thunderbird on the 1.366-mile track. That bettered the mark of 161.342 set in September by Randy LaJoie.

“There was no doubt in my mind I’d be back,” he said. “But we were here to see if I could do something with one eye. My skills haven’t changed, they have just gone seven months without being polished.”

Irvan slammed into the wall at Michigan, severely bruising his brain. His face was heavily scarred and fractured.

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The NASCAR SuperTruck Series and Winston West Series races scheduled for Sunday at Sears Point Raceway in Sonoma were postponed due to flooding.

Pro Football

The Green Bay Packers are offering free agent receiver Andre Rison a contract worth $16 million over five years, the Green Bay Press-Gazette reported.

San Francisco 49er President Carmen Policy, whose team lost only three games en route to the Super Bowl championship last season, has been named NFL executive of the year by The Sporting News.

Cornerback Mickey Washington, formerly with the Buffalo Bills, signed as an unrestricted free agent with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Ed Sabol, who founded NFL Films, announced his retirement at 79.

The Canadian Football League team in Birmingham, Ala., will be called the Barracudas.

Jurisprudence

Cincinnati Red outfielder Deion Sanders will stand trial May 15 on misdemeanor charges from his confrontation with a police officer at Riverfront Stadium, a judge ruled.

Sanders is accused of ignoring the officer’s order not to drive his motor scooter through a pedestrian gate at the stadium Aug. 8. Sanders allegedly dragged Officer Herb Kohus with him when he drove off.

Sanders faces a six-month jail term and a $1,000 fine if convicted.

Welterweight champion Pernell Whitaker was cleared of an assault charge stemming from an alleged fight with a salesman outside a bar last year in Norfolk, Va.

Former World Boxing Organization featherweight champion Ruben Palacio was sentenced to nearly four years in federal prison after pleading guilty Jan. 5 to charges of importing heroin.

Antun Josipovic, who won a boxing gold medal for Yugoslavia at the 1984 Olympic Games, was found guilty of blackmail and intimidation, and sentenced to two years in prison in Zagreb, Croatia.

College Basketball

Wisconsin Coach Stan Van Gundy was fired after the Badgers finished with a 13-14 record in his first season.

Rebecca Lobo of Connecticut was named women’s player of the year and UConn’s Geno Auriemma was named coach of the year by the U.S. Basketball Writers Assn.

A freshman on Arkansas Tech’s basketball team was killed in a car accident hours before his team opened play in the NAIA tournament.

Leo Miller Jr., 18, died in the accident on Interstate 40 near Ozark, Ark., state police said. Officers said Miller was a passenger in a car driven by Codey Joe Mann, 18, who was in guarded condition at the St. Edwards Mercy Medical Center in Fort Smith.

Winter Sports

Russian Larissa Lazhutina made skiing history by becoming the first woman to win three individual gold medals at the Nordic world championships in Thunder Bay, Canada.

Lazhutina led a Russian medals sweep of the women’s 10-kilometer freestyle race, completion of the two-day “pursuit” event.