Amateurs, Don’t Try This at Home

Gil de Ferran won his first Indy car race Sunday at Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey but the effort of his crew the previous week at Vancouver may have been a greater accomplishment.

A first-lap accident demolished the Brazilian rookie’s Reynard-Mercedes, but when race officials stopped the race to clean up the debris, owner Jim Hall had his Pennzoil crew make over a backup car for de Ferran to restart.

In only 28 minutes, they changed the shock absorbers, gearing, all four suspensions, four tires, the rear wing, brake pads on all four wheels, the steering wheel and the seat, as well as putting in 30 gallons of fuel.

“The only thing they forgot was the drink bottle,” de Ferran said after driving the backup car to a remarkable second-place finish.

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Trivia time: Who was the first black player to win a U.S. Golf Assn. national championship?

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A done deal: Syracuse football Coach Paul Pasqualoni, talking about the importance of recruiting to college football: “Football coaches have a way to get it done [because] if you don’t get it done, you don’t have to worry about getting it done because you’re done.”

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Win and they’ll come: The Cleveland Indians have sold out 42 consecutive home games at Jacobs Field.

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One pitch Del: Laker Coach Del Harris agreed to warm up before tossing out the first ball at a minor league baseball game.

“It won’t take long,” he said. “There’s a fine line between warming up and wearing down.”

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Numbers game: Former stock car driver Richard Petty, a staunch Republican and a longtime North Carolina politician, has said he might run for President next year. Asked why now, he replied:

“They tell me Clinton’s the 42nd president. Who’s better for No. 43?”

He’s got a point. All of his NASCAR victories came in car No. 43.

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Dog days: Eugene Robinson of the Seattle Seahawks on being fined $1,000, along with teammates Cortez Kennedy and Rick Mirer, for eating a hot dog during an exhibition game:

“That was a pretty expensive hot dog. I wish I would have taken a bigger bite out of it now. I only had half a hot dog.”

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Not so lucky numbers: The Maryland Lottery sold out its quota of 2,130 and 2,131 numbers on Cal Ripken’s memorable days last week, but neither paid off.

They were close, though. The winning number Wednesday was 2016.

The odds of picking the numbers on the daily Pick Four drawing are one in 10,000.

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Slow snap: New Hampshire thought it had defeated Connecticut on Jon Curry’s 36-yard field goal on the game’s final play on Saturday, but officials ruled the snap had not occurred before time expired. The Huskies prevailed, 23-21.

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Oh, those Raiders: Malcolm Moran of the New York Times noted: “Professional football is the only enterprise that can link the skull and crossbones with a commitment to excellence.”

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Trivia answer: Bill Wright, now a teaching professional in El Segundo, won the U.S. Amateur Public Links title in 1959.

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Quotebook: Ray Lankford of the St. Louis Cardinals, after hitting a 441-foot home run: “That’s all I have. I don’t think I can hit one any farther.”