Indy Owners Threaten to Run Opposite 500

Indy car owners are planning to run a race opposite the Indianapolis 500 if the Indianapolis Motor Speedway does not hold open qualifications for all 33 spots, the Indianapolis Star reported.

The newspaper said there are plans to run at Brooklyn, Mich., on May 26 and that Michigan International Speedway is considering honoring all Indianapolis tickets.

“This isn’t some idle threat,” said a car owner, who asked not to be identified. “We will run at Michigan if Tony [George] doesn’t get off his high horse.”

Indy car teams are protesting IMS President George’s revamped qualification requirements. George announced in July that 25 of the 33 spots will be reserved for the leaders in the new Indy Racing League.

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Sidelined for 13 months because of head injuries suffered in an accident at Michigan International Speedway, Ernie Irvan will return to racing Saturday, hopeful he can again succeed in the sport that nearly cost him his life.

“My whole life’s been pushing my luck. I’m just faithful that God’s looking over me,” he said after revealing that he will make his debut in a 150-lap NASCAR SuperTruck race at Martinsville, Va. Doctors gave him only a 10% chance of surviving, much less racing, after his crash into a concrete wall on Aug. 20, 1994.

He still has a droopy left eyelid and the double vision that the eye creates. Doctors have told him they expect both problems to eventually subside. In the interim, he plans to wear a patch over the eye while he’s driving.

Irvan was injured when his Ford Thunderbird slammed into the retaining wall during a practice run at an estimated 165 m.p.h. It left him with numerous serious injuries, including massive head and chest trauma.

Basketball

Baylor’s basketball team was cleared for postseason play after the NCAA determined the school had taken sufficient steps to discipline itself. The university had helped uncover schemes by former coaches to provide players with phony academic credit.

Because of the school’s aggressiveness in addressing infractions, the NCAA granted a request from Baylor that the original two-year probation on postseason play be cut to one year. The ban was served last season.

Rob Standifer, Mesa Community College coach, resigned over his role in the recruitment of Richie Parker, a New York prep star who pleaded guilty to sexual assault.

Jurisprudence

Former Florida State and Denver Bronco tight end Orson Mobley was in jail in Jacksonville, Fla., on $125,000 bond, charged with sexually assaulting two women. Mobley was arrested after two women reported being sexually assaulted by the 6-foot-5, 260-pound ex-player about six hours apart in separate incidents. Mobley denied the charges, saying he paid the women for sex.

Miscellany

In the second doping case at the All Africa Games in Zimbabwe, a Nigerian tested positive for a banned drug, causing the team to forfeit its gold medal in the men’s 400-meter relay. Officials refused to identify the runner, saying a formal announcement would be made today.

Names in the News

Larry Holmes scored a unanimous decision over Alabama policeman Eddie Donaldson at Bay St. Louis, Miss., in the latest return to the ring by the 45-year-old former heavyweight champion.

Holmes, who fought at 246 pounds, the heaviest in his pro career, improved to 62-5 with 40 knockouts.

Donaldson, 36, of Mobile, Ala., is in only his third year as a pro fighter. His record dropped to 11-5.

Detroit Red Wing forward Ray Sheppard lost his arbitration case and said he wanted to leave the organization. Arbitrator George Nicolau awarded Sheppard a one-year contract for $1.55 million, which was $400,000 short of Sheppard’s submission and $200,000 more than the Red Wings had offered.

The Los Angeles Blade roller hockey team will not renew the contract of Coach Bobby Hull Jr., owner-president Jeanie Buss said. Hull led the Blades to a 9-10-5 season last year after a first year of 18-4. No replacement was named.

Golfer Dave Stockton won $130,000 in the Merrill Lynch Senior Shoot-Out Championship by beating Larry Laoretti in a closest-to-the-pin playoff at Hot Springs, Va. He hit an eight-iron shot six feet from the cup on a 133-yard playoff hole. Laoretti’s shot was 12 feet away.

Frank James Mahony, who sang the national anthem for more than 20 years at the Forum before Laker and King games, died of a heart attack Monday in Karlsruhe, Germany. Mahony, 63, was working there as a physical therapist.

European hurdles champion Oleg Tverdokhleb of Ukraine was electrocuted while fixing wiring in his parents’ house in Dnipropetrovsk. Tverdokhleb, 25, won the European 400-meter hurdles in Helsinki last year after finishing seventh in the 1992 Summer Olympics.