No ‘Doughnuts,’ but Plenty of Dough for Zanardi

Alex Zanardi may not spin any of his trademark “doughnuts” in the Century Plaza lobby Saturday night, but he’ll probably feel like it when he collects checks adding up to $2,096,250 as the PPG CART World Series champion.

The exciting and excitable Italian driver will be guest of honor at the awards banquet,

where president and chief executive officer Andrew Craig will hand out the season’s prize money.

Zanardi, 30, won a season-high five races and sat on the pole four times in a Reynard-Honda owned by Chip Ganassi and Joe Montana. Although he missed the last race at California Speedway because of a concussion he suffered during practice, he finished the year 33 points ahead of Brazilian Gil de Ferran.

The doughnut-spinning started in a moment of exultation after Zanardi had won the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

“I didn’t think about it, I just did it,” Zanardi said. “CART didn’t think highly of it because I did it so close to the photographers and the people around the winner’s circle.”

He didn’t stop, however, he just became more careful.

“It was amazing the way the people fell in love with it,” he said. “They asked me to do it again, so after I had such an incredible win at Cleveland, I spun some more. It’s not difficult with 900 horsepower under you. All you do is just stop the car and press the throttle, release the clutch brutally and the wheels start to spin. Then you just turn the steering wheel as much as you need and the car starts to spin by itself. All you need is a lot of room. It’s really fun. I’m looking forward to doing some more next year.”

Zanardi’s personal sponsor, Barilla foods, celebrated his victory by donating 195 cases of pasta--about 20,000 meals--to Second Harvest, a hunger relief organization.

De Ferran, although winless in the 17-race season, will collect $1,355,250. Jimmy Vasser, Zanardi’s teammate and the 1996 champion, finished third in points and earnings with $1,133,500.

Mauricio Gugelmin, winner of the season finale at California Speedway, is the fourth $1-million man in CART, having won $1,045,250.

After Long Beach, Zanardi won at Cleveland, where he had to come through the field twice after penalties had dropped him back in the pack; in the U.S. 500 at Brooklyn, Mich., at Mid-Ohio and at Elkhart Lake, Wis.

Zanardi took a giant leap toward the PPG CART championship when he stunned his peers by winning the U.S. 500.

There was speculation that Zanardi might return to Italy and Formula One next season, but he has re-upped with Ganassi.

“I believe I have worked very hard in my career and that I have earned the championship,” he said. “Obviously, I’m a much happier man, but it won’t change my life. Right now, I feel like I’m on top of the world.”

WORLD OF OUTLAWS

The World of Outlaws and their winged sprint cars return to Perris Auto Speedway this weekend and if past performances are any criteria, Mark Kinser should be the driver to beat.

There have been four Outlaws events at Perris since the track opened last year and Kinser, the defending series champion, won all four. He swept the card in two races last November and then won two more in February, although one was the result of the disqualification of Dave Blaney for a muffler malfunction. Kinser also holds the track record of 14.144 seconds for the half-mile dirt oval.

Kinser has won 22 of the Outlaws’ 68 main events, more than any other driver, but is back in 10th place in the standings because he skipped several races to try his luck in NASCAR’s Craftsman Truck series.

Sammy Swindell, with 19 victories, is leading in quest of his third Outlaws title--15 years after he last won, in 1982. He also won in 1981.

Blaney, with 10 victories, is second, followed by 14-time champion Steve Kinser--Mark’s cousin--who also missed several races when he ran and finished 14th in the Indianapolis 500.

Complete programs will be held Saturday night, starting at 7 p.m., and Sunday, starting at 5.

DRAG RACING

Drag racing speeds are escalating out of sight in the National Hot Rod Assn. this year, so rules makers are planning on changes for next year to slow the top-fuel and funny cars.

Cory McClenathan raised the top-fuel record to 321.77 mph and John Force kept pace in funny cars with a record 314.46 mph. Both were set last weekend in the Revell Nationals at the Texas Motorplex in Ennis, Texas, and unless they are bettered this weekend in Houston or in the season-ending Winston Finals next month at Pomona, they may last a long time.

“Ideally, if we can produce a combination that will take a small amount of power out of the engine, it will not only reduce speeds but could result in closer races and less tire smoking, as well as cost savings to the race teams in term of parts usage,” said Graham Light, senior vice president of racing operations for the NHRA.

“We still recognize the spectator appeal in the 300-mph speeds and plan on maintaining similar speeds in the future.”

The changes are expected to be made in the areas of air-flow restrictions into the engine and engine-compression limits. Testing started this week at the same Texas track where the records were set. Larry Dixon, driver of Don Prudhomme’s top-fuel dragster, conducted the first tests.

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Five women, the most entered in one class in an NHRA event, tried to qualify in top fuel at the Revell Nationals last week, but only Cristin Powell made the 16-driver field. Three-time world champion Shirley Muldowney, in a one-race comeback, ran the fastest elapsed time of her career, 4.882 seconds, but came up .009 short of qualifying. Also failing to qualify were Shelly Anderson, Rhonda Hartman and Vicky Fanning. Powell lost in the second round.

FORMULA ONE

Another contentious season will end Sunday in the European Grand Prix at Jerez, Spain, with the championship on the line between two-time champion Michael Schumacher of Germany and former Indianapolis 500 winner Jacques Villeneuve of Canada.

Thanks to a one-race ban against Villeneuve that wiped out the two points he earned in the Japanese GP two weeks ago, Schumacher has a one-point lead, 79-78.

Formula One’s governing body warned drivers Thursday that they will be penalized if they deliberately crash into Villeneuve or Schumacher after speculation arose that Ferrari might try to knock Villeneuve out of the race to ensure that Schumacher wins the title.

Despite the warning, Schumacher’s Ferrari teammate, Eddie Irvine, already has said he will do everything possible to block Villeneuve.

“I won’t be aiming to take Villeneuve out, but I will certainly put my car in his way whenever possible,” Irvine said.

If Schumacher wins, it will be the first championship for Ferrari since South Africa’s Jody Scheckter won in 1979.

SPORTS CARS

Canadian Greg Moore, who won an Indy Lights race at Laguna Seca in 1995, will return to the Monterey peninsula course this weekend as part of a Mercedes-Benz team running in the VISA SportsCar championship for FIA FT cars. Moore, now a CART regular, will team with Formula One driver Alexander Wurz.

Porsche, which has not raced sports cars in the United States since the 1980s, will field two factory teams with drivers Hans Stuck, Thierry Boutsen, Bob Wollek and Yannick Dalmas. The three-hour international GT race will headline Sunday’s program. The season finale of SportsCar Racing’s Exxon Supreme GT series will be held Saturday.

LAST LAPS

After being rained out two weeks ago, the Port City Racing 200 will try again Saturday at Bakersfield’s Mesa Marin Raceway. Bryan Germone will try to maintain his lead in NASCAR’s Featherlite Southwest Tour over challengers Chris and Craig Raudman and Steve Portenga, winner of last Saturday night’s race at Orange Show Speedway in San Bernardino. Germone finished second at Orange Show to extend his lead to 62 points with two races remaining. The race will start at 3 p.m.

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Craig Breedlove, who plans to continue his quest of the world land-speed record, despite Andy Green’s record 763.035-mph run last week, expects to resume his effort next week at Black Rock desert. The Spirit of America will be fitted with new wheels before its next outing. Breedlove reached a high of 636 mph the day before Green broke the sound barrier.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

The Winners Are . . .

FINAL CART POINT AND MONEY LEADERS

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1. Alex Zanardi 195 $2,096,250 2. Gil de Ferran 162 $1,355,250 3. Jimmy Vasser 144 $1,133,500 4. Mauricio Gugelmin 132 $1,045,250 5. Paul Tracy 121 $977,250 6. Mark Blundell 115 $949,750 7. Greg Moore 111 $881,000 8. Michael Andretti 108 $842,000 9. Scott Pruett 102 $864,250 10. Raul Boesel 91 $462,750

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FINAL IRL POINT AND MONEY LEADERS

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1. Tony Stewart 278 $1,090,450 2. Davey Hamilton 272 $785,950 3. Eddie Cheever 230 $725,400 3. Marco Greco 230 $554,850 5. Scott Goodyear 226 $953,350 6. Arie Luyendyk 223 $2,079,150 7. Roberto Guerrero 221 $601,000 8. Buddy Lazier 209 $736,550 9. Eliseo Salazar 209 $586,650 10. Buzz Calkins 204 $599,750

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