No Time to Tire

By SHAV GLICK

Sept. 24, 1997 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

When Jimmy Vasser called Alex Zanardi, his friend and teammate, last week in Italy, he had words of advice for the driver who succeeded him as the PPG CART World Series champion: “You better get your running shoes on.”

Vasser didn’t mean racetrack running shoes. He meant the ones Zanardi will need to keep up with all the outside activities associated with winning the championship.

“It’s been a great year, but it’s better now that we’re back in the winner’s circle,” Vasser said from his home in Las Vegas. “The ESPY awards, modeling Target clothes for GQ magazine in Miami, flying with the Blue Angels, driving in the IROC, motorcycling down Highway 1 for charity, and going to Japan, all that stuff was fun. But it’s more fun when you’re winning.”

Vasser, the 1996 champion, was without a victory this season until the Toyota Grand Prix of Monterey two weeks ago at Laguna Seca, although he had come close the week before when he finished second to Mauricio Gugelmin at Vancouver after leading 46 of the 100 laps. When Zanardi finished third behind Vasser, it clinched the 1997 championship for the excitable Italian.

Remaining is the Marlboro 500 on Sunday at California Speedway in Fontana.

“We hope to keep our momentum going at Fontana and take it into next year,” Vasser said.

He tested the team’s Honda-powered Reynard at California Speedway last week and was clocked at 234 mph, second-fastest to Gugelmin’s 234.6.

“Practice speeds don’t mean a thing,” Vasser said. “You never know what a team’s up to. It does show that we’re ready, though.”

He was more pleased with his part in co-hosting, with Parnelli Jones, a motorcycle ride from Monterey to Hollywood after the Laguna Seca race. It was a money-raising event for CARA, an auxiliary organization made up of wives, mothers and friends of drivers.

“We rode down Highway 1 to Morro Bay and then over to Solvang, where we spent the night after a great dinner at the Firestone winery,” Vasser said. “The next day we rode on into Hollywood and stopped at the House of Blues for dinner and another auction.

“I donated the helmet I wore when I won at Laguna Seca. Frank Arciero paid $3,500 for it to put in his helmet collection. It was a great bunch of guys, Parnelli, Danny Sullivan, PJ Jones, Dan Gurney, Bobby Rahal and some other drivers, and it raised a good bit of money for CARA,”

Vasser was also CART’s representative when Japanese racing officials opened the new Twin Ring Motegi motor sports complex north of Tokyo, and was the first driver to test the 1.5-mile oval in a CART car.

“They made me feel like I was the crown prince,” he said. “I took part in the ribbon cutting and then I got to lap the track. It’s going to be a great racetrack. It’s wide enough so we can hit 200 mph racing wheel to wheel through the corners.”

The race is scheduled for next March 28, either one or two weeks before the Long Beach Grand Prix. The CART schedule has not been released.

“Getting in IROC was pretty cool too. I got to dice with [Dale] Earnhardt and [Terry] Labonte,” Vasser said. “The ESPY Awards night was great. It was at the Radio City Music Hall in New York and the place was full of athletes like Muhammad Ali and Evander Holyfield.”

Vasser was honored as motor racing’s performer of the year.

Most exhilarating was his and Zanardi’s ride with the Navy’s Blue Angels in F-18 Hornets.

“It’s way more physical than the race car,” Vasser said of the 45-minute flight. “I felt like I was about to lose my breath and my voice because of having to grunt and what they call ‘hooking,’ tightening up your leg and stomach muscles to keep from passing out. I got tunnel vision a couple of times. Everything gets gray, but then it comes back in.

“We climbed to 30,000 feet in one minute. I got to take the stick and did a couple of barrel rolls. The first time I tried, the nose started to dig in and the pilot had to take it back. But the second and third times, I did the rolls OK. One thing I learned was a lot of respect for the Navy flyers. Those guys are really in shape.”

There were other things too, such as catching passes thrown by Joe Montana, one of the co-owners of Vasser’s team; hosting a golf tournament at Carmel Valley Ranch before the Laguna Seca race, and signing up the Groovebender band for the record company he owns, V12 Records. Vasser’s brother, Pat, plays with Groovebender.

For most of the racing season, however, results didn’t match Vasser’s expectations. He was third in the season opener at Homestead, Fla., and third on the Milwaukee mile, but with Zanardi winning five of the first 14 races in a similar car, it was disappointing.

“Sure, I was happy for the team, for [owner and team manager] Chip [Ganassi] and for Alex, but I needed to be more competitive myself,” he said.

To regain his 1996 winning form, Vasser decided to use year-old settings for his car at Vancouver and Laguna Seca, rather than go with what Zanardi had learned in tire tests.

“For the most part, Alex did the road course testing and I did the ovals, and I couldn’t figure out why he’d be on the pole and I was back around 12th or 13th,” Vasser said. “I decided that our racing styles just weren’t the same on the road circuits, so I went back to where we were a year ago. Apparently, it was the right decision.”

Ganassi has now won consecutive championships, the first time it has been done since Truesports in 1986 and 1987 with Rahal driving, and the first time with different drivers since Penske Racing in 1982 with Rick Mears and 1983 with Al Unser.

“The nicest thing about Alex and I winning back to back is that he is the best teammate I’ve ever had. He’s not only a teammate, he’s a great friend. That’s something I really appreciate.”

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By Comparison

A look at how Jimmy Vasser fared in 1997 versus his championship season of 1996:

Starts

1996: 16

1997: 16

Victories

1996: 4

1997: 1

Top 10 Finishes

1996: 14

1997: 12