Champ Cars, Chump Drivers in a Demolition Derby

When CART’s champ cars reach the California Speedway in Fontana on Nov. 1 for the season-ending Marlboro 500, will there be any drivers left who aren’t on probation?

At the rate the self-styled “best race drivers in the world” are banging into one another, as if they were driving Bump ‘Em cars at the county fair, it’s a wonder that the crews can repair cars fast enough to find 28 to run in this weekend’s Texaco/Havoline 200 at Elkhart Lake, Wis.

After last week’s embarrassing debacle at Mid-Ohio, where three drivers, among them defending series champion Alex Zanardi, were put on probation, fined or both--and several others probably should have been--it will be interesting to see if any heed is paid to Chief Steward Wally Dallenbach’s statement that “The Fed-Ex Championship Series is not made for figure-eight racing.”

It appeared that way last week, and in several earlier races.

Zanardi twice tried to overtake drivers by knocking them out of the way, first JJ Lehto and later Helio Castro-Neves. Zanardi was fined $50,000, the most allowed under CART rules, and put on indefinite probation.

“After reviewing the tapes and interviewing all the drivers involved, both accidents should have been avoided,” Dallenbach said. “In both cases, Alex was the overtaking driver.”

Zanardi was also stripped of the point he would have received for his 12th-place finish. Even so, he remains a formidable 68 points ahead of teammate Jimmy Vasser in his quest for a second consecutive PPG Cup championship and its $1-million bonus.

Brian Herta was put on probation after taking out pole-sitter Dario Franchitti while trying to squeeze past him in the first turn of the first lap.

Paul Tracy, though not involved in any of the skirmishes at Mid-Ohio, remains on probation for reckless driving at Detroit and Portland, Ore.

Greg Moore, who had been on probation for a first-turn accident at Portland before being reinstated when he won at Michigan, was fined $5,000 for a pit incident in which his car knocked a tire out of the hands of a member of Andre Ribeiro’s crew. Moore was not returned to probation however.

Michael Andretti, who appeared to be trying to blast between PJ Jones and Mark Blundell when the hole was too small even for a go-kart, escaped censure after a review of the film showed that as he was trying to make it through, Jones moved into his path because of the accident involving Zanardi and Lehto. When those two cars bumped, the wing from Lehto’s car landed in Jones’ lap, causing him to lose control briefly, bringing him and Andretti into contact.

“I just went for a wild ride,” said Andretti, whose car flipped several times before landing in a sand trap. “I was caught totally off guard. When something like that happens, you just close your eyes and pray you don’t hit anything.”

From the looks of things, many of the drivers had their eyes closed.

BACK TO MICHIGAN

Three weeks after an accident in which three spectators were killed by a wheel that flew over a protective fence during a CART race, racing will return to Michigan Speedway this weekend.

Spectators will find a four-foot higher fence and a stronger cable support system in place for Saturday’s Busch Grand National and Sunday’s Pepsi 400 Winston Cup race, which is expected to attract a sellout of more than 140,000.

Mark Martin, winner of the last two Winston Cup races at Michigan, will be favored in his Jack Roush-prepared Ford Taurus. Martin’s father, Julian, 62, was killed in an airplane crash last Saturday near Ely, Nev. Also killed when the twin-engine Piper went down in the foothills near 13,000-foot Wheeler Peak were Martin’s stepmother, Shelley, 38, and his half-sister, Sarah, 11.

The Martin party was en route home to Searcy, Ark., from a vacation in California when the plane went down. At the time, Mark Martin, 39, was at Watkins Glen, N.Y., where he finished second Sunday in a Winston Cup race. He attended the funerals Wednesday in Arkansas.

INDY RACING LEAGUE

“The Return of the Missing” might be a good title for Sunday’s Radisson 200 at Pikes Peak International Raceway in Colorado, a one-mile tri-oval. Back in action will be:

* Billy Boat, after missing two races because of a broken leg and pelvis in an accident at New Hampshire, in A.J. Foyt’s Conseco Dallara-Aurora.

* Roberto Guerrero, after skipping three races when he was let go by Pagan Racing, driving for a new team, Price Cobb’s CBR-Cobb Racing. The team has switched to Infiniti power for the race.

* Rookies Robby Unser and Steve Knapp, who missed last week’s race with injuries suffered at Dover, Del.

* And two-time Indy 500 winner Arie Luyendyk, who has not missed a race but has been recuperating in his native Holland from a violent collision with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway wall during an International Race of Champions two weeks ago.

FORMULA ONE

As the Grand Prix drivers head for Budapest and the Hungaroring, the slowest course on the circuit, two questions persist: Will defending champion Jacques Villeneuve win a race before leaving Frank Williams for the British American Racing team next season, and will Michael Schumacher bring Ferrari its first world championship since Jody Scheckter won in 1979?

Villeneuve, the Hungaroring winner last year, is winless this year. Schumacher trails series leader Finland’s Mika Hakkinen by 16 points.

*

The announcement that the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s 42-year-old control tower, a 150-foot landmark adjacent to the main straightway, is being dismantled leads more credence to the belief that Tony George will have the next Formula One race in the United States, perhaps as early as 2000. The new tower will be 400 feet high and will be built east of the current tower, allowing more space for the proposed Formula One course that will run clockwise, the opposite direction of Indy cars on the oval track.

LAST LAPS

Willy T. Ribbs, who has not raced since late 1994, will return to competition to drive a Ford Taurus in the NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Tour race Sept. 7 as the main attraction of the three-day Los Angeles Street Race celebration.

As if speedway bikes and sidecars sliding around a tiny oval weren’t exciting enough, Saturday night’s program at Costa Mesa Speedway will also have a motorcycle demolition derby. To ensure that bikes will be demolished, each contestant will be armed with a baseball bat.

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This Week’s Races

NASCAR, WINSTON CUP

Pepsi 400 Presented by DeVilbiss

* Schedule: Today, first-round qualifying, 12:30 p.m. (ESPN2); Saturday, second-round qualifying, 7:45 a.m. (ESPN2, 3 p.m.); Sunday, race, 9:30 p.m. (ESPN).

* Track: Michigan Speedway (oval, 2.0 miles, 18 degrees banking in corners), Brooklyn, Mich.

* Race distance: 400 miles, 200 laps.

* Defending champion: Mark Martin.

* Next race: Goody’s 500, Aug. 22, Bristol, Tenn.

BUSCH GRAND NATIONAL

Pepsi 200

* Schedule: Today, second-round qualifying, 7 a.m.; Saturday, race, 9 a.m. (ESPN).

* Track: Michigan Speedway (oval, 2.0 miles, 18 degrees banking in corners), Brooklyn, Mich.

* Race distance: 200 miles, 100 laps.

* Defending champion: Steve Park.

* Next race: Food City 250, Aug. 21, Bristol, Tenn.

CRAFTSMAN TRUCKS

Federated Auto Parts 250

* Schedule: Today, qualifying, 4 p.m.; Saturday, race, 2 p.m. (TNN).

* Track: Nashville Speedway USA (oval, 0.596 miles, 18 degrees banking in turns, three degrees in front straight, four degrees in back straight).

* Race distance: 152.576 miles, 256 laps.

* Defending champion: Jack Sprague.

* Next race: Lund Look 275K, Aug. 23, Topeka, Kan.

CHAMPIONSHIP AUTO RACING TEAMS

Texaco-Havoline 200

* Schedule: Today, 12:30 p.m.; Saturday, qualifying, 10:45 a.m. (ESPN2, 2 p.m.); Sunday, race, 12:30 p.m. (ABC).

* Track: Road America (road course, 4.048 miles, 14 turns), Elkhart Lake, Wis.

* Race distance: 202.4 miles, 50 laps.

* Defending champion: Alex Zanardi.

* Next race: Molson Indy Vancouver, Sept. 6, Vancouver, Canada.

INDY RACING LEAGUE

Radisson 200

* Schedule: Saturday, qualifying, 11 a.m. (Speedvision); Sunday, race, 1 p.m. (ABC).

* Track: Pikes Peak International Raceway (oval, 1.0 miles, 10 degrees banking in corners), Fountain, Colo.

* Race distance: 200 miles, 200 laps.

* Defending champion: Tony Stewart.

* Next race: Atlanta 500 Classic, Aug. 29, Hampton, Ga.

FORMULA ONE

Hungarian Grand Prix

* Schedule: Saturday, qualifying, 4 a.m. (Speedvision); Sunday, race, 4:30 a.m. (Speedvision; Fox Sports West, 1 p.m.).

* Track: Hungaroring (road course, 2.466 miles), Budapest, Hungary.

* Race distance: 189.88 miles, 77 laps.

* Defending champion: Jacques Villeneuve.

* Next race: Belgian Grand Prix, Aug. 30, Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium.