Luyendyk to Retire After Indy

Two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Arie Luyendyk announced Friday that he will retire from Indy car competition after the 1999 event.

The Dutchman, who holds the record for the fastest race at Indianapolis, will not drive in any other Indy Racing League events.

Luyendyk, 45, went through a frustrating 1998 season during which he often was not competitive and didn’t win until the last race in the IRL season, in Las Vegas.

“I’ve been thinking about this for quite some time,” he said. “I know there has been some speculation about my plans and, rather than have people guess, I wanted to be honest with everyone, especially the fans.”

Jurisprudence

Former NHL all-star Bobby Hull has filed a libel lawsuit in Belleville, Canada, against a Moscow newspaper and the Toronto Sun, which ran stories quoting Hull as making racial slurs and praising Adolf Hitler. Hull claims that the story, which ran in the English-language Moscow Times and was picked up by the Toronto Sun, was inaccurate. Hull was quoted as saying, “Hitler had some good ideas, he just went a little bit too far.”

Alton Stone, the night watchman on duty the night Alydar suffered a broken leg injury that led to the famed thoroughbred’s death, will go to a Houston prison for five months for lying to a grand jury investigating the case in Houston. A Houston jury decided that Stone had lied to the grand jury in 1997 about why he had replaced the regular watchman and how he discovered the horse’s mortal injury.

Brian Orser, a pro figure skater and two-time Olympic silver medalist, has lost a legal battle to prevent the public disclosure of a palimony suit filed in Toronto by a former boyfriend. Ontario Court Judge Susan Lang rejected Orser’s request to ban public access to details of the lawsuit, in which Toronto banker Craig Leask is seeking monthly $5,000 support payments, some of Orser’s property and access to his vacation house.

The drug controversy surrounding U.S. distance runner Mary Slaney will have an arbitration hearing early next year, according to an International Amateur Athletic Federation spokesman. Slaney tested for an unusually high ratio of testosterone at the 1996 U.S. Olympic trials. USA Track and Field cleared Slaney of charges but the IAAF said that it was not satisfied with the decision.

Winter Sports

Austria’s Hermann Maier hooked a ski on a gate and did not finish his second giant slalom run, which opened the way for teammate Stefan Eberharter to win the event at the World Cup in Park City, Utah. Eberharter finished with a combined time of 2 minutes 14.75 seconds. Maier, the Olympic and World Cup champion, had led the first run by .35 of a second over Eberharter but his crash allowed another teammate, Christian Mayer, to claim second in 2:15.27.

Americans Nicole Bobek and Michael Weiss surprised Russia’s world and European champions by taking the lead in the short figure skating programs at the Lalique Trophy competition at Paris. Bobek finished ahead of Ukraine’s Elena Liashenko, winner of Skate Canada, and Russia’s Maria Butyrskaya, the European champion. Weiss finished ahead of Russian world champion Alexei Yagudin.

Skiers, snowboarders and bobsledders received the first checks from an $18-million program aimed at boosting U.S. medal counts at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Also receiving funds in the initial $368,000 payment from the U.S. Olympic Committee’s Operation Podium were the Salt Lake Organizing Committee and the Utah Sports Authority.

Miscellany

Veteran sports talk-show host Joe McDonnell was fired by XTRA 1150, possibly the first step in a housecleaning at the Burbank-based all-sports station. The station is buying out McDonnell’s contract, which runs through May. Mike Thompson, the station’s new operations manager, said he will go on the air during McDonnell’s 3-7 p.m. time slot on Monday.

Meredith Gourdine, who won the long jump silver medal at the 1952 Olympics, died at 69 in Houston. He had suffered a series of strokes.

The Azusa Pacific football team (8-2) will be in an NAIA playoff game for the first time in its 34-year history tonight when it plays host to Taylor of Upland, Ind., (8-2) at 7.

The No. 11 USC women’s volleyball team improved to 20-4, 15-2 in the Pacific 10, by defeating California, 15-1, 15-8, 15-8, at North Gym. Sophomore Janae Henry had 11 kills and nine digs.

UCLA will play host to USC in water polo at 10 a.m. at the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center. The Trojans (20-1) defeated the Bruins (15-4) last Sunday, 9-6.

Swimmer Amanda Beard of Irvine, who won a gold medal on a relay team at the 1996 Olympics, signed a letter of intent to attend Arizona.

Leah Barnes of Pomona-Pitzer and Juan Rodriguez of Whittier College will compete in the NCAA Division III cross-country meet today at Carlisle, Pa. Rodriguez finished third and Barnes seventh last weekend in the western regional.