Friends Mourn Driver Moore

On a rainy, miserable Wednesday afternoon, family, friends and the international auto racing community came together to mourn the death of budding star Greg Moore.

“I knew Greg as a son and as a race-car driver. I had simply no idea of his popularity around the world and the number of people that shared our loss,” said Moore’s father, Ric Moore, speaking before a crowd of 1,200 that packed St. Andrew’s-Wesley United Church in Vancouver, Canada.

Moore was killed Sunday on the 10th lap of the season-ending CART Marlboro 500 at California Speedway in Fontana when he lost control of his Reynard-Mercedes coming out of the second turn at 220 mph and crashed into a wall.

The 24-year-old Canadian died of massive head injuries about an hour after the wreck.

A private service was held Tuesday in his hometown of Maple Ridge, Canada. Wednesday’s service was a chance for his closest friends, members of his families and his colleagues to reflect. A public service will be held today in his hometown.

Among those on hand were drivers Adrian Fernandez, Christian Fittipaldi, Dario Franchitti and fellow Canadians Paul Tracy and Jacques Villeneuve, who has since made the jump to Formula One.

Said close friend and racing colleague Jimmy Vasser: “It has been a flood of memories and stories and tears and questions, and I haven’t gotten any farther than that. I’ve been a bowl of spaghetti inside.”

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Alvise Andretti, the father of former racing star Mario Andretti, died at his home in Easton, Pa., of cancer. He was 90.

Tennis

Andre Agassi clinched the No. 1 spot in the year-end tennis rankings for the first time, ending the six-year streak of Pete Sampras, who hurt his back and withdrew from the Paris Open.

Agassi was assured the top ranking when Lleyton Hewitt of Australia upset No. 2 Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, in the second round of the Paris Open. Agassi is the 10th player to finish No. 1 in the 27-year history of the ATP Tour rankings. It comes two years after he was ranked 141st.

Sampras, ranked third, was hurt late Tuesday in a win over Francisco Clavet of Spain.

Sampras wouldn’t speculate on how long the back spasms will sideline him, although a tournament physician said the American would be out 10 to 15 days. Sampras said the injury isn’t as serious as the herniated disk he suffered just before the U.S. Open.

Also withdrawing was Britain’s Greg Rusedski, who suffered a thigh injury. In upsets, Marc Rosset of Switzerland beat 12th-seeded Alex Corretja of Spain, 7-5, 6-3; Mark Philippoussis of Australia defeated eighth-seeded Richard Krajicek of Netherlands, 7-5, 6-3; and Jim Courier downed 14th-seeded Carlos Moya of Spain, 6-2, 6-1.

Anna Kournikova of Russia edged Anne Kremer of Luxembourg, 6-4, 7-5, to reach the second round of the $520,000 Sparkassen Cup at Leipzig, Germany.

Unseeded American Tara Snyder, the defending champion, defeated top-seeded Amanda Coetzer of South Africa, 6-2, 5-7, 7-5, in the second round of the $180,000 Bell Challenge at Quebec.

Olympics

Mark Shepherd, the director of the disabled sports service for the U.S. Olympic Committee, is suing his employer, alleging discrimination against himself and other disabled athletes.

Shepherd was a gold medalist in wheelchair basketball in the 1996 Olympics at Atlanta. In his 23-count lawsuit, Shepherd claims he was discriminated against in his employment with the USOC and that programs for disabled athletes receive unequal funding.

USOC spokesman Mike Moran said the USOC cannot comment because it has not seen a copy of the lawsuit, but he said many of the concerns mentioned have been addressed.

Miscellany

A grand jury has indicted Othell Wilson, the basketball coach at St. Mary’s College in Maryland, on charges of kidnapping and raping his ex-girlfriend. Wilson was arrested Sept. 27 and accused of kidnapping a 20-year-old college student from Fairfax County, Va., and holding her captive for almost three days in his apartment in St. Mary’s County.

Jesper Parnevik withdrew from the World Golf Championship in Sotogrande, Spain, because of an irregular heartbeat and probably won’t play the rest of the year.

Jockey Russell Baze will miss two months of riding after suffering a back injury in a spill at Bay Meadows on Sunday.

New Mexico State, Middle Tennessee and North Texas will join the Sun Belt Conference in 2001, increasing the number of schools to 11. Utah State turned down an invitation to play football in the conference, joining Idaho in rejecting offers from the league.