It Will Also Get Racy at the Other Las Vegas Strip

A month ago, it seemed unlikely that the new Strip at Las Vegas could possibly be ready for a National Hot Rod Assn. championship event by this weekend.

But that didn’t take into account Bruton Smith, owner of the 1,600-acre Las Vegas Motor Speedway complex and numerous other race tracks.

“When Bruton says something will be done, it will be done,” said Chris Powell, general manager of the speedway. “And here it is.”

Building permits for the 30,000-seat drag racing facility adjacent to the 118,000-seat 1 1/2-mile tri-oval track, were not issued until Dec. 28, 1999, barely three months ago.

The strip will open today with the first round of qualifying for Sunday’s SummitRacing.com Nationals. More than 750 vehicles are expected for the three-day Winston Drag Racing series event.

The first 775 feet of the 1,320-foot racing surface is concrete. It was poured in one day, from midnight until 9 p.m.

Construction crews also set what Las Vegas’ public-relations people call “an NHRA record,” by completing more than 1,200 feet of retaining wall on each of three consecutive days. The NHRA had never completed more than 1,000 feet of retaining wall in a single day.

The main concern for drivers and crew chiefs will be the new, and therefore “green,” concrete and asphalt track--one with no rubber having been laid down.

“Tracks are funny,” said Joe Amato, five-time top-fuel champion. “Sometimes, new blacktop, if it gets a lot of heat on it, the oil comes out of it and it gets slippery down track. Las Vegas has 775 feet of cement, so that’s good. That will at least get you launched and get you a good run. Then, as the rubber gets put down on the track, it should get better as the weekend goes forward.”

Most crews will take a good look at how the alcohol-fueled Federal-Mogul dragsters and funny cars react to the new surface. They run just ahead of the mega-horsepower nitro-fuel classes.

Larry Dixon, another top-fuel driver, says that Las Vegas’ altitude of more than 2,000 feet will also affect how teams tune their engines.

“I see two major factors that we will have to overcome--elevation and rubber,” Dixon said. “The teams in the top half of the points race right now will have the advantage because they are more versatile, knowledgeable, and seem to be able to adapt more easily from facility to facility and from elevation to elevation.

“Vegas sits at 2,000 feet, which is slightly higher than most of the tracks we race, where the elevation is typically under 1,200 feet. That, and the fact that Vegas will be a green track will be a challenge to the crew chiefs to get the right engine set-up.”

Dixon is third and Amato fourth in top fuel standings after three events. Defending champion Tony Schumacher leads with 304 points, followed by former champion Gary Scelzi with 273, Dixon with 306 and Amato with 190.

Of special interest will be the funny car class, in which newcomer Jerry Toliver, driving a World Wrestling Federation- sponsored car, has replaced nine-time champion John Force at the top of the standings. Toliver and teammate Jim Epler drive eye-catching cars designed to resemble wrestling favorites Rock and Kane.

Toliver, a former drag boat racer from Huntington Beach, has won three of the last four NHRA events, including the 1999 season finale, and has a 74-point lead over Force.

“We want to extend our lead even farther,” Toliver said. “We have confidence in [tuner] Dale Armstrong’s crew to figure out this brand-new track in a hurry. We’re ready to race.”

Devin Horihan, who directed track construction, said, “The track turned out better than we expected. There was a big learning curve going into this project. Everything has turned our great.”

Next year, the Las Vegas NHRA event will be in the fall. It is scheduled for Oct. 25-28 to coincide with the the SEMA show, the largest specialty equipment conference in the world.

SPEEDWAY BIKES

The Oxley family will begin its 32nd--and perhaps last--season of International Speedway Inc. motorcycle racing Saturday night on the familiar Costa Mesa Speedway oval inside the Orange County Fairgrounds.

“Under the terms of our current agreement with the fairgrounds, we cannot afford to run events at Costa Mesa beyond this season,” said Brad Oxley, the track promoter and leading rider. “There is still hope that the status with the fairgrounds may change, but it’s really slim.”

The annual Spring Classic, 30 races of scratch and handicap individual speedway racing, along with sidecar heats, will highlight opening night. The regular weekly season will start April 29.

This year’s competition appears to be between the old guard, such as defending U.S. Nationals and track champion Oxley, 40, of San Clemente; former champion Bobby Schwartz, 43, of Costa Mesa; and Shawn McConnell, 41, of Brea, and a younger group headed by Gary Hicks, 29, of Glen Avon. Hicks finished second behind Oxley in both the nationals and the Costa Mesa season points race last season.

LITTLE E

Want to know what it’s like to drive a winning car and dominate a Winston Cup race?

“It was like being shot out of a Remington shotgun!” said Dale Earnhardt Jr. after winning last Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway. “I’d just point and shoot and that thing went!

“It was pretty cool. The car was so awesome. All day, it was crazy fast. . . . I’m anxious to get to a short track and really do well.”

He will get his chance Sunday when NASCAR visits Martinsville Raceway and its .526-mile oval, barely bigger around than Irwindale Speedway.

NASCAR’S CAUTION FLAG

Lee Petty’s death Wednesday at 86 brought to mind an interesting piece of NASCAR trivia.

When he rolled the family Buick in NASCAR’s first official race in 1946, it brought out the first yellow caution flag in the sanctioning body’s history.

HALLS OF FAME

Drag racing legend Don Prudhomme is one of several former racers going into various halls of fame this year, but the Snake says he’s not sure it’s the right time for him to be inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, because he is still going full steam ahead.

“When an honor like this comes along, it makes you feel good about yourself and what you’ve accomplished in racing,” Prudhomme said from his racing shop in Vista, where he fields teams for funny car driver Ron Capps and top-fuel driver Dixon. “To me, it’s kind of tough to explain to people that I still feel like I’m racing. I don’t feel like I’ve slowed down and stopped to smell the roses. I’m still on the gas.”

Prudhomme will be inducted Thursday at Talladega, Ala., along with Mario Andretti, A.J. Foyt, Craig Breedlove, Nelson Piquet and the late Ayrton Senna.

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Nine others have been elected to the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America, which will hold its induction ceremony June 8 in Detroit.

The inductees include Indianapolis 500 winners Sam Hanks and Ray Harroun, NASCAR’s Wood Brothers, drag racing’s Danny Ongais, sports car champion Peter Gregg, motocross legend Bob Hannah, powerboat champion Tom D’Eath and airplane pilot Cook Cleland.

LAST LAPS

Supercross rider Jimmy Button, who suffered neck injuries and a bruised spinal cord in a spill at San Diego last month, has left the hospital and returned home in Scottsdale, Ariz. . . . Dick Simon has entered a second car, for Wim Eyckmans of Belgium, in the Indianapolis 500 May 28. Eyckmans will team with Stephan Gregoire of France.

Dave Eschelman, driver of a super late model Chevrolet at Irwindale Speedway, is the mayor of Fontana. . . . Jay Drake of Val Verde took over first place in the U.S. Auto Club midget car series with victories last weekend at Anderson, Ind., and Rossburg, Ohio.

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