Sharp Doesn’t Waste Time in the Closest IRL Race

Scott Sharp won the fastest race in Indy Racing League history by the closest margin, and became the circuit’s winningest driver.

Sharp finished just ahead of Robby McGehee, winning the rain-delayed Casino Magic 500 at Fort Worth by 0.059 of a second Sunday.

Emerging from the final caution period on lap 188 for a 20-lap run to the finish line at Texas Motor Speedway, Sharp and McGehee went side-by-side and nose-to-tail the last seven laps on the 1 1/2-mile oval.

At the end, Sharp had enough for his fifth IRL victory with an average speed of 169.182 mph, breaking the IRL mark of 167.607 set by Juan Montoya at the Indianapolis 500 last month.

Sharp’s last lap was clocked at 208.527 mph.

“I held it down the last 20 laps. I put my left foot on top of my right foot, I wasn’t letting it up,” Sharp said. “I thought he might have gotten a good enough run. I left my foot down. We were going to hit or we were going to be all right.”

The previous closest finish to an IRL race was 0.064 of a second, with Robbie Buhl beating Vincenzo Sospiri at New Hampshire in August 1997.

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Tony Stewart came on strong when it counted, winning the rain-shortened Winston Cup Kmart 400 at Brooklyn, Mich.

Last year’s top NASCAR rookie won when the second downpour of the afternoon ended the race a little more than five laps from the finish.

Stewart charged past Robert Pressley to take the lead on lap 185 of the scheduled 200-lap event at Michigan Speedway.

A three-way battle took place for second, with Dale Earnhardt passing Dale Jarrett and then holding off Bobby Labonte for the runner-up spot.

NASCAR, which earlier red-flagged the race for 94 minutes after rain began falling on lap 150, put out the fourth yellow flag of the day on lap 192 when rain began falling again.

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Gary Scheuerell of Temecula won the Legends Cars 35-lap main event before 5,678 Saturday night at Irwindale Speedway. Rip Michels of Mission Hills won the 30-lap Grand American Modifieds event and Bill Hegeson of Riverside held off Joe Herold of Poway in the closing laps to win the 50-lap Ultra Wheels spec truck race.

Pro Football

The Cincinnati Bengals want to include a loyalty clause in new player contracts to avoid a recurrence of last year’s trouble when wide receiver Carl Pickens publicly criticized Coach Bruce Coslet.

Players who agree to the clause would have to pay back part of their signing bonus if they publicly criticize teammates, management or the coach.

“A year ago, we signed Carl to a huge contract and we didn’t feel like what he did was something that any company would have accepted,” Bengal President Mike Brown told the Cincinnati Post.

Pickens signed a five-year deal worth $23.25 million three days before the season opener. The Bengals are waiting to resolve a grievance with the NFL Players Assn. to release him.

Boxing

Carl Olson, 72, the U.S. and world middleweight champion in 1953, became the first Hawaiian to be inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, N.Y.

Olson, who is in the final stages of Alzheimer’s disease, had a 98-16-2 record, with 48 knockouts, before retiring in 1966.

Also inducted: former bantamweight champion Jeff Chandler, Scottish boxer Ken Buchanan and former lightweight champion Jimmy Carter.

Takanori Hatakeyama of Japan knocked out Gilbert Serrano of Venezuela in the eighth round to win the World Boxing Assn. lightweight title at Tokyo.

Miscellany

University of Miami basketball Coach Leonard Hamilton agreed to a contract buyout and plans to become coach of the Washington Wizards.

He is expected to announce today his decision to accept Michael Jordan’s offer. Jordan, the Wizards’ president of basketball operations, contacted Hamilton last week. The university agreed to accept $1 million for releasing Hamilton from the seven-year contract extension he signed in April, the Miami Herald and the Washington Post reported Sunday. The school had been asking for $2 million.

The Salt Lake Organizing Committee has reportedly agreed to share information with possible targets of the federal investigation of the scandal surrounding the 2002 Winter Games.

SLOC attorney Beth Wilkinson gave a document that she said was being used by federal prosecutors to test the truthfulness of those involved in the bid-city scandal to former SLOC leader Tom Welch, the Salt Lake Tribune said.

The Justice Department is investigating alleged wrongdoing in Salt Lake’s successful bid for the Games, in particular that Olympic organizers bribed IOC members for their votes.

Don Smith and Aquil Abdullah will go against each other today at Camden, N.J., to determine which of them will make the U.S. Olympic rowing team. Abdullah, seeded No. 1, won the first race but suffered from an asthma attack and finished 3.75 seconds behind the No. 2-seeded Smith in the second race. The winner of today’s third race will go to the Sydney Games this September.

The WNBA’s Cleveland Rockers traded guard Michelle Edwards to the Seattle Storm for the rights to Nina Bjedov. Bjedov, a 6-foot-6 center, decided to sit out this season but is expected to return to the league in 2001. Bjedov spent 1999 with the Sparks as Lisa Leslie’s backup.