Police Dog Bites Police Man and Beats the Rap

Bill France Jr. stepped down Tuesday as president of NASCAR, the racing circuit his father founded in the backwoods of the South that has grown into a multibillion-dollar industry.

France, 67, who gained the job in 1972 and is recovering from cancer, was succeeded by Mike Helton, NASCAR’s senior vice president and chief operating officer. Helton was picked two years ago to oversee NASCAR’s daily operations.

The founding family will continue its influence on the sport with Bill France serving as chairman of a new five-member board of directors that will include Jim France, Bill’s brother; Brian France, Bill’s son; Lesa Kennedy, Bill’s daughter; and Helton.

“In the past,” Bill France joked, “we’d have a board meeting in the hall. My brother and I would meet and shoot the breeze for a few minutes. This will be a lot different.”

Baseball

Kirby Puckett, Dave Winfield, Don Mattingly and Kirk Gibson are among 17 first-time candidates on this year’s ballot for the Baseball Hall of Fame, which were mailed this week to 10-year members of the Baseball Writers’ Assn. of America. Thirty-two players are on the ballot, and each voter can select up to 10 players. A player must be selected by 75% or more of the voters to be elected. Results will be announced Jan. 16.

The Angels have contacted Jim Bronner, Alex Gonzalez’s agent, expressing interest in the free-agent shortstop, who played the last six seasons with the Toronto Blue Jays. . . . The Angels will wrap up spring training with a three-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks, in Phoenix on March 30 and 31 and at Edison Field on April 1.

Closer Curtis Leskanic agreed to a $7.2-million, three-year deal with the Milwaukee Brewers. . . . City councilors in Boston criticized plans for a new Fenway Park during a hearing, an indication of the difficulty Mayor Thomas M. Menino’s administration will have in gaining approval. Approval of two-thirds of the 13-member council is needed to approve any land taking, which would be necessary to clear the proposed location. . . . Pitcher Bobby Chouinard of the Colorado Rockies reported to the Adams County jail in Brighton, Colo., to begin serving a one-year term for aggravated assault for abusing his wife. Chouinard will serve his time in Colorado during baseball’s off-season in four three-month increments spread out over four years, according to Bill FitzGerald, a spokesman for the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office in Phoenix, where Chouinard was arrested last Christmas. . . . Former agent Dennis Gilbert of Calabasas has joined the Chicago White Sox as a special assistant to chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, the club announced. . . . Free agent Juan Gonzalez, who played for the Detroit Tigers last season, returned to the city to have his back examined at Henry Ford Hospital.

Miscellany

A co-defendant in the Rae Carruth murder case denied under cross-examination in Charlotte, N.C., that he was testifying to get a more lenient sentence when he goes on trial later. Michael Eugene Kennedy’s testimony has dominated the first days of the former NFL player’s trial. Kennedy claims Carruth was the mastermind of the November 1999 slaying of Cherica Adams, Carruth’s girlfriend. Kennedy, Carruth and two other men were charged in the shooting. “I just want that family to know the truth,” Kennedy said of Adams’ relatives.

Pete Sampras returned to tennis after more than two months away, losing to Lleyton Hewitt of Australia, 7-5, 6-0, on the opening day of the Masters Cup at Lisbon. Andre Agassi, coming off a three-week break because of a hip injury, defeated Gustavo Kuerten, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. Marat Safin of Russia, seeking to become the youngest player to finish the year at No. 1, rallied past Alex Corretja of Spain, 6-7 (6), 7-5, 6-3. . . . Petr Korda of the Czech Republic, banned from tennis for a year in 1998 after a positive drug test, will make his comeback Tuesday at an ATP Challenger event in Prague, organizers said.

Gov. Jesse Ventura is covered under a state code of ethics regarding outside income, Minnesota’s attorney general said in an opinion. But Attorney General Mike Hatch said it’s not within his authority to determine whether Ventura’s job as a football analyst for the fledgling XFL violates that code. . . . The One-on-One Radio Sports network, which broadcasts on more than 400 stations, including the new KMPC (1540) in Los Angeles, was purchased by billionaire Paul Allen. The name will be changed to the Sporting News Radio Network. Allen purchased the Sporting News from Times Mirror in February.

Boca Juniors of Argentina upset Real Madrid of Spain, 2-1, in front of 51,000 fans at Tokyo’s National Stadium to win the Toyota/Intercontinental Cup pitting the reigning South American soccer champion against the reigning European champion. . . . Italian soccer player Francesco Bertolotti is out of danger after being in a coma for a week in Lecco, Italy, after a locker-room fight with an opponent.

Loss of cabin pressure and failure to obtain oxygen incapacitated the crew of golfer Payne Stewart’s plane, leading to the crash last year that killed all six aboard the chartered Learjet. But while the National Transportation Safety Board reached that conclusion, it was unable to say why the plane lost pressure.

The Stars, Los Angeles’ entry in the minor league American Basketball Assn., began two-a-day practices at Loyola Marymount under Coach Paul Westhead. The Stars’ season will begin Dec. 14 in Las Vegas.

Ken Read will return to the helm of Dennis Conner’s Stars & Stripes, representing the New York Yacht Club in the 2002-03 America’s Cup race, the Providence Journal reported. . . . Utah judges reluctantly agreed to a recommendation that criminal and jury trials be rescheduled during the 2002 Winter Games. . . . The International Amateur Athletic Federation, track’s world body, may send all future disputes to an independent arbitration panel to try to cut costs and regain credibility.