Preparation Pays Off in Kentucky for Gregoire

Figuring driver Stephan Gregoire had no chance of qualifying at the front of the grid for the Belterra Resorts Indy 300, Dick Simon Racing focused its limited practice time at the new 1.5-mile Kentucky Speedway on developing a good race setup.

It paid off with a season-best fifth-place finish Sunday for Gregoire, who started 21st.

“We didn’t look good in qualifying, but in oval racing, the race is another story,” said Gregoire, whose previous best finish was a fourth place for Dana Point team owner Dick Simon last year. “You can overtake when you have a good car--and we had a good car.”

Without fueling problems during a pit stop or a bad set of tires, Gregoire thinks he could have finished third, which would have been his first podium finish since finishing second at Pikes Peak in 1997 with Chastain Motorsports.

Though he has qualified better than 12th only once, Gregoire has five top-eight finishes in eight races, and an 11th. With one event remaining, Oct. 15 at Texas Motor Speedway, he is in 12th place but is only 19 points out of fifth.

“We haven’t had any explosive results but we’ve been consistent,” said Gregoire, who drives an Aurora-powered G Force, and has re-signed for a third season with Simon in the car sponsored by Santa Ana-based Mexmil Company. “I’m not disappointed, but I’m not completely satisfied with my season.”

Gregoire has at least one win, though. He steered and Simon was the throttle man on Simon’s 38-foot Cigarette speedboat at the 52nd Catalina Ski Race three weeks ago, averaging about 60 mph while pulling a skier from Long Beach Harbor to Catalina and back.

“I am pleased,” Gregoire said, “with my first victory on the ocean.”

Gregoire is the only French driver in the three major racing series in the United States, including CART and NASCAR, and the only European in the IRL.

He is a fairly rare breed. Only one other Frenchman since World War II has raced in the Indianapolis 500, and Philippe Gache did so only in 1992. Only two Frenchmen have won the Indy 500, Jules Goux in 1913 and Rene Thomas in 1914. “I would like to be the third one,” Gregoire said. “That’s my goal.”

Gregoire was eighth at Indy this year, but aspires to bring Simon his first victory at the Brickyard next season in Simon’s 32nd try as an owner, driver, crew chief or engineer.

“I feel very fortunate to work with him because there is a lot to learn from him,” Gregoire said. “I would like to win Indy for Dick Simon. If there is someone who deserves to win there, it’s Dick. I would be extremely proud of that.”

MORE INDY RACING

Jeff Ward of San Juan Capistrano finished sixth at Kentucky. In the three races since finishing fourth at the Indianapolis 500, Ward has finished 19th twice and 15thonce.

Laguna Niguel’s Shigeaki Hattori lost his CART license last season but has three top-10 finishes in four IRL races since joining Treadway Racing. Hattori, who qualified 17th, finished a season-best eighth. He also has two ninth-place finishes, though he has yet to qualify better than 17th.

“We went into it a little bit skeptical,” said Hattori’s race engineer, Mike Colliver, “but we knew he did pretty well [before 1999] in Indy Lights--you don’t win a couple races in Indy Lights without some ability. Everyone’s been pleasantly surprised.”

Sunday’s race was the first in almost 15 months for San Juan Capistrano driver Roberto Guerrero, who finished 23rd after experiencing mechanical failure in a 1999 G-Force.

Guerrero drove for Team Coulson owner Cory Coulson, who is trying to gather sponsor money for the season-ending Excite 500 and a full season in 2001.

NASCAR

Cal Wells III initially hoped to add a veteran Winston Cup driver to his first-year team, but the Orange County owner instead chose “youthful exuberance” when he selected Andy Houston.

Houston, 29, in his third season in the Craftsman Truck Series, joins Winston Cup rookie Scott Pruett, 40, on the PPI team. Pruett, a Champ car veteran, figures to benefit from Houston’s extensive short-track experience, where he has two wins this season and is third in the truck standings.

Wells also liked Houston’s heritage. Tommy Houston, Andy’s father, holds the Grand National record with 417 career starts and is third all-time with 24 wins. Andy’s brother, Marty, drives in the truck series, and another brother, Scott, was an assistant engineer at PPI before Wells even began his search.

Houston’s Cup debut with PPI came Aug. 20 at Michigan. He started and finished 35th, but ran as high as sixth, and was 12th with 44 laps remaining when his engine failed. That same weekend, Chad Little drove PPI’s Busch Grand National car at Michigan and finished 10th after qualifying 11th.

Little has one top-five finish in more than 200 Winston Cup starts.

“A lot can be said for experience, especially with us being a new team, but I don’t think anyone can say enough about performance,” Wells said. “Andy’s a fresh talent with a very bright Winston Cup future ahead of him.”

Houston will race for PPI four more times this season, in Charlotte, Rockingham, N.C., Phoenix, and Homestead, Fla., and maintain his rookie status for 2001.

SPORTS CARS

Saleen/Allen Speedlab Racing of Lake Forest took seventh overall but won its class at the six-hour Bosch Sports Car Summerfest last week at Watkins Glen, N.Y. It also won a 100K qualifying race two days earlier.

Drivers Ron Johnson, of Laguna Beach, and Terry Borcheller of Phoenix gave team owner Steve Saleen of Dove Canyon his fifth consecutive GTO manufacturer’s championship with the Saleen SR. It was Speedlab’s fourth title in five years.

Orange-based Hybrid Racing finished fifth overall. Starting sixth but falling back to 28th after three pit stops because of a loose spark plug wire, Mark Simo drove the Riley and Scott MK3 prototype through the field over the final two hours. It was the final race of the inaugural Grand-Am Racing Series season, and the final race for chassis No. 001, the first built. Team owner Rod Everett is selling the Ford-powered car and venturing into Indy Racing next season.

Norman Simon and Michael Lauer drove the first two legs of the race.

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