Jarrett Calls for Use of Safety Gear

Dale Jarrett called on NASCAR to require the use of head-and-neck restraints, saying Tuesday there is enough known about the benefits of the devices to warrant the order.

“At this stage, everybody needs to be wearing something,” Jarrett said. “NASCAR should not be letting anyone get in a car without it.”

Jarrett, the 1999 Winston Cup champion, had said the use of the restraints should be a driver’s choice, but changed his mind after studying the benefits of the devices, which many believe could have prevented the skull fractures that killed four of five drivers in the last 17 months.

NASCAR President Mike Helton said Sunday the organization was moving toward requiring the devices, assuming research and development continues on them.

Tony Stewart was the only one of the 43 drivers in Sunday’s race at Concord, N.C., not to wear any type of restraint system. Stewart has cited discomfort and lingering questions about the devices for his reluctance to wear one, although he did don a Hutchens device in an August test to see if he could get used to it.

Kevin Harvick will skip qualifying and all practices for this weekend’s Winston Cup race so he can focus on his pursuit of the Busch Series championship.

The Winston Cup cars race in Martinsville, Va., this weekend and the Busch Series is in Memphis, Tenn. Harvick said Rick Mast would sit in for him during qualifying and practice.

Harvick, who drives the late Dale Earnhardt’s car in the Cup series, has competed on both circuits all year.

Tennis

Brazil’s Gustavo Kuerten started his indoor season with a 7-6 (1), 6-2 loss to Croatia’s Ivan Ljubicic in the first round of the Lyon Grand Prix in France.

Third-seeded Marat Safin of Russia beat Franco Squillari of Argentina, 6-4, 7-5, and Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden defeated Christian Vinck of Germany, 6-2, 6-3.

Eighth-seeded Carlos Moya of Spain became the third seeded player eliminated at the CA Trophy, losing to Thomas Enqvist of Sweden, 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3), in a first-round match at Vienna.

On Monday, third-seeded Alex Corretja of Spain and seventh-seeded Fabrice Santoro of France were eliminated.

Top-seeded Monica Seles defeated Lenka Nemeckova of the Czech Republic, 6-0, 6-0, in the first round of the Kiwi Open at Shanghai.

Fifth-seeded Joannette Kruger of South Africa lost to qualifier Cho Yoon-Jeong of South Korea, 6-4, 7-6 (6), and third-seeded Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand beat Peng Shuai of China, 6-4, 6-1.

Jill Craybas of the U.S. lost to Nicole Pratt of Australia, 6-4, 6-3.

Eighth-seeded Meghann Shaughnessy of the United States was upset by Magui Serna of Spain, 6-3, 6-4, in the first round of the Porsche Grand Prix at Filderstadt, Germany.

American Chanda Rubin defeated Barbara Schett of Austria, 6-2, 7-5.

Anke Huber of Germany defeated Elena Likhovtseva of Russia, 6-3, 2-6, 6-2.

Soccer

South Korea, co-host with Japan of next year’s World Cup, intends to further tighten security for the tournament now that the U.S. has qualified. South Korean police plan to increase its special forces to 480 officers from 300. It already has formed 10 anti-hooligan squads of 3,000 officers.

U.S. women’s Coach April Heinrichs invited 19 Women’s United Soccer Assn. players to the Olympic Training Center to prepare for the national team’s coming games. Those invited include World Cup veterans--defender Joy Fawcett, 33, and forward Shannon MacMillan, 26.

The New York-New Jersey MetroStars’ Copa Merconorte match against Chivas of Guadalajara has been moved back to its original date of Oct. 17 at East Rutherford, N.J.

UEFA, European soccer’s governing body, suspended Borussia Dortmund’s Marcio Amoroso for three games for a vicious tackle during his team’s Champions League match against Portuguese club Boavista last month.

The UEFA banned Albania’s under-17 international Dritan Smajlaj for three years for pushing and spitting on the face of a referee during a game against Azerbaijan on Sept. 26..

Smajlaj’s teammate, Myqerem Heqimaj, was suspended for two years for spitting on the same referee after the game.

Olympics

U.S. Olympic Committee President Sandra Baldwin said she is trying to set up an Oct. 21 meeting of the organization’s executive committee to select an executive director.

The lead U.S. Justice Department prosecutor and the FBI’s chief agent on the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics bribery case have been reassigned to the investigation of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Boxing

Citing tensions from the terrorist attacks and the U.S. raids on Afghanistan, Mike Tyson, a Muslim, said he might stay in Europe for at least a month after he fights Denmark’s Brian Nielsen on Saturday at Copenhagen.

Jurisprudence

Louisiana State and five former students have reached a settlement in a lawsuit claiming a lack of opportunities for female athletes at the university in Baton Rouge.

Terms of the settlement include “LSU’s continued public support of women’s athletics and a monetary payment to the plaintiffs and their attorneys,” the university said in a news release.

The suit was filed in 1994 by three soccer players and two softball players about the unavailability of their sports at LSU. LSU later added the two sports for women.

Miscellany

Times reporter Chris Foster has been honored with a Sprint Award by the American Quarter Horse Assn. for a feature he wrote on Los Alamitos-based trainer Paul Jones.

Geoff Zahn, a former Dodger and Angel pitcher, resigned after six years as baseball coach at Michigan.

Danny Pate of Pueblo, Colo., won the under-23 men’s cycling individual time trials at the World Road Championships at Lisbon.

Judy Bell, 65, former president of the U.S. Golf Assn. who was elected this year to the World Golf Hall of Fame, has been diagnosed with abdominal cancer.

Canadian golfer Mike Weir withdrew from this week’s World Match Play Championships in England because of concerns over the military action in Afghanistan.

World Cup ski races in North America will proceed as scheduled despite the military action in Afghanistan, the International Ski Federation announced. Aspen, Colo., will hold men’s and women’s races Nov. 22-26. Women will compete Nov. 29-Dec. 1 at Lake Louise, Canada, and men will ski Dec. 1-2 at Beaver Creek, Colo.

Catello “Cat” Manzi, the third-winningest driver in history, will be inducted into the Harness Racing Hall of Fame on July 7. Trainer-driver Jim Dennis, 78, and trainer-driver Harry Harvey, 72, also will be inducted. Manzi, 41, has 9,121 career victories, behind only Herve Filion (14,783) and Walter Case (9,958).