CART Sues Former President

Championship Auto Racing Teams Inc. has filed suit accusing former president Joseph Heitzler of fraud.

In a suit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Detroit, CART said Heitzler committed the league to a series of contracts without the board of directors’ approval.

The lawsuit claimed the contracts totaled more than $500,000.

Heitzler was fired earlier this year.

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Joe Nemechek and Todd Bodine are out of Winston Cup rides after Haas-Carter Motorsports suspended racing operations for NASCAR’s top circuit. The decision stemmed from the bankruptcy filing by primary sponsor Kmart.

Pro Football

Running back Dominic Rhodes of the Indianapolis Colts was charged with domestic abuse after he was accused of hitting the woman he lives with in Indianapolis. He was released under $10,000 bond and a hearing was set for April 8 in Marion Superior Court.

The NFL ended its push for late-season scheduling flexibility to help ABC’s sagging “Monday Night Football” ratings and will release the 2002 schedule today, the Associated Press reported.

Vinny Testaverde had surgery to remove a benign tumor from his right foot, sidelining the New York Jet quarterback until training camp in July.... Return specialist and running back Brian Mitchell re-signed for one year with the Philadelphia Eagles.

Miscellany

French figure skating judge Marie-Reine Le Gougne has testified that a prominent International Skating Union official took aggressive action against her minutes after the controversial Olympic pairs event ended on Feb. 11, the Chicago Tribune has learned.

At a Feb. 20 hearing before two ISU investigators, Le Gougne alleged ISU events coordinator Peter Krick of West Germany blocked her from leaving the judges platform for several minutes and “aggressed me verbally, saying that it is a scandal I have made the choice for the Russian couple.”

Le Gougne was among five members of the nine-judge panel who placed Russians Elena Bereznaia and Anton Sikharulidze first in the free skate, making them Olympic champions. Among the four who favored Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier was Krick’s wife, Sissy.

In the transcript of the Feb. 20 hearing, which the Tribune has seen, Le Gougne said she knew before the competition “the German judge [Sissy Krick] was in favor of the Canadian couple.”

Olympic champion wrestler Rulon Gardner will lose a toe because of frostbite suffered when he was stranded for a night in western Wyoming’s backcountry.

Gardner’s right middle toe will be amputated today at Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls, according to Gardner’s mother, Virginia Gardner.

In Major League Soccer, Brian West set up an early goal by Jeff Cunningham and the Columbus Crew held on to beat the New York-New Jersey MetroStars, 1-0, at East Rutherford, N.J. There was a crowd of 45,511 for a doubleheader that included a Bulgaria-Ecuador game.

Darren Haydar of New Hampshire and Mark Hartigan and Jordan Leopold of Minnesota were chosen as finalists for the Hobey Baker Award, given annually to the top college hockey player. The winner will be announced April 5.