Owner Gets Win in Driver’s Seat

As a Champ Car World Series owner, Paul Gentilozzi’s day may not have been stellar, but he couldn’t ask for a better one when he took off his administrative hat and put on a helmet.

For the fifth time, Gentilozzi won at Long Beach in the Motorock Trans-Am Tour, taking the lead from his driver and teammate, Tommy Kendall, on the first turn and holding off challenges from Boris Said of Carlsbad and Greg Pickett of Alamo, Calif.

Pickett, 57, who won the series title in 1978, took second place and finished on the podium for the first time since 1978.

Said, who followed Gentilozzi for the first 38 laps, rubbed his Ford Mustang against Gentilozzi’s Jaguar XKR through the fountain and completed the pass in Turn 4. But at Turn 8, Said slid through the corner and into in the tire wall after getting in oil that was laid down by Gentilozzi’s driver, Kendall, the previous lap.

“At that point, he had me,” said Gentilozzi, who will drive part-time this season while concentrating as team owner of Rocketsports, which fields Champ Car drivers Alex Tagliani and Nelson Philippe. “The only reason I got through is because I saw him slide off and I checked up.

“I thought I was home free.”

Racing resumed on Lap 44 of a race shortened from 51 to 45 laps. Pickett made a run at Gentilozzi on the back side of the track and was on his bumper in the hairpin, but didn’t have as much motor.

“I knew he had more power,” said Pickett, who drove a Jaguar XKR he purchased from Gentilozzi. “I was pleased to be second. That’s like a win to me.”

Pickett started 16th in the 17-car field, and was helped by attrition. After the first four cars got through Turn 1, Rocketsports driver Tomy Drissi rear-ended Michael Lewis, and the chain reaction sealed off the turn, bringing the back half of the field to a stop. The first six laps were run under yellow. Lewis eventually finished fifth.

Kendall, a four-time series champion who retired in 1997, finished 11th after completing 39 laps.

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Tom Cruise and Paul McCartney may have been in attendance as guests of Newman-Haas Racing team owner Paul Newman, but more important guests may have been officials from Las Vegas “to take in the Long Beach tradition,” Gentilozzi said. They are trying to tie up loose ends that will bring a street race there in the fall.

“We’ve got a couple options, actually,” Gentilozzi said, “and we’re going to have to pick something real soon.”

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Third-year driver Ryan Dalziel started from the pole and led from start to finish in the season-opening Argent Mortgage Challenge Toyota Atlantic Championship, finishing 2.009 seconds ahead of his teammate, Canadian rookie Andrew Ranger.

Dalziel, a Scotsman who finished second in the series last season to A.J. Allmendinger, was never seriously challenged over 31 laps in his Sierra Sierra entry en route to his third career victory. Dalziel and Ranger were followed by American Bryan Sellers of Lynx Racing, which is owned by Peggy Haas and Jackie Doty.

Ronnie Bremer took fourth and Danica Patrick fifth.

Little on-track passing took place, except by Ranger, who started fifth but got past Sellers and Alex Figge in Turn 1.

“I was able to hang with Andrew, but I lost sight of Ryan,” said Sellers, of Centerville, Ohio.

That was the problem everyone had. No one could keep up with Dalziel. He led Jon Fogarty by 5.5 seconds after 11 laps, but Fogarty dropped out with mechanical problems on the next lap. Four consecutive yellow flags kept the 21-car field under caution from Lap 14 to 27.

“The restarts were the key to the race,” Dalziel said. “There were so many restarts, I kept running out of ideas on what to do.”

The yellow flags turned it into a timed 50-minute race, and it was shortened from 32 to 31 laps. Dalziel took the green for the final time on Lap 28, and won by 2.009 seconds.

Al Unser, son of six-time Long Beach winner Al Unser Jr., crashed on the first lap.

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Rick Knoop led the nine-lap Imperial Capital Bank Historic Grand Prix, which brought back vintage cars from past Long Beach races. Knoop drove a 1979 Tyrrell 009 driven in its heyday by Didier Pironi. He led Dino Cresintini in Peter Revson’s 1971 McLaren M19. Bud Moeller, in Derek Daly’s 1979 Ensign N179, took third.