Season Is Ready to Come Out of Hibernation

By JIM PELTZ

Jan. 20, 2006 12 AM PT

Motor racing’s absence over the winter can seem interminable for fans, but the wait is nearly over.

NASCAR stock-car racing’s premier event, the Daytona 500, is Feb. 19 and will be followed a week later by the Auto Club 500 at the California Speedway in Fontana on Feb. 26.

NHRA drag racing opens with the Carquest Auto Parts Winternationals at Pomona on Feb. 9-12.

The Indy Racing League and the Formula One series -- which will include its first American driver in more than a decade -- launch their seasons in March. Then comes the start of the Champ Car World Series with the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach in April.

And the Amp’d Mobile AMA Supercross season is already underway, with defending champion Ricky Carmichael tied in the points chase with James “Bubba” Stewart.

The next race is Saturday night when the series returns to Angel Stadium. Stewart won the year’s first event there Jan. 7.

This winter has seen the annual shuffling of drivers, crew chiefs and equipment.

Indianapolis 500 winner Dan Wheldon, for instance, moved from Andretti Green Racing to the Target Chip Ganassi team.

The off-season changes are made in hopes of being prepared to take advantage of the racing luck that every team needs. And luck -- good and bad -- will again play a huge role.

Just ask Parnelli Jones, who was far ahead in the 1967 Indy 500, driving Andy Granatelli’s revolutionary turbine-powered car. Jones’ luck ran out with four laps to go, when a $4 ball bearing failed.

Conversely, luck smiled on Richard Petty in the 1979 Daytona 500. “The King” was nursing a third-place finish on the last lap when the two leaders, Cale Yarborough and Donny Allison, crashed on the backstretch. Petty stepped on the gas, flew past the wreckage and took the win.

But setting aside fortune for the moment, here are some things to look for in 2006:

NASCAR

After late-night TV host and car aficionado Jay Leno drives a few pace laps in a 2006 Corvette Z06, the Daytona 500 -- and NASCAR’s full season, for that matter -- promises to be a wide-open affair.

Tony Stewart, who won last year’s Nextel Cup for Joe Gibbs’ Chevrolet team, and runner-up Greg Biffle remain strong contenders. Biffle and his Roush Racing teammates are among those driving Ford’s new entry, the Fusion, which replaces the Taurus.

Carl Edwards, 26, who began 2005 as a virtual unknown and then used a late-season surge to finish third, is expected to maintain that momentum for Roush.

Then there’s Dale Earnhardt Jr., still adored by fans but coming off a decidedly subpar 2005. Many agree he’s under pressure to improve -- quickly -- and hopes to do so, now that he’s back with his former crew chief Tony Eury Jr.

Jeff Gordon, after finishing out of the top 10, also figures to be especially hungry.

This season will be the swan song for Terry Labonte, Cup champion in 1984 and ’96. He will run a 17-race schedule -- including next month’s race at California Speedway -- and call it quits Nov. 5 at Texas Motor Speedway.

Indy Car/Champ Car

As if Danica Patrick hasn’t generated enough hype for the Indy 500 with her quest to become the first female winner, now Michael Andretti is making the race even more compelling by emerging from retirement.

The 43-year-old Andretti is one of the most accomplished open-wheel racers in history, but he never won the storied Brickyard race before retiring in 2003. So he plans to give it another try May 28.

He also gave his 18-year-old son, Marco, a full-time ride on the IRL circuit this year.

The IRL season opens March 26 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

The Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach on April 9 kicks off the Champ Car season. Defending race and series champion Sebastien Bourdais is considered a favorite to repeat both achievements, which would give him three consecutive Champ Car World Series titles.

Drag Racing

Speaking of strong contenders to repeat, is there any stopping Tony Schumacher in drag racing’s top-fuel ranks? Driving for his father’s U.S. Army team, Schumacher, 36, won the National Hot Rod Assn. Powerade title last year by a whopping 415 points, his third championship.

In funny cars, Schumacher’s teammate Gary Scelzi, 45, won the title last year and knows how to repeat as well -- he won top-fuel titles in 1997 and ’98 and again in 2000. He’ll have to deal with the legendary John Force, a 13-time funny car champion and still a top contender at 56.

Formula One

It’s a long way from Manteca, Calif., to Monaco, but Californian Scott Speed -- that’s his real name -- is making the leap in Formula One.

Speed, who grew up in Manteca, just south of Stockton, has been racing in Europe in recent years and last month was tapped to drive for the Scuderia Toro Rosso F1 team. He’s the first American to join the series since Michael Andretti in 1993.

Formula One hopes the arrival of Speed, who turns 23 on Tuesday, will spark more American interest in the sport, especially after last year’s fiasco at the U.S. Grand Prix in Indianapolis -- Formula One’s only U.S. event.

Before the race started, 14 of 20 drivers abruptly pulled off the track in a tire-safety dispute, infuriating a crowd of 150,000. Formula One plans to run the race again this year July 2.

Elsewhere

* Perris Auto Speedway, southeast of Riverside, opens its season Feb. 4 for USAC/CRA sprint cars and Feb. 11 for super stocks, late models and other classes.

* Irwindale Raceway, which also runs super stocks, late models, trucks and other classes, launches its season March 11.

* The Rolex 24-hour endurance race for prototypes and sports cars starts Jan. 28 at Daytona and again features an all-star lineup of open-wheel, road-racing and NASCAR drivers, including Paul Tracy, Wheldon and Stewart.

Revving it up

2006 AMA Supercross Series schedule:

* Saturday: Angel Stadium.

* Jan. 28: SBC Park, San Francisco.

* Feb. 4: Angel Stadium.

* Feb. 11: Qualcomm Stadium,

San Diego.

* Feb. 18: Edward Jones Dome, St. Louis.

* Feb. 25: Georgia Dome, Atlanta.

* March 4: RCA Dome, Indianapolis.

* March 10: Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, Fla.

* March 18: Citrus Bowl,