Monday, March 3, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
SUN STAFF REPORTS
A pair of benefits are being planned in the name of Chris Trickle, the local stock car racer who remains hospitalized at University Medical Center after being shot in the head in a highway incident Feb. 9.
On Thursday, March 15, Station Casinos Inc., Star Nursery and Legends Cars of Nevada will sponsor an unplugged benefit concert at Texas Station. Celebrities expected to appear include country-western stars Richard Sterben of the Oak Ridge Boys, Mark Collie and John Hiatt; rock stars Peter Cetera, Vince Neil and Matt and Gunnar Nelson, TV celebrities John Amos, Richard Dean Anderson and Jeannie Cooper; Apollo astronaut Pete Conrad and NASCAR Winston Cup racer Dick Trickle, Chris' uncle.
Tickets are $100 and $150 and will be available starting Tuesday at Texas Station. Donations are also being accepted at City Bank of Las Vegas (734-3106).
In addition, the Las Vegas Junior Dragsters in conjunction with the Fast Eddie's Mini-Marts will host a weekend-long fund raiser beginning Friday at the West Flamingo Fast Eddie's location (6720 West Flamingo). Trickle's Southwest Tour stock car will be on display from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday.
Call 364-2009 for details regarding the Fast Eddie's benefit.
* CART: At Homestead, Fla., Michael Andretti hardly knew who to thank first. The second-generation Indy-car star earned an important victory Sunday in the season-opening Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami, establishing himself as at least one of the favorites to win the 1997 PPG Cup championship. Defending CART champion Jimmy Vasser of Las Vegas finished third in a Reynard-Honda and Richie Hearn of Henderson wound up 11th in a Lola-Ford. Vasser started sixth, Hearn 21st. Widening Andretti's smile after the race at Metro-Dade Homestead Motorsports Complex was the fact that his victory came in the first American-made chassis to win an Indy-car event in 14 years. And it came with an engine that proved considerably stronger than a year ago, when Andretti still managed to win five races. "We had to be optimistic because we knew we won all those races last year with a package that shouldn't have been able to win," Andretti said. "Now it's nice to have the whole package out there -- the Swift, the Ford engine and Goodyear tires."
* NASCAR: At Richmond, Va., Rusty Wallace wasn't happy with Jeff Gordon's hard driving at the end of the Pontiac Excitement 400. A short time later, NASCAR wasn't happy with Wallace. The engine in Wallace's winning Ford Thunderbird failed a critical post-race test, and NASCAR officials said they were taking it for further testing. "It was marginal on compression, so they're taking it to an environment where they can check it at one of NASCAR's facilities," Robin Pemberton, Wallace's crew chief, told the Richmond Times-Dispatch. NASCAR spokesman Kevin Triplett released few details about the problem. He said an announcement probably would come today.
* BUSCH SERIES: At Richmond, Va., Mark Martin wasn't really part of the late-race duel between Jeff Burton and Jason Keller in the Hardee's Fried Chicken Challenge, but the veteran Winston Cup driver certainly benefited from it. After leading for 180 of the 250 laps, Burton was sent sliding sideways across the infield grass and onto victory lane by a final-lap crash with Keller, one that cleared the way for Martin's 28th career Busch trophy. It was the second time Burton and Keller's cars bumped in the final two laps of Saturday's race. Earlier, Keller bumped and then passed Burton on the 248th trip around Richmond International Raceway, setting off the thrilling late race duel.
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