Racing Briefs: Other tracks expected to follow Michigan lead

The accident at Michigan Speedway in which three spectators were killed by an errant race car wheel has prompted the track to raise its fences. Other tracks are expected to follow suit.

"That accident is going to make us do what everybody else is probably doing this week, and that's looking at their wheel fences and walls and what can be done to make it better, just like in '87 when Bobby Allison went into the wheel fence at Talladega," said H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler, president and general manager of Charlotte Motor Speedway.

"A change resulted from that, no so much in the fence itself, but in the cables that go into the fence."

The Charlotte track and others have made safety improvements in recent years at the request of the track insurers.

NASCAR requires $20 million in public liability insurance. If people get hurt in the grandstand, the track has $20 million to cover any damages. The fee per event at CMS varies from $15,000 to $50,000, depending on what kind of cars are involved.

Mike Helton, vice president of competition for NASCAR, said the sanctioning organization has no standard for wall or fence construction, but it can require tracks to make changes in the interest of spectator safety.

"If there is such a thing as a standard, it is for the facility, for all practical purposes, to be safe. But there is not a standard that says how tall (a wall or fence) has to be or that it can't be any taller than this."

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ZANARDI IN FRONT: Alex Zanardi, whose six victories already this season have helped him build a huge points lead in the CART FedEx Championship Series, has taken the top spot from Michael Schumacher in the Champion Spark Plug World Driver Rankings.

The reigning Champ Car champion, expected to return to Formula One next year, got the top spot after two-time F1 champ Schumacher finished fifth Sunday in the German Grand Prix.

The Champion rankings consider 23 professional series. Scores are based on the number of rounds in the championship and a rating given to the series by a panel of experts.

Mika Hakkinen, who leads this year's Formula One standings and won in Germany, is third, trailing Zanardi and Schumacher. NASCAR Winston Cup leader Jeff Gordon is fourth, followed by fellow NASCAR stars Mark Martin and Dale Jarrett.

Rounding out the top 10 in the rankings are Formula One drivers David Coulthard, Hakkinen's teammate at Team McLaren; 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve; Eddie Irvine, Schumacher's teammate at Ferrari, and Jimmy Vasser, Zanardi's teammate at Target-Chip Ganassi Racing.

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LUYENDYK OK: Arie Luyendyk, who has had a so-so season in the Indy Racing League, walked away from a nasty crash last week during the inaugural International Race of Champions event at Indianapolis with a mild concussion.

"I feel just fine, actually," Luyendyk said after a night in the hospital. "I'm just bruised here and there, but it's nothing that won't go away soon.

"I have a little bit of a headache or a heavy-headed feeling, but that is normal after being knocked out. It was really too bad. I was looking forward that the race. To run at Indianapolis in an IROC Car in front of such a large crowd - I was looking forward to it."

The race Friday drew an estimated 100,000 spectators to the cavernous Indianapolis Motor Speedway. That broke the unofficial IROC attendance mark of 80,000, set several years earlier at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

The on-track incident began when Tommy Kendall got loose coming off turn four, banged into the wall, and bounced into Luyendyk, sending his car sliding hard into the inside barrier near the pit entrance.

"I never expected to have such a big shunt in an IROC car," Luyendyk said. "We were traveling pretty fast and because the car was so heavy, the impact was hard."

Luyendyk said there is no doubt he will be ready for the IRL race at Pike's Peak International Raceway on Aug. 16.

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