Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Driver / analyst Glanville slated to pull double duty

BRIAN HILDERBRAND is a Las Vegas Sun sportswriter. His motor sports column appears Fridays. He can be reached on the Internet at [email protected]. For the latest in the world of auto racing, check out the Sun Racing web site at http://www.lasvegassun.com /sports/racing/

After breaking seven ribs in a horrific crash earlier this year during qualifying for a Winston West race at Phoenix International Raceway, one-time NFL head coach Jerry Glanville heard from many of his former players.

But they weren't exactly get-well wishes.

"Shortly after Phoenix, we had a Hooters Pro Cup race at my home track in Jefferson, Georgia, and I really tried to make it back for that and I've got to tell you, I got in the car and could not move, I could not function," Glanville said. "I did not answer the bell and I told everybody I became everything I hated when I coached: I couldn't get the job done when I wanted to.

"I heard from all the players that I coached that I had no sympathy for. I heard from all the players that I told, 'Suck it up and play.' My list of phone calls became everybody that I was not kind to."

Judging from Glanville's hectic schedule, not being able to race probably hurt him more than the actual broken bones. In addition to his duties as a color analyst for Fox Sport's NFL telecasts and HBO's "Inside the NFL," Glanville keeps busy by racing in no fewer than five series.

This weekend, the former Houston Oilers and Atlanta Falcons head coach will pull double duty, driving in both the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and Winston West races at California Speedway in Fontana.

Glanville said that racing replaces the adrenaline rush he misses by not coaching in the NFL.

"It's all about competing," Glanville said. "In both sports, you have to compete; you have to get up every day and try to be better than you were yesterday or you're going to get left behind.

"It's funny, once the ball is kicked off, you're full concentration is on the game -- you don't even know that anybody's in the stands and you don't even know it's on TV. When you do your five warmup laps in the truck and you come around turn four and they wave the green flag, you don't have any idea anybody's there other than the people you can see that you're racing."

Although he has expressed an interest in only one NFL head coaching job -- with the St. Louis Rams before they hired Dick Vermeil -- since leaving the Falcons, Glanville said he does not have a preference between racing and coaching.

"I've been pretty lucky, I love doing both," he said. "I miss coaching at times. You do something for 31 years and you miss it. I think if I was not coaching and not racing, I would be a pretty sad individual. I think racing has kind of helped me fill the (void) from not being involved (in coaching)."

And Glanville uses every available free moment to fill that void by racing wherever and whatever he can find -- and sometimes even that isn't enough.

"The fun for us is we get to run a lot of series and some weekends we get to race three times," Glanville said. "Every year, I take a calendar out and open it up and I list the Southern All-Stars and I list the Hooters Pro Cup and then the truck series and then Winston West.

"We had about three weekends this year when none of those series were racing and I looked around and said, 'You know, if we had a drag car, we could have gone drag racing,' so that's our plan for next year, to add that to our package."

* NASCAR: Drivers Todd Bodine and David Green, fired recently from their Winston Cup rides, both have found driving jobs in the Busch Series. ... Jerry Nadeau has been fired as driver of the No. 13 FirstPlus Financial Ford Taurus that is co-owned by Winston Cup star Bill Elliott and Miami Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino. ... Robby Gordon has been signed by Roehrig Motorsports to drive the No. 19 Yellow Freight Ford in the Brickyard 400 on Aug. 1 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, replacing Truck Series regular Tony Raines. ... NASCAR is doing away with the Craftsman Truck Series' "halftime" break for the July 25 race at Pikes Peak International Raceway in Fountain, Colo., and instead will feature Winston Cup-style tire changes. The change in format is being used as a test, according to NASCAR, and may be implemented in the future at other tracks with appropriate pit facilities.

* CART: Red-hot Alex Zanardi can tie Al Unser Jr.'s series record for most consecutive wins with a victory this weekend in the Molson Indy in Toronto. Unser established the CART record of four successive wins in 1990 and Zanardi brings a three-race winning streak to the streets of Toronto. Zanardi and Target/Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Jimmy Vasser, a Las Vegas resident, have combined to win the past five CART events. Vasser, with 92 points, is third in the driver's championship battle behind Zanardi (154) and Greg Moore (96). ... Friends, associates and fellow competitors will honor one of Championship Car racing's great sportsmen August 10 at the Hyatt Regency in Columbus, Ohio, when Miller Brewing Company presents Out In Front, A Tribute To Bobby Rahal. The charity roast will be hosted by ESPN SportsCenter anchor Kenny Mayne and feature tributes from racing greats Al Unser Jr., Don "The Snake" Prudhomme and Rusty Wallace among others. The event will coincide with Rahal's final home race, the Miller Lite 200 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in nearby Lexington, Ohio.

* IRL: From the "Is he nuts?" department: IRL driver Greg Ray earlier this week confirmed that he has talked with CART owner/driver Bobby Rahal about the opening in Rahal's Miller Lite Reynard/Honda at the end of this season, then said he would prefer to remain in the struggling IRL. "I do miss road racing, but they (CART) don't race on the type of tracks I like for the most part," Ray said. "I'm listening to all opportunities, but I think the IRL is where I want to be." Ray will drive for A.J. Foyt in this weekend's Pep Boys 400K at Dover International Speedway. ... Las Vegas resident Davey Hamilton has been working out with Baltimore Ravens strength and conditioning coach Jerry Simmons in preparation for Sunday's race. ... Buddy Lazier and Arie Luyendyk are poised to become the first drivers to win $3 million in IRL prize money. Luyendyk leads the circuit with $2,876,853 in career earnings while Lazier is second with $2,790,404.

* BACKMARKERS: Mike Ray, who has won 11 of 13 Late Model Sportsman races this year at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, finished fourth in the running for the NASCAR Gatorade Front Runner Award. Ray is tied with Dale Clay of Lanier National Speedway for the most victories in NASCAR Winston Racing Series short-tracks events. ... Seven divisions of stock car racing will be featured tonight and Saturday night at two LVMS tracks. The Arizona-Nevada Racing Series will include IMCA Modifieds, Street Stocks and Dwarfs tonight at the clay track. Gates will open at 5 p.m., wheel pack is set for 6:30 p.m. and hot-lapping is scheduled to begin at 6:45 p.m. The main events will begin at 8 p.m. The NASCAR Winston Racing Series headlines the 3/8-mile paved oval Saturday night with competition in Late Model Sportsman, Limited Late Model, Grand American Modifieds and Legends competing. Gates will open at 4 p.m., preliminary events start at 7 p.m. and main events are scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. ... Star Nursery has announced a $15,000 bonus points fund for five divisions of short-track racing at the LVMS 3/8-mile paved oval. The purse, to be paid at the year-end banquet, includes bonus money in Late Model Sportsman, Limited Late Model, Grand American Modifieds, Street Stocks and Mini Stock divisions.

Henderson's Rob Flores hopes his final two 1998 International Jet Sports Boating Association (IJSBA) races produce much better results than the first six. One of the top Pro riders on the IJSBA National Tour, Flores will be among nearly 200 Pro and Expert riders completing the 1998 regular season this weekend in Seaside Heights, N.J., and next weekend near Chicago on Lake Michigan. Between battling a severe case of adult chicken pox at the start of the season, new Yamaha racing boats with mechanical woes and general new-team blues, Flores finds himself a distant sixth in the Pro Ski class in which he almost won the season championship last year. After winning five of 11 races last year and finishing second in four others, Flores' best finish so far this season is a pair of fourth places. "This has really been a tough year for me between my health, new team adjustments and the problems we've been having with our boats," Flores said. "We've done a lot of testing during with our Mission Yamaha team the last two weeks and with two good races to end the season, we can get a lot of confidence back heading into the World Finals." The 17th IJSBA Skat-Trak World Finals will be held October 11-18 in Lake Havasu City, Ariz. Flores finished fourth in Pro Ski in last year's IJSBA Skat-Trak World Finals.

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