Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Zanardi gives credit to Vasser

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/

Lest anyone think Alex Zanardi is leaving the Target/Chip Ganassi Racing team high and dry after capturing his second consecutive CART championship, the personable Italian is quick to point out that a winning tradition was established before he ever grasped his first PPG Cup.

Zanardi credits his Ganassi Racing teammate, Jimmy Vasser, with establishing that tradition. Vasser, a Las Vegas resident, laid the groundwork for the team's success by winning the CART championship in 1996.

Zanardi picked right up where Vasser left off, winning series titles in 1997 and again this year before announcing Tuesday that he is leaving CART for the Formula One World Championship.

With three stops remaining on the 1998 CART schedule, Zanardi has won 14 of the 48 races he has run for Ganassi in the past three seasons.

The 31-year-old also credits Vasser, his teammate for three years, with helping him become so successful.

"I learned a lot from Jimmy Vasser," Zanardi said. "Jimmy Vasser (taught) me how to read the race a little bit better. I was probably a little bit impatient sometimes, which is a little typical of the European school; you start the race from a standing position and the first corner is always very important and you want to try to make as many positions as possible.

"In CART, it's exactly the other way around -- not that the first turn is not important, but sometimes you still have time and you have margin to turn your destiny upside down if you don't like the direction (it) took."

The biggest lessons Zanardi said he learned from Vasser were patience and perseverance.

"I feel like I'm a much, much better driver because this year I've been able to win races attacking from lap one to the last one and I've been able also to win races just waiting patiently for other people's mistakes or misfortunes," he said.

"Also, I've learned all you have to do is never give up and I guess maybe this is also what I feel I brought to the team. I always try, whether I go for first place or for 20th, and I think this is the only part of the credit that I feel I can take in what I did at Target/Chip Ganassi Racing."

Zanardi said he hopes to bring the same determination to the Williams race team next season -- but he isn't about to make any bold predictions that he will duplicate his CART success in Europe.

"I'm going to try to give it my best shot, to do my best, and not give up until the duration of my agreement," he said.

"It's very, very difficult to predict or to put targets in front of me. If you look too far ahead, you lose focus on little obstacles that are right in front of you."

* NASCAR: Just how popular is Busch Series point leaders Dale Earnhardt Jr.? Would you believe more popular than his famous racing father? At a recent race weekend where both the Winston Cup and Busch series were running, Dale Jr. outsold his father by a significant margin at the souvenir trailer. Is it any wonder Budweiser signed the younger Earnhardt to a six-year deal estimated at $10 million? ... Winston Cup rookie Steve Park has this piece of advice for the younger Earnhardt, who will run five Cup races next season before moving to the big time in 2000: "You can't come over here (to Winston Cup) and kick butt. Nobody has ever done that and probably never will." ... Speaking of kicking butt, Jeff Gordon needs only to finish fourth or better in the remaining seven races to clinch his third Winston Cup championship and second in a row. ... Fact of the week: Gordon never has won a race in October or November during his Winston Cup career. He does, however, have 39 victories in 142 career starts.

* CART: Chief steward Wally Dallenbach announced this week that driver Bryan Herta has been removed from probation. Herta had been placed on probation Aug. 9 for an opening-lap incident with Dario Franchitti in the Miller Lite 200 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. ... Following his first CART victory Sept. 13 at Laguna Seca, Herta received a congratulatory phone call from CBS "Late Show" host and Team Rahal minority owner David Letterman. "I spoke with (Letterman) on the cell phone not very long after the race and we sort of got to share in the afterglow of that (win)," Herta said. "He actually just had a lot of the same emotions I did -- happiness and relief." Letterman also sent Herta and his team an expensive bottle of champagne.

* IRL: In the wake of a rash of blowouts and shredded tires at last weekend's Lone Stars 500, Goodyear Tire engineers are re-evaluating the tire they developed for the 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway. Todd Carpenter, Goodyear's lead engineer in the IRL, said the company is "very determined" to try to make sure the problems don't continue at the season-ending Las Vegas 500K on Oct. 11. Las Vegas resident Davey Hamilton's Goodyear-equipped Dallara/Aurora suffered five right-rear tire failures in the race. "I was running fast but (my crew) had to slow me down because of our tire problem," Hamilton, who finished ninth, said. "That was the tough part -- that and the fact that I was not sure if my tires were going to blow." Because of the problem with the tires, which were to be used at Las Vegas Motor Speedway as well, several teams running on Goodyears have canceled tests this week and next at LVMS.

* BACKMARKERS: IMCA Modifieds, Dwarf Cars and Street Stocks will be featured tonight at the half-mile and third-mile clay tracks at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Among the top IMCA drivers will be Pahrump's Jason Pike, Leland Hibdon and Don Parker Jr. Pike recently wrapped up the Bakersfield Speedway track championship. Gates will open at 5 p.m. with racing set for 7 p.m. ... Four divisions will compete in their final points race of the year Saturday night, highlighting NASCAR Winston Racing Series stock car action at the 3/8ths-mile paved oval. The evening will include competition in Grand American Modifieds, Limited Late Models, Legends and Street Stocks. Gates open at 4 p.m., with main events scheduled to start at 8. ...

Citizens Area Transit driver Dana Young has captured the Pro ET title of the NHRA/Craftsman ET drag racing series. Young powered his '63 Chevy Nova to a pair of victories and ended the season with 502 points, one more than Randy Holly. John Sparrow dominated the Sportsman Division while Dan Clifton won the Motorcycle division and Bill Dudley captured the Street competition. ... Las Vegas driver Kurt Busch has slipped to fifth place in the Featherlite Southwest Series points standings following a low finish last weekend in the Featherlite Trailers Manufacturing 125 at Tucson Raceway Park. Busch, who suffered from mechanical problems in his latest outing, has one win this year, in the Star Nursery 100 at LVMS in April.

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