Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: CART race in Las Vegas? Don't bet on it

Brian Hilderbrand's motor sports notebook appears Friday. His golf notebook appears Wednesday. Reach him at [email protected] or 259-4089.

Andrew Craig has said on more than one occasion that he wants to bring his Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) Series to Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

LVMS general manager Chris Powell seems to be intrigued with the idea of hosting the open-wheel series.

But the closer the two get to opening negotiations on staging a CART race in Las Vegas, the less likely it appears the race will come off.

According to Powell, he and Craig held their first "face-to-face" meeting earlier this week, but the two sides are no closer to hammering out a deal.

Both Powell and CART director of public relations Mike Zizzo were quick to point out that the two sides have not entered into negotiations and there is no offer on the table from either side.

"We had a good conversation," Powell said of his meeting with Craig, "but we both have some concerns. (Craig) certainly has some people he needs to talk to regarding (fitting the race into) the CART schedule ... and I need to talk to (track owner Bruton Smith) as to how much we need a CART race."

The stumbling block on CART's side is that its team owners are reluctant to add another race to a schedule many believe is already at capacity with 20 races plus a season-ending, limited-field, pay-per-view event in Hawaii.

One option, according to some CART insiders, is to trim an existing event from the schedule -- the most likely candidate being the race at Nazareth (Pa.) Speedway -- to add a date in Las Vegas.

On LVMS' end, a hefty $5 million operating budget to put on the race -- including a sanctioning fee that could run as much as $2.2 million -- likely will have Speedway officials more concerned about the bottom line than the start/finish line.

Craig is unlikely to waver on the sanctioning fee, as 70 percent of the series' revenue comes from such fees. (There is no truth to the rumor that the other 30 percent comes from Paul Tracy's fines.)

Add into the equation the fact that CART retains all the television rights fees for its races and it becomes clear why LVMS is taking such a cautious approach to the idea of hosting CART.

Speedway Motorsports Inc., which owns LVMS and five other tracks, received $7 million this year from ABC Sports to televise the Las Vegas 400 NASCAR Winston Cup race. SMI paid 10 percent of that amount to NASCAR for a sanctioning fee and another 25 percent went to the race purse.

Without the television money, LVMS' only income streams from a CART race would be from ticket sales, hospitality and race sponsorship.

"It's a lot more involved than just the sanctioning fee," Powell said. "We need to gauge all the factors and determine how much it means to us to have a CART race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway."

Doesn't sound very promising, does it?

* NASCAR: Saturday's NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race in Evergreen, Wash., is the 100th race in the series' history. Five drivers who have started all 100 truck races -- Ron Hornaday, Rick Carelli, Butch Miller, Joe Ruttman and Jack Sprague -- are eligible for a $100,000 bonus if they win the NAPACard 200. ...

Winston Cup driver Mike Skinner, the most seriously injured of Sunday's crash victims at Texas Motor Speedway, said he expects to be ready for the next race, April 11 at Bristol.

"I'm a little foggy, but I'll be all right," Skinner said. Sunday's race marked the second year in a row he left TMS with a broken right shoulder blade. ...

Legendary NASCAR driver/owner Junior Johnson made a return to the sport this week, announcing he is serving as a consultant to a new Busch Grand National team which will make its debut in Saturday's race at Nashville.

The No. 65 Chevrolet Monte Carlo will run under the Sasser Motorsports banner, sponsored by Overton's, Inc. Chris Cook, a 32-year-old instructor at the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving in Phoenix, will be behind the wheel.

* CART: Roger Penske has yet to decide who will drive in place of the injured Al Unser Jr. next week in Japan and April 18 at Long Beach.

Tarso Marques and Jason Leffler tested for Marlboro Team Penske at Nazareth, Pa., this week and Gonzalo Rodriguez completed a two-day test last week at Sebring Raceway. Penske said he will make a decision on driver assignments for the upcoming races this weekend.

* IRL: Sam Schmidt of Henderson has added Unisys Corporation and Microsoft Corporation as associate sponsors of his Treadway Racing G-Force/ Aurora for the balance of the Indy Racing League season. ...

Reigning Indianapolis 500 champion Eddie Cheever announced he is switching from Oldsmobile Aurora to Nissan Infiniti engines for the remainder of the IRL season.

* BACKMARKERS: The Texas Station hotel-casino will sponsor the first Texas Station Western States Dwarf Car Association national championship auto races April 15-17 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

The feature event, the $15,000 Texas Station National, will be a 30-lap race at 7 p.m., Saturday, April 17, on the LVMS 1/8-mile dirt oval track and will be the first of six WSDCA national events to be held this year.

Texas Station will serve as race headquarters and dwarf cars will be on display in the South Padre entertainment area all three days. The public may attend technical inspections from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., April 15 and 16, and from noon to 2 p.m. on April 17. A pit crew competition also will be held from 10:30 a.m. to noon on April 17.

General admission tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children 12 and under, and may be purchased at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway or the Texas Station Winners Center for a $2 discount on adult tickets. ...

The National Hot Rod Association/Craftsman ET Series resumes Saturday night at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, with competition in Pro, Sportsman, Street, Motorcycle and Junior Dragster categories. Gates open at 3 p.m., with first-round eliminations slated for 8:30. ...

IMCA Modifieds, Dirt Limited Late Models, Dwarf Cars and Legends will be featured Saturday at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway clay track. Spectator gates will open at 4 p.m., with preliminary races scheduled for 7.

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