Henderson's Hearn posts best drive among locals

LONG BEACH, Calif. -- Richie Hearn of Henderson can claim bragging rights over fellow Southern Nevada residents and CART FedEx Championship Series regulars Jimmy Vasser and Paul Tracy -- at least for two weeks.

Starting 24th and finishing 11th, Hearn had the best race of the three local drivers in Sunday's Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. It also marked the second straight race in which Hearn has scored points toward the series championship.

Vasser finished just ahead of Hearn in 10th place while Tracy suffered suspension damage after making contact with Michael Andretti while leaving pit-road midway through the race and retired after 48 laps, finishing 21st. Both Vasser and Tracy are Las Vegas residents.

Hearn drove his Della Penna Motorsports Swift/Toyota from the 24th starting position after another poor qualifying effort on Saturday.

"I'm pleased with the result but overall I'm not happy with the weekend we had," Hearn said. "We have to work on our qualifying effort. Unless we start qualifying consistently in the top 10, we're going to struggle to be there at the end."

Hearn's run from the back of the 27-car field nearly turned disastrous. On the fourth lap of the 85-lap race, Robby Gordon knocked loose an advertising banner from one of the walls and it got stuck on Hearn's windshield.

Hearn eventually worked the banner loose, but not before it ripped the right-side mirror from his car.

"I'm glad everyone kind of watched out for me," Hearn said. "I was just wandering around out there trying to tear that thing off. It was difficult to rip it off, drive and stay out of everyone's way. It took me about five turns to finally get rid of it."

Tracy didn't fare as well, despite qualifying better (10th) than Hearn. During a yellow-flag pit stop on lap 48, Tracy was rear-ended by Andretti as he was leaving the pits and the damage was too severe to repair.

"The Team Kool Green crew gave me a great second pit stop and I think we made up a couple of positions," Tracy said. "But then, as I was leaving the pits, a couple of other guys pulled out in front of me and I got hit.

"It's a shame; the car was really good today ... we were quicker than everyone down the straights, but it's so hard to pass here and I just couldn't get by anyone."

Vasser knew exactly what Tracy was talking about.

"The car was pretty good for the first half of the race, but I got buried behind (Max) Papis," Vasser, who started ninth, said. "Every time I'd get a run on him, I'd either get wheelspin out of the corner or hit the rev limiter.

"After the last (pit) stop, the car went loose on me. I could barely keep it under me for the last 20 laps. I held on to my position, but I'm not real happy."

Round 4 of the CART FedEx Championship Series is scheduled for May 2 at Nazareth (Pa.) Speedway.

*TEAMWORK: Juan Montoya's victory Sunday for Target/Chip Ganassi Racing marked the 26th victory for the team since it began in 1990.

Target/Chip Ganassi Racing has won 24 races since the start of the 1996 season and has been on the podium in 25 of the past 30 races.

Montoya, who took over for Alex Zanardi when Zanardi left the team at the end of last season to return to Formula One, is the first CART rookie to take a checkered flag since Zanardi, who won three times in 1996.

*UNDERCARDS: Philipp Peter of Austria won the PPG-Dayton Indy Lights support race Sunday before the Grand Prix of Long Beach. Peter, who led the final three laps of the 41-lap race, took the lead when Felipe Giaffone ran out of fuel after leading the first 38 laps.

In the other support race Sunday, Paul Gentilozzi won the Johnson Controls 100 BFGoodrich Tires Trans-Am Series race.

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