Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Wallace ready to win Daytona himself

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

Rusty Wallace watched with mixed emotions as Dale Earnhardt celebrated his long-awaited win in last year's Daytona 500.

After 19 unsuccessful attempts at capturing NASCAR Winston Cup racing's version of the Super Bowl, Earnhardt finally won the granddaddy of them all, and it elicited unfamiliar emotions from the man known as "The Intimidator."

Heck, the normally stoic seven-time Winston Cup champion even had to fight back tears as virtually every crew member from the 41 other teams lined pit road and congratulated Earnhardt as he coasted toward Victory Lane.

"When I saw Earnhardt finally win a Daytona 500, it gave me a lot of joy," Wallace, who finished fifth, said. "He's a friend of mine and I was sure proud for him (but) I wish I could have won it because I was right there."

This week, Wallace is in Daytona with what he said he believes is his best shot at winning next Sunday's Great American Race -- something that has eluded him in 16 previous February visits to Daytona International Speedway.

"I think we have our best shot ever of winning this thing," Wallace said. "I'm not making any predictions ... but I think we're better prepared this time around than ever before."

Wallace recently completed two days of testing at Daytona and came away with the top speed (193.129 mph) in his Miller Lite Ford Taurus.

"I'm real happy about that," Wallace said during a recent visit to Las Vegas. "We brought a brand-new car down there, a new design, and we took it off the truck and it just flew.

"It's the same design (of) cars we have run but we made some modifications to accommodate qualifying for Daytona. Qualifying is a tough deal at Daytona -- you've got to get fast. I think the car is going to qualify fast and run fast."

Although he maintained he was shying away from making predictions, Wallace tossed one out, anyway.

"I've got all the hope in the world of going down there and sitting on the pole," he said. "I think I can sit on the front row of the Daytona 500, right on the pole position, with the engines we're taking back and this new car. It gives me a lot of hope.

"It would mean everything in the world to me, to win a 500, because the 500 is a big, big race that has eluded me for a long time. I never felt like I had the equipment to win the 500 but, by God, I've got it now."

With 48 Winston Cup victories and one Winston Cup championship (1989), Wallace would like to add a Daytona 500 win to round out his resume.

"I think my career is not complete unless I win a couple more championships and a Daytona 500," he said. "I could end (it) right now and say I had a great career but I want to have an awesome career when I'm all done."

* NASCAR: Las Vegas Motor Speedway isn't the only Speedway Motorsports Inc., facility adding seats for this year's Winston Cup race.

Texas Motor Speedway is adding 10,000 temporary bleacher seats for its March 28 race to bring seating capacity to 164,481.

LVMS added approximately 20,000 seats for next month's Las Vegas 400, raising its seating capacity to roughly 127,000. ...

United States Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has been named Grand Marshal for the Feb. 14 Daytona 500 and will give drivers the command to start their engines.

* CART: Raul Boesel, who has a full-time ride in the rival Indy Racing League, has been signed to replace Las Vegas resident Paul Tracy in the season-opening race for the rival CART series.

Tracy was suspended from the March 21 opener at Homestead, Fla., by CART following a rough drive during the race in Australia last October.

The race will represent a homecoming of sorts for Boesel, who drove for Team Green in 1996 and finished 22nd in the CART championship.

"Raul's a perfect choice," Tracy, who has signed a three-year contract extension with Team Green, said. "He's a great all-around driver, but some of his best performances have come on ovals.

"Given his experience with the team, he should go well at Homestead." ...

Las Vegas resident Jimmy Vasser posted the third-fastest lap during a test session this week at the Miami-Dade Homestead Motorsports Complex. Vasser turned in a speed of 215.375 mph. Patrick Carpentier leads the way at 216.617.

"We've been running good on the bigger ovals for a while and we've done a lot of tire testing with Firestone and a lot of work with Honda on the engine," Vasser said. "We've been going well in the off-season, but we need to do a little bit more work on the race car." ...

Paul Page and Parker Johnstone will head the announcing team for CART's 20 televised races this season. Thirteen of the 20 races will be televised by ABC while ESPN will handle the remaining seven.

* IRL: Davey Hamilton, a Las Vegas resident, is close to landing sponsorship for his IRL Dallara/Aurora, according to car owner Rick Galles.

Hamilton and Galles went to Orlando for last month's season opener at the last minute and with borrowed equipment but managed to finish eighth. That run has led to some interest from "major sponsors," Galles said. ...

Team Pelfrey manager Greg Paull is attempting to put together a deal that will allow 1998 IRL Rookie of the Year Robby Unser to drive the team's car next month at Phoenix International Raceway.

Unser has signed a contract to serve as a test driver for Team Cheever, but was allowed to drive Pelfrey's entry in last month's season opener at Orlando, where he finished 15th after starting 21st. ...

* BACKMARKERS: Tickets will go on sale Monday for the Pennzoil World of Outlaws races to be held March 5-6 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway half-mile clay track. Tickets are $30 for adults and $15 for children ages 6-11, seniors and military, and will be available at the Speedway's ticket office.

The Outlaws will kick off the Las Vegas 400 NASCAR Winston Cup week, which features the Las Vegas 125 NASCAR Winston West Series race on Friday, March 5, the Sam's Town 300 NASCAR Busch Series race on Saturday, March 6 and the Las Vegas 400 NASCAR Winston Cup race on Sunday, March 7. ...

SNORE (Southern Nevada Off Road Enthusiasts) will open its 1999 season Saturday with the AVI 250 in Laughlin. ... Ron Landram (Pro Division), Richard Laitinen (Sportsman), Terry Martin (Street), Gerald Taylor (Motorcycles) and Bick Brand and P.J. Boggs (Junior Dragster) were class winners in the first National Hot Rod Association/Craftsman ET drag race of the year at LVMS last weekend. The next points race will be Feb. 20.

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