Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Bad blood holding back IRL, CART

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

The rift between Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) and the Indy Racing League needs to be resolved for the benefit of both series, CART president Andrew Craig said.

But the divisiveness in American open-wheel racing isn't stopping Craig and CART from expanding its series both in the U.S. and abroad.

"Certainly, reconciliation would be the best thing possible for racing," Craig said during a recent visit to Las Vegas. "Having said that, we have some plans to build our business on the (assumption) there won't be reconciliation.

"But that doesn't mean we won't take every opportunity to seek a solution to the things that divide us."

The well-documented split in American open-wheel racing began in 1994 when Indianapolis Motor Speedway president Tony George announced his plans to start a low-cost alternative to CART, the IRL. As a result, drivers in the CART series have not raced in the Indianapolis 500 since 1995.

Last year, it was widely reported that team owners from CART and the IRL had been meeting in an effort to bring the two series back together. Craig declined to comment on those -- or any other -- talks.

"I don't think it's particularly constructive to comment in public upon what discussions are taking place," Craig said, "but it is quite safe to say we are very committed to work to try to find some solutions for racing as a whole -- not just for our style of open-wheel racing, but for all open-wheel racing."

Until something is done to bring the two series together, Craig said CART will continue to expand its series. CART added a race at the new track in Chicago this year, bringing to 20 the number of races the series will stage in 1999.

Craig said the series is looking to expand outside the United States -- it already holds races in Australia, Japan, Brazil and Canada -- as well as adding additional U.S. races.

"We have increased the number of races from 16 over the last three or four years to 20 in 1999," Craig said. "We see further potential to increase the number of races but we have to be very careful because it costs our race teams significant sums of money to go racing. We have to make sure to grow the sponsor base in lockstep with our expansion of the series.

"Certainly, there is a very significant demand for races, both in this country and abroad, and we do see significant chances to expand our series perhaps to 22, 23 races, maybe slightly more, over time."

Although CART will not be racing at Indianapolis this year, Craig said he was pleased to see George land an American Formula One race at the legendary Brickyard. The inaugural F1 race is scheduled to be run in the fall in 2000.

"I think it's great; Tony George is to be applauded for bringing a Formula One race back to the USA," Craig said. "There hasn't been one in the States in some years and previous attempts have not been all that successful.

"We think that (the U.S.) is one of the largest markets and the Formula One World Championship should be in the States. We think it's good for us, we think that anything that heightens the attention and interest in open-wheel racing ... is good for us.

"We think open-wheel racing needs more races, not less."

* NASCAR: Reigning Winston Cup champion Jeff Gordon led all GM drivers at the final test at Daytona International Speedway before next month's season-opening Daytona 500.

Gordon's top speed of 192.452 mph, however, was slower than Rusty Wallace's top speed of 193.129 in a Ford. ...

Tickets still are available for the March 6 Sam's Town 300 NASCAR Busch Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and the race could prove to be more interesting than the featured Winston Cup Las Vegas 400 the following day.

Two of the brightest stars in stock-car racing -- Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- will be racing against each other for the first time in a points race in the Sam's Town 300. Earnhardt is driving his final full season in the Busch Series before moving up to Winston Cup in 2000 and Gordon is driving his new Busch entry in five races this season.

* CART: Rival CART drivers Jimmy Vasser of Las Vegas and Max Papis will team up to drive a Ferrari 333 SP in the Jan. 30 Rolex 24 at Daytona.

The entry posted the fourth-fastest lap time (1:42.054) during a recent three-day weekend practice session at Daytona International Speedway. Former CART driver Stefan Johansson and Jim Matthews are also entered as drivers of the car. ...

Newman/Haas Racing co-owner Paul Newman, 74, took a spin around the 2.5-mile Daytona oval in a Richard Childress-owned Chevrolet during a recent Winston Cup test session and was clocked in excess of 184 mph.

* IRL: Henderson resident Sam Schmidt will make his debut as driver for Treadway Racing's Sprint PCS G-Force/Aurora in Sunday's IRL season opener at Walt Disney World Speedway in Orlando, Fla.

Schmidt, who spent last season as an owner/driver on the circuit, said he is looking forward to concentrating solely on driving this year.

"You still have to drive the car, that's no different," Schmidt said. "But outside of that, everything is different. I probably spent literally 80 percent of my time last season trying to find money, making sponsorship deals that would keep the team going.

"Now, I can really focus on what I need to do as a race driver, not on financial issues."

* BACKMARKERS: Close to 20 drivers from Southern Nevada will be among the 175 racers competing in this weekend's SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge, which begins Saturday in the Colorado River resort town.

The race is split into two days of action, with the 16 classes for cars and trucks divided into six groups for six separate races both Saturday and Sunday. Competitors will run the 13-mile course in multiple-lap races, with time limits of 85-minutes each.

The event finishing order will be based on the combined two-day results of each racer. The featured Trophy-Truck division will race five laps at noon both days. ...

Toyota Motor Corp., which is stepping up its involvement in the CART series, announced it plans to enter Formula One racing for the 2003 season.

Toyota president Hiroshi Okuda said Toyota will develop a new engine and chassis, and that the project will be launched at Koln, Germany-based subsidiary Toyota Motorsport GmbH. The effort will be headed by Andre de Contanze, a 57-year-old French driver with several victories at Le Mans and other world races.

Okuda said Toyota was not influenced by Honda's announcement last month that it might return to Formula One racing next year after a six-year break. ...

The Joliet (Ill.) City Council this week unanimously approved plans for a group to add a 1.5 mile oval track just north of the existing Route 66 Raceway drag strip.

The new $100 million oval track will seat approximately 75,000 fans and is expected to host three major racing event weekends each year, including an IRL race. The group also hopes to be awarded a NASCAR Winston Cup Series race, a Busch Grand National Series race and a Craftsman Truck Series Race. ...

Jim "Jet" Neilson, who set the roadway world record of 380 mph in a jet dragster in Las Vegas in Feb. 1997, will attempt to break his record Saturday.

Neilson's attempt will be made on a new quarter-mile section of the new beltway between Interstate 15 and Decatur Boulevard.

The public is invited to watch the world-record attempt, which is scheduled to begin at noon.

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