Friday, Sept. 19, 2003 | 10:11 a.m.
Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at [email protected] or (702) 259-4089.
FONTANA, Calif. -- When they started their racing careers, both Helio Castroneves and Scott Dixon fully expected to be competing for major championships.
Neither driver, however, expected to be competing for the championship in an all-oval racing series. Castroneves holds a 12-point lead over Dixon going into Sunday's Toyota Indy 400 at California Speedway. Tony Kanaan, Gil de Ferran and Sam Hornish Jr. also remain in contention for the championship.
"I never really thought I would be in an all-oval series, but things have been going well," said Dixon, a 22-year-old native of Auckland, New Zealand. "I think from a driver's point of view, the racing (in the IRL) is far more superior to anything that I have been in before, and I really have had a lot of fun."
Like Dixon, Castroneves grew up in Brazil and expected his racing career would revolve around road courses, not ovals. Asked what his reaction would have been 10 years ago if someone would have told him he would be racing for an all-oval championship, Castroneves said, "oh, no, you are crazy."
"That is why I never said anything about any series, you know, even when I was thinking of racing Formula One," Castroneves, 28, said. "I always loved racing, so watching F1 and watching CART, people were saying, 'Oh, CART is just for retired drivers,' and I said, 'No, no, no; you can never underestimate anything because you might end up running in that place.' "
That is exactly what happened to both Castroneves and Dixon -- and Kanaan and de Ferran, for that matter. Castroneves and de Ferran followed team owner Roger Penske from CART to the IRL following the 2001 season, while Dixon and Kanaan made the move with their respective teams prior to this season.
"When the IRL came, I said 'no problem' and it is tough, but that is why I decided to come with the Marlboro Team Penske; I decided to challenge myself in being very good in ovals. So far, I guess I am doing OK," Castroneves said.
Castroneves comes to Fontana with two victories and nine top-five finishes in 14 races but saw his 25-point lead whittled to 12 following gearbox problems that resulted in a 20th-place finish two weeks ago at Chicagoland Speedway.
"I love my position in the points entering (this) race," he said. "I would like to have had a bit more of a lead, but I still think we have a great shot at winning the title. The championship is going to be close all the way until the final lap in Texas (the Oct. 12 season finale).
"However, unlike last year, when it was just me and Sam (Hornish Jr.), this year there will be five of us fighting it out. The points race is not even close to being over, so we need to remain focused and execute over the last two events. Like I've heard it said in the movies, it's not over until the fat lady sings."
Dixon, who leads the series with three victories and has seven finishes in the top five, also likes his chances at the title going into the final two events of the season.
"I feel that we're in a very good position to win the championship," Dixon said. "Obviously, you would like to be leading but we're not that far out. If we can win both races, we'll win the title -- and that's what our focus is right now.
"The guys that we are competing against are the best and like they say, 'To be the best, you have to beat the best.' "
Sunday's 200-lap Toyota Indy 400 on the 2-mile California Speedway oval will be televised live on ABC (Cox Cable channel 13) beginning at 12:30 p.m.
Hearn sat on the pole for the Sept. 7 race at Chicagoland Speedway in a one-off deal with Team Menard. Hearn finished 14th after the car developed handling problems early in the race. On Thursday, Hemelgarn Racing announced they would replace longtime driver Buddy Lazier with Hearn for Sunday's race at California Speedway.
Lazier, the 1996 Indy 500 winner and 2000 IRL champion, had driven for Hemelgarn in all but two of the 85 races since the series was founded in 1996.
Gaughan won a NASCAR Winston West Series race at the 2-mile oval in 2001 and finished third in the NCTS race here last season. The race sponsor, American Racing Wheels, has been a sponsor of Gaughan's since he began his racing career 13 years ago.
"This is one of my three favorite tracks in the country," Gaughan said of California Speedway. "Last year, we were racing three-wide over the last nine laps and Dodge finished 1-2-3 in the race.
"I'd like to see the same thing happen this year -- only I want to finish in the No. 1 spot."
Ted Musgrave, who is 62 points behind Gaughan in third place in the series standings, and Jason Leffler finished ahead of Gaughan in last year's race here.
Sprague, who will return to the Truck Series fulltime next season after an unsuccessful stint in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series this year, has two victories and three runner-up finishes in five career Truck Series starts at LVMS.
Zanardi will drive for BMW Team Italy in the Oct. 19 FIA European Touring Car Championship event at Monza, Italy. Zanardi will drive a BMW 320i that will be specially fitted with hand controls.
"Two years ago, I escaped death by a whisker," Zanardi said of his accident. "Although the situation was really bad at the time, I set myself the goal of leading a normal life again at some time in the future. Today, I can walk, I swim, I go skiing and on (Oct. 19), I will complete my vision by competing seriously in a race."
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