Editor’s Note: In a nod to our 90 years of history, each week SPEED SPORT will look back at the top stories from 15, 30 and 60 years ago as told in the pages of National Speed Sport News.
15 Years Ago — 2010
News: There are many traditions in IndyCar racing, including the fact that team owners are often at IZOD IndyCar odds with the series sanctioning body over such — things as rules, cars, tracks, schedules and other issues.
It has led to divisive splits, including 1978 when CART was formed and broke away from USAC and in 1996 when the Indy Racing League went into competition and practically every team in CART held its ground and refused to participate in the Indianapolis 500 until Chip Ganassi was the first “big team” to return in 2000.
When Champ Car ceased operation in 2008 and its teams joined the IndyCar Series, there was a brief time of harmony and single-minded purpose. But there has been dissatisfaction from a group of team owners regarding the new Dallara lndyCar that is scheduled to be the new car in 2012.
Team owners who have cried out to replace the current Dallara that has been used in the series since 2003 are now saying they don’t want to buy the new car; that the financial burden of new equipment is not a wise move in a bad economy! Others may simply be upset that the car they supported – including the radical Delta Wing- was not chosen.
Team owners have held meetings independent of the Indy Racing League officials to voice those concerns, so IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard held an owners’ meeting Saturday to unify the troops.
“We believe that we need to be one, and whenever we hear of things start to break out there, we need to come together as one and work to build things,” Bernard said. “And that’s exactly what took place today and that’s the way it should happen. We’re never always going to be agreeable on everything. That’s going to be – but what we can do is come together and create the best solution to make everybody working together and happy and taking the league in the correct direction.”
Winners: After years of trying. Boris Said earned his first NASCAR Nationwide Series victory in Sunday’s NAPA Auto Parts 200 at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
Said beat Max Papis to the checkered flag in a frontstretch drag race on the 2.709-mile road course to post the long-awaited triumph.
After leader Robby Gordon ran out of gas on a green·white-checkered finish that sent the race three laps past its scheduled distance of 74 laps, Said lost the lead to Papis at the entrance to the final two corners. But Papis’ momentum sent him wide in turn 14 and Said drew alongside at the top of the final straightaway.
Papis lost a fraction of a second when he hit the rev limiter in second gear, but still had enough to race side by side with Said to the finish line.
Said’s .012-second triumph was the closest ever on a road course in the Nationwide Series, the fifth closest overall in series history and the closest since 1998 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
The victory was more than just a first for Said, 47, it was the first Nationwide win for car owner Robby Benton and the first for the new pairing of Said and crew chief Scott Zipadelli.
“I don’t think we had the fastest car today,” Said admitted, “but we definitely had the smartest race strategy with Scott Zipadelli as the crew chief — the first time I ever worked with him. We had great communication, he called a great race. and it was really about managing the race track, managing your brakes.
“I’m shocked … overwhelmed. I thought I was going to cry. but I didn’t. My wife would have made fun of me. But I was pretty happy.”
Local hero Jacques Villeneuve finished third, followed by Brad Keselowski, who extended his series lead to 365 points over hard-luck 20th-place finisher Carl Edwards.
30 Years Ago — 1995
News: There is a very real possibility the 1995 PPG Indy Car World Series championship will be decided in a closed room among lawyers and judges rather than on the race track.
That prospect has the potential to tarnish perhaps the most outstanding IndyCar season in recent history like a festering wound, notwithstanding the difference between -the $1 million first-place PPG point fund bonus and the $500,000 runner-up check.
Jacques Villeneuve was prepared to wrap up the championship Sunday in the Molson Indy Vancouver, but a 12th-place finish by the Canadian, combined with Al Unser Jr.’s victory, has given the title situation two scenarios. Villeneuve can clinch the championship if he finishes sixth or better in this Sunday’s Toyota Grand Prix of Monterey at Laguna Seca Raceway in California.
But should Unser win, the title will come down to the appeal filed by his team Marlboro Team Penske over Unser’s disqualification as winner at Portland, Ore., on June 25 when his car failed a post-race inspection and had the victory and points taken away.
Unser’s team filed a protest which was turned down by IndyCar at the end of July, so the team appealed. Unfortunately, that appeal won’t be heard by the panel of three judges until the week of Sept. 18 — a full week after the season finale.
If Unser’s appeal stands, the points would currently switch from a 170-132 lead for Villeneuve over Unser to 169-153.
The appeal will be heard by a three-judge panel headed by Chief Judge Philip C. Elliott, a retired Circuit Court Judge in the State of Michigan. The other members of the panel are former NASCAR Winston Cup Director Dick Beaty and Steven Hearn, general counsel for the American Power Boat Ass’n since 1983.
Andrew Craig, the president and chief executive officer of IndyCar, admits the outcome of Sunday’s race has put the series in a difficult position regarding the champioship.
“The timing of the protest is my responsibility, it is not the responsibility to Team Penske or the stewards,” Craig said. “Their responsibility is to prepare the best appeal and the best defense, respectively. It is indeed unfortunate we even face a situation where we will be going into our last race without the appeal being resolved one way or another.
“The championship depends on this appeal. We are not going to rush it. I want to make sure both sides have absolutely every opportunity to prepare properly. Team Penske and IndyCar have been working on a very, very tough schedule this year. It is very important we do this properly.
“I appreciate this is not satisfactory, but nonetheless, we are going to do it properly, we are going to do it right and we are going to hear the appeal after the championship.”
Winners: While Dale Earnhardt and Rusty Wallace created a closing act of excitement, Jeff Gordon stole the show.
On the restart after the 12th and final caution, nine laps from the finish, Gordon showed his tailfeathers to the field and flew away to win Sunday’s Southern 500.
This left Earnhardt and Wallace to battle for second.
Earnhardt won this skirmish. He beat Wallace to the finish by a car length. Gordon won by nearly a second over Earnhardt.
Actually, Earnhardt and Wallace dueled the final 67 laps, and kept the record Darlington Raceway crowd on their feet, obviously anticipating what might happen in the aftermath of their confrontation at Bristol.
But sometimes it takes more time to see the good side of life than it takes to see the bad. They had a week to regain composure, and the two raced hard and clean, nose-to-tail and side-by-side, and only once did they touch. Wallace nudged Earnhardt’s rear bumper one time, but when he did, he cracked the throttle and fell in line, the courteous thing to do.
Earnhardt led on five occasions for 208 of the 367 laps, but his domination occurred before Gordon came into power 84 laps from the end.
Wallace, who started 21st, didn’t become a factor until lap 295 when he took only gas on a pit stop while others changed tires.
Ricky Rudd led on the lap-300 restart after the 10th caution. Earnhardt followed and Wallace was third. Wallace passed Earnhardt on 308.
Gordon passed Earnhardt for third on 309. Wallace then took the lead from Rudd on 316 and Gordon moved into second place, passing Wallace for first place on 325.
The 11th caution waved when Joe Nemechek hit the wall. Everybody except pole winner John Andretti pitted.
Hut Stricklin took on only two tires and trailed Andretti in second place on the restart on 332. Gordon, Earnhardt and Wallace followed in order. Stricklin and Gordon passed Andretti the first lap under green, and a lap later Gordon took the lead. By lap 338, Earnhardt and Wallace raced for second.
On 340, Wallace passed Earnhardt in turn three, but Earnhardt came right back around in turn four. Wallace did get around Earnhardt on 348 for second, and Earnhardt passed him back on 353, just before the final caution.
Wallace took one final shot at Earnhardt in the nine-lap dash, but failed to pass while Gordon drove away.
“We were lucky to beat Rusty,” Earnhardt said. “He was awfully strong, and neither one of us could get to Gordon.”
60 Years Ago— 1965
News: Luigi Chinetti, U.S. representative for Ferrari and the patron of the North American Racing Team, announced last week that he has persuaded Enzo Ferrari to build an engine for him to use in the Indianapolis 500.
“It will be a V-12. Our passenger cars are V-12 and I hope we can use a variation of our Grand Prix single seater chassis. If all goes well we will race under the NART banner in 1966 and the Ferrari factory will come over in full strength in 1967,” Chinetti said.
Chinetti dismissed using a V-8 engine, saying “That’s Ford’s engine.”
He voiced the opinion that the added horsepower of a 4.2-liter powerplant is not often always put to the track. He feels that Ferrari can build a modern three-liter engine with power enough to be strongly competitive at Indianapolis.
Winners: Veteran Don Branson won his second USAC National Championship race of the season here Monday to move into fourth place in the national championship standings.
Branson grabbed the lead on the fourth lap from pole winner A. J. Foyt and then led the rest or the way. However, he had only a four-second lead over second place Jim McElreath at the finish on the soggy oval.
McElreath is the only other driver to win two championship races this year.
Foyt, who had to pit on the 33rd lap for a right-rear tire, apparently worn out when he tried to catch Branson. This permitted Branson to take a big lead.
Foyt was third, Jud Larson fourth and Johnny Rutherford was fifth.
Mario Andretti, national driving championship leader finished 15th.
Clint Brawner said an oil filter was “mysteriously missing”. After a long pit stop Mario returned to action but the engine blew when the oil leaked out.
Only nine or the 16 starters were running at the finish.
The other finishers, in order, were Red Riegel, Jim Hurtubise who relieved Bobby Unser, Carl Williams, and Bay Darnell, in his first championship race.
Branson’s victory snapped Foyt’s four-year winning streak on the one-mile DuQuoin dirt track and was his first win since he won the Phoenix 150 in March. Foyt had won six straight on dirt tracks until yesterday Branson was timed in one hour, seven minutes and 34.43 seconds, an 88.792 mph average.
He picked up $5,662 of the $22,650 purse.
