BRIEFLY : SPORT SAFE, DRIVERS SAY AFTER DEATH.

Cory McClenthan had just shut off his dragster when he saw Blaine Johnson go out of control at 300 mph during Saturday's qualifying for the NHRA U.S. Nationals.

McClenthan is glad he stopped. He pumped the throttle on his Top Fuel racer and was one of the first to reach Johnson, who died hours later of severe head injuries.

``There would have been two of us there,'' said McClenthan, who had ended his run in the right lane alongside Johnson after popping a wheelie.

Johnson, 34, died Saturday after surgery at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis.

Other drivers refused to blame the accident on the high speeds attained by Top Fuel and Funny Cars.

``We're safer today than we've ever been,'' said Kenny Bernstein, who came into the U.S. Nationals second to Johnson in the National Hot Rod Association point standings.

``These cars are much safer today than probably when I started at 180 miles per hour,'' said Bernstein, who had a run of 309.91 mph just before Johnson's crash. ``I didn't have gloves and wore a T-shirt. How safe was that?''

Michael Andretti thrust himself into the Indy-car championship race with a dominating victory in the Vancouver Molson Indy.

It was the second straight win and series-leading fifth of the season for Andretti, who trails leader Jimmy Vasser by 14 points with only next Sunday's race at Monterey, Calif., remaining on the 16-race schedule.

A few cents worth of oil on the road ended Dale Jarrett's million-dollar chase, making him just a spectator as Jeff Gordon added his name to a short list of those who have the humbled ``The Lady in Black.''

With a commanding lead on the 46th of 367 laps at treacherous Darlington (S.C.) International Raceway, Jarrett's Ford suddenly slipped up the high banking and scraped the wall between turns three and four. That took him out of contention in the Southern 500 and left the Winston Select Milllion unclaimed for the 11th straight year.

Jarrett finished 14th while trying to become just the second driver to collect the bonus payoff from the series sponsor for victories in three of four major NASCAR races in the same year.

John Force earned $100,000 by beating Cruz Pedregon in the final of the Big Bud Shootout, a special event for Funny Cars during the NHRA U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis Raceway Park.

Ron Fellows took an 11.509-second Trans-Am victory over Tom Kendall on the Reunion Arena street circuit in Dallas.

Canada's Claude Bourbonnais passed Tony Kanaan of Brazil two laps from the end of the Firestone Indy Lights Championship race and went on to his first career victory at Vancouver, B.C.

HOCKEY

Steve Yzerman scored with 3:10 remaining to give Canada a 3-2 victory over Slovakia in the World Cup at Kanata, Ontario.

Yzerman wheeled and banged in the rebound of a shot by Joe Sakic to cap a two-goal comeback in the third period against the lightly regarded Slovaks.

Canada is assured of advancing after completing the first round of the eight-team tournament with a 2-1 record. Canada can still finish anywhere from first to third in the four-team North American pool, pending the results of games between the United States and Russia today and the United States and Slovakia on Tuesday.

Mats Sundin and Peter Forsberg scored decisive third-period goals, giving Sweden a 5-2 victory over Finland and the first semifinal berth in the World Cup of Hockey at Stockholm, Sweden.

Sundin, who plays for the Toronto Maple Leafs, finished with two goals and one assist.

SOCCER

Israel upset 1994 semifinalist Bulgaria 2-1 in qualification for the 1998 World Cup while England ended its personal nightmare in the competition by cruising 3-0 past Moldova.

In other European qualifying games, Russia overpowered Cyprus 4-0 to lead Group 9 over Israel on goal difference; and Greece made it two victories in as many games by downing Bosnia-Herzogovena 3-0 in Group 1.

Hungary edged Finland 1-0 in Group 3, Sweden gained a 2-1 victory at Latvia to stay atop of Group 4 and Denmark beat Slovenia 2-0 in Group 1 to start its campaign.

In South America, Ecuador scraped past Venezuela 1-0, Colombia routed Chile 4-1, and Bolivia and Peru drew 0-0.

Marco Simone's two first-half goals gave defending Italian League champion AC Milan a 2-0 win over Serie B Empoli in an Italian Cup second-round replay match.

TRACK AND FIELD

California high school superstar Obea Moore, billed by some as the next Michael Johnson, had a hand in three gold medals to lead the United States to the top of the medal standings in the World Junior track and field championships in Sydney, Australia.

Moore, a senior at Pasadena Muir High School this fall, set a meet record of 45.27 seconds in the 400 meters and then ran legs on winning 4x100 and 4x400 relays.

Kenya's Daniel Komen lowered the world record for 3,000 meters by more than for seconds to 7 minutes, 20.67 seconds, at the Rieti Grand Prix II track and field meet in Rieti, Italy.

CAPTION(S):

Photo

Photo: Jeremy Mayfield (98) hits Dale Earnhardt (3) duringthe Southern 500. Earnhardt finished 12th.

Associated Press