CART NOTES: MEARS NEARLY PULLS OFF STUNNER.Byline: Keith Lair Staff Writer FONTANA - A pinch hitter pinch-hit intr.v. pinch-hit, pinch-hit·ting, pinch-hits 1. Baseball To bat in place of a player scheduled to bat, especially when a hit is badly needed. 2. almost gave Bobby Rahal Robert "Bobby" Woodward Rahal (born January 10, 1953 in Medina, Ohio) is an American auto racing team owner and former driver, spending most of his driving career in the CART open-wheel series, winning three championships there. a $1 million payday Monday. With regulars Kenny Brack n. 1. An opening caused by the parting of any solid body; a crack or breach; a flaw. Stain or brack in her sweet reputation. - J. Fletcher. 1. Salt or brackish water. and Max Papis Massimiliano "Max" Papis (born October 3, 1969[1]) is a racing driver from Italy who has competed in several top-level motorsports series such as Formula One and Champ Car. out, car-owner Rahal almost won the series' richest purse with a last-minute hire, Casey Mears Casey James Mears (born March 12, 1978 in Bakersfield, California) is the driver of the #25 National Guard/GMAC Chevrolet in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series for Hendrick Motorsports. He also drives the #24 National Guard Chevrolet in the NASCAR/Busch Series for Hendrick Motorsports. . The son of veteran racer Roger Mears Roger Mears (born March 24, 1947, Wichita, Kansas), is a former off-road driver who also drove in the USAC and CART Championship Car series. He raced in the 1978-1984 seasons, with 31 combined career starts, and started in the 1982 and 1983 Indianapolis 500. and nephew of four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Rick Mears turned in a surprising fourth-place finish in his series debut in the Marlboro 500 at California Speedway. Casey Mears, who finished fourth in the Indy Lights race Sunday, was in one of only six cars to complete the 500-mile race. ``It was an awesome weekend,'' Mears said. ``I got relaxed more and more as the race went along. We were just able to hang in there because we had a better car.'' It is the strongest finish by an Indy Lights veteran in his CART debut. Mears said he had little trouble with pit stops and one of the stops led him to the front of the pack, a lead he held between laps 186 and 195. ``I was able to lap guys and then hang back to conserve fuel,'' he said. Roger Mears watched his son from the Rahal suite. ``They gave me a father's radio,'' he said. ``"I could listen, but I couldn't talk into it.'' --Reshuffling: Numerous teams are making changes next season. One of the longest relationships came to an end when Michael Andretti finished his last race with the Newman-Haas team, a nine-year partnership over a 12-year span. He will be with Barry Green's team next season. Monday, while battling for the lead, he got caught in the smoke of Tony Kanaan's blown engine and hit Oriol Servia in Turn 1. ``It's a shame to end the race and my 10 years with Newman/Haas this way,'' he said. ``It's like losing a family.'' Andretti tried to go high to avoid Kanaan, but Servia was already there. ``It's sad to leave this way after all of the success we have had together.'' --Injury update: Toyota Atlantic series driver Andrew Bordin, injured Sunday when the pace car he was driving crashed in Turn 2, underwent surgery Monday at Loma Linda Medical Center to stabilize a fracture of his C4 vertebrae Vertebrae Bones in the cervical, thoracic, and lumbar regions of the body that make up the vertebral column. Vertebrae have a central foramen (hole), and their superposition makes up the vertebral canal that encloses the spinal cord. . Passenger Yoshimichi Inada, senior managing director at Pioneer Electronics, remained hospitalized with a basilar skull fracture A basilar skull fracture (or Basal skull fracture) is a linear skull fracture involving the base of the skull. This type of fracture is rare, occurring as the only fracture in just 4% of severe head injury patients. . --Team titles: Brazil won the Nation's Cup, well ahead of the U.S., which had 256 points. Ford Cosworth won the Manufacturer's Cup with Honda second and Reynard took the Constructor's Championship. --Standings: In the final shuffle of the points standings behind winner Gil de Ferran Gil de Ferran (born November 11, 1967) in Paris, France to Brazilian parents, is a former racing driver. De Ferran was the 2000 and 2001 Champ Car champion driving for the Penske Honda Team and the winner of the 2003 Indianapolis 500. , Adrian Fernandez remained in second, Roberto Moreno moved from fifth to third, Kenny Brack dropped one spot to fourth and Paul Tracy went from third to fifth. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: (color) Marlboro 500 winner Christian Fittipaldi, center, is joined by CART season champ Gil de Ferran, left, and the race's second-place finisher, Roberto Moreno, as they celebrate Monday. Reed Saxon/Associated Press |
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