MOTOR SPORTS: ELITE WIN IS WORTH WAIT FRO SCHENDEL.

Byline: TIM HADDOCK Staff Writer

IRWINDALE -- After three years of diminishing returns, Tim Schendel had to race an extra five laps and wait through two red-flag periods to win his first NASCAR Elite Division Toyota All-Star Showdown race.

Three caution periods in the last 13 laps and a green-white-checkered flag finish that ended on lap 130 of a race that was scheduled for 125 turned Schendel's winning night into marathon.

``We had a real good race car all weekend,'' said Schendel, who led 112 of the 130 laps of the Elite Division portion of the All-Star Showdown at Irwindale Speedway on Saturday night. ``I wanted this one bad because it was the last one.''

This was the last Elite Division race for the All-Star Showdown. NASCAR is eliminating the Elite Division from competition at the end of the season.

Schendel, the Midwest Series champion, has qualified for all four Elite Division Showdowns. But his results have been progressively worse since finishing 11th in his first in 2003. He was 26th in last year's Showdown.

``That really frustrates me,'' Schendel said. ``We should run way better than that. We made it all work. It's awesome to come from a best finish of 11th to a win.''

Thomas Martin of Auburn passed Dan Fredrickson of Elko, Minn., on the last lap to finish second. Eric Holmes of Escalon, the only driver to qualify for the Elite Division and Grand National Division Showdown races, was fourth. Jim Pettit of Prunedale was fifth.

Travis Bonnet and Ryan Lawler crashed in Turn 3 on lap 124 to bring out the third caution period in the last 13 laps of the race. Lawler, an alternate driver who wasn't supposed to be in the race until other drivers from the Southeast Seri es dropped out of the Showdown, ended a disappointing night after starting on the front row in a back-up car of one of his teammates.

Brandon Riehl hit Chip Brindle on lap 112 and brought out a caution period with 13 laps to go in the race.

Brindle took the brunt of the damage, hitting the Turn 1 wall. Schendel, who had the dominant car for most of the race, had the lead when the race resumed with seven of the scheduled 125 laps to go. Fredrickson, who started the race 13th, was second on the restart.

Scotty Backman hit Eddy McKean and spun him out on the restart to cause a bottleneck in Turn 2. The race was red-flagged with five laps to go to clean up the track after the crash.

McKean, a Southwest Series driver from Jerome, Idaho, started on the pole after winning one of the two 50-lap qualifying races on Friday night.

Lawler of Colleyville, Texas, won the other qualifying race and started on the front row with McKean.

Lawler competed in only two Southeast Series races and was 16th in points. The top-10 drivers from each of the four Elite Divisions qualified for the race. Lawler was an alternate driver and invited to the race when six drivers ahead of hi m in the standings declined to race in the Showdown.

The car Lawler drove in the Showdown was a back-up for J.R. Norris, the Southeast Series champion from Mulga, Ala.

Schendel of Sparta, Wis., was leading the Elite Division race at lap 75, when all drivers were required to make mandatory pit stops.

Thomas Martin from Auburn was second and Dusty Williams of Garden City, Ga., was third during the pit stop session.

Rip Michels, the Southwest Series champion from San Fernando, spun out in Turn 2 on lap 5 and dropped to 30th place. Michels, who won the only Southwest Series race at Irwindale Speedway in August, started the race fifth after finishing th ird in Friday night's qualifying race.

Michels, fighting an ill-handling car all race, pulled in to the pits on lap 104. He finished 33rd.

M.K. Kanke of Frazier Park crashed in the qualifying race Friday night and had to switch to a back-up car for the race. He started 32nd in the 40- car field in a car that won a Southwest Series race at Stockton 99 Speedway in July.

Kanke, a Kennedy High of Granada Hills graduate, ended his race at the 75-lap break, pulling his car behind the pit wall for repairs. He finished 39th.

Alonso leads Schumacher in qualifying; Massa wins pole:Fernando Alonso, closing in on a Formula One championship, was fourth fastest during qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix in Sao Paulo, Brazil. He finished ahead of Michael Schumacher, the seven-time Formula One champion who is retiring after the race.

Schumacher enters the season finale trailing Alonso by 10 points and with only a remote shot at an eighth title. His car had mechanical problems during the final part of qualifying, and he will start in 10th place.

World of Outlaws founder dies: World of Outlaws sprint car series founder Ted Johnson has died after a long battle with cancer. He was 72.

Johnson, who developed a passion for racing while watching his father race motorcycles and briefly drove sprint cars, gave up a career as a china salesman in 1978 to start the traveling series that raced close to 100 times a season. He died Friday night.