MOTOR SPORTS NOTEBOOK: THEYS, LIENRAD CAPTURE GRAND AM POLE; SERIES CLASH.Byline: Daily News Staff and Wire Services There's more than one war between motorsports sanctioning bodies. The open-wheel fight between the Indy Racing League The Indy Racing League, better known as IRL, is the sanctioning body of a predominantly American based open-wheel racing series. The League consists of two series, the premiere IndyCar Series and CART has been ongoing for seven years. The latest skirmish is in the sports-car world, where separate sanctioning bodies have been fighting it out for three years. The battles between the Grand American For sports car racing association formed in 1999, see . Grand American was a NASCAR sanctioned series of pony car stock cars. The series ran from 1968 until 1971. The series was sometimes called the Baby Grand series. Road Racing Road racing can be a term involving road running, road bicycle races, or automobile races. As contemplated in this article, the term will be treated as it relates to motorsport, specifically, automobile racing and motorcycle racing. series and American Le Mans series The American Le Mans Series (ALMS) is a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada. It consists of a series of endurance and sprint races, and was created in the spirit of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. have not been as noteworthy as the IRL-CART duel, but they have been just as divisive. ``It's frustrating,'' said two-time defending Grand American Sports Racing Prototype champion James Weaver For other persons named James Weaver, see James Weaver (disambiguation). James Baird Weaver (June 12, 1833 – February 6, 1912) was a United States politician and member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Iowa as a member of the Greenback Party. of England. ``Everybody is unhappy about the split. We need to get everyone under the same rules. (International sanctioning body) FIA FIA feline infectious anemia. needs to take control of this and tell everyone the rules.'' It's an inauspicious in·aus·pi·cious adj. Not favorable; not auspicious. in  aus·pi Southern California start for some of the
world's best road racers, which includes Belgium's Didier
Theys, Italy's Mauro Baldi and Boris Said. The Grand American
series will have its first race today on California Speedway's new
2.8-mile infield road course.
On Friday, the team of Theys and Fredy Lienrad won the pole with a speed of 113.874 mph, followed by Weaver, Chris Dyson and former La Canada resident Elliott Forbes-Robinson at 110.575 mph. Some drivers are racing in both series, but for many, its economically unfeasible. The ALMS, in its fourth year, is following the Le Mans rules with French race officials overseeing ALMS rules. The Grand Am series, which is the host of America's most famous distance race, the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, is geared toward more cost-conscience budgets. --Gordons qualify Nos. 1 and 2: While most everyone at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway was talking about Jeff Gordon's pending divorce, he was focusing on his race car. His attention paid off - he turned a record-breaking lap of 127.216 mph to grab the pole for Sunday's Food City 500. For most of Friday's qualifying session, the other Gordon, Robby, was atop the qualifying list. But Jeff Gordon, the next-to-last driver to qualify, knocked Robby off the pole with the best lap run at Bristol in a Winston Cup car. Steve Park set the old mark of 126.370 mph two years ago. It was Gordon's first pole of the season and his first at Bristol. |
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