VASSER CLAIMS FIRST U.S. 500.Byline: Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. It wasn't Indianapolis, but winning the inaugural U.S. 500 Sunday will have to do for Jimmy Vasser Jimmy Vasser (born November 20 1965 in Canoga Park, California ) is an American racing driver. Vasser was the 1996 Champ Car champion, driving for Chip Ganassi, and has scored ten victories in the category. . The newest star on the Indy-car circuit continued his remarkable season, winning for the fourth time in six races - in his backup car, no less, after a crash on the final pace lap pace lap n. The initial lap of a motor vehicle race in which the racers warm up their engines and prepare for a fast start. Noun 1. destroyed his primary machine. Vasser won the biggest prize of his career, $1 million, and an instant place in racing history as the winner of a race served up as an alternative to the Indianapolis 500. ``It's great! Who needs milk?'' Vasser said, referring to the traditional drink served up in Victory Lane at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Indianapolis Motor Speedway, located in Speedway, Indiana (a separate town completely surrounded by Indianapolis) in the United States, is the second-oldest . ``This is a great team,'' an ecstatic team owner Chip Ganassi Floyd "Chip" Ganassi (born May 24, 1958 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and educated at local Duquesne University) is a former American racecar driver and current racecar owner. said afterward. ``We went out there in our backup car and won the race.'' Vasser was dueling with Andre Ribiero when the Brazilian star had to duck into the pits for gas with just eight laps to go. Vasser then cruised to an 11-second victory over another Brazilian, Mauricio Gugelmin Mauricio Gugelmin (born April 20, 1963 in Joinville) is a former racing driver from Brazil. He took part in both Formula One and the Champ Car World Series. He participated in 80 Formula One grands prix, debuting in 1988 for the March team. , at an average speed of 156.40 mph in the 250-lap race. ``It's amazing that we could run the spare car like this,'' Vasser said. ``It's not as quick as the primary car and we struggled with it all day. The team won this, that's for sure.'' The race was slowed by 12 caution flags and blown engines took out two major contenders, Greg Moore Greg Moore may refer to:
The start of the race was marred by a 12-car crash - just the kind of trouble that everyone expected from the rookie-dominated field at Indianapolis. At the end of the final pace lap, Vasser and No. 2 qualifier Adrian Fernandez collided in turn four as they began to accelerate, anticipating the green flag. Vasser and Fernandez swerved into the other car on the front row, Bryan Herta, igniting a melee of flying wheels and metal as they took out nine of the cars behind them. Since the race had not officially begun, the drivers involved in the crash were able to use a backup car or have their crew try to repair the damage. Nine drivers, including Vasser, went to their No. 2 cars, two of the damage vehicles were repaired and only Fernandez was not able to continue when the green flag finally dropped an hour later. Once the race began, Vasser and Zanardi quickly established their Honda-powered cars as the strongest on the track. Zanardi moved to the lead on lap 40 and built as much as a 10-second lead with lap speeds of 232 mph. The Italian rookie had led 134 laps when he was supplanted by Johnstone after a yellow flag-induced pit stop. Zanardi was moving back toward the top spot when his engine blew on lap 175 in a haze of smoke on the front stretch. That put the race up for grabs. ``I was sure today was my day,'' a downcast down·cast adj. 1. Directed downward: a downcast glance. 2. Low in spirits; depressed. See Synonyms at depressed. downcast Adjective 1. Zanardi said, ``but apparently it wasn't.'' The race was formed as an alternative to the Indianapolis 500 after speedway owner Tony George guaranteed 25 of the 33 spots in the field to members of his fledgling 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 . The Indy 500 went on as planned with a field of largely unknown drivers, while the stars of the sport followed their car owners to Michigan International Speedway Michigan International Speedway is a two-mile (3.22 km), moderate-banked, D shaped superspeedway located off U.S. Highway 12 on more than 1,400 acres [1] near Brooklyn, in the scenic Irish Hills area of southeastern Michigan. , which is owned by Roger Penske. The crowd, estimated at 100,000, was one of the largest ever to watch an Indy-car race at the 2-mile track in rural Michigan. But there were some empty seats, just as there were at Indianapolis Motor Speedway when Buddy Lazier won the world's most famous race a few hours earlier in the day. Amid the changing times, some fans longed for the days when the best Indy-car racers competed on the track that gave the sport its name. ``The fanfare is not here,'' said Don Ley, who drove 650 miles from Minneapolis. ``We sat around the campfire and talked about old Indys.'' But other fans were happy to be around for the start of what could be a new tradition. ``Now I've got a chance to see this in person. It's so awesome,'' said Teresa Gorney, who lives about an hour away in Temperance, Mich. Vasser would certainly agree. CAPTION(S): 2 Photos Photo: (1) Fredrik Ekblom, left, Adrian Fernandez and Ma uricio Gugelmin walk to pits after pre-race crash. (2) Fredrik Ekblom, left, Adrian Fernandez and Mauricio Gugelmin walk to the pits after a prerace crash. Associated Press |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion