Indianapolis Motor Speedway is now accepting entries for this year's 87th running of the 500, and Chip Ganassi was first in line. Ganassi's driver Scott Dixon won the 2003 inaugural race at Homestead last weekend in a race that was dominated by ex-CART teams and drivers, and by Toyota and Honda powerplants. The upside of the defection of top teams and manufacturers to the IRL is that perhaps this circumstance will return some of the lost prestige to what is billed as "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing."
Closer to home, Chevy teams were dominant at the Las Vegas Winston Cup race, taking four of the top five spots. Unfortunately, the one spot they didn't get was number one, which again went to the Roush Ford team of Matt Kenseth. Jack Roush apparently has Las Vegas figured out, winning four of the last six races with one or another of his teams. Personally, I was sorry to see Mark Martin drop out early with engine failure. Martin is undoubtedly the best and most successful driver never to have won a Winston Cup Championship, and he's not going to have too many more chances at his age.
I watched qualifying for the Formula One season-opener in Australia on the Speed channel Friday night. Sweeping rule changes have altered the entire format of F1, and even the commentary team of Rick DeBruhl, David Hobbs, and Andrew Marriott were a bit confused over some of the nuances. The F1 drivers now pre-qualify on Friday for the Saturday single-car qualifying session. They get one lap, and if they mess it up, too bad. The cars are impounded immediately after they qualify and the teams can't touch them until just before Sunday morning warm-ups.
The cars must start on their qualifying tires and with the fuel left in the cars after qualifying. This led to a lot of speculation over who qualified with a full fuel load in order to utilize a one-stop race strategy, and who ran light on fuel to get a good qualifying spot. Of course the one thing that didn't change much was the front row of the grid after the qualifying dust settled. Defending Champion Michael Schumacher and his Ferrari teammate Rubens Barrichello are on the front row. To add insult to injury, they are driving last year's model! Hey, why build a new car when the old ones can still thrash the rest of the field?
I've been kept informed of the success of local Outlaw Kart racers in California over the winter, and the final point standing in the Red Bluff series were recently announced. In Beginner Box Stock, Jay Primm was the highest-finishing local hot shoe, taking sixth in points. Kellcy Bell was 12th, Caleb Price 30th, and Tanner Thorson 35th. Box Stock racer Mackena Bell (who retired her kart and has moved up to the 125 class) was the highest finisher with a 12th place, while Jennifer Purcell was 18th, Shelby Dargert 37th, Blayke Olson 39th and Shelby Price 41st. The Bell girls were each the highest-finishing female drivers in their respective classes and each scored wins during the season. 125 driver Tom Purcell was the top local driver in class, finishing ninth in points. Mackena Bell, doing double-duty, finished 24th in the 125s and Matt Vallarino was 26th.
With the Red Bluff season over, the Carson Kart Kids are now running at Silver Dollar Raceway in Chico. Last weekend Mackena Bell took a second in the Box Stock A Main, while sister Kellcy was runner-up in the B Main behind winner Zachary Heinz and ahead of seventh-place Jay Primm. Heinz took ninth in the A feature with Kellcy 11th. Mackena also ran her 125 Kart, taking a heat race third place, fourth in the B Main, and eighth in the A feature.
If you want to see Outlaw Kart action locally, the little pocket rockets will be running at Thunder Bowl Speedway in Mound House beginning May 10. The karts are running a daytime schedule with heat races starting at 11 am. This is because Thunder Bowl will be running motorcycle races on Saturday nights. It's going to make for busy Saturdays for me, covering the karts during the day and Champion Motor Speedway events at night!
Roger Diez is the Nevada Appeal Motorsports Columnist.
