Race Driver Guilty in Drug Case

BENTON, Ill. — A federal jury today found former professional race car driver Randy Lanier guilty of running a multimillion-dollar drug-smuggling operation.

Lanier, 34, the 1986 Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year, faces a mandatory life sentence without parole on his conviction for engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise. Lanier, of Davie, Fla., was also convicted on charges of conspiring to distribute more than 1,000 pounds of marijuana and conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service. Three co-defendants were convicted on the marijuana charge. U.S. District Judge James Foreman set sentencing for Dec. 5.