Montoya, Rahal Perfect for F1 Hopes in the U.S.

By SHAV GLICK

March 2, 2001 12 AM PT

Nationalism is the driving force in Formula One’s worldwide popularity, and a major reason the U.S. has lagged behind in interest, since there is no American driver nor team. When the season starts Sunday in Melbourne, Australia, however, interest will be heightened because of two newcomers.

Juan Pablo Montoya, winner of the Indianapolis 500 and the most dominating open-wheel racer in CART the last two seasons, will be making his F1 debut in the Australian Grand Prix. Although he is Colombian, he stirred the hearts of Americans with his driving in this country, where he dropped his middle name.

And Bobby Rahal, a former Indy 500 winner and a team owner in CART, has taken on the added task of trying to restore Jaguar’s team to respectability against the McLaren-Mercedes and Ferrari powerhouses.

No one expects Montoya, in one of the Williams-BMW cars, to seriously challenge defending champion Michael Schumacher or former champion Mika Hakkinen for the world championship, but it wouldn’t surprise anyone who watched him win the 500 in Chip Ganassi’s car to see the 25-year-old win a race or two.

“I am a better driver for going to the United States, but it is very difficult to expect to win in the first year because you have to wait and see how competitive the car is,” Montoya said after six days of testing at South Africa’s Kyalami track.

“If the car is good enough to win, then you should be able to win. If the car is not able to win, then you will never win. I’ll be giving it 100% but if you really think about it, I’m brand new here, so I have to learn the tracks, learn the engine, the tires. So far, I would say that things are going quite well.”

The Williams team may benefit from the return of tire maker Michelin to compete with Bridgestone, which supplies tires to McLaren-Mercedes and Ferrari. Michelin, with 59 wins in 111 races, is back in F1 after an absence of 17 years.

Montoya actually is returning to Williams after a two-year loan to Ganassi. He won the international Formula 3000 title and worked as an F1 test driver for Williams in 1998.

Rumors that he and teammate Ralf Schumacher do not get along have been denied by Montoya.

“He’s a good guy,” he said. “I don’t have any problems with him. He is quite a fast driver. It’s going to be quite good because we can push each other quite a lot.”

Schumacher, younger brother of the world champion, is starting his fifth season in F1, but has yet to win a Grand Prix.

Rahal, who took on the Jaguar challenge because of his loyalty to Ford, which owns Jaguar, acknowledges the road to respectability will be difficult.

“There are no shortcuts to success in Formula One,” said Rahal, who drove in two F1 races in 1978. “The only route is by way of hard work, commitment, relentless focus and sheer application.”

Former F1 champion Niki Lauda also has been added to the Jaguar team as head of Ford’s motor racing division. Veteran Eddie Irvine and rookie Luciano Burti, a former test driver, will be in Jaguars.

Michael Schumacher won the last four races last year, including the U.S. Grand Prix at Indianapolis. If he wins in Australia, his five in succession will equal Nigel Mansell’s record. With eight more victories, Schumacher, 32, will have 52 and surpass Alain Prost as Formula One’s all-time winner.

Traction control--the use of electronic devices to control wheelspin--will return to F1 for the first time since 1993, but not until the Spanish Grand Prix on April 29.

SPRINT CARS

Its $51,600 World of Outlaws winged sprint car show rained out twice last weekend, Perris Auto Speedway will return to its regular program Saturday night--non-winged Sprint Car Racing Assn. cars.

The Outlaws will be at Las Vegas tonight, Saturday night and Sunday night before heading East. Charlie Watson, Perris general manager, said the Outlaws may return for a rain date in August.

Andy Hillenberg won the Outlaws’ season opener at Hanford last Friday night before rains doused Perris.

Richard Griffin has won the last three SCRA titles, but Cory Kruseman is making a serious challenge, having won the first two races. Kruseman, in fact, has won four of the last five races, dating back to the Jack Kindoll Classic at Perris last November.

The Ventura driver holds the SCRA points lead for the first time in his career, a 29-point margin over Troy Cline of Santa Clarita. Griffin, who finished second two weeks ago at Perris, trails in ninth place because of a violent flip while leading at Manzanita Speedway in Phoenix in the season opener.

Winston Cup star Tony Stewart will drive Joe Gibbs’ Pontiac during the day at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, then work as crewman-car owner of Danny Lasoski’s sprint car at night.

“It’s a good release for me to go out there and mess around with the car and just have a good time,” Stewart said. “There are seven or eight Outlaw races where we’re going to be racing Cup at the same place at the same time. I’m really confident in Jimmy Carr [crew chief] and what he does with the race car and Danny during the race.

“We’d obviously like to win the championship, but our main goal this first year is to just have fun. Then, when we win some races, everything else will take care of itself.”

Lasoski won last year’s Outlaws race at Perris.

REMEMBERING DALE

Dale Earnhardt, killed two weeks ago when he crashed in the Daytona 500, will be remembered at this weekend’s Winston Cup race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with a floral display made of 33,333 flowers on the berm that overlooks Turn 4. The arrangement will have 28,000 pansies planted in the shape of a giant 3. The red trim around the number will be composed of 5,333 petunias.

DRAG RACING

Gary Densham, 54, a schoolteacher from Bellflower and a veteran funny car driver, has been named by John Force to drive his team’s third car in National Hot Rod Assn. events this year. Densham will make his debut as a teammate to Force and Tony Pedregon at the Mac Tools Gatornationals March 16-18 in Gainesville, Fla.

Force and Densham met in 1974 when both were in Australia on tour.

“Densham took me under his wing and got me through it,” Force recalls. “If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be here because I probably wouldn’t have made it back from Australia. But that’s not why I hired him. I hired him because he’s a good driver and because he can help [crew chief] Jimmy Prock teach these new guys how to race.”

Although Force will be running three funny cars, he says the team still is planning to run a top-fuel car in 2002.

Densham has been spokesman for the Auto Club of Southern California’s youth and education program. His funny car will be co-sponsored by the Auto Club.

LAST LAPS

Southland short tracks received recognition from NASCAR during SpeedWeeks in Daytona Beach, Fla. The Collins family, owners of Mesa Marin Speedway in Bakersfield, received the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series achievement award for best community service, and Doug Stokes of Irwindale Speedway received NASCAR’s 2000 Team Player award.

The American Speed Assn. will make its first trip to the West Coast next week with a two-day stock car event at Irwindale Speedway. There will be a 100-lap main event Friday night as a qualifying race for Saturday night’s Tires.com 300. Joey Clanton of Stockbridge, Ga., won the season opener two weeks ago in St. Augustine, Fla.

California Speedway executive Jay Lucas is leaving the Fontana facility to become CART’s new vice president of sports entertainment. One of his first tasks will be to coordinate CART’s promotion of the motion picture, “Driven,” starring Sylvester Stallone. The film, about open-wheel racing, is due out April 27. . . . Tommy Contino, 18, of Hesperia, is one of four karters chosen to drive in the Skip Barber Formula Dodge series, the amateur championship of CART.

Irwindale Speedway again will try to hold its family and sponsor test session this weekend. A similar program was rained out last week. The track will be open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday, and from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday. The public is invited free of charge.

PASSINGS

Duke Nalon and the powerful Novi never won the Indianapolis 500, but no one ever came closer in the brutish racing beast. Nalon died last Monday in Indianapolis, four days shy of his 88th birthday. Nalon twice won the pole and twice had the fastest lap in the 500 in the Novi, but his highest finish was third in 1948.

Nalon was nicknamed Duke by a brother after a comic strip character named Duke the Fluke. He drove in three 500s before World War II and seven more afterward, spanning an era from 1938 to 1953. He also drove the pace car in 1981 and 1983.

Survivors include his wife, Fran, and two sons, Patrick and Dennis “Duke Jr.” Services are scheduled Saturday at Conkle Funeral Home in Speedway, Ind.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

This Week’s Races

WINSTON CUP

UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400

* When: Today, qualifying (Fox Sports Net, 2 p.m.); Sunday, race (Fox, 11 a.m.)

* Where: Las Vegas Motor Speedway (tri-oval 1.5 miles, 12 degrees banking in turns), Las Vegas.

* Distance: 400.5 miles (267 laps).

* Last race: Steve Park honored his late boss by driving a Dale Earnhardt car to victory on Monday in the Dura-Lube 400 at Rockingham, N.C.

* Defending champion: Jeff Burton.

* Next race: Cracker Barrel 500, March 11, Hampton, Ga.

* On the net:

https://https://www.nascar.com.

BUSCH

Sam’s Town 300

* When: Today, qualifying (Fox Sports Net, 12:15 p.m.); Saturday, race (FX, 12:30 p.m.)

* Where: Las Vegas Motor Speedway (tri-oval 1.5 miles, 12 degrees banking in turns), Las Vegas.

* Race distance: 300 miles (200 laps).

* Last race: Todd Bodine gambled on a late stop and made it pay off with a victory in the Alltel 200 at Rockingham, N.C. Bodine was leading when Scott Wimmer’s car hit the wall on the 183rd of 197 laps. Bodine pitted for four tires, while several other drivers stayed on the track.

* Defending champion: Jeff Burton.

* Next race: Aaron’s 312, March 10, Hampton, Ga.

* On the net:

https://https://www.nascar.com.

CRAFTSMAN TRUCKS

Florida Dodge Dealers 400

* When: Saturday, qualifying, 8 a.m.; Sunday, race (ESPN, 9 a.m.).

* Where: Homestead-Miami Speedway (oval, 1.5 miles, 8 degrees banking in turns), Homestead, Fla.

* Race distance: 250.5 miles (167 laps).

* Last race: Joe Ruttman held off Ricky Hendrick to win the season-opener at Daytona International Speedway.

* Defending champion: Andy Houston.

* Next race: Chevy Silverado 150, March 17, Avondale, Ariz.