SCCA: Las Vegas personal report

• Jack Durbin
• MNI - Motorsport News International
• Mon Sep 16 22:11:12 EDT 1996

Date: 15 Sep 96 01:36:09 EDT
From: JPM Dillon <102044.3322@CompuServe.COM>

Greetings from Las Vegas Motor Speedway, day 2.

Saturday afternoon, awaiting the final IRL practice.  I'm sitting in
the shade of the Turn 1 Snap-On sign; I'll probably be here tomorrow
too come race time.  We've just finished the ShelCan race two laps
early under combined red and checkered flags.  Talk about a confusing
combination!  Of course, with a pace car leading the field around, the
drivers didn't have to think about it too hard.

The ShelCans were the first racing cars today.  Buddy Rice led the
first half,  followed at a short distance by Paul Dallenbach, Shane
Millhouser, Bob Gardner, then a gap, then Mike Davies, Chris Horm,
Bennett Dorrance, and Jerry Gillis all tight together, and then the
rest of the field.  About halfway through the race, Dorrance plowed
through the new grass of the Turn 1 chicane and tore up his nose.
Shortly thereafter a full course yellow was called, and cleanup trucks
were dispatched to Turns 1, 2, and 3, but no reason was given.  When I
(Observer 1) asked, I was assured the delay was NOT for my dirty
track.

A few laps later everything turned green, the cars mostly behaved, and
the racing maintained its former order.  However, Rod Mathis whacked
the wall HARD at the Observer 5 station (Katie's Korner) and the
driver had to be extricated before receiving a helicopter ride to the
hospital.  The car, driven by a Vegas local, left behind a field of
debris and an extensive fuel spill, so finally the operating steward
chose to display the two flags mentioned earlier.

Earlier today we had qualifying for all the groups.  The FF2000
session was hectic, with cars going everywhere.  Eventually Ira
Fierberg, who'd been missing the chicane and cruising the oval all
weekend, finally made it through the chicane, then spun the car and
thumped the wall at Turn 2, prompting a slightly early checkered flag.
The Mazdas played hard and hearty too.  I've been teased about the
number of calls from my station, but Katie's calls, though few, have
been high intensity.  She's called at least three Maydays today; let
it be noted though that she carefully used the newly-ordered "Alert"
word.  Who says you can't teach a not-as-young dog new tricks?

It's hotter here today, but clear and sunny.  Yesterday we enjoyed a
breeze all day along with cloud cover that kept us cool and
comfortable.  We'd heard the weather steward took a day off to gamble
in the city; we hope he returns tomorrow, at least for the morning
sessions!  (Once the IRL cars take the course, we can stand down and
seek shade.)  Mostly unrelated:  several flaggers have noticed that
the USAC officials seem to be, ahem, chronologically challenged.
Those Observers I've talked to see to be a friendly bunch.  I asked
one how he got started.  He said his dad began at Indy MS back in '36,
hence his involvement.

Not much more to report now; I may add a bit after the Formula Mazda
race.  Right now we're just watching the USAC micro-inspection team
walk the course before IRL comes out.  Oh, yeah...  my Desert Flagging
Association T-shirt has witnessed the birth of yet another track.

Later....

The Formula Mazda race, even more exciting than expected, featured
close action throughout the field.  Richard Stephens won the thing,
with only one full course yellow to bunch the field.  It was called
for two cars piling into Turn 1 and only one leaving.  I don't have
results for you because they're still provisional--lots of passing
under yellow during a late race incident, again in Turn 1, and related
protests.

Another observation about the "American" IRL series....  the race is
measured in kilometers, not miles....  it's a 500K event.

Driver update:  the last we heard tonight was that Rod Mathis was in 
critcal condition with a broken neck.  He was supposedly undergoing 
surgery when we left the track.  I know there are plenty of prayers 
and hopes winging his way across the ether.

Here are the ShelCan results.  Buddy Rice, Shane Millhouser, Paul
Dallenbach, Bob Gardner, Chris Horm, Mike Davies, J. Robert Young, W.
Jerry Gillis, Jeff Tyler, Gary Tiller, Bill Dollahite, Gaylen Schmidt,
Ralph Romero, Ray Ritchie, Yoichi Akase, Rod Mathis, Bennett Dorrance,
Judd Jackson, Scott Zanetti, Sherif Fathy (NDS).

The FF2000 grid top five are:  Steve Knapp, Andrew Bordin, Peter
MacLeod, Duncan Dayton, and Alex Barron.

Remind me to curse radios later....  The track provided our radios
for this event, but we had lots of battery problems on Friday, and
more today, compounded by the fact that they didn't recharge the 
radios last night.  Further, the track manager is apparently dealing
with a radio provider that will not swap out batteries without having
the radios attached.  Nor will the radio guy allow additional battery
packs to be distributed.  We were told that tomorrow we might be able
to swap a half dozen batteries, but we can't get replacements for all
the radios.  Hopefully they'll at least get charged tonight.  We only
have to support one practice session and one race, so we should get
by.

More tomorrow or Monday....

John