Friday, March 28, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

COLUMN: Jeff Wolf

Gaughan's team tries to get back up to speed

A hot rumor, cold sweats, general disappointment and speed reading.

Just another day of racing stuff while we prepare for next weekend's invasion by the ground-pounding, fire-belching dragsters of NHRA's pro tour. ...

We start this week with Brendan Gaughan, who has been relaxing since Sunday's race at Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield, Calif., and thinking about the rest of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season.

Some of his teammates, however, haven't been thinking much about the season over the past five days; they've been more focused on trying to keep down their most recent meal.

While Gaughan was driving his Orleans Racing No. 62 Dodge to a third-place finish Sunday, crew chief Shane Wilson and one of the team's crew members were sick with flu-like symptoms.

Wilson still called the race for Gaughan while lying flat on his back in the team's transporter in the track infield. Wilson watched the race on television while a tire-changer tried to coordinate his vomiting around Gaughan's pit stops.

Gaughan wasn't affected, however, and was feeling pretty good Thursday.

He felt even better after hearing about a rumor posted this week on a reputable racing Internet site that says he's being considered as a possible driver this year for Evernham Motorsports in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series.

The rumor on jayski.com says Ray Evernham is considering Gaughan as a possible replacement in Evernham's No. 19 Dodge or in a part-time capacity for a third car. Jeremy Mayfield currently drives the No. 19 stock car, but is 29th in points with one top-10 finish.

"I want to go to Winston Cup, we know that," Gaughan said. "But I don't ever want to hope that someone does bad. I'm rooting for all the other Dodge drivers.

"Right now I'm just worried about getting our team through this Craftsman Truck Series season. We're third in points -- two points out of second -- and that's right where we want to be at this point.

"I haven't heard anything about the rumor, but it's cool my name's out there. That's a bonus." ...

What's isn't much of a bonus is the mutual decision by the NHRA and Las Vegas Motor Speedway to sell reserve seats at the dragstrip for next Friday's opening round of pro qualifying for the NHRA Summitracing.com Nationals.

In the past, all tickets for the Friday session have been general admission, this year costing $25 for adults. But for an extra $10 fans can get a reserved-seat upgrade, as the entire concrete grandstand on the left side of the dragstrip has been declared "reserved only."

General-admission seating is limited to a 5,000-seat temporary section on the right side of the track and a couple thousand more seats near the finish line on the left side.

An estimated 15,000 fans attended the Friday session last year. So be aware you'll need to buy a reserved seat if you want to sit in the main grandstand. ...

In closing, a salute to the speedway for its six-month Pit Crew Reading Program that sends local drivers from its NASCAR Weekly Racing Series to 40 elementary schools to promote the importance of reading.

The program starts its second year Tuesday when Jim Petrie will visit Walker International Elementary School in Henderson.

The drivers will use racing to stimulate the second-graders' interest in reading.

In return, the pupils will lecture the drivers on how to avoid conflicts and unnecessary contact with others when the speedway's Bullring season opens on April 26.

Jeff Wolf's motorsports column is published Friday. He can be reached at 383-0247 or jwolf@reviewjournal.com.