Heinz to race on national stage

If you're a sprint car fan, the fabled Knoxville track is a combination of Mecca, Vatican City, Camelot, and the Holy Grail rolled up into one.

On Wednesday, one of our local racers will take part in an event in Knoxville - not at the storied sprint car track, but at the newly opened English Creek Speedway, a track for Outlaw Karts. Young Zachary Heinz, who has been dominating the competition at Thunder Bowl Speedway and on the QRC Cup circuit, will be part of the inaugural race at the 1/5 mile clay gumbo oval. USAC Triple Crown champion and sometime Indy racer J.J. Yeley will be on hand for the event and rumor has it that Tony Stewart and other stars will be there as well. I'm sure I'll have a story on the race for next week's column. Good luck, Zach!

Speaking of Thunder Bowl, all you motorcycle racers take note. The second flat track TT scramble event will take place on August 28 at the track. Open practice starts at 5 pm, with racing to commence at 7 pm. Adult entry is $25, with $15 for a second entry (if you want to run two classes). Kids 12 and under can enter for $15, and there's a pro class with a $45 entry fee and 100 percent payback into the purse. There will be a class for quads as well. Go to www.nevadaracing.com/thunderbowl for more information.

Last week I mentioned here that NASCAR had cautioned drivers about discarding rival soft drink bottles in Victory Lane. I won't even go into the duplicity evidenced by NASCAR contracting with one soft drink manufacturer and International Speedway Corporation contracting with said manufacturer's major rival.

But we entered the twilight zone last weekend when NASCAR fined Jimmy Johnson for obscuring bottles after his Pocono victory. Jimmy and his crew thought they had the perfect compromise solution, putting a Lowe's sign in front of the offending bottles. And when the sign got knocked down, a NASCAR official put it back, which would seem to indicate the sign was OK. But Jimmy was fined $10,000 anyway, for putting the sign on his car.

This is just the latest example of the convoluted rules that even NASCAR's officials can't understand. To recall something Mark Martin said a number of years ago when Corporate Correctness began to invade the sport: "If this is racing, I don't want any part of it."

The rumors that the IRL was going to go road racing were confirmed last week when the League announced races on the 2005 schedule at Infineon Raceway (Sears Point) on August 28 and Watkins Glen on September 25. Never mind that about half the IRL teams are already struggling for sponsorship and budget, just toss in a requirement that they embark on a road course program as well.

The cost of developing road course brake systems, gearboxes, aero packages, etc. will pretty much guarantee 12-car fields. Well, maybe the teams can make it up out of the reduced schedule for the Indy 500, also announced last week. The schedule, which in years past encompassed the entire month of May, was reduced to two weeks of practice and three days of qualifying a few years back.

In 2005 the schedule calls for only eight days of practice and two days of time trials. It's just as well, as "Bump Day" has morphed from a nail-biting, tension-filled exercise into a yawn in the last couple of years. "Just get a time in, and you'll make the field" has been the general attitude this year and last, with barely enough cars on hand to fill the 33-car field.

Remember Mario Andretti? Even though he's not actively racing he's still in the news. Recently he was here in Reno for the Hot August Nights celebration, and he has also just been named as Grand Marshal of New York City's 60th annual Columbus Day parade. Mario had some of the worst luck in the world at the Indianapolis 500, but he managed to win the thing once in 1969, along with the 1978 Formula 1 World Championship and the 1967 Daytona 500. Drivers today aren't anywhere near that versatile.

Roger Diez is the Nevada Appeal Motorsports Columnist. Contact him at editor@nevadaappeal.com.