Locals shine in kart racing

Hats off to Buddy Rice and Rahal-Letterman Racing for a dominating performance at this year's Indy 500.

Regardless of the fact that rain delayed the race (twice) and finally shortened it, there was never any doubt that Rice had the car to beat all day.

"The guy who was supposed to win this race won regardless of the weather or anything else," beamed late-night talk show host and team co-owner David Letterman.

Rice's domination wasn't even the whole picture of what he and the car were capable of, according to team manager Scott Roembke.

"If we'd been able to run him rich (instead of running lean to save fuel), I think this might have been one of those horizon jobs," said Roembke.

Team owner and former Indy winner Bobby Rahal appeared on Dave Despain's "Wind Tunnel" show on SPEED TV last week, as did his winning driver. Rice appears to be a level-headed young man (for a race driver).

His ride with the Rahal team, replacing injured Kenny Brack, might well have been his last chance at the big time in racing. After winning the 2000 Formula Atlantic championship he never caught on with the CART series, and did a brief stint with the Cheever Red Bull team in the IRL until being fired in 2003. Now, with his face on the famed Borg-Warner trophy, he has a secure ride with Rahal for the rest of the season and the racing collateral to pretty much write his own ticket for 2005 and beyond.

Rice got his racing start in go-karts, as have many of today's top drivers. That connection gives me the opportunity to segue into a report on some of our Carson City kart racers who have been acquitting themselves with excellent performances up and down the west coast.

At last weekend's QRC Cup race for Outlaw Karts in Medford, Ore., 8-year-old Zachary Heinz headed the Carson City contingent. Heinz absolutely dominated the Box Stock division after arriving late and qualifying seventh out of 40 karts with no practice. He won his heat race and went on to tear up the track in the main, winning handily.

According to his father Marlowe, Zach has notched 63 victories in his three seasons of racing (starting when he was not quite 5 years old). Another local driver, Jay Primm, qualified fourth in Box Stock and won his heat race. Unfortunately, ignition problems in the main dropped him out of the running.

Jennifer Purcell qualified 12th, took second behind Primm in the heat race, and scored a third in the main. Kellcy Bell had a poor qualifying run due to having the wrong gear in the kart, won a transfer spot from the B main, and took 10th in the A feature. Her older sister Mackena captured a second in the main for the 125cc class, and Tommy Purcell qualified 22nd out of 74 500cc Open karts, finished fourth in the heat race, and became a victim of traffic in the B main, failing to transfer to the A.

Speaking of karts, today is the final day of the Snap-On Stars of Tomorrow road race here in Carson City at the old Wal-Mart site. I spent most of yesterday there checking out the 130-plus karts and drivers on hand from all over the United States. If you want to get a feel for what big-time kart road racing is about, admission is free. Qualifying starts at 10:10 this morning with pre-final races beginning at 12:30 and finals starting at 2:45 for all six classes of karts.

OK, I know all you NASCAR fans have been patiently waiting for some words on your favorite series. OK, remember how I've been sniping at NASCAR for their new "freeze the field" policy, including the "lucky dog" free pass back to the lead lap? Well, it seems that drivers and teams are beginning to complain about the extra caution laps required for NASCAR to sort out who was where when the yellow "froze" the field. At Sears Point and Watkins Glen, this could take up half the race! How about doing what so many local tracks and organizations do, and just revert to the last completed green-flag lap to line up the field? DUH!

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