Plenty goin on in racing

We're now in the thick of racing season, the time of year I wish I had twice the space to write about everything that's happening. Since I don't, I'll pick some tidbits that interested me, and I hope interest you.

Faithful reader of this space Max Kuerzi called me last week with some exciting news. It seems that when a GM subsidiary was at the Nevada Auto Test Center doing transmission tests last fall, the group spent a lot of time at Max and wife Mia's Swiss Restaurant in Dayton. In the course of conversation with one of the GM execs, Max mentioned that he was a big racing fan. To his surprise, he got an invitation last week from the GM bigwig to attend the Indy 500! The trip includes airfare and seats in a luxury box for the race. Unfortunately, Max doesn't have a suitcase big enough for me to tag along in.

While talking to Max, I learned that he is a big Formula 1 fan, and we spent a bit of time commiserating over the near-dominance of F1 these days by Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher. Schumacher has won all five races so far this season, and is well on his way to his sixth, or is it seventh, championship. I've lost count. As of this writing, Schumacher was far and away fastest in practice for today's Monaco Grand Prix. If he starts on the pole, it's all over, because it's almost impossible to pass at Monaco unless the driver in front makes room. Schumacher is not noted for making room.

As I've mentioned before in this space, I'm not a big fan of reality TV. However, I do find the NBS 24-7 series on SPEED interesting, and Friday night I happened to catch a similar show on SPEED - NASCAR Drivers 360. The episode featured Rusty and Kenny Wallace and Kevin Harvick as cameras followed them through the recent Nextel Cup weekend in Las Vegas.

The show gives revealing insights into the driver's private lives and how they deal with their pressure-packed lives. Some of the highlights were a spat between the Harvicks in a limo on the way back to the track; Kenny's hilarious impressions of Bill Elliott, Ward Burton, brother Rusty, and himself; and Rusty's frustration with his pit crew's poor performance during the race. I would not have wanted to be one of those guys at the next team meeting! Catch the show if you get SPEED on your cable or satellite. I think you'll enjoy it.

Today is the final day of qualifying for the Indy 500, and the big question remains how many cars will start the race next Sunday? Buddy Lazier joined the list of confirmed drivers last week in a Dreyer & Reinbold Dallara-Chevy, and Richie Hearn was named to drive a spare Penske Toyota-powered G Force for entrant Sam Schmidt. Although there may be enough spare cars in the garage area to make up a full 33-car field, only two other drivers, P.J. Jones and Marty Roth, appeared to be prepared to qualify as of Friday.

Those four, in addition to the 26 qualifiers from last weekend, leave the field still three cars short. Owners of the rest of the available cars seem reluctant to risk their machinery unless they're certain that the magic number of 33 can be reached. "Everyone wants a 33-car field, but nobody wants to put a car in until they're sure there are 33," said Robby McGehee, one of several drivers seeking a ride. "We've got a lot of prospective people we're talking to, and a little bit of sponsorship."

Have you noticed that there have been a lot of Chevrolets finishing in the top 10 at Nextel Cup races this season? Ford plans to change that statistic with a newly developed Ford cylinder head that will be installed in five Ford Tauruses this weekend for the Nextel All-Star Challenge at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Elliott Sadler finished 12th at Richmond last Saturday night with the first pair of the new heads to appear in competition. Quantities to supply the entire fleet of Nextel Cup Fords won't be available until July at Chicago, Loudon, or Pocono.

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