Champions Have Enjoyed the Ride

Florida motorcycle riders Ricky Carmichael of Havana and James “Bubba” Stewart of Haines City will try to put the finishing touches on two of the most remarkable seasons in the AMA’s 30 years of motocross Sunday at Steel City Raceway in Delmont, Pa.

Carmichael, 22, has won every 250cc moto run in the AMA Chevy Trucks series this season, 22 of them since the opening race last May at Glen Helen Raceway in San Bernardino. In outdoor competition, individual motos are 30 minutes plus two laps, and two are run at each event.

The stocky Honda rider’s domination has been so complete that he has led 323 laps in the 11 national events. His closest competitor, Tim Ferry, has led five. Carmichael clinched his third consecutive national 250cc crown when he won Aug. 18 in Millville, Minn., three events before the season finale.

Carmichael insisted during the first half of the season that going undefeated was “a ridiculous idea,” but as he piled up victory after victory--often by as much as 20-30 seconds--he became determined to do what no other rider had done. The closest to a perfect season before has been Rick Johnson, who won six of seven events in 1987, also on a Honda.

One more win for Carmichael will break Bob Hannah’s 250cc record of 27 victories.

“I never dreamed when I started racing that I would be fortunate enough to be this successful,” Carmichael said. “I’ve been concentrating so much on winning races that I haven’t had a chance to sit back and enjoy some of the records I’ve broken this year.”

He has won eight AMA championships since turning professional in 1996, including 125cc and supercross. He won 11 of 16 races in this year’s supercross season.

He had better not look over his shoulder, however, because right behind him is Stewart, the African American teenage sensation who broke all of Carmichael’s amateur records and is now taking aim on his pro records.

Stewart became the youngest AMA national champion, and the first of African American heritage, when he clinched this year’s 125cc series with his ninth win in 11 events. Nine wins amount to a rookie record, breaking Carmichael’s mark of eight, set in 1997. An overall win Sunday will make Stewart the winningest single-season 125cc rider.

It will be another year before Stewart and Carmichael go head to head, because Stewart is planning to remain in the 125cc class next year, with an eye on 250 in 2004.

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Sprint Cars

After completing an eight-race tour of the East, the Sprint Car Racing Assn. returns home for main events of 40 laps Saturday night at Ventura Raceway and 50 laps Sunday night at Perris Auto Speedway.

Three-time champion Richard Griffin, with a win at Lincoln Speedway and a second at Williams Grove Speedway, both in Pennsylvania, moved 308 points ahead of Tony Jones in season standings.

Other winners in the tour, which was also part of the fourth annual Non-Winged World Championship series, included Mike Kirby at 67 Speedway in Illinois, Damion Gardner at Williams Grove, J.J. Yeley at Fremont Speedway in Ohio, and Bud Kaeding, who won two at Lakeside Speedway in Kansas.

In the NWWC, Griffin leads Gardner by 24 points with six races remaining, three at Perris and three at Manzanita Speedway in Phoenix.

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France Has Surgery

Bill France Jr., chief executive of NASCAR, was recovering Thursday from bypass surgery, recommended by doctors treating him for a broken right hip at a hospital in Daytona Beach, Fla. France broke the hip in a fall Wednesday.

France, 69, recently completed yearlong cancer treatments and had returned to a more active role in the stock car racing organization.

“I have spoken to my brother and he is alert and in good spirits,” said James France, who serves on NASCAR’s board of directors. “The doctors say to expect a full recovery.”

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The Andrettis

Is there a breech growing between Mario Andretti, the patriarch, and Michael, the aging first son?

Mario, who recently announced plans to form a CART team--without Michael--was chosen this week to CART’s board of directors.

“While this is a business decision for me and my family, it has always been clear that my heart was in CART and it will be my pleasure to help the series grow,” he said.

At the same time, CART President Chris Pook was taking a none-too-veiled shot at Michael, who recently became majority owner of a team that seems likely to switch to the Indy Racing League next year.

“Well, I’m not sure how much talent is going over to the IRL,” Pook said in answering a question on ESPN.com. “I think the guys that consistently qualify on the front part of our grid are with us. The more senior ones who qualify in the back part of the grid--I think the IRL provides a good retirement opportunity for them.”

Michael, who will turn 40 on Oct. 5, is CART’s all-time leading race winner with 42 victories, the most recent in the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach last April. He formed Team Andretti Green Racing after he and several others purchased Team Green from Barry Green. He has said that sponsors will determine which route he takes--CART or IRL.

Paul Tracy, one of the team’s drivers, has said he will not leave CART and is expected to join fellow Canadians Patrick Carpentier and Alex Tagliani on the Canadian-sponsored Player’s/Forsythe team.

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Drag Racing

The race for top-fuel supremacy between defending champion Kenny Bernstein in the Budweiser King and Larry Dixon in the Miller Lite dragster, has moved on to Indianapolis where the U.S. Nationals, most prestigious event on the National Hot Rod Assn. schedule, is being run this weekend.

Dixon, who had a seemingly unbeatable 259-point lead after 11 events, has seen Bernstein close the gap to 80 points with seven nationals remaining. Bernstein, 57, beat Dixon, 36, in the season finale last year at Pomona, then announced that he was retiring after the 2002 season.

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Last Laps

Todd Hunsaker and Garrett Hansen will continue their battle for the United States Auto Club’s Ford Focus midget championship Saturday night on the third-mile oval at Irwindale Speedway. Hansen has won three of the last four races, but Hunsaker has a 57-point lead. Also on the Irwindale card will be late models, super stocks and Grand American modifieds.

Rocky Moran Jr., of Cota de Caza, won the second CART Toyota Atlantic race of his career when he passed series leader Jon Fogerty of Portola Valley, Calif., in the final laps at Montreal. Moran, whose father drove in three Indy 500s, won his first race last year at Laguna Seca. Fogerty, who holds a four-point lead, and Canadian Michael Valiante will decide the championship Sunday in Denver.

In finishing 16th in last Sunday’s Long Beach-to-Catalina-and-return personal watercraft race, Mike Follmer of Fountain Valley clinched the national open expert and GranPrix open expert championships on his Yamaha XL1200. Factory Kawasaki rider Chris MacClugage of Baldwin Park was the winner, followed by Mark Dobson of Vista on a Yamaha.

Former CART champion Jimmy Vasser is the latest open-wheel driver to join the off-road racing ranks. Vasser, who will be driving Bobby Rahal’s Shell Ford-Lola in the Grand Prix of Denver on Sunday, will drive with former Indy car drivers Mike and Robbie Groff in Marty Fiolka’s two-seat Toyota-powered Jimco in the SCORE Baja 1000 in November.