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Stewart digs in on road

By KEVIN KELLY

© St. Petersburg Times,
published June 21, 2001

With Winston Cup points leader Jeff Gordon's three victories in a row at Sears Point Raceway, most would argue Gordon is untouchable on road courses.

Not Tony Stewart.

"We can beat him," the driver of the No. 20 Pontiac said.

Stewart has finished 10th and 15th in two career starts at the 10-turn track in California's wine country, where the Winston Cup series stops this week for the Dodge/SaveMart 350K.

"I like racing with Jeff, and I like racing with him on the road courses," Stewart said. "He is really, really good on the road courses, and it makes for a fun race to be able to run with him on those tracks."

But Sunday's race isn't the only thing piquing Stewart's interest.

The Indy Racing League makes its inaugural stop at Richmond International Raceway for the SunTrust Indy Challenge on June 30. Stewart, the 1997 IRL champion, has two Winston Cup wins at the .750-mile oval.

"I think if I had any guts at all, I'd go up there, get a ride and just spank their butts," he said. "I think it would be fun. I'm really anxious for it to get here, and I can promise you that I'll be watching that race."

MOVING IN: Never one to accept mediocrity, CART team owner Chip Ganassi has replaced rookie Nicolas Minassian with Memo Gidley in time for the the Freightliner/G.I. Joe's 200 this weekend at Portland International Raceway.

Minassian, who qualified a backup car for Ganassi in the Indy 500, has struggled this season. The 2000 Formula 3000 runner-up was 17th in the standings. Gidley has started 22 career CART races and finished sixth last season at Road America.

"This is a first-class organization with a tradition of winning," Gidley said. "When I got the call (Tuesday) morning, I can't tell you how excited I was. Now I need to focus on the job at hand: to win a race for this team."

TAKE A SEAT: PPI Motorsports, which fields Winston Cup cars for Ricky Craven and Andy Houston, is less than two months from having a prototype of its new "bathtub" seat ready to present to NASCAR.

Both drivers tested the seat, which is similar to ones used in Indy-car style racing, two weeks ago at Hickory Motor Speedway.

"I think it's going to work out very well," said Mike Beam, crew chief for Craven. "I think once the drivers see it ... any driver, whatever their size, fits in this seat. You just have to make a mold, and when there is an accident, the driver doesn't move around a whole lot. It's definitely for the future, and I think it's going be great."

QUOTABLE: James Ince, crew chief for the No. 10 Pontiac driven by Johnny Benson, has taken the debate about including road courses on the Winston Cup schedule to a new level.

"I'm not a fan of road courses," he said. "I've always said that if they want variety in this sport, then forget road courses and let's all go dirt racing. That would be a lot better show. I think the fans would like it a lot better. Our guys would be more interesting on dirt. These guys could all handle dirt because they are great race car drivers. The fans would go nuts."

ODDS AND ENDS: Gil de Ferran, who has won the past two races at Portland, has finished second or better in four of five road races since joining Team Penske last season. ... Bradenton-based Tropicana will sponsor Shawna Robinson and her No. 84 Winston Cup car at the inaugural Tropicana 400 next month at Chicagoland Speedway. ... NHRA Top Fuel driver Gary Scelzi hasn't lost a round at Gateway International Raceway, site of this weekend's Sears Craftsman NHRA Nationals, since he finished second there in 1997. He has won three titles in a row and is 15-1 overall. ... Winston Cup team owner Bill Davis, who owns the No. 22 and No. 93 Dodges, will return to the track at the Pepsi 400 next month at Daytona. Davis has been out since May with kidney stones and said doctors bruised his kidney in an attempt to break up the stones.

-- Information from other news organizations was used in the report.

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