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 Monday, January 22, 2001
Three drivers drive for $1 million in Texas
By Jack Arute
Special to ABC Sports Online
The focus this weekend centers on Fort Worth, Texas where the Indy Racing Northern Light Series puts the curtain on its season with the running of the Excite 500 at the 1.5-mile high-banked Texas Motor Speedway (ABC, 4 p.m. ET).
|  | | Buddy Lazier (top) only has to finish 13th or better in the season-ending IRL race at Texas to win his first Northern Light Cup as series champion. |
Three drivers -- Buddy Lazier, Scott Goodyear and Eddie Cheever Jr. -- have a legitimate shot at the $1 million title. Each will have to employ a unique strategy. Cheever, currently in third, needs an Al Davis "just win baby" formula. It fits well with Cheever's personality. While he generally does not qualify well, this former Indy 500 champ generally is in the thick of things for the final few laps.
Goodyear must press, but keep in mind what Lazier is doing. It isn't enough for Goodyear simply to finish ahead of Lazier. The affable Canadian, who has already indicated that he will leave the IRLNS for semi-retirement, must sweep all of the points available, starting with qualifying on Saturday.
Lazier is in the toughest position. He leads the points chase and enjoys the position of being the series' only two-time winner this year -- but qualifying has not been his strong suit. Like Cheever, Lazier is a late-race performer.
Texas is the site of what many say was the IRLNS' -- if not open-wheel racing's -- most exciting show this year, a side-by-side, nose-to-tail battle that saw Scott Sharp edge Robby McGehee for the win. The track requires a driver to run flat-out. The only time one uses the brake pedal is to slow for a pit stop.
While on the track, drivers fight swirling air turbulence that screams off the rear wing of the car in front of them. If you want a taste -- albeit a tiny one -- of what the drivers deal with, pull up behind a tractor-trailer the next time you are cruising down the interstate, then pull into the passing lane and you will feel the disruption of the air. Drafting is the most important tool for drivers at Texas.
It is, however, totally different, than the drafting technique used by NASCAR. At Talladega this weekend, NASCAR's cup cars will succeed and fail based upon the draft. When they use the draft to slingshot around another car, it is a slowly unfolding motion, which is in essence more like tossing a medicine ball than a slingshot.
The drivers racing in Texas, however, will better approximate the slingshot term. Their passes have a stiletto-like quality. They are so quick that sometimes if you blink, you miss it.
The IRLNS' open-wheel package also leaves little margin for error. Rub a wheel when you are slingshotting, and you will be airborne.
The last time the IRLNS was at Texas, a small dip in Turn 4 was the undoing for some. It compressed the suspension so violently that it would launch cars off the ground. Officials at Texas have patched the infamous bump (misnamed because it was actually a dip), but teams are still concerned.
All and all, Sunday's race should be filled with action from start to finish. Throw in the points battle, and there is plenty of reason to tune in.
Around motorsports
Bobby Labonte has the Winston Cup locked up. Granted, Talladega is this Sunday (ESPN, 1 p.m. ET), but folks, it's over and Labonte and Joe Gibbs -- while maybe not ready to break out the champagne -- can certainly send their tuxedos to the dry cleaners and load the bubbly in the refrigerator.
CART goes Down Under for Australia's post-Olympics carnival where Gil de Ferran needs another solid performance to give him the edge in his race to win his first-ever driving championship (ESPN, 12 a.m. ET live; ESPN2, 7 p.m. ET tape).
From the track, I'm Jack.
Jack Arute mans the pits for ABC Sports' auto racing coverage. He contributes a regular column throughout the 2000 season.
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 Buddy Lazier takes the checkered flag at the Kentucky Indy 300.
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A victorious Jimmy Vasser speaks with ESPN's Marlo Klain after the race.
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