IRL: Gregoire ready to gamble in Las Vegas..On the track
17 September 1999
INDIANAPOLIS - Pep Boys Indy Racing League veteran Stephan Gregoire is ready to roll the dice next weekend at Las Vegas but not on any of the gambling mecca's famous casinos.Gregoire is preparing for a strong finish in the Vegas.com 500 on Sept. 26 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway instead of thinking about a few rolls at the craps table or turns on a slot machine.
"I love to come to Las Vegas," Gregoire said. "It's an exciting town with so much to see, but I am not a gambler and I never gamble, even when I am here to race. I am here to drive, and I want to do well for the Dick Simon Racing Team at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway."
Gregoire is 14th in the season points entering this event, but a combination of factors leads Gregoire to believe that he can contend for victory in the Dick Simon Racing-Mexmil-Tokheim-Viking Air Tools G Force/Aurora/Firestone.
First, his season-best finish of fourth came in the Longhorn 500 presented by MCI WorldCom on June 12 at Texas Motor Speedway, a 1.5-mile tri-oval that's a sister track to Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Second, car owner Simon knows this track well. His engineering and race-strategy skills helped Eliseo Salazar to a victory at Vegas in 1997 when both worked for Team Scandia. And Simon tuned Marco Greco to the No. 3 starting spot last year at this event.
"I like the track a lot," Gregoire said. "It's like Pikes Peak but much faster. It is very fast for a 1.5-mile oval, but it's not a flat-out track. You have to lift a little, even with a good setup. Dick had a good setup with his team last year.
"So I am pretty confident that he will give me a fast car to qualify and drive in the race."
Another reason why Gregoire isn't thinking about some table action in Vegas is his devotion to his hobby: flying.
He started taking flying lessons in 1998, and he now spends his spare time in the cockpit of a Piper Archer Two.
"I started taking flying lessons seriously last November, and I have developed a passion for flying when I am not racing," Gregoire said. Gregoire recently took his solo flying test from Indianapolis to Champaign, Ill., then to Evansville, Ind., and back to Indy. The trip put him over the 50-hour milestone in the pilot's seat.
"Flying is great for me, as it takes total concentration to listen to weather reports, check my navigation and the instruments when I fly," Gregoire said. "It's another world and takes me away from motor racing when I am airborne. My goal is to take the test for my license in November, taking just one year for me to get my private pilot's license."
Testing at Texas: Many Pep Boys Indy Racing League drivers who race on Goodyear tires participated in a tire test Sept. 8-9 at Texas Motor Speedway, site of the season-ending Lone Star 500 on Oct. 17.
Participating in the test on the 1.5-mile tri-oval were Kenny Brack, Scott Goodyear, Billy Boat, Scott Sharp, Mark Dismore, Jeff Ward, Buddy Lazier, Jaques Lazier, Davey Hamilton, Ronnie Johncox and Jon Herb.
"We are ready for October," Dismore said. "We did some long runs and had great speeds at the end of the runs, nearly fast enough to have won the pole here in June. We can't wait for October to get here."
Dismore won the PPG Pole for the Longhorn 500 presented by MCI WorldCom in June at TMS with a best lap of 215.272 mph.
Turning left, and right: Pep Boys Indy Racing League standout Scott Sharp is scheduled to race this weekend in the Petit Le Mans sports-car race at Road Atlanta.
Sharp, former SCCA Trans-Am road-racing champion, will compete in the GTS class in the American Le Mans Series event.
This isn't the first time this year that Sharp has returned to his road roots. He also drove in the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona in February at Daytona Beach, Fla., and in the Superflo 12 Hours of Sebring in March at Sebring, Fla.
Helping hands: The Indy Racing League is getting directly involved this week with relief efforts by its official charity, the American Red Cross, surrounding Hurricane Floyd and the shooting in Fort Worth, Texas.
Jenn Cox of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway public relations department is working with the Red Cross publicity team in Falls Church, Va., assisting the national media through Sept. 20.
The Red Cross has dispatched six members of its national rapid-response team to help with victims of Hurricane Floyd and the Texas shooting. Fourteen mental-health workers also are helping friends and families of those involved in the Texas shooting.
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