Three remarkable victories

By DAVID GREEN

Three remarkable racing victories were recorded this weekend. One was in Sparta, Ky.; one in Portland, Ore.; and one in Le Mans, France. I don't mean to slight Kasey Kahne by not including his rain-shortened but richly deserved win at Michigan in this summary, but the other three races had special qualities that go beyond the mere determination of a winning driver.

NASCAR fans are surely more acutely aware of the first of the trio -- David Gilliland's stunning triumph in the Meijer 300 at Kentucky Speedway Saturday night. That one leaves Busch Series regulars still winless in 16 races this year. Nextel Cup interlopers won the first 15, and Gilliland is hardly a "regular" in the junior division. His part-time, unsponsored, unsupported, inexperienced status makes his victory all that more remarkable.

Fox announcer Larry McReynolds rightly emphasized that Gilliland's victory was no fluke, at least in the sense that Gilliland and his unheralded team did the best of the 43 contestants and the victory did not fall into their laps through some sort of freak circumstance. But no question, it is a wonderful "fluke" that such an underdog was able to prevail on that particular evening.

In Portland, A.J. Allmendinger won the first Champ Car race of his career in the G.I. Joe's Grand Prix in his first ride with a new team -- Forsythe Racing. His rise to the top of the heap in the series formerly known as CART came only days after he was released from his job as driver with RuSport.

His replacement, former CART champion Cristiano da Matta, managed only a fifth-place finish in Allmendinger's former ride.

And at Le Mans, in the 74th running of the famous 24-hour endurance race, Audi won -- for the sixth time in seven years, so that in itself is not so remarkable. What is noteworthy is that the German marque won with a new diesel-powered vehicle, the R10 TDI.

Diesel power is nothing new to auto racing, but a diesel-fueled car had never won a major event until Sunday.

Surely, NASCAR drivers Brian Vickers and Casey Mears would like to follow Allmendinger's example and achieve quick success in their new rides. Neither has the motivation of an abrupt dismissal; actually, their impending moves are at their own initiative. But obviously both feel they can do better than they have done.

Barring a change in their status, we'll have to wait until next season to see how they fare, rather than getting the kind of instantaneous turnaround Allmendinger enjoyed. We know Mears is taking over Vickers' ride; perhaps the Hendrick and Ganassi organizations ought to go ahead and swap drivers.

An in-season "trade" would not be unprecedented in NASCAR. After 23 races in 1996, car owners Michael Kranefuss and Cale Yarborough swapped John Andretti and Jeremy Mayfield. Andretti finished the season with Yarborough, and went on to win at Daytona the next season in the Pepsi 400. Mayfield picked up his own debut victory in 1998 after Roger Penske acquired the Kranefuss operation.

As for the diesel Audi, the sleek silver R10s serve as an example of positive, innovative thinking. The experiment was not without setbacks; the second R10 at Le Mans suffered from fuel injector and clutch problems that relegated Tom Kristensen -- co-driver of the winning entry the past six years in a row -- to a third-place finish.

But the revolutionary car is unbeaten in two races, the 12 Hours of Sebring in Florida in March and Le Mans. Next year, another carmaker -- Puegeot -- will build a diesel-powered sports prototype for Le Mans.

All three races serve to point out that perseverance and positive thinking can pay big dividends -- and that there continue to be compelling reasons for those of us who love motor sport to keep watching.