An Honest
Day’s Word

By Joe Edwards

Wednesday, June 2, 1999

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Motorola 300 gave
preview of CART race

THIS and that to chew on over lunch:

They've had their offices blessed, so now the Hawaiian Super Prix folks are ready to let you in on the action.

Let me tell you, if the racing is as good as it was Saturday during the Motorola 300, people here are going to be in for a treat.

Michael Andretti held off Helio Castro-Neves by three-tenths of a second to win his first race of the season and push him into third place in the CART FedEx Championship Series points standings.

There was great racing throughout.

Dario Franchitti, who finished third, recovered from a bump by Team Kool Green teammate Paul Tracy to finish third.

Franchitti held an inside position on lap 148 when Tracy went to pass him on the high side. The two bumped tires and Tracy skidded into the wall.

Franchitti was able to continue racing thanks to some nifty driving.

For my money -- and I don't care what A.J. Foyt says -- CART drivers are far better racers than their Indy Racing League counterparts.

Rookie Juan Montoya, for instance, is sensational.

There's no denying that the Indy 500 is the top open-wheel racing event in the Americas, but the Super Prix's $5 million top prize is going to turn heads.

Tickets for Hawaiian Super Prix I go on sale Saturday morning at Tickets Plus outlets (many of them are former Ticket Connection locations), at the Super Prix offices at 600 Kapiolani, and at the race's Web site, http://www.hawaiiansuperprix.com.

They'll go for anywhere from 10 bucks for a general admission ducat for the first day of practice and qualifying to $50,000 for a Pit Lane suite that can hold 40 people.

Grandstand seating will be sold in three-day packages. They are $75 for the lower rows and $150 for upper rows.

For that, you'll get three days of racing, E.K. Fernandez shows and lots of other entertainment.

The top 12 drivers in the FedEx points standings will be invited to the Super Prix, to be held at what is now Barbers Point. Four other drivers also will be invited by the Super Prix.

To keep track of what's happening in CART racing, check out their Web site at http://www.cart.com. It really is good.

Coaches live and die with their players, so I would have paid to be sitting in Lute Olson's living room on Monday.

Talk about the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.

First, Damon Stoudamire, a former Arizona guard, bricks a couple of free throws that could have sealed a Portland Trail Blazers victory over the San Antonio Spurs.

Then, on a shot that has to go down as one of the most miraculous in NBA playoff history, former Arizona forward Sean Elliott fires in an improbable 3-pointer that wins the game for the Spurs.

Olson coached both of them, so he had to be in an unusual spot as the final seconds ticked away at the Alamodome.

Now, Olson is a Norwegian from North Dakota, so I'm sure there wasn't a whole lot of crying over the missed free throws or celebrating over Elliott's miracle.

Maybe an uff-da. That's it.

Games like that only help you recruit players. Lute has to be smiling. After all, his former Wildcats have been all over the playoffs this year.

There's Elliott and Steve Kerr in San Antonio, Stoudamire in Portland, Michael Dickerson in Houston, Bison Dele in Detroit, Sean Rooks in L.A.

That's a lot of bearing down.