DETROIT – I might have witnessed an event during the weekend that was even duller than a Detroit Tigers baseball game: the True Value International Race of Champions series.

What was once a serious racing challenge that pitted many of the world’s best drivers against each other in supposedly equally prepared cars has lately become a procession.

Sam Hornish Jr., the defending Indy Racing League champion, couldn’t find time to even practice for the final series race of the year, held Saturday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

For the record, Winston Cup driver Jimmie Johnson won the event, followed by NASCAR colleagues Kevin Harvick and Ryan Newman, second and third, respectively. Hornish placed 11th, a couple of football fields behind the winner, with World of Outlaws driver Danny Lasoski so far back, a search party was needed to find him.

Instead of providing wheel-to-wheel action for fans who came to the speedway to watch Winston Cup qualifying, the cars got so strung out around the 2.5-mile track that someone mercifully threw a yellow flag for reported debris in Turn 4, bunching up the field for a restart.

In better days, IROC, which debuted in 1974, was conducted on road courses and ovals. Even when it went to ovals only in the mid ’90s, the racing was tenacious and close with Dale Earnhardt, Al Unser Jr., Mark Martin and Eddie Cheever Jr. putting on many a splendid show.

The past two years, the IROC races at Indy, in particular, have been as exciting as watching grass grow. If the series has any chance of continuing, it must re-invent itself by adding some splash and dash. The current four-race format at superspeedways is limited, providing NASCAR Craftsman Truck and Winston Cup drivers a huge advantage over sprint car and other open-wheel competitors.

At one time, Formula One and Indycar drivers like Mario Andretti, Rick Mears and A.J. Foyt would duke it out against NASCAR legends Richard Petty, Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip on ovals and road courses.

IROC would be smart to add a road course to the mix next year and perhaps a short track, too. That might take care of the dash.

The splash?

How about inviting Formula One stars Michael Schumacher or Juan Pablo Montoya to take part in a one-off race. The odds they’d come are long, but who knows? It’s worth the price of a phone call.

Now hear this

There were some interesting quotes from drivers after Sunday’s 10th Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis. Here are a few:

• Terry Labonte, who finished 19th in his No. 5 Chevy Monte Carlo after being rear-ended by Kurt Busch on Lap 145: “He drives off the end of the hood. He can’t see past his ears. I don’t know what happened out there. I don’t have eyes in the back of my head. I have mirrors, not eyes.”

• Dale Jarrett, who finished 39th in his No. 88 Ford Taurus after running into a crewman in the pits on Lap 37: “I didn’t even care about the rest of the race. I had to finish it for the guys. They worked hard but I could have cared less about the 400.”

• Jamie McMurray, who finished third in his No. 42 Dodge after trading paint with Robby Gordon: “I was hoping he didn’t spin me out. I think it was Robby. Pretty sure it

was. Just judging off his past, I’m pretty sure it was him. Don’t print that because he’ll wreck me or something in a week.”

—

(c) 2003, Detroit Free Press.

Visit the Freep, the World Wide Web site of the Detroit Free Press, at http://www.freep.com.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.

AP-NY-08-04-03 2026EDT