With retired Indy-car drivers coming out of the woodwork, A.J. Foyt might be next, if they could squeeze him into a car.
Michael Andretti, Al Unser Jr. and Eddie Cheever Jr. all announced plans recently to get back into the high-speed world of open-wheel racing.
Scott Goodyear, 46, who retired from racing in 2001, says he’s content to be an analyst for the IndyCar Series, which opens its 14-race season this weekend in Florida (1:30 p.m. Sunday, KMGH-Channel 7).
“I’m real happy doing television right now,” Goodyear said Wednesday during a teleconference. “Plus, I’d have to convince my wife. When Michael Andretti announced his return, my wife said, ‘You have more common sense than that, don’t you?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I do.”‘
Goodyear doesn’t see any end soon to the rivalry between the IndyCar and Champ Car racing series. “I know there is dialogue between the two sides. Both are great series. Obviously, it’s not going to happen in 2007. Beyond that, who knows?”
Goodyear and recently retired NASCAR driver Rusty Wallace will do analysis behind race announcer Marty Reid.
Baseball takes second
How big a deal wasn’t the World Baseball Classic? So not big that ESPN chose to stick with the second-round NIT basketball game featuring Michigan and Notre Dame.
The game went into two overtimes, so the network, which for weeks touted the baseball tournament as the biggest thing since Hank Aaron hit 755, didn’t join the championship game until Japan had a 1-0 lead with two outs in the first inning. This would not have happened had the U.S. team been in the final.
Broadcasters Jon Miller and Joe Morgan did their usual superb job, despite being unfamiliar with most of the Cuban and Japanese players and some tongue-twisting names.
Age as handicap
It’s every golfer’s dream to shoot his age, even if it’s over 100. Count on reality TV to come up with a show to match duffers and their dreams.
“The Shoot Your Age Championship,” to air May 7 from Florida on CBS, will give 34 hackers a chance to do it. It ain’t easy. Even the great Arnold Palmer couldn’t do it until he was 66.
Would-be participants must ante a $375 entry fee and register by April 20 at shootyourage.com or at 610-847-7150.
Around the dial
Make mine UCLA, 1967: The greatest college basketball team ever? Viewers vote in “ESPN Classic’s All-Time Greatest College Basketball Tournament,” airing next Wednesday. The voting started Wednesday at espn.com … Sportscaster Greg Gumbel coming to town April 26 as featured speaker at a breakfast to help Warren Village. Tickets, information at 303-320-5052 … Quotable: “There’s too much trying just to be fancy and spectacular. I blame television.” John Wooden on today’s college basketball.
Dick Kreck’s column appears Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. He may be reached at 303-820-1456 or dkreck@denverpost.com.
