No-nonsense car owner Chip Ganassi once told me that watching his drivers finish 1-2 in the inaugural Grand Prix of Denver was one of the highlights of his career. Eight years later, the 1-2 Denver triumph has been decisively trumped.
Ganassi will forever be linked as the first car owner to win the Daytona 500 and Indianapolis 500 in the same year. He completed the feat last weekend at the Brickyard, where driver Dario Franchitti dominated before encountering some much-needed luck at the end to take the checkered flag under caution while running on fumes.
In February, Jamie McMurray gave Ganassi his first season-opening victory at Daytona.
Ganassi’s success triggers memories of the good old days in Colorado racing, when elite-level events were a summertime staple along the Front Range in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Ganassi was the first owner to win the Pepsi Center-based Grand Prix of Denver in 2002, when Bruno Junqueira held off teammate Scott Dixon. A year later, after Ganassi switched his two-car Champ Car team to the rival Indy Racing League, Dixon won at Pikes Peak International Raceway in Ganassi’s first appearance at the Fountain oval.
Ganassi has a way of surging onto a scene and winning, a formula all-too- familiar to Buddy Lazier of Vail. In 2000, after four years of skipping the Indy 500 during the height of the Champ Car-IRL feud, Ganassi crossed Champ Car’s picket line and stole a victory from Lazier.
Lazier, an IRL regular who won the 1996 Indy 500 in the first year of the series split, finished second to Ganassi driver and reigning Champ Car champion Juan Montoya.
It was Ganassi’s first win at Indy, and he won his second in 2008 with Dixon. Now he has three, 12 fewer than the record held by the legendary Roger Penske, North America’s premier IndyCar-NASCAR owner.
At 52, Ganassi is 21 years younger than Penske. Ganassi probably won’t ever catch Penske at Indy, but it’s fun to watch these IndyCar-NASCAR owners compete in the country’s top two series.
We can only hope that competition unfolds in Colorado again.
Steady Smith.
In his first race with newly appointed Furniture Row Racing crew chief Pete Rondeau, Regan Smith finished 19th in Sunday’s Cola-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. In 13 races, the result tied for the third-best finish for the Denver-based team.
“We have something to build as we keep on communicating,” Rondeau said in a release. “Regan did a good job, and we’re all feeling positive.”
Smith started 32nd but was as high as 14th midway through NASCAR’s longest race.
“At some point, we need to capitalize on our strong performances and not give up spots late in the race,” Smith said.
“I understand this is a maturation process with a new team, but I hate it when we don’t have a finish that equals our performance level.”
Spotlight: Marc Moser
Cool to be voice of Avs and CNS
Moser, the radio voice of the Avalanche, is in his 12th year of calling races at Colorado National Speedway. Whether he’s describing an Avs goal or a pass for the lead on the track, Moser delivers in both booths in a high-anxiety fashion.
The 42-year-old native of Sacramento, Calif., was introduced to racing at age 6, when his uncle sponsored a car at a Sacramento dirt track.
“Ever since that time, I just thought it was pretty darn cool,” Moser said. “I grew up watching the Indy 500 and all the big national races, and I really enjoy what I do. These racers put in a lot of blood, sweat and tears.”
Moser lives in Parker with his wife and daughter and, outside of hockey and racing, he enjoys flying small aircraft, playing golf and playing guitar.
On the move: Chris Leaf
Veteran paces truck division
The Colorado National Speedway veteran captured last weekend’s pro-truck feature, his second straight. The Kersey resident finished third in the season opener and sits atop the division standings with 94 points.
“The last two years, we’ve been experimenting with a new setup, and we’ve finally figured it out,” Leaf said. “We’re tickled about it.”
Leaf, 42, is an eight-time CNS champion, winning four titles in modifieds (1997, 1999, 2000, 2001) and four in pro trucks (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003). Since his last pro-truck title, he’s missed one or two races per year, preventing him from contending for the championship.
“We’ve taken vacations in the middle of the season — you have to put it on the wayside once in a while,” he said. “But this is a new step for us, and if it keeps going the way it has, we might run all of them.”
Mike Chambers, The Denver Post
Races to watch
The following Front Range motorsports venues are located within 50 miles of Denver and offer weekly races:
Bandimere Speedway (quarter-mile drag strip, Morrison) 303-697-6001 or
Colorado Motorsports Park (one-third-mile dirt oval, Byers) 720-422-5244 or
Colorado National Speedway (three-eights-mile paved oval, Dacono) 303-665-4173 or
I-76 Speedway (quarter-mile dirt track, Fort Morgan) 970-867-2101 or
Thunder Valley (motocross park, Lakewood) 303-697-1003 or
Watkins Motocross (motocross park, Watkins) 303-341-6309 or
