THREE UP, THREE DOWN – Vasser’s best chance to win Indy 500 wasted elsewhere

The 44-year-old Las Vegas resident, who co-owns three cars that have qualified for today’s 94th running of the fabled 500, won four of the first six races in the Championship Auto Racing Teams series in 1996 on his way to the championship. He would have been the man to beat at Indy.

But that was the year Indy-style racing split into two series as a result of a power struggle between then-Indianapolis Motor Speedway CEO Tony George and the CART team owners. On the day Vasser should have been showing the other 32 drivers the way around the venerable Brickyard, he was driving in the inaugural U.S. 500 at Michigan International Speedway.

Vasser won the U.S. 500 from the pole, but in a backup car, after he and about a third of the field were involved in an embarrassing crash on the pace lap that began when Vasser collided with fellow front-row starter Adrian Fernandez.

“Look at the film,” Vasser said in mock indignation. “Fernandez hit me in the right rear. He was crowding me.”

Maybe Jimmy Vasser doesn’t cry over spilled milk. But like any good racer, he’ll still complain if you blame him for a wreck that wasn’t his fault.

THREE UP

■ PAUL TRACY: Not qualifying for today’s Indy 500 was humble pie for the longtime Las Vegas lead-foot, but it pales to the slice of reality one receives while hanging out with Make-A-Wish kids. “It put the difficulties I’ve experienced in not making the 500 into perspective,” said Tracy, whose ride for the July race in Toronto is tied to the support foundation for children with life-threatening medical conditions. “Frankly, my problems are pretty insignificant compared to some of theirs.”

■ JIM SCHLOSSNAGLE: Since leaving UNLV for the greener cow pasture of Forth Worth and Texas Christian, all the former Rebels coach has done is win more baseball games than any coach in TCU history, including five consecutive Mountain West Conference regular-season championships. The Horned Frogs are No. 6 in the nation heading into the NCAA tournament. Yes, TCU has more baseball resources than UNLV. And Schlossnagle knows just what to do with them.

■ JOHAN ASIATA: The second-year undrafted free agent from UNLV was a big surprise at Chicago Bears mini-camp and is being projected as a possible starter at left offensive guard. Unlike former Rebels coach Mike Sanford, Asiata has yet to blame the condition of the locker rooms at Sam Boyd Stadium for retarding his progress.

THREE DOWN

■ RANDY RUIZ: Last year, the slugging first baseman was named Pacific Coast League MVP while playing for the Las Vegas 51s. That and a passport will get you a plane ride to Japan. Released by the parent Blue Jays, Ruiz, 32, is now bowing to umpires as a member of the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles of the Japan Pacific League. The Golden Eagles were formed when the Orix Blue Wave and the Kintetsu Buffaloes merged at the end of the 2004 season due to financial strife (sayonara, Kintetsu) and play their home games at Kleenex Stadium, which bills itself as the softest ballpark in Japanese baseball.

■ CYCLING ODDS: The odds of hitting for the cycle in a baseball game are 1 in 739.2. The odds of the 51s’ Jarrett Hoffpauir doing it are twice in 34 days. Hoffpauir posted his second cycle of the season Friday while Las Vegas’ Aaron Mathews hit an inside-the-park homer in the same game witnessed by 6,339 at Cashman Field. Years from now, there probably will be 6,400 people who will say they saw it happen.   

■ LAS VEGAS 51s: After starting the season 6-1, the Fitty-Ones are 15-27 since and have fallen into last place in the PCL South. But beers are still just $1 on Thursdays.

Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist Ron Kantowski can be reached at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352.