IN SIGHT Don't ask. We're still scratching our, uh, heads. FOCUS: BRENDAN GAUGHAN Brendan Gaughan may best be known as the guy whom John Thompson called on to guard Allen Iverson and Victor Page in practice when the current Craftsman Truck Series leader played at Georgetown. But the former Hoya, who started just one game but is credited with helping to toughen up Iverson, may soon be known as the Truck champion. Last weekend, he won in Las Vegas, snapping a two-month winless streak and giving him his series-best fifth victory this season. The victory was especially sweet for Gaughan, a former off-road racer, since he grew up in Las Vegas. "I lied to myself a bunch and tried to pretend this was just another race worth 185 points. But I really wanted to win this one for my dad (Michael Gaughan) and the entire Orleans Team," Gaughan said. Gaughan's victory not only gave him a 67-point lead over Travis Kvapil, but it also clinched the 2003 manufacturer championship for Dodge, the truck maker's second in the last three seasons. With five races remaining, the 28-year-old former NASCAR Winston West champ now will try to hold on for his first Truck series title. PIT PASS Foyt This can't be the year Larry Foyt imagined he'd have. The Winston Cup rookie has made 17 starts this year without finishing remotely near the top-20 in any given race (a 28th at Dover in June is his best result to date). And while his name might carry some muscle, his apparently underfunded and underpowered car does not. To add to his troubles, Foyt suffered a cracked wrist in a wreck in the early stages of Sunday's EA Sports 500 at Talladega. "It was a really hard hit," said Foyt, who is currently 42nd in points. "One of the hardest I've ever taken. But my guys did a great job setting up the safety equipment in the car. All the equipment, including the LaJoie seat, did its job." Foyt has been cleared to race this weekend at Kansas. "The doctor gave me a brace to use on my wrist, so we'll see how it goes," said Foyt, who has competed twice at Kansas Speedway in the Busch Series, qualifying eighth and finishing 30th in 2001, and qualifying 29th and finished 28th last year. "I'm sure it won't be comfortable, but I'm sure I'll forget about the pain once the race starts." As for his chances at Kansas, Foyt thinks he might be able to put forth a strong qualifying effort -- possibly even matching his best to date (at Michigan in August). "It's relatively flat, but fast, and the racing surface is really smooth. We're bringing the same car that we qualified 14th with at Michigan, so I think we'll be able to put on a good show for all the Harrah's Kansas City fans." His car's reliability and his ability to stay out of trouble could come into play on Sunday. Foyt has failed to finish eight of the 17 races he has started this year, including the last three. A transmission failure knocked him out of the Michigan race while accidents ended his runs at Bristol in August and at Talladega this past weekend. At Gas and Go, we're in the throes of a hangover of New Year's Day proportions. The Big Weekend has come and gone, and we're staring at an upcoming weekend of, well, Kansas. And little else. That's a far cry from Formula One gracing Indy Motor Speedway with its once-a-year presence and an M&M car flipping end over end at Talladega. And all the superpowers came through as they were supposed to -- King Schumacher started from seventh but outwitted Mother Nature and everyone else to win the U.S. Grand Prix, nearly clinching his sixth F1 title; and DEI romped around 'Dega for a 1-2 finish despite numerous obstacles. We don't know what happened to Paul Tracy in Miami (that insane course doesn't seem to like Canada's bad boy), but since Bruno Junqueira decided to let him off the hook, the Champ Car planets remain fully aligned as well. But enough reminiscing. Something truly newsworthy came out of the weekend's theater, in the form of a SportsNation vote that took us by surprise. The people have spoken, and who are we to argue? Here is the stunning poll, for those of you who may have missed it (and clearly that's more than a few of you NASCAR Nation-types). Our voters (42.5 percent of them, anyway, as of Tuesday night) believe the Formula One champion should be considered the greatest driver in the world; 32.6 percent say the CART champ should get the imaginary title; 12.7 percent went with Winston Cup; 8 percent side with the flat-over-crest maniacs in World Rally Championship; and 4.3 percent have faith in the IRL's champ. The F1 champ being the world's acknowledged best driver is just fine, proper even, considering the technology of the series and wide variety of tracks run all over the world. We didn't anticipate Winston Cup to be so far behind F1 and CART, however. Which leads us to believe voters were engaged in an international conspiracy that folks on Tobacco Road didn't even see coming. That, and the fact that open wheel message boards linked to the poll in a Katherine Harris-esque attempt to skew the vote. While NASCAR's faithful were busy chugging the Southern Comfort and rearranging the array of bumper stickers on their trucks, some unruly European-types were busy sacking the King. Don't believe it? "Who is the greatest driver of all time?" we asked SportsNation. The results: Mario Andretti (28.9 percent), Ayrton Senna (27.1 percent), Michael Schumacher (15.8 percent), Juan Fangio (10.8 percent), Dale Earnhardt Sr. (8.5 percent), A.J. Foyt (4.9 percent) and Richard Petty (4 percent). Ouch. King Petty, dead last. The two stock car legends on the list? Both near or at the back of the pack. While none of this is scientific in the academic sense, we understand that Super Mario is celebrating wildly. And Foyt, well, he's looking for some tifosi to smack around. EXHAUST FUMES To excerpt an e-mail from one of our users, "Every time a pass is made in F1 amongst the top drivers, the FIA has to launch an inquiry which kills the spirit of competition and the excitement of the race." Was Juan Pablo Montoya at fault in his incident with Rubens Barrichello? Sure, why not. But was it worth a championship-ending penalty? Not a chance. Again, F1 overregulated a race -- and this time the decision went a long way toward quashing the excitement around what had been a spectacular title battle. "It is sad to lose my drivers' championship chances in this way," said Montoya, "especially knowing that I just needed to finish fifth today to keep my hopes open. It was a disappointing race, basically decided by the penalty I was given for the accident with Rubens." To maintain consistency, F1 probably did have to make that call on Sunday. But that doesn't mean it wasn't more damaging to the championship race than Montoya's move was damaging to Barrichello's race repeat hopes. MAILBAG

The U.S. Grand Prix will fail because there's nothing to do in Indianapolis. My dad used to fly out to the Canadian GP every year because Montreal is a world-class city. Then we went to the inaugural event at Indy, saw the historic track, and now have no reason to return. After failures at Detroit, Phoenix and Indy, why doesn't F1 try holding the USGP in a city people actually want to visit, like NYC, San Francisco or Boston? Aidas Kuolas Danville, Calif. Let's start off by saying that Indy ain't such a bad town. One driver even named the local zoo as a favorite destination (we might prefer Broad Ripple, but to each his own). That having been said, your point is well taken, Aidas. Indy is more about racing tradition than it is a major tourist destination like the New Yorks, San Franciscos and Bostons -- not to mention Chicago, Philadelphia or Los Angeles, to name a few others. And while those cities might be a bigger draw, Indy does have the major, well-known venue. That's what F1 is banking on. Have they banked too much? Good question; though, it remains the highest-attended event of the year for the series. Got your own questions about what's happening in the pits? Ask away, and we'll answer a question or two in the next Gas&Go. Name: E-mail address: City, state: Your comment: OVERHEARD (AND THENSOME) Michael Waltrip On 'Dega. "The drivers are a little bit nervous or on edge ... when things don't go right, you get all mad... you don't have anybody to talk to; you come up with crazy ideas and things that you say that you don't mean." Michael Schumacher On winning the U.S. Grand Prix. "This is one of the best days of my life. It's just such an important moment. Such an unusual race, so many possibilities to make mistakes, and to win such a race is crucial." Oh, Juan Pablo BONUS pic of the week. Juan Pablo Montoya goes looking for his Formula One championship hopes. We think he knows where they went (click pic).

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