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Friday, June 8 Four will compete in IROC race at MIS Associated Press FORT WORTH, Texas -- Four IRL drivers are doing double duty Saturday. Before racing in the Casino Magic 500 on Saturday night at Texas Motor Speedway, pole-sitter Mark Dismore, Buddy Lazier, Eddie Cheever Jr. and Al Unser Jr. will take part in an International Race of Champions race at Brooklyn, Mich. The IROC race begins eight hours before the IRL drops its green flag for a night race. After finishing the IROC race in Michigan, the four drivers will fly from Michigan to Alliance Airport just south of Texas Motor Speedway. Dismore, Lazier, Cheever and Unser are scheduled to get back to Texas about 3½ hours before the IRL race but after the normally mandatory drivers' meeting. IRL officials have excused the quartet from the drivers' meeting. Such a miss would normally result in their cars being put at the back of the field for the race. Cheever is attempting double duty for the second straight year. He won the IROC race in Michigan last year, but then got a break when the Casino Magic 500 was rained out that night and run the following day. Racer girl Sarah Fisher is one of the IRL's most popular drivers and admits she gets stopped in public a lot and asked, "Are you that racer girl?" "The IRL has done a wonderful job of getting that face recognition out there," Fisher said. "That is what we really need to get more fans involved. To get stopped at the mall is wonderful and I think that is something we really need to capitalize on." Ray near back Greg Ray, the king of IRL qualifying with 11 career poles, will start 20th on his home track. It is his worst start in 33 races. Ray's qualifying run of 209.249 mph was a more than six mph slower than pole-sitter Dismore. "What can I say? We've never missed the setup by any farther before," said Ray, who is from nearby Plano, Texas. "The car was sticking like glue." Ray had started in the front row the first four races this year. He is the only driver with two poles this season. The previous two seasons, including his 1999 IRL championship season, Ray started in the front row 14 of 19 times and was in the second row four other times. Kelley 1-2 Kelley Racing teammates Dismore and Scott Sharp are starting 1-2 for the third time. This is the second time they have started up front together at Texas, where both are former winners. Dismore and Sharp were in the front row together for the spring race at Texas in 1999. They were also 1-2 that year at Dover, Del. At Texas two years ago, Dismore finished 15th -- seven spots ahead of Sharp. From the front row at Dover, Dismore ended eighth and Sharp was 10th. Sharp's TMS victory came last June, when he beat Robby McGehee by .059 seconds -- about a half of a car length -- in the closest finish in IRL history for his fifth win. Dismore's only IRL victory was the 1999 fall race at Texas, when he qualified second. With his pole this weekend, Dismore is only the third driver to win a pole in three consecutive seasons. Billy Boat and Ray are the others. Two for the price of one Donnie Beechler believes team owner A.J. Foyt is at his best when he has at least a two-car team running in the IRL. This season, Foyt began the year with a one-car operation with Eliseo Salazar as his driver. Foyt had three cars in the Indianapolis 500 with Robby Gordon and Donnie Beechler as the additional drivers. Beechler is back for Saturday night's Casino Magic 500 and will start sixth in the 24-car field. "A.J. Foyt is at his best when he has more than one car," Beechler said. "That is why you see so many of these guys running two car teams. You can learn so much from another car. We were fortunate that Eliseo was the first one out in qualifying. He was the Guinea Pig tonight. I think the roles would have been reversed if I went out. After he went out, we made a change by running in fifth gear where he ran in fourth gear. That made a difference." Spark plugs Driver/owner Cheever no longer has Excite@Home as a sponsor. The nationwide high-speed Internet provider ended its relationship with Cheever on June 1. The amicable split was announced this week, when Cheever's car is entered as the No. 51 Cheever Indy Racing Infiniti. ... For the first time, rookie Brandon Erwin is racing on a track he's familiar with. He is from Denton, Texas, which is just north of TMS. "Every place we've gone so far are courses I've never been on. You show up, get two 45-minute practice sessions and go. This place, I have a little bit more of a comfort level." Unfortunately, it didn't help too much as he qualified 23rd with a speed of 202.555 -- 13 mph off the pole. ... Hoyt "Doc" Kerr, the fuel vent operator and show car driver for Hemelgarn Racing, celebrated his 85th birthday Friday. ESPN.com news services contributed to this story.  Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
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