RACING: A record crowd of 72,976 attended yesterday's
CART Molson Indy in Toronto. The event had a three-day
record crowd of 168,353, up from last year's 168,314 (CP,
7/16). Meanwhile, CART announced it will not return to
Homestead-Miami Speedway for the 2001 season after racing
there the past five years. Speedway President Curtis Gray:
"We're surprised by CART's decision. The event showed a
marked increase in attendance last year, and things were
real successful for the CART event here." In Ft.
Lauderdale, Cesar Brioso noted that it is the second time
CART has dropped South FL from its schedule and wrote that
TV coverage was a concern (SUN-SENTINEL, 7/16)....Meanwhile,
in Atlanta, Kent Mitchell writes that after Saturday's IRL
Midas 500 Classic in Atlanta, the "jury is out on whether
the circuit will return next season." While no attendance
figures were releasd, Atlanta Motor Speedway Manager Ed
Clark said the crowd "was a lot better" than last year's
estimated 35,000 (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 7/17).
DAVIS BANGS THE DRUM: USA TODAY's Gordon Forbes writes
that Raiders Owner Al Davis "is worried" that "more than a
few NFL teams are cheating to circumvent" the salary cap.
Davis feels that two teams involved in pending cases -- S.F.
and Denver -- "might have illegally helped themselves during
their Super Bowl years." Davis: "In the long history of
professional sports, there has never been a dishonest breach
of integrity like this. We've had players. We've had
executives, sometimes officials. But we've never had owners
cheating to gain a competitive advantage" (USA TODAY, 7/17).
