Racing Series

GENERATING FAN excitement has been a problem in the horse racing industry. A new concept, starting tomorrow at Pimlico, aims to change that. Over the spring, summer and fall, 35 races in five states will form the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championships, or MATCH, with $3.5 million in purses and $500,000 in bonuses for the top ten owners and trainers in the series.Racing officials are trying to copy the highly successful "leader board" point totals applied on the golf, tennis and NASCAR circuits.

HBO's horse-racing series Luck, starring Dustin Hoffman, came to an abrupt end Wednesday after the death of a third horse during filming earlier in the week. Here's the statement issued by HBO: It is with heartbreak that executive producers David Milch and Michael Mann together with HBO have decided to cease all future production on the series LUCK.   Safety is always of paramount concern.  We maintained the highest safety standards throughout production, higher in fact than any protocols existing in horseracing anywhere with many fewer incidents than occur in racing or than befall horses normally in barns at night or pastures.  While we maintained the highest safety standards possible, accidents unfortunately happen and it is impossible to guarantee they won't in the future.  Accordingly, we have reached this difficult decision.    We are immensely proud of this series, the writing, the acting, the filmmaking, the celebration of the culture of horses, and everyone involved in its creation.    Quote from Michael Mann and David Milch:  “The two of us loved this series, loved the cast, crew and writers.  This has been a tremendous collaboration and one that we plan to continue in the future.” When asked for clarification via email, an HBO spokeswoman said this is the end of "Luck.

Every Wednesday evening before the summer sun sets over Annapolis, the Severn River becomes a nautical small town. Old friends gather and raise crisp white sails over boats called Maggie, Trophy Wife and Hard Headed Woman. The sailors exchange pleasantries, then prepare to race. The Annapolis Yacht Club's Wednesday night racing series lets sailors pit their wits against the elements on a zig-zag course beginning at the Severn and stretching into the Chesapeake Bay. The races are a midweek mental-health break -- a place where sailboat enthusiasts can bring their children, their parents or a new romantic interest and not take the competition too seriously.

Being the engineer for an F2000 Championship Series driver is no glorified position. But that doesn't matter to Eric Langbein of Annapolis. "I really love what I do," Langbein, 35, said. "There's too much time involved for anybody who doesn't love it to keep doing it. " Langbein engineers racecars for driver Tim Minor, who is in fifth place in the F2000 Series. The circuit is primarily a proving ground for up-and-coming IndyCar drivers. Minor, 50, is part of the "Masters Class" in F2000 racing, meaning that he is among a competitive class of older drivers in the series.

WASHINGTON - For those who visit the nation's capital hoping to take in the hallmarks of democracy, this event might seem a bit out of place: the Cadillac Grand Prix of Washington, D.C., a three-day production starting tomorrow featuring high-speed car races, motorcycle shows and monster truck rides. So much for gazing at the Lincoln Memorial (mph: 0). This is an attraction for tourists who get impatient with monuments that just sit there, going nowhere. Under an arrangement brokered by the D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission, the American Le Mans racing series will make Washington a stop on its 10-city tour one weekend a year for the next decade.

What:Grand Prix of Washington Where:Adjacent to RFK Stadium When:Through Sunday Who:Sports car competitors from the American Le Mans Series and three other racing series Format:Endurance races of set time or distance TV:Today, 2:30 p.m., chs. 13, 9; tomorrow, 1 p.m., chs. 11, 4 Schedule:Today, 9 a.m. to 1:10 p.m., practice and qualifying; 2:30 p.m., Trans-Am race; 4:15 p.m., Star Mazda race; 5:25 p.m., Speed World Challenge race. Tomorrow, noon, American Le Mans Series race; 3:20 p.m., Speed World Challenge race.

The 1994 season was a great year in motor sports for several Carroll County drivers.In oval track racing, Westminster's Gary Stuhler had another good year in late-model racing. In July, Stuhler traveled to the Pennsylvania Motor Speedway in Pittsburgh and won the biggest race of his career against the top late-model drivers in the country. Stuhler took the lead on the 12th lap and led the rest of the way to win the Penn National 100.Stuhler finished the season with a win in the Winchester 200, a 100-lap championship event at the Winchester (Va.)

About 8 inches of snow blanketed Laurel Race Course by midmorning yesterday.But telephone operator Bertie Knisley was still getting many calls wondering whether the track was going to race."

Even though Pimlico-based Valley Crossing ended up third in the Woodward Stakes at Belmont Park on Saturday, he still earned $185,000 for his owner, Robert Meyerhoff of Phoenix, Md.The winnings -- $60,000 purse money from the Woodward and a $125,000 bonus for finishing third in the nine-race American Championship Racing Series -- is enough to push the 5-year-old horse to fourth place on the list of all-time Maryland-bred money-winners.Valley Crossing now ranks below only Broad Brush, Safely Kept and Little Bold John among the richest state-breds.

Thirty-nine-year-old John Clagett of Hampstead is a busy man.During the day he has his own business, JC Welding in Baltimore, where he specializes in contract and race-car welding.At night, he works as a senior manufacturer technician for Teledyne Energy Systems in Timonium. In his spare time, he serves as crew chief for Michael Goldsmith, a Hampstead driver who drives in the GT-Pinto class in the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) Middle Atlantic Road Racing Series (MARRS)."J. C.", as he is known in sport-car circles, first became involved in racing about 20 years ago when he made some parts for a friend to keep his car going.

The Breeders' Cup Challenge doesn't begin until July 28 at Saratoga Race Course, but that isn't stopping trainers from talking about the new format that will qualify up to 24 horses for the Oct. 26-27 Breeders' Cup with just one win. "They're trying to ramp up some excitement for the Breeders' Cup program with this `Win and You're In' concept instead of points," said trainer Rick Violette, who will run his talented turf horse, Summer Doldrums, in the...

Every Wednesday evening before the summer sun sets over Annapolis, the Severn River becomes a nautical small town. Old friends gather and raise crisp white sails over boats called Maggie, Trophy Wife and Hard Headed Woman. The sailors exchange pleasantries, then prepare to race. The Annapolis Yacht Club's Wednesday night racing series lets sailors pit their wits against the elements on a zig-zag course beginning at the Severn and stretching into the Chesapeake Bay. The races are a midweek mental-health break -- a place where sailboat enthusiasts can bring their children, their parents or a new romantic interest and not take the competition too seriously.

Tired of going in circles? Tired of sitting on the couch on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, watching stock cars or open-wheel cars? Need some fresh air, a nice drive through the countryside and a little ground shimmy to get your blood flowing? Cecil County Dragway may be the perfect place for you Friday, Saturday and next Sunday when the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Northeast Nationals visit the quarter-mile drag strip in Rising Sun. Baltimore racer Jeff Kundratic will be among the competitors at the national event for sportsman drivers.

Those who study the schedules of the various racing series might be surprised to notice that the most versatile drivers in professional motor sports are Winston Cup stock car drivers. Unlike every other series, the Winston Cup drivers pursue victory on tracks of every size and style - from two miles to half-miles and from superspeedways to short tracks to road courses. That's not to say all stock car drivers like all of those challenges. One who doesn't is series points leader Matt Kenseth.

Not everyone takes the road Angela Proudfoot has to reach her desired destination of being a professional drag racer. How many roads can there be, you might ask? Drag racing, that heart-pounding, earth-shaking, ear-numbing sport in which drivers buckle themselves in and set off as if blasting to the moon, is fairly straightforward. But what if you're a young woman interested in limber movement and what makes people tick? What if you had a double major in (modern) dance and psychology at the University of Maryland and want a master's degree in dance therapy to combine all of your talents and work with deaf people?

WASHINGTON - David Brabham was hot, and as he looked in his rearview mirror with a little more than 30 minutes left in the Cadillac Grand Prix, he realized everyone on the racetrack was feeling the tug of exhaustion. In Brabham's driver's seat, leading the field in his Panoz LMP01 with Tom Kristensen's Audi on his rear bumper - where it had been for nearly an hour - the strain was palpable. When a full-course caution came out on Lap 93, he radioed the team. Wouldn't it be a good idea to get co-driver Jan Magnussen back in the car with four fresh tires?

"Jerkens the Giant Killer" will be on display today in the $600,000 Pimlico Special.Hall of Fame trainer H. Allen Jerkens earned that sobriquet after he twice beat Secretariat with long shots Onion and Prove Out and upset champion Buckpasser with Handsome Boy in the 1967 Brooklyn Handicap.But instead of running a long shot and trying to upset the favorite, Jerkens has "the chalk" in today's race, the 4-year-old colt Devil His Due.Although he finished 12th in last year's Kentucky Derby, the colt has blossomed, winning his past two starts in the Gulfstream Park and Excelsior handicaps.

The holiday season is a very special time for everyone, and exchanging gifts is one of the highlights.If I were Santa Claus, here are some of the gifts I would give to the drivers and fans of motor sports in Carroll County.* To Charlie Schaffer of Hampstead: The late-model championship at Lincoln Speedway.* For Jessie Wentz of Manchester: Five orders for new sprint car chassis and a couple of wins at Lincoln.* To race fans: Expressways from Carroll to 75-80 Dragway, and Hagerstown, Lincoln and Trail-Way speedways -- with no radar traps.

Points, points, points. These days, everyone is looking at the leader board in Winston Cup racing. The championship race is nail-bitingly close. But what about the drivers who aren't at the top? "When you're running 15th or 20th, you don't get caught up in points," said Jeff Burton, who was running in that vicinity last season and is 16th going into today's New England 300 in New Hampshire. "I think there is too much made, so much made of, the points race that people think it's the only thing to race for."