Racing Team

TALLADEGA, Ala. - Seldom if ever has a Winston Cup victory been harder earned than Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s was here yesterday. Indeed, his fourth straight win at Talladega Superspeedway may have been tougher than the first three combined. "This definitely is the sweetest, regardless of the controversy over going below the yellow line," he said, referring to the final hassle of the day. It was about the tactics of his winning pass, which could have cost him the race, if a NASCAR judgment call hadn't gone his way. With 3 1/2 laps remaining and Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth dueling for the lead down the backstretch, Earnhardt drove to the inside of them both, and took the lead.

WASHINGTON - After back-to-back days of embarrassing stories off the ice and injuries piling up on it, it might have appeared the Washington Capitals were about to disintegrate. For one night, at least, that's what happened as the Capitals slowly lost control in a miserable game that wound up as a 3-1 Los Angeles victory. The Washington loss combined with Tampa Bay's victory in Buffalo last night, moved the Lightning into the Southeast Division lead. By losing the division lead and its automatic third-place seed, Washington dropped to sixth in the Eastern Conference.

When engine builder Robert Yates decided to become a car owner and build a Winston Cup race team, he did it with the idea that one day maybe his son Doug would want to take over the family business. That's what the father wanted. He just didn't realize how hard it was going to be to give up the keys to the office door. "Certainly, I wanted this for my son," said Yates, 59, whose company, Robert Yates Racing, fields teams for Dale Jarrett and Elliott Sadler, who are in Hampton, Ga., this weekend for Sunday's Atlanta 500. "But you don't know if they really want it. You see people build a wealthy business and kids don't want to touch it. Some of the unhappiest people I've seen are those who have inherited the ship, because it's not about what your ambitions are or were, but about them and their drive."

Barely a month after one international group of sailors leaves Chesapeake Bay, another one arrives. Some of the top women sailors in the world are in Annapolis this week for the BoatUS Santa Maria Cup regatta, a series of match races that opens tomorrow in the mouth of the Severn River. And though this group may not be as high on the glamour scale as the women of the Volvo Ocean Race, they are as accomplished in their own right. There's Marie Bjorling, of Sweden, the No. 1 women's match racer.

With just five games left in the NHL season, the Washington Capitals are on a precipice. Will they fall out of the playoff picture, or continue their climb into the postseason? "I'd like to know that, too," said the Caps' leading goal scorer, Peter Bondra. "We have a chance, but it will be tough. I like the way we're playing now. Hopefully, I won't mess something up by saying so." Only a few short weeks ago, there weren't many outside the Capitals' locker room who believed the team would reach this point, where it has a shot at the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference and a slim chance at the Southeast Division title.

The idea of a ski racing team calling Howard County home may smack a bit of Jamaica having a bobsled team. But such a team -- dubbed the Columbia Race Team -- exists, has youth and adult members and is even looking this winter to repeat last season's dominance of its league. And contrary to what some might think, ski racing for this group isn't just for winter -- which is when the Columbia contingent, numbering as many as 30 on a weekend cold enough for snow, heads to Ski Liberty in Carroll Valley, Pa., to train.

The last time Yvonne Azeff was at Pimlico, she stood on a balcony of a barn on the backstretch and watched Secretariat win the Preakness. The year was 1973. Azeff was 12. She stood with her mother, who worked with horses at Bowie and had introduced Yvonne to the racetrack. Now 40, Azeff is back at Pimlico as assistant trainer to John Ward Jr. A week and a half ago, the Ward team celebrated at Churchill Downs when Monarchos won the Kentucky Derby. That team has reassembled at Pimlico for Monarchos' assault Saturday upon the Preakness.

Dave Armstrong scans the water for signs of the Chinese dragon-boat racing team he's coaching. It's not near the marina at Lighthouse Point where it should be. Nor is it anywhere in sight along the Northwest Harbor. He steers the powerboat he uses to give on-the-spot instructions north toward the Inner Harbor. "This team," he says, "is too much about fun and not enough work." When he overtakes the errant team yards off Pier Six, the boaters don't look as if they're having fun. Puffing and sweating in the late-afternoon haze, they pause as Armstrong slows his boat alongside their canoe.

LE MANS, France - Early on a beautiful morning, American chef Jimmy Schmidt walks to the farmers' market below the Old Town of this medieval walled city. The great Le Mans Cathedral looms on a cliff above the market, and as Schmidt moves among the rows of fresh produce, the smells are powerful - familiar strawberries, pungent cheeses, earthy radishes, sweet marigolds. Even the lettuce has its own sweet, fresh aroma. Finally, he finds a stand that sells herbs and buys a case of sweet basil at five French francs a pot, which is less than a U.S. dollar.

Auto racingRahal team rolls out `Late Show' carpet for Brack's moveKenny Brack was welcomed to Bobby Rahal's CART racing team yesterday by David Letterman, a chorus line, Don Rickles and a musical number by Paul Shafer's band.The videotaped interlude in Hilliard, Ohio, accompanied Rahal's announcement during a news conference that Brack, one of the IRL's top drivers, was joining the team. Letterman is a co-owner of Team Rahal.Brack, 33, spent three seasons in the IRL, winning the driving title in 1998 and finishing second this year.