Tomas Scheckter edged Sam Hornish Jr. by half a car-length Saturday night to win at Texas Motor Speedway, while Danica Patrick finished 13th -- last on the lead lap -- in the first Indy Racing League race since her thrilling finish at the Indianapolis 500.
Scheckter, who raced to his only other series victory in Michigan in 2002, pushed a Chevrolet-powered car to victory for the first time since Hornish did it in the 2003 series finale for Panther Racing -- the team for which Sheckter now drives.
Chevrolet had only two cars in the 22-car field and plans to pull out of the IRL after the season. But the engine had plenty of horsepower at the Bombardier Learjet 500, where Sheckter led 119 of the 200 laps.
"American Revolution, baby," the jubilant 24-year-old said. "It's good. They really worked really hard. I take my hat off to all of them, and it shows that they've come back harder than ever to win here and I thank them a lot.
"I want to be doing this again and again. We want to do this every weekend."
Indy 500 winner Dan Wheldon, going for a record fourth win in a row in the series, threatened early but finished sixth.
"Danica Mania," in full bloom since Patrick finished fourth in the Indy 500, took a night off as the 23-year-old racer, the only woman in the field, quickly slipped back into the pack after starting third and wound up finishing an uneventful 13th, the last driver on the lead lap.
After leading in each of her last two races and coming close to winning at Indy, Patrick was never a factor Saturday. Instead, she gave up the spotlight to a pack of IRL veterans who put on another in a series of great side-by-side racing shows on the 1-mile Texas oval.
Jenson Button won the second pole of his career Saturday, claiming the No. 1 starting position for the Canadian Grand Prix by two-tenths of a second over Michael Schumacher, who returned to the front row for the first time in five races.
Button completed a best lap of 1 minute 15.217 seconds and then had to wait, celebrating as if he had won the race when the Fernando Alonso failed on the last attempt to eclipse him.
"This is only qualifying, and I know that," Button said. "But we've had a tough few months, a tough year, and this means a lot to be closer to the front again."
Button, in a BAR-Honda, earned his first pole since last year's in the San Marino Grand Prix and put in his strongest showing this season.
The performance on the 4.361km Circuit Gilles Villeneuve comes following being part of a two-race BAR-Honda suspension for having an underweight car in the San Marino Grand Prix. Button finished third in that race, but was stripped of his position afterward.
He returned to racing in the European Grand Prix last month, qualifying 13th and finishing 10th. Teammate Takuma Sato also struggled in his return, finishing 12th.
But Sato was also strong this time out, qualifying sixth and giving BAR-Honda hope that the team is rebounding from its embarrassing scandal faster than anyone expected.
"I can only say it has been a difficult season for us," Button said.
Schumacher also rebounded. The seven-time Canadian Grand Prix put himself on the front row for the first time since the Grand Prix of Bahrain in April.
Schumacher qualified second in a Ferrari with a lap at 1:15.475.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB