SPARTA, Ky. — Richie Hearn could be a pit boss at a Las Vegas craps table right now had it not been for someone else's crash at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in May.

        Sam Schmidt Motorsports driver Mark Dismore got a concussion from an Indy 500 practice crash May 9, and doctors were not sure if he would recover in time for the May 26 race. Hearn, who had been without a regular IRL ride the past two years, came to Indianapolis looking for a team in need of a driver. Without guarantees on Dismore, Schmidt offered Hearn a chance. Dismore recovered to finish 32nd in the race, but it was Hearn's sixth-place finish that earned him a spot with Schmidt for the rest of this season.

IF YOU GO

Today: 11:30 a.m. — 5:30 p.m., Practice and qualifying for Infiniti Pro Series and Indy Racing League.     Sunday: 11 a.m., Infiniti Pro Series 100; 1:30 p.m., Belterra Casino Indy 300.

        “That's all I needed was a chance,” said Hearn, a Las Vegas native who will race in the Belterra Casino Indy 300 at Kentucky Speedway on Sunday. “If I didn't get that ride in Indianapolis, I was going to hang it up and go to a job I had waiting at a casino. Eventually, there comes a point where you have to get a regular job to take care of your wife.”

        Since then, Hearn has finished in the top 10 in five of six races and earned $686,415 in season winnings. He is 11th in IRL standings despite not racing in the first two races of the season. He still doesn't have a contract with Schmidt for next season.

        “We still need to work that out,” Hearn said. “Sam has to see if they have a spot for me.”

        It was because of his wife's insistence that Hearn, 31, returned to the IRL this season after he got just two starts in 2001, both with Schmidt and both top-10 finishes. His only IRL start in 2000 was in the Indy 500, where he finished 27th, falling out of the field after 97 laps because of electrical problems.

        Hearn has shown the ability to consistently place high when he has a full season to race. In 1998 and '99 he earned 15 top-10 finishes on the CART series. During his rookie IRL season in 1996, he won the final event of the season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

        “This is my dream,” Hearn said, “to race. And I kind of knew I would keep at it. But I definitely needed her pushing me to keep trying. It's frustrating when you don't have a regular ride.”

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