Briefly
Formula One’s governing body in Paris has charged the seven teams using Michelin tires with damaging the sport’s image by pulling out of this past weekend’s United States Grand Prix in Indianapolis.
The FIA, which has summoned the seven teams to a June 29 hearing in Paris, charged each team with a breach of Article 151c of the International Sporting Code.
The FIA released copies Tuesday of letters it sent to Renault, McLaren-Mercedes, Toyota, Williams-BMW, BAR-Honda, Sauber and Red Bull.
The charges include failing to ensure they had a suitable set of tires, wrongfully refusing to allow their cars to start the race, wrongfully refusing to allow their cars to race subject to a speed restriction and combining with other teams “to make a demonstration damaging to the image of Formula One by pulling into the pits immediately before the start of the race.”
The teams also were accused of failing to notify stewards of their intention not to race.
Possible sanctions include fines, docked points or even an order to pay compensation.
Michelin provides seven of the 10 F1 teams with tires. Only six cars – using Bridgestone tires – started the race in Indianapolis on Sunday after 14 drivers left the track following the warm-up lap. Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher won, climbing from his car to a chorus of boos.
The same seven teams were among the nine teams that boycotted meetings called by FIA president Max Mosley in January and April to discuss regulations for the 2008 season. It was unclear whether they’ll attend the June 29 meeting.
Two Michelin tires failed during Friday’s practices – one causing a wreck that prevented Toyota’s Ralf Schumacher from competing – prompting Michelin to rule its tires were unsafe for the Indianapolis track.
Hockey
Chicago hires GM, fires coach
The Chicago Blackhawks hired Dale Tallon as their new general manager in Chicago, and he wasted no time firing coach Brian Sutter.
Under Sutter, the Blackhawks were 91-118-37 in three seasons, and made the playoffs once, in 2001-02. The NHL lockout canceled the 2004-05 season.
Tallon, the club’s assistant GM since November 2003, takes over for interim GM Bob Pulford, who remains the Blackhawks’ senior vice president.
Tallon said Trent Yawney, coach of the Blackhawks’ AHL team in Norfolk the past five seasons, is the top candidate to replace Sutter.
Pro Football
Seahawks sign offensive linemen
The Seattle Seahawks signed a pair of offensive linemen in tackle Doug Nienhuis and guard Andy King, the team announced from Kirkland, Wash.
Nienhuis was the second of Seattle’s two seventh-round draft picks in the 2005 NFL Draft.
King played in six games with the St. Louis Rams in the 2002 and 2003 seasons. He most recently played for the Amsterdam Admirals in NFL Europe.
•Free agent wide receiver Az-Zahir Hakim signed a one-year deal with New Orleans.
•Receiver Johnnie Morton agreed to a two-year contract with San Francisco.
•Myron Cope, 76, whose screechy-voiced antics and towel-waving enthusiasm became nationally known during the Pittsburgh Steelers’ string of Super Bowl championships in the 1970s, is retiring after 35 years as a team announcer.
Soccer
Italy eliminates United States
Freddy Adu and the U.S. under-20 soccer team crashed out of the World Youth Championships at Enschede, Netherlands, with a second-half meltdown against Italy.
Leading 1-0 at halftime after dominating play, the U.S. defense disintegrated, Adu played poorly and the Italians came back with spectacular play to win 3-1 and reach the quarterfinals.
•Argentina rallied twice from a goal down to draw 2-2 with host Germany in the highest-profile match so far in the two-week Confederations Cup soccer tournament at Frankfurt, Germany. In the other Group A game, Tunisia defeated Australia 2-0.
Miscellany
Sun Kings purchase may unravel
The Yakama Nation’s agreement to buy the Yakima Sun Kings hit a snag in Toppenish, Wash., as some tribal members upset about the deal have begun discussing ways to kill it.
If the tribe opts out of the agreement, it would mark the second time in three weeks that a deal to buy the team has unraveled.
•Americans Misty May and Kerri Walsh swept through the first two rounds of the Beach Volleyball World Championships at Berlin, Germany, beating Japan’s Eiko Koizumi and Shinako Tanaka 2-0 (21-17, 21-14) before ousting Bulgarians Tzvetelina-Lina and Patia Yanchulova 2-0 (21-15, 21-18).