Windows XP and old sidewinder wheel/pedals - don't work right

[Crazy Cooter]

Short version:
Does anyone have windows xp seeing their brake & throttle as seperate axis with microsofts USB sidewinder wheel?

Long version:
I had to update my gaming rig from windows 98se to windows XP so I could play Quake 4.  So far it's been fairly smooth, but I ran into a problem that someof you guys may have seen years ago when you installed XP (like normal people did ).

I have the USB force-feedback sidewinder steering wheel/pedal set that I got a long time ago.  In Windows 98, you could set it to 3-axis.  The steering would be "x", the gas "y" and the brake "z".  That allowed you to use pot based input for brakes and gas and worked great for games like Nascar & Need for Speed where you sometimes needed to lift the throttle or gently use the brake.

In windows XP, the driver for the controller is built-in with the OS.  It only uses 2-axis so the brake and throttle share the same one.  It works fine for Midtown Madness, but when I try to play Need for Speed Underground 2, it gets all messed up.  Somehow the throttle/brake loses it's calibration and it starts using the brake like a button and the gas sometimes is going even with my foot off the pedal.

I've searched around the net and others have had the same problem, but I haven't found a solution.  Microsoft no longer supports their products after 2 years or some crap, so the entire sidewinder site is virtually empty.  This really messes up my plans because I wanted to hack the wheel this winter and connect it to a real arcade wheel/pedals.  I tried making a generic controller driver under the control panel, but XP autodetects the wheel and since it's USB apparently I can't reassign it to my created "driver".  At least that's what I've read.

Any ideas?  I'm about ready to throw the F'n thing out the window...