bob jennings' WORLD O' RACING 04/29/2000
A mixed bag as things get going
Tony Stewart running in the 1999 "Brickyard 400"
Bob Jennings
After the 1999 season I had it in my mind that Tony Stewart would win a bunch of Winston Cup races in 2000 and quite possibly take the championship. The championship part might've been a bit optimistic but maybe not. Tony had the greatest rookie season in NASCAR history. He had three Winston Cup victories. He finished in the top five in 12 races and in the top ten 21 times. Stewart was fourth in the season point standings. 2000 is a different story so far however. Stewart is still running pretty well with three top fives and five top tens including a second place finish to Jeff Burton in Las Vegas. However Tony has also fallen out of three races with crashes at Atlanta and Talladega. He's in position 13 in the Winston Cup points. It's not what I anticipated and I imagine it's a disappointment to Tony Stewart, Joe Gibbs and the Home Depot crew. Forget NASCAR Tony and come home to run the "Indianapolis 500." I'm kidding of course.
It's still number one but NASCAR 2000 doesn't seem to be quite the happening it was in 1999. TV ratings for the "Daytona 500" dropped from 9.6 in 1999 to 8.4 this past February. The crowds were bad for races at Rockingham and Atlanta and there were also a lot of empty seats at Darlington. At Martinsville attendance of 80,000 was announced which is a good crowd but there were empty seats clearly visible. Fans are upset at expensive ticket prices for NASCAR races and the prospect of a common chassis template next season. The media is pissed off at NASCAR because the sanctioning body has stipulated that it owns all the print and photo coverage of its events. Dale Jarrett even became involved in controversy when he responded to criticism of Winston Cup racing by fans.
Things aren't all bad certainly. The crowd at Daytona was announced at something like 190,000. They had 170,000 at Las Vegas, which must've been a near sellout. 150,000 packed into Bristol. There were 200,000 people at Texas. I heard a crowd figure of 170,000 for Talladega. Winston Cup racing is still a big sell but there has been a feeling of discontent with less enthusiasm surrounding the series early in the season.
It seems like the discontent started during Daytona Speedweeks, with claims from the Chevrolet teams that the Ford Taurus had an unfair aerodynamic advantage. The racing at Daytona clearly supported the Chevrolet position. However despite a lackluster start this Winston Cup season is evolving into a wide-open "shooting match" with nine different drivers winning in nine races. The three manufacturers Ford (four wins), Chevrolet (three) and Pontiac (two) have divided things up pretty evenly too. In view of the fact that Winston Cup competition had fallen into an uncompetitive rut in recent seasons with winning the exclusive prize of but a few select teams this new environment represents a refreshing change to me. The competition and the fact that the least popular NASCAR driver in history Jeff Gordon is having to scratch hard for wins ought to restore fan favor before too long.
I think all but fans of the defending Winston Cup champion were turned off by Dale Jarrett's dominant run to his third "Daytona 500" win. I like Dale Jarrett but I thought the race was the most boring "Daytona 500" I can remember. The complexion of the season changed the following weekend at Rockingham however. Bobby Labonte had a strong win at North Carolina Motor Speedway followed the next weekend by Jeff Burton's win in the rain-shortened race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. At Atlanta Dale Earnhardt and Bobby Labonte had their photo finish with Earnhardt coming across the finish line inches ahead.
Ward Burton is one of my NASCAR favorites and I enjoyed seeing him win at Darlington on March 19. Ward is in the shadow of younger brother Jeff. How often has Ward finished second to his brother in the past couple seasons? The Burton boys came to Winston Cup in the same 1994 season. Jeff was named Winston Cup Rookie of the Year. In the years since Jeff has scored 12 Winston Cup victories. Ward's win at Darlington was his first Winston Cup victory since Rockingham in October 1995 and only the second of his career.
The black and yellow Caterpillar Pontiac number 22 looked in control throughout the Darlington race. Burton held off an early challenge by Bobby Hamilton. Then he had to do battle with Bobby Labonte and Dale Earnhardt during the middle stages of the race. In the final phase Ward had to out race and then hold off Dale Jarrett.
Following Burton and Jarrett to the finish was Dale Earnhardt, Tony Stewart, Jeff Burton, Matt Kenseth, Bobby Hamilton, Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin and Kevin Lepage. Bobby Labonte finished one lap down in position 13 after locking his brakes and clipping the wall when he missed the entrance to the pits in the closing laps.
I noticed that Burton and most of the other front running cars at Darlington were taking a high groove through the corners. I play the Sierra/Papyrus NASCAR 99 game on this computer and recently ran Busch and Winston Cup races at Darlington. Since I turn off the braking and car damage (of course) when I play this game I spend a lot of time bumping the outer walls in the corners. Since scraping walls at Darlington is an accepted practice (the Darlington stripe) its one of the tracks I do best on. I can't keep my car up in the high groove all the way through the corners the way Ward Burton and his pals were doing however.
The first thing I saw on ESPN's telecast of the race at Bristol was the hood being lifted on Tony Stewart's Home Depot car in the pits. That stop dropped Stewart 21 laps off leader Jeff Gordon's pace after 74 laps and after briefly returning to the race Tony retired. I must not have been paying much attention to the race where 150,000 fans packed into Bristol Motor Speedway. When I went back to look at the video recording I didn't remember much of what I'd seen when the Bristol race was being run. After about 200 laps Dale Earnhardt led Jeremy Mayfield past the leader Gordon but when ESPN came back from a commercial break the first thing I saw was Earnhardt's car 3 coming into the pits after clipping the spinning car driven by Kenny Irwin.
I don't like Roger Penske. I think Penske is responsible for a lot of the ills plaguing Indy car racing. I don't like it when one of Penske's cars wins a race. Fortunately that doesn't happen very often these days. At Bristol however it was one of those rare days when a Penske entry wins. Rusty Wallace took career Winston Cup win number 50 in the same race where he'd won his previous event one year earlier. Jeff Gordon was able to remain in front for most of the first half of the 500-lap event. Before long however, Rusty Wallace and Jeremy Mayfield in the two blue and white Penske Tauruses cars began to show what they had, which were the two best cars on the track. They had to deal with Dale Jarrett, Bobby Labonte and finally Johnny Benson along the way. Wallace's Miller Lite number 2 was stronger than Mayfield's Penske - Kranefuss Mobil car 12 and at the finish Wallace led Benson, Ward Burton, Mayfield and Terry Labonte to the checkered flag.
Don't get me wrong. Winning 50 Winston Cup races as Wallace did at Bristol is a very significant achievement. There is something about Rusty Wallace that has always turned me off a little bit however. I'm not completely sure what it is, maybe his association with Penske, maybe his commercial demeanor, but I didn't like it when he won driving the 27 Kodiak Pontiac for Raymond Beadle's Blue Max team ten years ago and it doesn't mean a lot to me in 2000 either. Rusty took one of those "Polish victory laps" in tribute to the late Alan Kulwicki and I was glad to see the race completed. For me it was one of those "throwaway" races that you watch and basically forget about quickly.
I must be missing something because I don't understand why Winston Cup racing
is so popular at Bristol. From the overhead blimp, a Winston Cup race at
Bristol gives the appearance the cars are racing at the Rose Bowl. There
isn't nearly enough room for 43 cars to race on the high banks and cement
on the half-mile Bristol oval. The races at Bristol feature continuous bumping
and banging as all those cars struggle to find enough space to race. I'd
love to see USAC Sprint cars run around Bristol's 38 degree cement banking
but Winston Cup cars lumber around there about as badly as they struggle
with the right hand corners at the road circuit at Sears Point. The NASCAR
fans love the racing at Bristol however like no other track on the NASCAR
schedule. They've added grandstands more quickly at Bristol than any other
racing circuit in the world and Bruton Smith could probably sell another
150,000 tickets to the Bristol races, but it's a mystery to me
why.
At Texas Dale Earnhardt Jr. did a little racing for the lead with Scott Pruett before Pruett ended up in the wall early in the race. Then after the first series of pit stops Dale Jr. settled into fourth place with Rusty Wallace, Mike Skinner and Bobby Labonte running ahead of him. After awhile Labonte broke free and pulled away and Earnhardt Jr. went after Bobby.
Earnhardt Jr. was in front after pit stops and a yellow for a crash involving Jeff Gordon, Bill Elliott and Jerry Nadeau. Labonte was right behind the number 8 Budweiser Chevrolet when the race restarted on lap 119. Sterling Marlin spun into the tri-oval grass on that restart so the yellow flag came out again. When the green waved again on lap 127 Dale Jr. "checked out" and car 8 became a small red dot in second place Labonte's windshield.
It seemed like the Texas race sort of diddled and doodled around for several laps with yellow flags but it became decisive on a lap 279 restart. Steve Park was leading Rusty Wallace, Matt Kenseth and Earnhardt Jr. The Budweiser crew gave Dale Jr. four tires during his pit stops while the three cars ahead were running only two fresh tires. On lap 282 Earnhardt Jr. swept by all of them to go into the lead. Bobby Labonte and Jeff Burton also running four new tires followed car number 8 to the front.
Labonte and Burton battled hard for second while Earnhardt Jr. pulled away to a four or five second advantage. Jeff finally got ahead of Bobby with Rusty Wallace and Kevin Lepage running fourth and fifth. I couldn't tell who was more excited Mike Joy or Buddy Baker as they called Earnhardt's run to the checkered flag in only his twelfth Winston Cup start. It was pretty neat and when his dad met Dale Jr. in the winner's circle I got sort of goose pimply such was the moment. This was easily the most popular win I've seen this season as the 200,000 people at Texas Motor Speedway roared their approval. I'm sure Bill France was smiling as he watched young Earnhardt win possibly seeing big neon dollar signs reflecting light off the red and black paint on the Budweiser Chevy.
The race at Martinsville reminded me of one of the races I run in the Sierra/Papyrus games on this computer. There were 17 caution flags for 111 laps (of 500) and the race average speed was only 71.161 mph. It was pretty ridiculous. They've been running NASCAR races at Martinsville longer than any other track. I think the races began in 1947. If Bristol is too tight (in my opinion) for 43 Winston Cup stock cars to race on then Martinsville is even more crowded. The half-mile layout looks like a paper clip from overhead. The place is too crowded for that many cars and the racing makes about as much sense as the street circuit races on the CART schedule.
Tony Stewart made some disparaging remarks to the media about Martinsville which shouldn't been said perhaps but he was on the mark. Stewart said they ought to take all the people who come to Martinsville to another track where they can see some racing. Isn't Tony Stewart a piece of work?
I've indicated that Rusty Wallace isn't one of my favorites but I did feel sorry for him at Martinsville. He put the Miller Lite Taurus in front and led 232 of the first 252 laps. Then the right front tire on car 2 went flat going into turn one. Rusty kept the car off the wall and limped back to the pits for fresh rubber all around. In the meantime he had fallen one lap down to the new leader Dale Earnhardt. Driving like a demon Wallace came back and within a few laps he went by Earnhardt to go back on the lead lap. Hey I didn't say Rusty Wallace isn't good. However Wallace was still nearly one lap down in position 28.
In one of those neat deals that happen once in awhile (poetic justice I like to call it) the breaks fell Rusty Wallace's way after his earlier misfortune. Not too many laps after Wallace got back on the lead lap most of the leaders went to the pits under green. Kenny Schrader and Michael Waltrip remained on the track ahead of Wallace when Jimmy Spencer and Tony Stewart tangled bringing out the yellow. Wallace rushed to the pits for four new tires and made it back to the track ahead of the pace car and in second place behind Schrader. By lap 326 Rusty passed Schrader and went back into the lead.
Unfortunately for Rusty Wallace his day did another flip-flop and turned
to crap. He had been warned earlier by one of his tire changers that a brake
rotor was nearly gone. At Martinsville a good set of brakes is as important
as anything else. I'm trying to recall the exact sequence of Rusty's problems.
He ran into the back of Chad Little's car. He got stuck in a traffic jam
in the pits. He and Bobby Hamilton had a "bump and grind" and what else -
- -? Oh yeah he finished tenth, poor guy he deserved better.
I've usually enjoyed the Winston Cup races at Talladega. The 2.6-mile tri-oval used to be the fastest circuit on the NASCAR schedule. I was startled when I read that Jeremy Mayfield won the pole at Talladega with a speed of only 186.969 mph. Didn't Buddy Baker run 200 mph at Talladega in 1970? Bill Elliott qualified in excess of 212 mph at Talladega in May 1987. That was the race which created carburetor restrictor plates when Bobby Allison almost went into the grandstands in the tri-oval and NASCAR (or their insurance company) decided the cars were going too fast.
I haven't spent a lot of time worrying about restrictor plates since their inception in the 1988 "Daytona 500." I'm beginning to agree with the critics though. Restrictor plate racing is becoming downright ridiculous! The recent race at Talladega was the worst example of restrictor plate racing I've seen. Mark Martin put the Valvoline (or whatever it was at Talladega) car 6 in front in the early laps. Behind him the cars were stacked up three and four wide looking like the Kennedy Expressway northwest of Chicago during rush hour. It wasn't racing. It was 40 cars running in a high-speed pack unable to pass each other.
By the way what has happened to Mark Martin's car anyway? He used to have one of the neatest looking cars out there, navy blue, white and red. Now he's driving just another black racing car.
Rusty Wallace pulled behind Martin after awhile and the two Richard Childress cars of Dale Earnhardt and Mike Skinner ran side by side for third for a time. It was mostly just a high-speed blob of cars however. They were shuffling back and forth within the main pack like balls bouncing around a pool table and it wasn't uncommon for a car to move forward or fall back 20 positions within a couple laps.
One thing that really struck me was when one of the ABC reporters (I think it was Jerry Punch) mentioned that teams were asking the Roush team if their drivers could go by Martin to get five bonus points for leading a lap. A while later Robin Pemberton came to ask Jimmy Fenning if Wallace could pit with Martin. Can you believe that stuff? What do you call it? Is it racing?
Mark Martin and Roush teammate Jeff Burton were able to run 62 laps (all under green) before making their first pit stops. Matt Kenseth was able to run one lap farther before stopping. The lead pack under green was still so tight a third of the way through the race that Martin came out of the pits in position 22.
The green flag remained out as the cars began the second series of pit stops. Between the first and second stop sequences Sterling Marlin, Jimmy Spencer and Rusty Wallace had taken turns in the lead but the pack continued to run tight. After every one had completed their stops the Roush duo of Mark Martin and Jeff Burton were running one two at the front.
The race had been almost caution free to that point when a big multi-car crash occurred on lap 143 just past the start-finish line. Stacy Compton, Tony Stewart, Ted Musgrave, Ken Schrader, Robby Gordon, Dave Marcis and Dick Trickle were all sent to the garage after the mishap. When the race restarted on lap 147 Martin and Burton again led the field. A lap later however Ricky Rudd spun and the yellow came back out. Jeff Gordon, Mike Skinner, Martin and Burton were side by side as they raced back to the flag.
When the racing resumed Jeff Gordon challenged Martin for the lead. Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Burton, Terry Labonte, Kenny Irwin, Ward Burton, Bill Elliott, Mike Skinner and Sterling Marlin were all running in the lead pack with Gordon and Martin as the final 30 laps of the 188 lap race began. After a few laps however Martin was back in front while Gordon fell to eighth and the high-speed traffic jam began again. As the laps passed by Earnhardt and Jeremy Mayfield made runs at Martin but Mark was still leading with ten laps to go.
Then Gordon began to challenge again and he brought Mike Skinner, Kenny Irwin and Ward Burton with him while Martin was stuck in the middle and dropped back to sixth. Over the final three or four laps Skinner tried everything he could but Jeff held him off. Irwin was also fighting for everything he was worth and he and Earnhardt bumped sideways through the banking. After a somewhat meaningless competition the race finally turned into the real thing. Skinner kept trying but Gordon wasn't going to lose. It reminded me of his two runs to victory in the "Daytona 500" and also brought back the reality that Jeff Gordon is a very good racer indeed. Following Gordon to the checkered were Mike Skinner, Dale Earnhardt, Kenny Irwin, Jimmy Spencer, Martin, Terry Labonte, Sterling Marlin, Kyle Petty and Ward Burton.
Talladega was Gordon's 50th career Winston Cup victory. The win
put Gordon in an elite class of stock car racers, which includes Lee Petty.
Petty was one of NASCAR's
earlier heroes and he was the winner of the first "Daytona 500" which
should guarantee racing immortality. He was the first of four generations
of the Petty family to race in NASCAR. Lee Petty died a few weeks ago. There
wasn't much racing on television when the older Petty was racing. However
I can recall his image clearly in photos as he smiled from numerous winners'
circles wearing a Pure Oil tee shirt smeared with oil and grime. Rest
in peace.
There has been some debate over the size of the crowd for the CART opener at Miami. Robin Miller wrote in The Indianapolis Star that the crowd was a "paltry 20,000." Robin must've pissed off some of his CART buddies who quickly responded that the crowd was something like 40,000 - 45,000, which is a lot of crap. What it appeared to me was the promoters sold tickets for one grandstand by the start-finish line. From head on shots the grandstand looked mostly full but when the blimp overhead caught the same grandstand the crowd looked a lot smaller. Regardless there weren't many people at Miami for the opening CART race of the millennium.
Roger Penske has changed everything but the paint on his cars this season or so he says. He trashed his homegrown Penskes for Reynards and he cast aside his own Ilmor Mercedes V8 to go with Honda. He gave Al Unser Jr. junk for all but their first season together in 1994 and then replaced Little Al with Gil de Ferran and Greg Moore for 2000.
I was horrified watching Moore's fatal crash last October at California Speedway and I think it was a terrible loss to the sport. Moore was a talented young driver with a future. I don't believe however that Greg was at a point in his career where he had the talent to restore the Penske team to anything like its former glory. De Ferran has even less chance to bring Penske back to the top.
When the Miami race started my expectations were on target. Pole-sitter De Ferran was overtaken quickly. By lap ten the Brazilian was running an embarrassing fifth behind Juan Montoya, Michael Andretti, Kenny Brack and Adrian Fernandez. To add insult to injury the other Penske Marlboro Reynard - Honda driven by yet another Brazilian Helio Castro-Neves was out of the race after nine laps.
I have to admit it. Juan Montoya is a terrific racing driver. I'm really looking forward to seeing him run in the "Indianapolis 500" next month and he will be tough to beat. Montoya jumped into the lead at the start of the Miami race in the Target Ganassi Lola - Toyota looking like the king of the world; Ayrton Senna Jr. or something like that. It's pretty obvious that the Lola - Toyota package is fast at least in Montoya's hands. Montoya underlined that fact by winning the pole position for the snow postponed Nazareth race. Unfortunately the durability isn't there yet and Juan was out in Miami on lap 23.
When Montoya retired in Miami, Adrian Fernandez took the lead in one of Pat Patrick's Reynard - Fords with Andretti and Brack giving chase. Apparently the new Ford Cosworth XF package wasn't any more durable than the Toyota in Montoya's Target Lola. Andretti blew the Ford in his Texaco Lola on lap 37 and Fernandez lost his new Ford XF V8 on lap 49. Fernandez's failure put Kenny Brack in front. I was pleased about that but Kenny suffered the same fate on lap 78 while running third in his Shell Reynard - Ford, behind de Ferran and rookie Alexandre Tagliani's Players Forsythe Reynard - Ford.
After Brack's retirement the Miami race disintegrated into a contest for the second pack. Team Kool Green showed up in Miami in trouble with the setups on their Reynard - Hondas. Paul Tracy qualified for grid position 17 while teammate Dario Franchitti lined up in position 22. Franchitti was struggling as he's still healing from injuries suffered during CART Spring Training at Miami in February. Tracy had an outstanding run though. Paul moved up into first place past de Ferran who faded as usual and he was leading with ten laps to go.
Max Papis went by Tracy as did Roberto Moreno and that's the way they finished with Papis getting his first career CART win. Finishing behind Papis, Moreno and Tracy were Jimmy Vasser, Patrick Carpentier, de Ferran (wow!), Christian Fittipaldi (more wow), Shinji Nakano (are you kidding me?), Tagliani and Tony Kanaan (oh boy!). Whenever I watch a CART race I find myself constantly wondering where CART finds these guys.
CART was snowed out in Nazareth and will run the race Saturday May 27 the day preceding the "Indianapolis 500." Andrew Craig is such a turkey. Does he really think that will impact the "Indianapolis 500" or what? I wonder what would happen if Nazareth is rained out on Saturday? Do you think Craig will reschedule the race Sunday or Monday? If it runs Sunday where do you think Chip Ganassi will be - Nazareth or Indianapolis?
Starting 17th on the grid must be a good spot for Paul Tracy. After leading late in the Miami CART opener and grabbing a third place finish Tracy qualified in the same position for CART's premier event through the streets of Long Beach to win career CART victory number 16 in the same race where he scored his first win in 1993.
Long Beach was sort of a strange race if you can call any street race really a race. I only got to see the final 20 laps when it was first broadcast but I watched the replay the following day and I'm still not quite certain what happened.
One thing I do know however is that there was no shortage of people for the Long Beach race. The place looked full to me from every camera angle and there can be no doubt that it's the most popular and prestigious race on the CART schedule every year. I haven't seen an official figure yet on the Long Beach crowd but Robin Miller wrote 100,000 in his race coverage in The Indianapolis Star and that's probably accurate.
Gil de Ferran raised hopes for the Penske team with another pole at Long
Beach. The Brazilian must've had old Roger Penske anticipating win number
100 in Indy car - Champ car competition as he led the first 30 laps. As usual
however, de Ferran faded to a seventh place finish after running into the
back of both Jimmy Vasser and later Alexandre Tagliani. That guy is so
lame!
Roberto Moreno has to be putting the biggest smile on Pat Patrick's face this side of Emerson Fittipaldi and Gordon Johncock. Moreno finished second in Miami. Roberto passed Kenny Brack, Max Papis, Bryan Herta, Juan Montoya and Jimmy Vasser to move into second behind de Ferran. Moreno was leading on lap 54 (of 82) when he pitted. Two laps later however he had problems with second gear in the Visteon Reynard - Ford and eventually finished ninth.
In 1999 Juan Montoya took his first CART win at Long Beach in only his third start in the series. This time he was out after 48 laps to finish in position 19. I'm not sure what Montoya's problem was although he was complaining to his pits about a lack of power often during the race. Kenny Brack had his problems too finishing in position 17 after trying to out brake Tony Kanaan into a corner but ending up in the tire barrier. Both Newman Haas Lola - Fords caught fire during the race and neither Christian Fittipaldi nor Michael Andretti was running at the finish. Miami winner Max Papis also hit one of the tire barriers around mid point of the race.
The part of the Long Beach race I enjoyed most came in the final laps when Jimmy Vasser and Helio Castro Neves were fighting hard for second place. There's usually not much racing on a street circuit but Vasser and Castro-Neves were doing their best to disprove that notion. Vasser's Target Ganassi Lola - Toyota looked quicker than Castro-Neves' Marlboro Penske Reynard - Honda and Jimmy was constantly trying to out brake the Brazilian into the tight corners of the Long Beach circuit but to no avail. Of the two Penske drivers, de Ferran and Castro-Neves, I think Helio is the more promising and I expect him to eventually emerge as number one on that team. With a fourth and a third in the season's first two events, Vasser looks like he is motivated again after playing second fiddle on the Target team for the past few seasons. It also looks like Toyota is getting ever closer to its first CART win which will be a testimony to Chip Ganassi for making the switch from Reynard - Honda to Lola - Toyota for the 2000 season.
I'm starting to admire Chip Ganassi more as time passes. True, he's the leading player for the opposition (CART) but he's also consistently superior to the others and he isn't afraid to shake things up, take a chance on a new driver, a new tire, a new chassis or a new engine. I didn't used to like Ganassi much but he's good and I can see why he's beaten up on the other CART teams so badly the previous four seasons.
Ganassi seems to have the knack to turn everything he touches into gold. Ganassi built the Chicago Motor Speedway in the industrial flats around Interstate 55 near Cicero, Illinois and getting anything like that done in metro Chicago is quite an accomplishment. Then much to my surprise a good crowd turned up for the CART race at Ganassi's new track last August so add race promotion to his resume.
I like that Ganassi is bringing Montoya and Jimmy Vasser to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway next month. Given the logistics and political implications Ganassi showed his usual willingness to put his reputation on the line and I think it's pretty neat. It will be embarrassing if the Ganassi team comes in and whips the Indy Racing League teams at the Speedway the way he has kicked butt in CART but at the same time it adds to the drama of the "Indianapolis 500" in a big way.
I'm outspoken in my criticism of CART as anyone who looks at this website is aware. I think the series is going the wrong way in just about every respect. I have a difficult time identifying with the drivers currently running in CART and question the talent of most of them. I shake my head when I see pretenders like Christian Fittipaldi getting big time rides while American drivers continue to migrate to NASCAR. Who the hell is Takura Kurosawa? Yet he was leading the Long Beach race until being passed by the winner Paul Tracy. For that matter why is it so appealing to CART owners to keep passing over American drivers year after year for drivers from South America? Look at the way John Della Penna replaced Richie Hearn with Norberto Fontana (who) recently? With the ridiculous cost of maintaining a CART team owners like Della Penna have to scratch for money all the time. With the exception of all but a few most CART teams are completely hooked on their sponsor fix to survive. CART teams have been dropping like flies recently, Carl Hogan, Dan Gurney, the ex -Tasman Jerry Forsythe team have pulled out or stopped racing. Robby Gordon and John Menard moved their new team to NASCAR. How about those car counts at CART races like 23 at Nazareth?
Whenever I hear Andrew Craig make a pronouncement it sounds like he has a mouth full of grapefruit. The best thing that could happen for racing is if CART sent him packing back to England. I read Robin Miller and when I see some of his pro-CART statements I question whether he really believes much of what he writes anymore. Robin is the best racing writer going but sometimes he has his head stuffed up his butt. At the end of 1996 Robin wrote a piece in The Indianapolis Star about Tony George that bordered on libel. Tony got Miller fired from a sports talk show on Indianapolis radio station WIBC as a result. Robin is still pissed and it colors his writing.
Anyway whatever CART is it isn't Indy car racing. Actually the quality and competition in CART isn't all that good either. Regardless of big crowds at Long Beach and auto manufacturer involvement and grandiose plans to expand into Europe I think CART is dying a slow death at least in its present form. If you look at what I wrote nearly four years ago about Roger Penske, the driver makeup of the CART series and other things I think you'll find that my comments pretty much predict what has taken place. The big money sponsors will continue to leave because there is little appeal in CART for anyone but maybe 30,000 - 40,000. The drivers will continue to be unrecognizable to the average American racing fan. It's taken a few years but I honestly think the drivers in the Indy Racing League are much more familiar than those running CART with the exception of Michael Andretti and perhaps Paul Tracy. Eventually the automakers will leave too. Ford Motor Company racing boss Dan Davis has publicly compared the benefits of racing in CART versus NASCAR and he didn't seem too optimistic about the future. Finally it's too expensive to run in CART for so little return and the racers in the series will look elsewhere. I'll be surprised if CART is still operating ten years from now.
Paul Tracy is a good driver however. Tracy was racing and winning in 1993 when Nigel Mansell was here. Paul was often the driver Nigel had to beat that season. Paul has been in and out of trouble during his ten years in CART and sometimes his stupidity masquerades his talent. The talent has always been there however going back to when Paul was winning in Indy Lights (it was called the American Racing Series back then). Tracy is one of the few CART drivers who I'd like to see running in the "Indianapolis 500" and I think he belongs at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in May. I also admire Tracy's car owner Barry Green who is another talented racer and wish he were coming here next month too.
In the Long Beach race Tracy moved through the field smoothly with good pit stops and intelligent maneuvers in his Team Kool Green Reynard - Honda. Tracy was on a three pit stop strategy, which paid off. If Tracy and Green can parlay their good start to the 2000 CART season into a championship I think it will be well deserved.
In 1998 and 1999 Michael Schumacher and Ferrari were competitive most of the time with McLaren - Mercedes but not quite good enough to keep Mika Hakkinen from winning consecutive World driving titles. After three events of the 2000 Formula One season Schumacher has three wins and 30 World Championship points. World Champion Hakkinen started from pole and has been in front in each race but his second place at Imola is the only thing he has to show for the 2000 season. Coulthard finished second to Schumacher in Brazil but race officials ruled the front wing on Coulthard's McLaren to be two millimeters below minimum standards after the race and an FIA appeals panel upheld the decision. David finished third behind Schumacher and Hakkinen at Imola.
After the season opening Grand Prix of Australia and the Ferrari one-two finish by Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello I expected McLaren and especially Hakkinen to come back strong in Brazil. Having both Hakkinen and Coulthard out of the race in Australia with engine failures had to be embarrassing to McLaren and Mercedes Benz.
Things started well enough in Brazil with Hakkinen and Coulthard qualifying for the front row as they did in Australia. Mika did his customary thing to lead from the start but Schumacher and Barrichello both sailed by Coulthard and Michael was on Hakkinen's tail in a flash. At the end of the opening lap Schumacher drove by Hakkinen into the lead.
To listen to Sam Posey on the Speedvision telecast of the Grand Prix of Brazil it was as if Schumacher's Ferrari had a huge advantage on the McLarens. When Barrichello took Hakkinen for second, Posey's usual endless rambling almost seemed to gain credibility. However the Ferraris were on a two pit stop strategy and were obviously much lighter than the McLarens which were planning a one-stop race and that had to account for a large part of the Ferrari superiority during the early laps.
After both Ferraris made their early stops Hakkinen had a six second lead on Schumacher with Coulthard running third ahead of Barrichello. Over the next few laps Mika increased the gap to Schumacher and Barrichello's Ferrari quit. On lap 29 however Hakkinen slowly drove to the pits and directly into the garage out of another race
This left Schumacher with around ten seconds on Coulthard but after the McLaren pitted and Michael completed his second stop the advantage was over 26 seconds. Schumacher has expressed a lot of confidence in his new Ferrari this season and that seemed to be reflected in Brazil as he slowed in the closing laps to allow Coulthard to get within 12 seconds. Maybe I'm mistaken about that. Perhaps Schumacher was trying hard and Coulthard was faster but I doubt it.
Coulthard's disqualification moved Jenson Button's Williams - BMW into sixth place in the official order of finish behind Giancarlo Fisichella (Benetton), Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Jordan - Mugen Honda), Jarno Trulli (Jordan - Mugen Honda) and Ralf Schumacher (Williams - BMW). Button becomes the youngest driver in Formula One history to earn World Championship points.
Michael Schumacher promised Ferrari fans three wins in a row before the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola. Hakkinen beat Schumacher for the pole again but this time Michael made the front row of the starting grid and was only .09 second slower. The "number two guys" Coulthard and Barrichello lined up dutifully behind the McLaren and Ferrari team leaders.
I slept through the live Speedvision telecast of the race in Imola but I
woke up in time to catch the delayed coverage on Fox Sports with Mike Joy
and Derek Bell calling the race. I prefer Speedvision because its coverage
is live and I like the historical stuff on F1 they present. The Fox coverage
is an okay change though. Joy still doesn't know much about Formula One but
he's a good play-by-play man. Now that Bob Varsha is on Speedvision I may
watch Fox more often. You like some guys and others you don't.
The race at Imola was held about three weeks ahead of its usual time on the Formula One calendar. The trees and grass around the circuit had that brand new shade of green, the look of early spring in contrast to their usual late April early May appearance.
Hakkinen led Schumacher at the start. Coulthard tried to sneak inside Schumacher but ended up in fourth behind Barrichello. Mika was looking pretty good and he built a 1.6 second lead after ten laps. Barrichello and Coulthard fallen 15 seconds behind by that point.
By the time Hakkinen and Schumacher pitted together around lap 28 Mika held a four second lead. The McLaren crew serviced the Finn in 7.6 seconds. Michael's stop was 9.9 seconds, which meant the Ferrari had probably lost more time to Hakkinen. Schumacher had taken on more fuel however which would prove to be critical to the outcome of the race.
Every race has a defining moment when the race is either won or lost. At
Imola the moment came in a combination of situations. Schumacher was flying
but Hakkinen still maintained a 3.7 second advantage when he made his second
pit stop. The McLaren needed more fuel however and Mika's stop took 8.3 seconds.
A few laps later Schumacher made his second stop and the Ferrari crew got
him out in 6.6 seconds. Michael came out of the pits maintaining the lead
as Hakkinen came into view nearly four seconds behind. It was brilliant
strategy, and it brought Schumacher
F1 victory number 38. Hakkinen drew to within 1.5
seconds at the finish but that's as close as he got.
Coulthard and Barrichello put on a spirited battle for third throughout the race with the second Ferrari ahead until the two came into the pits together. David beat Rubens out of the pits and maintained the advantage to the finish. Jacques Villeneuve gave BAR - Honda two championship points for a fifth place finish while Miko Salo was sixth in a Sauber - Petronas.
I'm not completely convinced that Schumacher and the Ferrari are the best
combination in F1 2000 and I think Mika Hakkinen still has an opportunity
to become the first driver with three consecutive World Driving Championships
since Juan Manuel Fangio in the mid-1950s. However Schumacher's 24-point
advantage presents a big obstacle to McLaren - Mercedes even with 14 races
left to run in the 2000 season. If McLaren's performances and fortunes don't
turn quickly they can start ringing those championship bells from the chapel
in Ferrari's hometown in Italy.