| | Associated Press
BROOKLYN, Mich. -- Despite divisiveness among its engine
manufacturers, CART interim president and CEO Bobby Rahal said the
Champ car series will soon announce a plan to reduce engine
horsepower.
"It's going to happen," said Rahal, who has suggested lowering
horsepower to at least 700 from its current 900. "It has to be in
concert with other changes, such as aerodynamics."
Rahal said Saturday he was aware of concern expressed Friday by
representatives from the four companies that provide engines for
CART.
"Nobody likes to make change," Rahal said. "Certainly nobody
likes to spend money, although there are always dollars committed
to engines on the development side. But I think there's a higher
calling or goal than anyone's narrow self-interest. And that's to
produce the best racing we can."
Speeds have been up just about everywhere this season, but Paul
Tracy raised a lot of eyebrows Saturday when he broke the Michigan
Speedway qualifying record with a lap of 234.949 mph to win the
pole for Sunday's Michigan 500. Earlier in the day, he ran an
unofficial lap in practice at more than 238.
The escalating speeds have come despite CART's introduction two
years ago of a blocky rear wing, known as the Handford Device,
designed to slow the cars by 5-10 mph.
"When we go to events like this, we don't need to be going 240
mph to prove we're the fastest series in the world," Rahal said.
"We had some of our best racing in 1992 when we had 725 to 750
horsepower and big wings.
"The reality is that we have aerodynamically tried to govern
the speeds over the years. In some cases it's been successful
because if we didn't have the Handford Device here, we'd be going
250 mph or faster. But on the short ovals it has not worked."
Race future
One of the big questions of the weekend is the
future of the CART series at Michigan Speedway.
With attendance dwindling at the speedway to around 50,000 for
the CART events, there has been considerable speculation that the
contract will not be renewed after it expires in 2001.
Although he would not speculate if CART would return after next
year, Rahal did address the attendance problem.
"If you look at quality of racing, this track has produced some
of the greatest Champ car races ever," Rahal said. "What was it
two years ago -- 62 lead changes at the start-finish line?
"Here you have such great racing that you kind of wonder why
people aren't attracted to it. ... You look at open-wheel racing at
any of the major speedways and it's not very well-subscribed. So
you're kind of wondering whether there's some lesson there.
"When you go to places like Toronto or Cleveland or Long Beach,
you see the unbelievable excitement. Then you come here and it's
like two different worlds. ... And I don't have the answer."
Hard-luck Helio
After running some of the fastest practice laps
at Michigan Speedway, Helio Castroneves was confident that he was
in for good weekend. But a blown engine on his warmup lap in
qualifying forced the Brazilian to switch to his backup car.
He moved to the back of the qualifying line and was given just
one lap, rather than the usual two. As a result, Castroneves turned
in the 13th fastest lap of 230.762 mph and will start Sunday's race
from the seventh row.
"It was very upsetting because we had everything under control
and the car was handling well," Castroneves said. "My warmup lap
was 231 and I wasn't even flat. So I knew I had more speed in the
car. Unfortunately we had a problem with the engine going into turn
one and we had to switch to the backup car."
Hopeful repeat
The last time Kenny Brack started a 500-mile
race, he won. The catch is it was the rival Indy Racing League's
Indianapolis 500 in 1999.
Brack moved to CART this season and will be making his first
500-mile appearance in a Champ car Sunday. He will start from
the fifth row after turning a qualifying lap of 231.772.
"That was all we had," said Brack, who likes the high-banked
Michigan oval.
"Well, it's a wide track and it's open," the Swedish driver
said. "So if you have a good car you have a good chance of
overtaking. It's like a rubber band between the cars. It's hard to
drive away from somebody."
Elusive win
Paul Tracy has 142 career CART starts at 24
different racing venues, but one milestone has been elusive -- a
victory in a 500-mile race.
"It's been eating at me a little bit," Tracy said. "I want to
win a 500-miler. But a lot of that is luck. I have had a lot of
good races but we just haven't been good at the end of the race.
"I finished second. I finished third. But I've never had the
speed at the very end of the race to control the outcome."
Coincidentally, Tracy's best performances in a 500-mile event
have come at Michigan. His best finish was second in 1992 and last
year he was third.
In fact, his finishes of seventh, fourth, ninth and third in the
last four Michigan races are the best overall during that period.
Coming off a third-place finish in Toronto last Sunday, Tracy is
fourth in the standings, trailing leader Roberto Moreno by 16
points. He had failed to score a point in the four previous events.
"We've had a lot of bad luck this season but I think we've got
that overturned," he said. "Hopefully we've got some momentum
going on our side and we can continue what we did last week." | |
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