Conference oass::racers

    I saw the interview on Speedweek, last week in which they interviewed
    the owner or the Texas International Raceway.  He sounded like he
    thought the financing group would get the money and go ahead with the
    restoration.
    
    I don't know much about the history of the track, but it looks like it
    has a lot of potential.  I think they said it was a 3 mile oval. Does
    that make it the longest oval track in the US?
    
    Bob J.

    Why was Texas World left to rot?  Was that a business problem?  Seems
    to me that's the way it was.  I also need to go back and look at the
    race records, but wasn't it one of the fastest facilities around? 
    Assuming the resurface (they'd have to right??) it would be a quick
    place for CART and NASCAR.
    
    I must admit that in spite of the success of the Denver GP this year,
    as a fan I'd rather see the boys run on tracks.  These street race
    courses are great for "the public" but not the fan.  Let's hope they
    revive Texas, or add one of the other facilities.
    
    Paul
    

    Re: .1

    Texas World is an exact twin to Michigan International (they were
    built by the same guy in the late 1960s) and is thus a 2 mile oval. 
    The League City proposal is for a three mile facility (whihc if steeply
    banked may be too fast for CART).

    The owner/promoter is something of a slick operator.  Car and Driver
    ran a piece about six months ago that talked about his plans to turn
    Texas World into a horse track, and his moaning that the sanctioning
    bodies and fans had abandoned the track long ago.  In the Speedweek
    interview, he said he'd withdrawn his application for date approval to
    the state (horse) racing commission, thus he's now committed to
    re-establishing the place as an auto race facility (or nuclear waste
    dump, but certainly not an oat-burner oval).  I know he's allowed the
    SCCA to use the infield road course over the years.

    Re: .2

    Texas World never got off it's feet after the original developer (I
    wish I could remember his name, he was a major power in racing in the
    late 1960s) went belly-up in the early 1970s.  They were also never able
    to get enough sponsorship to enable them to stay on either the USAC or
    NASCAR schedules consistently.  Plus, the fans stayed away in droves,
    usually due to the fickle Texas weather (it was always either freezing
    cold or boiling hot), or due to races scheduled opposite Texas A&M
    football games.  A&M is just down the road from the track.  It's also
    far enough away from Dallas and Houston to dissuade the casual fan.

    The place should be faster than hell, given the speeds both CART and
    NASCAR develop at MIS.  I'm sure it was faster than Indianapolis for
    the Champ cars.
    
    To succeed, they'll need a consistent date in late spring or early
    fall, and marketing, marketing, marketing.  Perhaps this Japanese
    outfit is up to it.

    Thanks, George.  It always amazes me that there are people who believe
    they can bring up a brand new facility in an area like Texas, yet
    there are stories like Texas International that seem to indicate the
    failure.  What gives?  Things like the Dallas GP in 1984 were very well
    attended, so who knows.  A three mile oval with high bank sounds to me
    like it could be TOO fast for CART.  Isn't that the main reason the
    Indy cars don't run at Daytona?  I seem to remember them running there
    one (maybe mid-60's?) and the speeds then were quite a bit higher than
    the NASCAR boys.  I wonder what would happen now.  I'd bet that the
    cars would run flat out for the whole lap and would not even scrub off
    speed in the turns.
    
    Paul
    

    There were two world class racing facilities in Texas at one time. The
    Texas International Raceway was located in Lewisville, just 20 miles
    north of Dallas and was mostly devoted to drag racing. When I moved up
    there in the early 80s the stands and tower were still standing. When I
    asked around about what happened I was told that it was operating fine
    until some promoter decided to have one of them "dope-smoking,
    long-haired, running naked, rock concerts". Shortly afterwards the town
    served notice and it became history. Another informed me it was the
    site of a large "Jesus" meeting. I dunno, but its gone now and a
    shopping mall is in its place.
    
    The other was Texas Racing World(or something like that). It was in
    Bryan, Texas, just out of College Station, home of the A&M Aggies. It
    is the one being restored. It is located in the "Texas hill country"
    which makes for excellent road racing as well as good spectating.
    
    You're right about the weather. I remember the Dallas Grand Prix back
    in '83 and the heat. The promoters were stupid to plan a race in Dallas
    that time of year. The winner literally pushed his car across the
    finish line!
    
    Bob

    A small correction to last note.  The Dallas GP was in 1984.  Nigel
    Mansell attempted to push his car across the finish line and collapsed
    from the heat.  Keke Rosberg won the race and there were only 6 or 7
    finishers.  The day of the race wasn't nearly as bad as Friday's
    practice session when the temp was ~105 F.  The Goodyear boys put a
    pyrometer in the track on Sunday and it read 147 F!  ANyway, the
    organizers didn't pick the date.  It was the only open time available
    that year.  They had intended to move the date for the following year
    but the whole effort fell through when people living near the
    Fairgrounds protested the noise and congestion.  Oh, well.  It wasn't
    much of a track anyway.
    
    Paul
    

    According to a story in Autoweek, the Surfer's Paradise season opener
    seems to be on more solid ground.  FISA, after talks between CART CEO
    William Stokkan and Bonehead Bernie, has agreed to "look the other way"
    in regards to the race.  CAMS will not provide a sanction, however, so
    CART will provide officiating support at the race and the organizers
    will fly in SCCA corner workers, etc., at their expense (go for it
    Bruce!).

    Apparently the FISA position fell apart when Tony George informed the
    sawed-off financier of FISA that he wouldn't support a FISA ban on US
    sponsors, suppliers, drivers, etc., thus depriving FISA of its trump
    card (withdrawal of the Indy 500 from the CART championship).

		Can someone post the 1991 schedule?

.4>    A three mile oval with high bank sounds to me
.4>    like it could be TOO fast for CART.  Isn't that the main reason the
.4>    Indy cars don't run at Daytona?  I seem to remember them running there
.4>    one (maybe mid-60's?) and the speeds then were quite a bit higher than
.4>    the NASCAR boys.  I wonder what would happen now.  I'd bet that the
.4>    cars would run flat out for the whole lap and would not even scrub off
.4>    speed in the turns.
    
    Problem isn't that it's * too fast * so much as it's the high G
    loadings that are associated with such speeds on the banking.  That's
    why CART won't run the high-banked ovals, the cars would generate such
    high G's that there would be tremendous risk of catastrophic failure -
    and at the speeds and G loadings, a suspension component failure would
    truly be catastrophic!  I seem to recall some problem in the past
    season, perhaps at MIS, with a rash of suspension failures.  An
    empirical determination of the probability of failure at even higher
    speeds and loadings is certainly not something anybody is eager to
    undertake!

    Re: last
    
    In the same vein, Goodyear is worried about *current* sidewall loadings
    at MIS, given the speeds being run now.  Increased speeds/loads due to
    very high banking would only exacerbate this problem.

    Bob Teazak has bought out Doug Shierson's remaining interest in
    Shierson Racing and has merged it with Vince Granatelli's operation to
    form UNO/Granatelli Racing.  The outfit will function as two separate
    teams: Arie Luyendyk's 1991 Lola-Chevy will be campaigned out of the
    new Granatelli facility in Phoenix, while Scott Goodyear's Lola-Judd
    effort will be based at the ex-Shierson shop in Michigan.

    The Galles-Kraco proprietary chassis, under development at the Galmer
    facility in the UK, will be tested beginning in mid-1991. 

    Cosworth has the new-generation 2.65 liter Indy V8 up and running on
    the bench.

    Boy, this note's been quite.  But then I guess it's that time of year.
    
    I don't know how many of you saw the article by Nigel Roebuck (on of
    the finest racing jounalists around) in AUTOWEEK on Mario Andretti. 
    Quite good.  Mario is one of Nigel's racing heroes.  He had a number of
    good things to say about Mario, pointing out his openess, good sense of
    humor, and his willingness to travel across the ocean to receive an
    award, the latter in contrast to the spoiled F1 figures who don't have
    time for fans, etc.
    
    Mario, who is one of the brighter fellows in the sport, had lots of
    good insight and quotes.  In short, he has a low regard for the FIA and
    their attitude over the Australian CART race, as well as the
    Senna/Prost war.  (He thinks Senna was in the wrong at Japan.  Everyone
    has an opinion on THAT.)
    
    Anyway, read it if you get a chance.  It's good stuff.
    
    BTW, in the same issue there is another interesting article about tire
    wars in general, and the potential for one in CART.  Looks like
    everyone is speculating that Firestone may get (back) into Indy cars
    after gaining experience in ARS, oops, I mean Firestone Indy Lights. 
    
    Paul

Re the latest Senna/Prost collision, Mario said, "There are openings and
openings. I mean, it's got to be wide enough for a car, right?"

Not bad.

Bruce

From: [email protected] (REBECCA BRYAN, UPI Sports Writer)
Subject: Gold Coast Indy to go ahead
Date: Tue, 12 Feb 91 16:33:55 EST
 
	SURFERS PARADISE, Australia (UPI) -- The Gold Coast Indy-car Grand
Prix will go as scheduled March 17 despite any sanctions that may be
imposed by FISA, world motor sport's governing body, when it meets
Wednesday in Paris.
	``It's definitely on,'' race chief Bob Minnikin said. ``The race
track, the motor racing, those elements are right.''
	The race, the first Indy-car event outside North America, is under
attack on two fronts.
	FISA has challenged the authority of Championship Auto Racing Teams,
Indy-car racing's governing body, to hold a race outside America. FISA
is expected to discuss the issue Wednesday at its Extraordinary General
Assembly.
	The Confederation of Australian Motor Sport, the Australian
sanctioning body affiliated with FISA, which oversees the Australian
Formula One Grand Prix at Adelaide, has threatened to ban any officials
or drivers who take part in the Indy race from further competition in
Australia.
	``The CAMS threat to officials is not much of a problem. The biggest
threat is to drivers who have participated,'' Minnikin said. ``We're
quite prepared to stand by them in terms of legal costs if action is
taken. Our legal advice is that CAMS will not be able to take action
against drivers who participate. The legal advice we have is that they
won't be able to enforce the ban. It's a restraint-of-trade thing.''
	However, Minnikin admitted FISA posed a bigger threat to Indy-car
drivers who might have Formula One ambitions, such as 1990 CART champion
Al Unser Jr.
	``He is determined to be No. 1 in the world in motorsport,'' Minnikin
said.
	``He wants no one to be able to say they're better than him in any
class. He, more than anyone, runs enormous risks in having his ambitions
frustrated in the short term because of the FISA issue. Ultimately he
has to race in Formula One because he's not going to be able to make the
claim of being No. 1 in the world until he has won a world championship
in Formula One.''
	Another driver risking the wrath of FISA is Michael Andretti, who
this month signed a testing contract with the world champion McLaren
Formula One team.
	Minnikin, who masterminded the 1988 World Expo in Brisbane and
steered the 1982 Commonwealth Games through the threat of boycotts by
several African nations, said the legal wrangles hadn't hindered
preparations for the race, which will be run through the streets of the
beach resort of Surfers Paradise.
	Last December, Unser and teammate Bobby Rahal visited the Gold Coast,
south of the Queensland capital of Brisbane, to check out the 2.97-mile
track.
	Unser predicted the Surfers layout would be the fastest street
circuit in the Indy-car series, and its numerous opportunities to pass
would make for exciting racing.
	Minnikin said even the war in the Gulf had so far posed no special
problems.
	He said Australia was far enough out of the firing line that teams
weren't worried about travel and he expected a full 26-car field to
start the first race of the season.

    The Truesports all-American Indy car has been delayed by problems with
    the new Weismann transverse gearbox.  The configuration of the
    Truesports car is believed to follow the "laydown" design of the March
    90P, hopefully without the British car's front mounted turbocharger and
    associated fuel vaporization problems.

    The new Penske 91 also uses a transverse gearbox, and Rick Mears got
    the car down under his current track record at Phoenix on the first day
    of testing.  Penske will bring the Penske 90s to Australia and debut
    the 91 at Phoenix.

    Another racetrack project for the Dallas-Fort Worth area has
    materialized, this one organized by Chris Pook of Long Beach and Denver
    race promotion fame, for a 1.5 mile oval, drag strip, and 2.6 mile road
    circuit.  This makes five major oval projects in Texas announced this
    year.  William Stokkan, CART CEO, has flagged Texas and New England (!)
    as the two priority areas for expansion in the next couple of years,
    with the Southeast to follow.  Looks like CART will have a good chance
    of securing a date at a major state of the art oval in Texas,
    ass*u*ming at least one of the five announced projects is successful.

More on the new combined facility proposed by Chris Pook: it will
be situated 20 miles southeast of Dallas, off US 175 and south of I-20.  
Pook has called it a "stadium concept" facility, implying 
non-grandstand seating will be limited.  Good for oval races. maybe, 
but it kind of takes the charm out of road racing.  Pook also 
believes he can build the circuit for $20 million, which sounds low.

Danny Sullivan has been testing the Miller Lola T91/00-Alfa Romeo at 
Big Springs and Phoenix, getting within .5 sec. of Rick Mears' track 
record at Phoenix.

    I have also heard of plans for a new "motor park" north of Dallas and
    south of Denton. Supposedly it will consist of a road track, a banked
    track, and a drag strip with shared facilities...hotel, air strip,
    maintenance facilities.
    
    According to the report I heard Dallas would attempt another GP race to
    help leverage it. I also heard it would be funded/backed by Ross Perot,
    yep the one of EDS and later GM fame.
    
    One of his sons(a military helicopter pilot) recently undertook a new
    airport just north of DFW for commercial use and did it in grand style.
    Maybe the track will follow suit..
    
    Haven't heard of the Pook venture yet, but 20 miles "outside" of Dallas
    is virtually downtown these days ;-).
    
    Bob

Re: .17

According to Autoweek, Perot Jr. and Ishin Corp., the Japanese firm that has
taken over Texas World Speedway in College Station, are developing the 
new speedway near Alliance Airport, the big Perot industrial/transportation 
development.  Developers need deep pockets to gain credibility with
banks and regulatory agencies these days, so one suspects the Perot/Ishin 
project has a strong chance to succeed, assuming Texas doesn't get overbuilt 
with speedway projects.  Think about it: no new ovals were built in the US in 
the last twenty years.  Then, within a two year period, NHIS opens, followed 
by five serious proposals for new or refurbished venues in Texas, with the 
Albuquerque, NM, proposal also in play.

Seems like, without expansion, CART could free up three dates: Detroit, never
popular with the competitors; Milwaukee, which is getting a bit long in the 
tooth; and the Meadowlands, which may or may not be replaced by a street race
in Gotham.  

NASCAR could also gain a few more dates by dropping the second date at some of
the short tracks like Richmand and North Wilkesboro, although that might impact
the grass-roots fan appeal of the series.

If the Perot/Ishin team can attract the USGP to a purpose-built facility, that
might gain them enough credibility to influence the folks in Bloomfield Hills
and Daytona Beach to start rewriting their schedules.

The question is, can Texas support all this racing?  Are there enough fans to 
make even one speedway proposal worthwhile?  

Bob, the Chris Pook speedway proposal is planned for Crandall, which looks like
a little old town (pop. 831) in my Rand McNally.  

>NASCAR could also gain a few more dates by dropping the second date at some of
>the short tracks like Richmand and North Wilkesboro, although that might impact
>the grass-roots fan appeal of the series.

As far as Richmond this probably wouldn't happen as this track is installing
lights so that they can have the races there on Sat. night prime-time ala
Bristol (ratings for Sat night race at Bristol are among the highest for ESPN).
Lights at Richmond are supposed to be in for the next race this year.

Jilly

    I talked to someone else about the new Perot story. According to them
    the land was SOLD by Perot(Jr.) to "the Japanese" to build the
    facility. This one is NORTH of Dallas, near hwy 114 and Interstate 35W.
    This is considerably west of where I thought it would be located. Its
    almost due north of Fort Worth, west of DFW. The nearest town is
    Roanoke. This is not to be confused with Texas Motor Speedway.[I wished
    I had read the article, its difficult to get the whole story
    otherwise].
    
    Yep, Crandall is one of those towns in Texas thats so small it shares a
    water tower.. Its pretty accessible a large population, ~ 8 million, so
    it should be successful.
    
    Theres a track northwest of Dallas that has got to rank up there with
    the worst. Its a dirt oval, about 3/4 mile around. There are no
    sanctions, no tech inspection, no set procedures. You just drive out on
    the track and run! I've seen guys with no seatbelts on, driving with
    the stereo blaring and drinking a can of beer while racing. Its sorta
    like a car rodeo with all the shouting to go with it.
    
    Bob

Partial ( but mostly complete ) list of CART teams in 1991


A.J. Foyt Enterprises

	Driver:	A.J. Foyt
		Bernard Jourdain ( for Long Beach & Phoenix)
	Owner:	A.J.Foyt
	Mgr:	Phil Casey
	Mech:	Craig Barnouski

	Car:	Lola T91 - Chevy

Arciero Racing Teams

	Driver:	Mark Dismore ( 1990 Toyota Alantic Champ _ Pacific Div. )
	Owner:	Frank Arciero
	Mgr:	Dennis McCormack
	Mech:	Dave Breidenback

	Car:	PC17 - Buick
	Last years Driver, Randy Lewis

Bayside Motorsports

	Driver:	Jeff Andretti
	Owner:	Bruce Levin
	Mgr:	Bill Eaton
	Mech:	TBD

	Car:	Lola T91 - Cosworth
	Last years driver, Dominic Dobson

Bettenhausen Motorsports

	Driver:	Tony Bettenhausen
	Owner:	Tony Bettenhausen
	Mgr:	Paul Diatlovich
	Mech:	Rick Duman
	
	Car:	Penske 90 - Chevy

Chip Ganassi Racing Teams

	Driver:	Eddie Cheever
	Owner:	Chip Ganassi
	Mgr:	Tom Anderson
	Mech:	Chris Griffis

	Car:	Lola T91 - Chevy

Dale Coyne Racing
	
	Driver:	Randy Lewis
	Owner:	Dale Coyne
	Mgr:	Dale Coyne
	Mech:	Bernie Myers
	
	Car:	Lola T90 - Cosworth
	Last years driver, Dean Hall

Dick Simon Racing      ( see Paragon Racing also )
	
	Driver:	Scott Brayton
	Owner:	Dick & Diane Simon
	Mgr:	Gilbert Lege
	Mech:	Mark Bridges
	
	Car:	Lola T91 - Chevy
	Last year Brayton ran all 16 races for Simon and Hiro Matsushita ran in 
	10 races.

Euromotorsport Racing
	
	Driver:	Franco Scapini
	Owner:	Antonio Ferarri
	Mgr:	Andreas Leberle
	Mech:	Mike Albrecht
	
	Car:	Lola T91 - Cosworth
	Last year Mike Groff drove in 12 races, Guido Dacco in 2.

Galles-Kraco
	
	Driver:	Al Unser, Jr.
		Bobby Rahal
	Owner:	Rick Galles
		Mauri Kraines
	Mgr:	Barry Green
	Mech:	Owen Snyder (Unser)
		Jim Prescott (Rahal)
	
	Car:	Lola T91 - Chevy

Gohr Racing
	
	Driver:	TBD
	Owner:	Dick Hammond
	Mgr:	Galen Fox
	Mech:	Galen Fox
	
	Car:	None yet
	Last year ran Rocky Moran at Indy and Jon beekhuis at Michigan

Greenfield Racing
	
	Driver:	Michael Greenfield
	Owner:	Peter Greenfield
	Mgr:	Peter Greenfield
	Mech:	Donald Basala
	
	Car:	None yet
	Last year their only car was destroyed at Nazareth. ( personal note - I
	 think that is too bad, with the right equipment Michael could be a 
	steady, full time driver ).

Hall/VDS Racing
	
	Driver:	John Andretti
	Owner:	Jim Hall
		Jim Hall II
		Franz Weis
		Count Rudy Van der Straten
	Mgr:	Larry Curry
	Mech:	Dave Brzowski
	
	Car:	Lola T91 - Chevy

Hemelgarn Racing
	
	Driver:	TBD
	Owner:	Ron Hemelgarn
	Mgr:	TBD
	Mech:	TBD
	
	Car:	Lola - ? ( although probably Cosworth )
	OPEN WHEEL Magazine had an article that stated that Jimmy Sills, the 
	Oklahoma sprint car driver, would drive for Hemelgarn at Indy.  I'll 
	wait and see.
 
King Sports

	Driver:	Jim Crawford
	Owner:	?
	Mgr:	?
	Mech:	?
	
	Car:	Lola T91 - Buick

Leader Card
	
	Driver:	TBD
	Owner:	Ralph Wilke
	Mgr:	A.J.WAtson
	Mech:	John Barnes
	
	Car:	Lola T90 - Cosworth
	Last year ran 9 races with Poncho Carter, 3 with Wally Dallenbach.

Menard Racing
	
	Driver:	Gary Bettenhausen
	Owner:	?
	Mgr:	?
	Mech:	?
	
	Car:	Lola T91 - Buick

Newman-Haas Racing
	
	Driver:	Micheal Andretti
		Mario Andretti
	Owner:	Carl Haas
		Paul Newman
	Mgr:	Ed Nathman
	Mech:	Colin Duff
	
	Car:	Lola T91 - Chevy

P.I.G. Racing
	
	Driver:	Ted Prappas
	Owner:	Norm Turley
	Mgr:	John Weland
	Mech:	John Weland
	
	Car:	Lola - Cosworth
	Will run road courses only. P.I.G. stands for Personal Investment Group
	Last year ran Jon Beekus in 8 races.

Patrick Racing International
	
	Driver:	Danny Sullivan
	Owner:	Pat Patrick
	Mgr:	Jim McGee
	Mech:	Mike Hull
	
	Car:	Lola T91 - Alfa Romeo
	Last year had Roberto Guererro as driver.

Penske Racing
	
	Driver:	Rick Mears
		Emo Fittipaldi
	Owner:	Roger Penske
	Mgr:	Chuck Sprague
	Mech:	Dick Buck (Mears)
		Rick Rinaman (Emo)

	Car:	Penske 91 - Chevy

Paragon Motorsports
	
	Driver:	Hiro Matsushita
	Owner:	Dick & Diane Simon
	Mgr:	Roman Kuzma
	Mech:	Bryant Ingalls
	
	Car:	Lola T91 - Cosworth
		Lola T91 - Buick ( for Indy only )

Raynor-Cosby Racing Team
	
	Driver:	Willy T. Ribbs
	Owner:	Ray Neisewander Jr.
	Mgr:	KIm Green 
	Mech:	David Hubinski
	
	Car:	none yet
	Last year ran 8 races with Willy T.  Unless they can come up with 
	sponsor dollars may not run at all this year.

Todd Walther Racing
	
	Driver:	Phil Krueger
	Owner:	Todd & Lynne Walther
	Mgr:	John King
	Mech:	John King
	
	Car:	Lola T88 - Cosworth
	Last year ran 10 races with Jeff Wood as driver.  Phil Krueger suffered
	severe head injuries at Michigan in 89.  The Walthers have been in Indy 
	car racing for a long time, Todds father sponsored the "Dayton Steel
	Foundry Spl." as far back as 1958.

Truesports Co. RAcing
	
	Driver:	Scott Pruett
		Geoff Brabham
	Owner:	Barbara Trueman
		Steve Horne
	Mgr:	Steve Horne
	Mech:	Dale Wise
	
	Car:	Truesports 91 - Judd
	Last year, Pruett who was injured early on in a testing accident was
	replaced by Raul Boesel.

Team UNO
	
	Driver:	Scott Goodyear
	Owner:	Bob Tezak
	Mgr:	Neal Micklewright
	Mech:	Mike Battersby
	
	Car:	Lola T91 - Judd

UNO/Granateli Racing
	
	Driver:	Arie Luyendyk
	Owner:	Bob Tezak
		Vince Granateli
	Mgr:	TBD ( for Indy only it will be Mo Nunn )
	Mech:	TBD
	
	Car:	Lola T91 - Chevy
	Last year Granateli had a full season Buick program with Didier Theys as
	driver and a Buick program for Indy with Tom Sneva & Kevin Cogan.

Walker Motorsports
	
	Driver:	TBD
	Owner:	Derrick Walker
	Mgr:	Derrick Walker
	Mech:	TBD
	
	Car:	none yet
	
Winklemann Racing
	
	Driver:	John Paul Jr.
	Owner:	Roy Winklemann
	Mgr:	Roy Winklemann
	Mech:	TBD
	
	Car:	Lola T91 - Cosworth





If I missed any feel free to add them.

Re: last

Kingsports is owned by Kenny Bernstein, sponsored by Quaker State.  Plans 
are to run a 1991 Lola reconfigured to accept the Buick V-6.

According to ESPN, J-M Balestre, the Saddam Hussein of auto racing, has restated
FISA's intent to ban everybody and everything that participates in Sunday's CART 
Gold Coast GP in Australia from future international competition.  This should 
prove to be lots of fun, but I feel for Michael Andretti, who will probably get 
screwed out of a top F1 ride because of this. 

Article          419
Path: shodha.enet.dec.com!pa.dec.com!decwrl!uunet!lll-winken!looking!clarinews
From: [email protected] (United Press International)
Newsgroups: clari.sports.motor
Subject: USA Grand Prix Notebook
Keywords: motor sports, men's professional
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Date: 9 Mar 91 22:39:00 GMT
Lines: 75
Approved: [email protected]
ACategory: sports
Slugword: prix-notebook
Priority: regular
Format: regular
ANPA: Wc: 648; Id: s0786; Sel: ns--s; Adate: 3-9-530pes
Codes: ysaprxx.
 
 
	PHOENIX (UPI) -- Jean-Marie Balestre, president of FISA, reitterated
his threat to take action against anyone who takes part in next week's
CART/Indy Car race in Surfer's Paradise, Australia.
	``I am not Saddam Hussein,'' said Balestre during a somewhat heated
press conference with American journalists prior to Sunday's Iceberg USA
Grand Prix, the season-opening Formula One race. ``I don't wish to have
a fight, but we are prepared to apply the regulations.''
	The Australian race has been the subject of dispute for the last
several months between CART, the American Indy Car sanctioning body, and
FISA, the world racing sanctioning body.
	According to Balestre, running the race without FISA approval would
be a violation of international regulations. As a result, he said, a
FISA court would be convened to pass judgment on the situation.
	What could happen, Balestre said, is a ban from FISA for any driver,
team, engine builder or chassis maker who races at Surfer's Paradise.
	But such a move is unlikely, since it would result in the loss of
Ford, Ilmor, Judd, Lola, March and others from FISA. That means those
companies wouldn't be eligible for Formula One racing, which would
effectively cut the current Formula One field in half.

	Do you think he purposefully left out tire manufacturers and
	sponsors from his list of banishment, since that would eliminate 
	Goodyear and Marlboro and _really_ mean the end of Formula 1?

    Actually if he did not mention tires manufacturers and sponsors, he has
    softened his stance somewhat.
    
    It looks like we will get to see if he is true to his word because the
    CART people are off to Australia.  I hope they have a successful race. 
    I also believe there are enough race fans to support F1 and CART if
    they are forced to go their separate ways.  Unfortunately there are not
    enough engine and chassis builders if JMB enforces the rules.
    
    Bob J.

     I watched most of the Gold Coast race, and have a question for those
    noters who are from down under. Was the pace car really an 84-86' SVO
    or is that what late model Mustangs look like in down under? Boy, did
    that car catch me off guard. Nice color too.
    

That sure did look like a Mustang ...


Very weird race, but *fun to watch* !!


Spoiler ahead, in case you haven't seen it:



If you had told me last week that Andretti-the-nephew would win 
after Little Al and Rick Mears both just flat-out *lose it*, I 
woulda hadda laugh!

--Lil

I had some mixed feelings watching the CART PPG Indy Car season opener at 
Surfer's Paradise, in Queensland Australia.  Mostly I was glad that it came off 
after all the bickering, I also had fun trying to pick out familar sights (from 
a weekend visit about five years ago), but there was also regret that I was 
watching on TV rather than in person...

First comment:  the Australian TV feed was mediocre, IMNSHO.  That should have 
a spoiler warning, not for the comment but the feed quality was certainly a bit 
of a spoiler as far as I was concerned!  If anybody out there has the ability 
to get my comments to the Oz TV folks, I can offer some specific constructive 
suggestions...

    I disagree with the comments in .28's spoiler, FWIW.  See below.
    
<MAJOR SPOILER WARNING>  If you haven't viewed the race yet you might wish to 
skip the rest of this topic for now...

.28>   If you had told me last week that Andretti-the-nephew would win 
.28>   after Little Al and Rick Mears both just flat-out *lose it*, I 
.28>   woulda hadda laugh!
    
    Mears didn't "flat-out lose it".  Little Al did, but he wasn't even in
    the lead at the time.  And based on Little Al's record, I can't
    understand anyone being surprised at his taking himself and some other
    contender out, rather than concede that he can't always be first!
    
In brief:  
	Some atonement by Oz TV;
	Little Al screwed up;  
	Michael and Mears ran out of brakes;  
	Welcome back, Chapparral/VDS!

First, giving credit where due:  at least the Oz TV feed did manage to cover 
both of the significant incidents, and quite well in fact.  This convinced me 
to upgrade their rating from downright lousy to merely mediocre.  It didn't 
quite make up for seeing cars sitting in corners, into the wall, with no 
comments nor indication of how they got there.  That lack made it impossible to 
follow the fortunes of backmarkers (like, anybody below the top 5!), or to get 
a good picture of the overall course of the race.  So, mediocre, could've been 
worse but with even more room for improvement.

Little Al definitely screwed up.  I still can't be sure if he was set up by 
Michael, but I think so.  Jeff was an unwitting factor (can you say "Moving 
chicane"?).  Cheever and Mario were unfortunate victims, Cheever made a great 
decision to take the best impact, Mario at least had some chance to control his 
own destiny but may've guessed wrong.  I can find no one but Little Al to blame 
for taking out the second, third and fourth place cars, and I do believe blame 
is appropriate.

Reviewing the incident (many times), I noticed that on the preceding straight, 
just before taking Jeff, Michael took a look to the inside and dropped back 
into line to wait another moment before taking the pass.  When I first saw it 
(in realtime) I wondered if he was just being cautious about passing on the 
inside of that lefthand sweeper during the straight, or if he was timing the 
pass to place Al at a disadvantage for entry to the following corner.  
Subsequent results seemed to show Little Al was at a significant disadvantage!

Michael had a clean pass in time to line up for a clean shot into the chicane.
Little Al was set up for the pass on Jeff entering the braking zone but was 
still completely behind Jeff's car.  Jeff stayed pretty much as far right as he 
could to give Al room, but that was the tight chicane and there's only room for 
one car there - Jeff was still ahead and had the right to take the line, 
staying on the road and not stopping to let Al overtake.  Al was offline to the 
left, into the marbles, trying a late braking pass on a car he really didn't 
have, and lost it as a result.

Al had a tough choice.  If he tries the pass, he's really in deep sneakers (as 
events showed).  If he doesn't, he's stuck behind slower traffic through the 
chicane and Michael breaks the draft and gets clean away.  Little Al is known 
to be an aggressive driver, no surprise he took the choice he did, although 
later results do suggest patience might have been better rewarded.

Cheever was already committed when Little Al went into the wall.  A replay of 
the aerial shot shows Eddie went straight in, with no effort to turn, hitting 
the wall squarely at the back of Al's car.  It seemed obvious to me that Eddie 
choose to take that hit rather than attempting any turn and risking an impact 
in the area of Unser's cockpit.  Great show of class by Cheever, in my book!

Mario was then confronted with a track blockage, two cars together in a chicane 
that is one car wide.  He tried to drive straight on over the first chicane 
curbing and almost got away with it, but didn't have the tire bite or the 
flight height to clear Unser's nose.  Too bad, in retrospect it looked like he 
might've been able to squeak past on the line by braking all the way in - but 
then again he might not've.  There's no way to say for sure, and we'll never 
know.


Michael ran out of brakes, too bad, but that's what happens when you use the 
car up early.  In retrospect maybe Little Al could've profited by being more 
patient, but then maybe it would've been Eddie or Mario who reaped the rewards. 
Al's engine seemed to be smoking worse and worse, not sure if it would've 
lasted even if he was able to hold off the wolves.


Looked to me like Mears also ran out of brakes.  He was looking rough enough 
shortly before his incident that the ESPN crew commented on it.  After his 
re-entry I noticed that he ran very deep and wide into one of the next corners 
(last one before the next commercial brake, for anyone who wants to review it).
Looked to me like he got inside under late braking for the later part of his 
pass on those two back markers, and his lack of brakes along with the marbles 
caused him to overshoot the corner.  The car he was passing was between a rock 
and a hard place, he couldn't turn because Mears was there, so he had to choose 
between slowing abnormally to wait for Mears to clear the line or being forced 
to follow Mears into the escape road.  He correctly chose to slow, but that put 
the following backmarker into trouble (probably because he couldn't brake hard
enough to avoid ramming) so he tried to go around behind Mears, but lost the 
rear with the jink under braking.  When his rear came around it unfortunately 
took out the other backmarker, leaving Mears unscathed but confronted with a 
corner littered by broken cars.  Mears was lucky to rejoin undamaged and in 
third.

John Andretti certainly got a windfall for his first Indy-car win.  Jim Hall 
and VDS re-entered the sport just where they left it - on top!  Great to have 
them back!
    

    
>    Mears didn't "flat-out lose it".  Little Al did, but he wasn't even in
>    the lead at the time.  And based on Little Al's record, I can't
>    understand anyone being surprised at his taking himself and some other
>    contender out, rather than concede that he can't always be first!
    
After further review, I'll concede the point. I tuned in at midnight 
Saturday (Sunday?) and watched the tape yesterday. Mears positively 
*was* a victim, left with nowhere to go but down the escape road.
Little Al on the other hand did lose it pure and simple. He tried 
something he couldn't bring off ... so, "blame", as you say, is 
probably appropriate when your mistake takes out the rest of the 
frontrunners en mass ... Michael used up his car, as has been known 
happen in the past ...

Ah well, I guess you-know-who's in heaven and all's still right with the 
world ... ;)

--Lil

.30>  Mears positively 
.30>  *was* a victim, left with nowhere to go but down the escape road.
    
    hey, let's don't let Rick off too easily, he was a victim of his own
    ill-judged passing attempt...

A couple of comments on the race and this string of replies (just got to watch
the race on tape):

Re: .27

Yes, that's an SVO Mustang, one of the PPG pace car fleet.  There's also a
'vette, a heavily modded Ferrari, a Stealth, a trick El Camino-like vehicle
based on a C&C Trans-Am Beretta chassis, and a turbo V6 Camaro convertible which
ralphed oil right in front of me in the Nazareth paddock before last year's
Marlboro Challenge.

Re: the race

Gotta love it!  It's thrilling to see new blood on the podium in terms of both
driver and car owners (OK, in Jim Hall's case re-new-ed blood).  Of course luck
and happenstance played a factor, but luck is the happy combination of
preparation and opportunity.  Andretti had to be in a position to capitalize in
the leaders' mistakes in order to walk away with the win.  He drove a smart,
conservative race which came back to him in the end.  Eddie Cheever, who had his
best ever CART showing, including the provisional pole throughout most of
qualifying, must have been disappointed to do so well and wind up with bupkus. 
Obviously, the Ganassi operation now has the financial wherewithal to place
Eddie in the hunt at most every venue, and it seems logical to expect to see him
in the winner's circle sometime in 1991.  Michael Andretti proved once again
that he is enormously talented, but unless he stops outdriving the race car
he'll never have the success he deserves.

Re: TV

One of the subtle failings of the Australian TV feed was the lack of pit stop
coverage, which is logical if you consider their inexperience with covering this
form of racing.  By missing some of the pit stops and the reshuffling, they
introduced a fair bit of confusion.  Also, it's hard to overstate the importance
of the director and commentators being on the same team.  The director can prep
the talking head with info about an upcoming shot or an incident on the track,
and the announcers can signal for a shot of a specific car when thy have a color
comment about that car/driver/team to make.  This is all transparent to the
viewer, but makes for a smoother, more entertaining, and more informative
broadcast.  Having said that, the production was no worse than any ESPN
broadcast of F1 or late season CART road races.

In fact, the coverage of the Unser/Cheever/Andretti incident was excellent, with
two ground-level angles, a helicopter shot, and the in-car Opievision footage.
Better than we'd see from ESPN at, say, Road America, or NBC anywhere.

Speaking of the Boys from Alberquerque, is it me, or did Rick "invoice plus $50"
Galles come off sounding like a pompous fat f**k when he responded to an
interview question by saying, "I doubt very strongly that Little Al just lost
it."  OK, the question came from Sally Larvae, but the incident was critical to
the race outcome and Mr. Unser *seemed* to have lost it, so the question to the
relevant team owner was justified.  Rick, you dork, the kid makes mistakes, get
over it.

I just had a terrible thought: by the year 2025, the entire starting field for
the Indianapolis 500 will be made up of Andrettis.  And none of them will 
finish.

	Any word from Long Beach?  Pur local paper seems to have forgotten 
	there is such a thing as motor sports.

	RE: -1	Don't forget the Unser's, Robby ( & Jerry's kid, whose name
	I can't remember ) are waiting in the wings.

    There was a small article about the Long Beach GP in the USA Today this
    morning.  Basically it said the Al Unser Jr. is the overwhelming
    favorite based on his winning the race the last 2 years.
    
    Bob J.

	I missed the middle of Sunday's race at Long Beach.  When I
	stopped watching, Al Jr. was leading, followed by Michael A.
	and Emmo.  When I came back, Jr. was being chased by Bobby
	Rahal and Michael and Emmo were no where to be found - one
	of the commentators mentioned a pit accident.  What happened?
	What happened to John Andretti?

	Annie

    John Andretti crashed on the straight - sais that something appeared to
    let go in the rear as he declutched in response to feeling a vibration. 
    The ensuing full-course yellow caused a flurry of pit activity.  Emmo
    was one of the first in and, as he was being waved away by his crew
    after the stop, pulled wide to clear the next pit, right into the path
    of M. Andretti, who was heading down pit lane a a good clip toward his
    pit, which was near the end.  Michael got airborne, and was out on the
    spot.  Emmo continued around for one lap before coming back in to
    retire with damage to the right side pod.
    
    During the same yellow, Johnny Rutherford in the pace car slid wide
    into a tire barrier (probably on coolant or oil from Emmo's damaged
    radiator) and Rick Mears slid wide to avoid him, losing a couple of
    places.  

    Oops, that was the left side pod....

    I thought from the interview with Michael that he was leaving his pit,
    something about the way he said he was up in third gear (!) made me
    think he was accelerating away.  Of course he claimed Emmo should've
    held, and of course Emmo claimed Mike should've backed off upon seeing
    Emmo coming out ahead of him.  I really couldn't tell the timing or
    sight lines from any of the TV shots, except that the interval between
    Emmo's starting out and Michael's arrival seemed fairly short, and
    Michael's speed seemed quite high.  If Michael was entering the pits
    instead of leaving it seems to me that it would undermine Emmo's
    assertion that Michael should've backed off, Michael would already be
    decelerating as he entered the pits and expecting him to brake harder
    simply introduces more chance of an accident (like the fatality NASCAR
    suffered at Atlanta last year).  
    
    It was scary to see Michael's car get six to eight feet in the air,
    crosswise in pit road!
    
    From where I sit, both Emmo's crew and Michael should probably share
    responsibility.  Bobby Unser said it was unavoidable, Michael had
    nowhere to go, and I agree with that.  The question that I see is why
    the situation arose in the first place, and that's where Michael's
    speed on pit road and Emmo's crew waving him out in front of traffic
    are the two culprits.
    
    The real root problem is that again (or still) we see safety being
    sacrificed in a quest for competitive advantage.  The pits are
    presently part of the race, even though they are populated by crew
    members essentially unprotected from any mishap.  Yet cars race in and
    out at speed, to avoid giving up any miniscule advantage to a
    competitor who might gain a tick in his entry and exit from the pits.
    
    The only solution that I see is to impose a speed limit in the pits. 
    Use radar to measure it, impose significant (at least a lap) penalties
    plus large fines for violations.  Eliminate the advantage and make it a
    disadvantage to violate the rules.  Even better, if there's room
    include a merge lane between cars traveling down pit lane and the
    actual working pits filled with crew and stopped cars.  At least have
    the speed limit with merge zones in the pit entrance and exit areas.
    
    NASCAR tried a different alternative, and already decided to change it
    because it wasn't satisfactory.  Now CART has shown that the problem is
    not unique to NASCAR, and we need to see a good solution before we see
    any more fatalities.

Michael's pit was near the entrance to pit road; Emmo's was near the exit.
Michael pitted first and was leaving the pits (at a pretty good clip) when
Emmo pulled out in front of him.

Fittipaldi had to pull out around the tires that were set out in the pit
in front of him.  He gave the tires a wide berth and left Andretti with
no room to get by him.  Michael appeared to be going too fast to do anything
about it.  I think there would have been room for both cars if Emmo hadn't
pulled out so far.  I don't know if Fittipaldi saw Michael coming and was
purposefully squeezing him (it wouldn't be the first time Emmo has squeezed
someone too hard), or if he just didn't see him.

There's probably blame enough for both of them.  I can't actually expect 
someone to sit in their pit waiting for traffic to clear, but I think
Emmo could have exited his pit in a way that would have given any overtaking
cars room.  Michael may have been going a little faster than was prudent.
He put himself in a position where he had no options when Fittipaldi did
pull out in front of him.  It's lucky that noone was hurt.

After the incident, Fittipaldi decided to take one more circuit to dump
his fluids.  This caused the pace car and Mears to slide off.  This probably
cost Mears at least one final position. 

So who won and what happened?????

(The newspapers up here DO NOT cover these things ... :( ... )

    A quick race recap from memory, so anybody feel free to add, update,
    correct this report.
    
    Michael Andretti led the race away from the pole with Al Unser Jr. on
    the outside front row.  On the first turn of the 2nd Lap, Al passed
    Michael under braking and quickly pulled to 5 second lead. Michael was
    followed by Emmo, Rick Mears, and Bobby Rahal.  Rahal passed Mears and
    then started to put pressure on Emmo who in turn was pressuring
    Michael.
    
    The first round of pit stops was routine with the order remaining the
    same.  Little Al definitely had the field covered.
    
    When a full course yellow came out because John Andretti crashed,
    everybody pitted.  Michael and Emmo crashed in the pits when Emmo, who
    was waved out by his crew, pulled into Michael's path.  Michael was
    coming very fast trying to regain his earlier position and he had no
    where to go.  The crash was scary and I was worried that pit crew
    members were going to get hurt by the flying K-Mart special car of
    Michael Andretti.
    
    Shortly after that a very embarrassed Johnny Rutherford slipped in some
    oil and crashed the pace car into a tire barrier.
    
    When racing resumed, Al still had the lead followed by Bobby Rahal and
    Eddie Cheever.  Nobody could make an impression on Al and the above
    order remained until the finish.  For some reason Little Al really
    owns Long Beach - now 4 wins in a row with 2 coming from the pole.
    
    Bob J.

    Emmo cleared the tires in from of him by four feed!  If he would
    have moved over just two of thoes four feed, Michael would have
    had enough room!  It is a two lane pit road, not a single lane like
    F1.

RE:	-< Emmo could have avoided >-


	I think Tom Sneva summed it best several years ago when he said,
	"I never seen one of these things that came without a brake pedal".

.44>                     -< Micheal could have avoided too... >-
    
    I'm not so sure.  
    
.44>	I think Tom Sneva summed it best several years ago when he said,
.44>	"I never seen one of these things that came without a brake pedal".
    
    I never saw a brake pedal that was able to suspend the laws of physics,
    especially those pertaining to momentum.  The issues are whether
    Michael had sufficient reaction time to see Emmo and apply brakes, and
    whether there was sufficient time/space for brakes to effectively
    reduce Michael's speed enough to avoid a collision.  The answers to
    those questions are unknown, and will never be known. 
    
    Suffice it to say, a collision could've been avoided had Michael been
    going slower and/or had Emmo given him more room.  Thus, responsibility
    is not clearly assigned but rather is shared.
    
    FWIW, did anyone else notice the several sets of tire marks visible in
    pit lane during the on-board video from Rahal's car during the replays
    of the pit-lane incident?  They ran a segment from Rahal's car that
    included him avoiding a piece of debris (mentioned in the commentary). 
    I really couldn't see much about the incident other than the debris,
    but I did notice several sets of tire marks obviously made by various
    people peeling out from their pitstops.  From that it appears that
    Michael and Emmo were not alone in seeking maximum speed/minimum delay
    in the pits.  This just substantiates my belief that this incident was
    not an isolated screwup by any one or two drivers, but the most clear
    evidence of a generic problem with common practice.
    
    Don't try to assign blame for this one incident, worry about fixing the
    overall problem.

    From Michael's interview, he said he was already in 3rd gear.  How fast
    does a CART machine go in 3rd gear?  100mph?  In any case that is much
    too fast for in the pits.  I agree with Bruce that incident is not
    isolated, but it must be stopped!
    
    It looks to me like radar in the pits may be a viable solution.  If you
    get a speeding ticket, you pay the fine!  The fine could be graduated
    on the amount you exceed the limit and could go from a stop-and-go
    penalty to several laps.
    
    Bob J.

    As far a regulation for pit safty, please notice the problems that
    NASCAR has been having trying to solve that problem.  Their still
    searching for the answer that is safe, fair and doesn't detract from
    the racing event.
    
    jeff
    

FWIW I think Emmo shouldn't really get much blame on that. I've been 
on both sides, in the car, and flagging the car out of the pits.

The driver depends totaly on one person to point him out safely! You
have no visibility to what is coming down pit lane and you are trying
to be aware of what is happening in front of you at the same time. 

The blame was between the person who waved Emmo out and Michael.

There should be a speed limit in the pits in racing. I thought IMSA had 
one but I know it wasn't enforced. I've run out of the way off GTP 
cars coming through the pits!

.47>    As far a regulation for pit safty, please notice the problems that
.47>    NASCAR has been having trying to solve that problem.  Their still
.47>    searching for the answer that is safe, fair and doesn't detract from
.47>    the racing event.
    
    I don't know why NASCAR hasn't given a pit speed limit a try, I know it
    was suggested after the Atlanta incident but they decided to implement
    some crock that lasted only a couple of races instead.
    
    I personally don't think the problems NASCAR is having stem from the
    issue of pit safety being so difficult to solve, I think it's more that
    NASCAR for some organizational reason(s) hasn't given the right answer
    a try.
    
    Basically, it seems to me that a pit lane speed limit is safe, fair,
    and doesn't detract from the racing event (unless you consider
    penalties if it's violated to be such a detraction, but in that case
    it's no different from any other rules enforcement).  So what's
    NASCAR's problem?

    
    
    	I think "NASCAR'S PROBLEM" might be, 1) how many nascar bodied
    	race cars have you seen with speedometers and why where they 
    	there in the first place. 2)how can you tell a driver that he/she
    	can only go 35mph in the pits when the whole field is passing
    	him/her at over 200mph. 
    
    	Posting a safe speed on pit lane would mean that the crew would
    	have to work harder and faster than they are now. Now just try
    	to imagine that. (wrong answer, guess again)
    
    	Speed

	The cars don't need speedometers, they can do it the same way USAC
	did it at Indy several years ago, with the flashing lights around the 
	track.  The driver saw a series of lights that flashed in some kind
	of sequential order, as long as the order stayed the same that meant
	that the driver was going the proper speed.  If the sequential order
	of the lights changed, then the driver either sped up or slowed down
	to put himself in the right place on the track.

	No reason something like this could not work in the pits along with
	a few radar guns for spot checks.

	I don't know if this is really a problem, though.  I can't remember 
	the last time there was a serious incident involving two cars in the
	pits during a CART race.  But I thought NASCAR had it under control too
	and that is the place that had the fatalities.  I always thought it
	would happen at an F1 race.  F1 pit stops scare the hell out of me.

.50>    	1) how many nascar bodied
.50>    	race cars have you seen with speedometers and why where they 
.50>    	there in the first place. 
    
    All of them.  More precisely a functional equivalent was present in all
    the NASCAR Winston Cup cars I have driven or examined up close.  It's
    called a tach.  Why it's there is left as an exercise for the student.
    
    So all that's needed for a pit lane speed limit is a simple calculation
    of maximum speed in gear, even a redneck NASCAR crew chief can handle
    that :-)  The driver can be told "keep it at (or below) that mark in
    this gear in pit lane".  
    
.50>    	2)how can you tell a driver that he/she
.50>    	can only go 35mph in the pits when the whole field is passing
.50>    	him/her at over 200mph. 
    
    Same way you tell them about odd/even number pit stops or any other
    rules: "disqualification is the penalty for rules violations."  
    
.50>    	Posting a safe speed on pit lane would mean that the crew would
.50>    	have to work harder and faster than they are now. Now just try
.50>    	to imagine that. (wrong answer, guess again)
    
    why does that follow?  seems to me it follows because of a search for
    advantage, in other words racing in the pits.  That's the root problem,
    the only way to fix it is to eliminate it, not patch the symptoms. 
    NASCAR's problem is that they are trying to patch the symptoms, and
    they're finding out it doesn't work.
    
    
.51>	But I thought NASCAR had it under control too
.51>	and that is the place that had the fatalities.  
    
    NASCAR's plan to control it is called "the rule change of the week" :-)

The one problem NASCAR has found with pit rule changes is that if you take away
the competition in the pits you reduce fan appeal.  NASCAR attendance since the
pit rule change has been down and from what NASCAR has said it is due to a large
degree to the pit rule change along with the economic climate.  Yes NASCAR needs
to do something to make the pits safer.  To this point they are trying to do it
without spending money on hardware, ie speed guns, flashing lights, etc.  The 
only solution is a technical one with severe procedural penalities.  Not what
has been going on.  Let the teams that can perform pit service fastest gain
an advantage but reduce speed into and out of the pits.

Jilly

    
    .52>   All of them. More percisely a functional equivalent was present
    .52>   in all the NASCAR Winston Cup cars I have driven or examined up
    .52>   close. It's called a tach. Why it's there is left as an exercise
    .52>   for the student.
    
    	Ok I'll take the hit on that! But if we're try to make a faster,
    more safer race why are we giving the drive more to think about.
    Obviously Since "you've driven your self" you know that they have more
    Important things to worry about. You've been in the race right? It gets
    tense on the track, The pit road is worse, coming into a packed pit is
    pure hell. and now "you" think that they should have a speed limit in
    the pit. Sure and while "we're" at it(those of us who are not out there
    racing for the big bucks) why don't we make it a shorter race, or maybe
    we should put a "rule change of the week" into the rules that says that
    the pit crew can't come over the wall till the car has stopped and if a
    car comes into the pit lane everyone has to jump back over the wall,
    and hey this is a good one how about we just do away with the pit road
    and just have the racers stop at the bottom of the track and the pit
    just run out to the car and do the work.
    
    	Sorry about going off but I just find it hard to listen to an
    argument about something like this. I, and this is my opinion, think a
    speed limit in the pit is just a bandaid, not a cure. what do the real
    drivers think they are the ones who can say what they can do. It's
    their race. 
    
    .52>  in other words racing in the pits. That's the root problem, the
    .52>  only way to fix it is to eliminate it, not to patch the symptoms.
    .52>  NASCAR's problem is that they are trying to patch the symptoms,
    .52>  and they're finding out it doesn't work.
    
    	You say "YOU'VE DRIVEN" so you know that the race starts with the
    green flag and doesn't stop till the checker. EVEN IN THE PITS. It is a
    race from start to finish. you can't stop in the middle and then go
    back and finish the race. Just like everything else the people involved
    have to be more careful, that is the bottom line.
    
    	Speed

    After just watching the NASCAR race from Rockingham and their new pit
    rules, I think the speed limit in the pits does work!
    
    They did not have a radar gun, but they did not allow anybody in the
    pits to pass the pace car which was leading the pack on the track. 
    Several people were penalized, but for the most part it worked pretty
    well -- which is more than I can say for the actual race which looked
    like more of a demo derby than a car race.
    
    If all drivers have to obey the rules and keep down to a certain speed,
    then there would be no advantage one way or another and the pit would
    certainly be safer.  As a fan I like to watch racing on the track and
    good pit work in the pits.  Racing in the pits, however, adds nothing
    but danger.
    
    Bob J.

	I missed the TV coverage of Sunday's race at Phoenix and there's
	nothing in my local paper, not even who won!

	Can anyone enter a race synopsis?

		Anne 

>                  <<< Note 827.56 by ASDG::TESTONI "Annie" >>>
>                         -< what happened on Sunday? >-
>	I missed the TV coverage of Sunday's race at Phoenix and there's
>	nothing in my local paper, not even who won!
>	Can anyone enter a race synopsis?
>		Anne 

	1)Luyendyk avg 129.988mph + 'lead laps point'
	2)Rahal
	3)Fittipaldi
	4)Michael Andretti
	5)Mears  (Pole with a new track record)
	6)Al Unser Jr
	7)Sullivan
	8)Cheever
	9)Mario Andretti
	10)Jeff Andretti
	11)John Andretti
	12)Scott Pruett

    
    
    
    IN the for what its worth department.......
    
    Emmo stated that after reviewing a film, his pit was to blame for the
    accident with Mike A., for waving him out too soon.
    
    
    Lou

    Wow!  For all the talk about the incident at Long Beach, no one's
    commented on the excellent race Arie ran at Phoenix.  This was no
    fluke, it seems to me.  He drove a well controlled race and went fast
    enough to stay in the lead.  Congrats, Arie, well done.
    
    I might add that this was also one of the most entertaining and
    competitive races I've seen for a while.  With Arie in the lead, the
    next 6 or 7 places were being contested with passing at every stage. 
    Danny Sullivan and the Alfa looked competitive.  So did Cheever.  And
    Michael, and Al, jr.  Good racing all around and the camera and
    direction wasn't bad.  Just proves that when the action is hot on the
    track and the camera feed is good, I can ignore most of what Sam and
    Bobby are argueing about.
    
    Paul
    

Who broadcast the Phoenix race, anyway?
I thought it was to be on ESPN @ 4pm EST.  Instead, they had the football
draft!  (Who cares	:^)

I kept an eye on ESPN and the major networks, even Ch9, New Hampshire and I
couldn't find it on anything!

/Mike, who doesn't want to miss another ...

'Twas ABC, which explains why we couldn't see it. Channel Five in 
Boston NEVER carries racing if they can possibly avoid it 
(meaning the Indy 500 and not much else), while Channel 9 in 
Manchester, which usually seems to carry these things, for some 
reason chose not to. 

Bummer city!

--Lil

    	Instead of a speed limit maybe just put a couple of lines on the
    pavement and say that they have to be in first gear between those
    lines.  No radar guns or any other high tech stuff.  It would also be
    self limiting because if people put in really tall first gears then
    they wouldn't have the acceleration that they need elsewhere.  Maybe it
    could be really high tech and light a little light on the outside of
    the car when in first.
    					John
    

.54>    the pit crew can't come over the wall till the car has stopped and if a
.54>    car comes into the pit lane everyone has to jump back over the wall,

My IMSA rules are from about 5 years ago but...
That's pretty close to the IMSA rule. One person over the pit wall to
bring the car to a halt. Then the crew can come over the wall. If a
crewman is out at the track wall signaling the car (2 allowed) when
the car comes in they must stay there until the car comes to a stop. 
The limit used to be 5 people over the wall not counting

	- 1 person with a fire extinguisher during refueling who
	  is not allowed to do anything but hold the fire
	  extinguisher (with the pin out) and watch the refueling.

	- drivers getting in or out of the car

	- anyone staying out at the pit wall (by the track)

As the crew chief I was told about the infractions with a "That better 
not happen again or else..." And they always saw the infractions!

    Channel 12 (Providence?) carried it; channel 9 was carrying a telethon. 
    This was an extremely entertaining race.  I had to drag my wife away
    to go out for our anniversery. 
    
    It is unfortunate the channel 5 avoids racing.  I avoid channel 5 in
    protest.  Not significant to them, but makes me feel better. 
    
    Gary

    .re .62
    
    >Instead of a speed limit maybe just put a couple of lines on the
    >pavement and say that they have to be in first gear between those
    >lines.  No radar guns or any other high tech stuff.  It would also be
    
    I like it, and it would not be all that difficult -- or expensive -- to
    implement.
    
    Bob J.
    

    
>    It is unfortunate the channel 5 avoids racing.  I avoid channel 5 in
>    protest.  Not significant to them, but makes me feel better. 
    
It *is* significant, if you tell 'em so. My brother works in TV, 
and he tells me that they do pay attention to that kind of thing, 
and figure that for every caller or letter, there's *thousands* 
out there who feel the same way. His favorite example is college 
basketball scores ... not that many people care about (or even have 
a bet down on) a particular game, but if the sports guy leaves it 
off, they get calls.

--Lil the Importunate

    
    I have complained often, and for years, to WCVB (channel 5) about their
    failure to broadcast motor sports.  The last time I did, a few years
    ago, the message I got was...
    
    (-paraphrasing here mind you-)
    
    "The ratings numbers are lousy for auto racing.  We will not broadcast
    auto racing."
    
    ESPN does such a *superior* job that I have gotten so I don't
    particularly miss the hack job ABC makes of it.  How they managed to
    get my five least favorite motorsports announcers on the same crew is
    beyond me.
    
    Nate

It's all true .... sigh.

Seen in LIVEWIRE: DEC is donating $500K of hardware and 9000 compute time to 
the America3 foundation to assist in the defense of the America's Cup.  Jack 
Smith says it's a good demonstration of our technology. Harrumph.  When Steve 
Horne was casting around for corporate support for the All-American Indycar, I'm
sure there wasn't even a glimmer of interest at DEC in demonstrating technology
at the largest one-day sporting event in the world.  Now we spend half a million
bucks to support an America's Cup entrant.  I'm not upset, really, just 
depressed at the reminder of the total lack of interest in racing across 
corporate America.  F1 may be boring, but at least there are companies falling
all over themselves to back losers in F1 racing.  Even the winners can't get
funding in the US.

    
    DIGITAL logos were conspicuously draped all over the barricades at the
    LBGP.  Don't know what that was all about...
    
    - Nate

>    DIGITAL logos were conspicuously draped all over the barricades at the
>    LBGP.  Don't know what that was all about...

You couldn't miss them. I saw them in the coverage of the CART race, 
then the Atlantic race and finally in the ARS race. The camera would 
even pan on one of the cars and stop, pointing right at the Digital 
logo.

    Truesports even uses DEC equipment.  I was there for the open house
    last year and saw a couple of 3100's.

    Miller Brewing had a racing display at the Charlotte Auto-Fair last
    month.  They had an Indy car on display sporting a Digital logo on the
    nose.  The person manning the booth did not know what our involvement
    was.  I know the Miller brewery in Eden, NC has some Digital hardware
    installed.
    
    /R.L.
    

    .re .69 and:
    
    >Seen in LIVEWIRE: DEC is donating $500K of hardware and 9000 compute
    >time to  the America3 foundation to assist in the defense of the
    >America's Cup.  Jack  Smith says it's a good demonstration of our
    >technology. Harrumph.  When Steve 
    
    I saw in yesterday's USA Today in the special they ran on the America's
    Cup world championship that Digital was one of the sponsors for
    America3.  There were 2 others that I don't remember.  The interesting
    part is that according to the article none of these sponsors would have
    their name on the Spinnaker of America3.
    
    Why would you sponsor something and not get any advertising out of it? 
    Maybe only the BIG sponsors ($2-3M dollar range) get on the spinnakers.
    
    Bob J.
    

    A flame:
    
    Regardless of the $$$'s and the POTENTIAL value one can get through
    advertising, Digital does not know how to advertise.  We didn't get
    much from our involvement in the last Cup.  We doen't get much from our
    hook up with Ferrari.  Or Alfa.  Look at the ads we run in Non-industry
    publications.  Come on.  We're and engineering company with an attitude
    to match.  IBM may not match us on technology but the kill us in
    advertising.  They have they budget and the right agency.  Hech, even
    Sun's new campaign puts us to shame.  This is busniees, folks, not who
    has better engineers.  We need to learn from IBM.  They didn't get to
    be $65B a year by being innovative engineers.  They got there cause
    they can market and sell.
    
    Flame off.
    
    Paul
    

Top practice speeds at Indianapolis as of Wednesday May 8:

Rick Mears		Penske 91-Chevy			226.659
Bobby Rahal		Lola T91/00-Chevy		226.080
Michael Andretti	Lola T91/00-Chevy		225.994
Jim Crawford		Lola T91/00B-Buick		225.643
Arie Luyendyk		Lola T91/00-Chevy		224.994
Mario Andretti		Lola T91/00-Chevy		224.983
Gary Bettenhausen	Lola-Buick			224.888
Emerson Fittipaldi	Penske 91-Chevy			224.551
Al Unser Jr.		Lola T91/00-Chevy		224.534
Kevin Cogan		Lola-Buick			224.137

Pole day: Saturday May 11

Race day: Sunday May 26

    There was a quick note in this morning's USA Today that the top speed
    is now held by Kevin Cogan at 226.7xx.  He is naturally very excited
    and thinks he has a shot at the pole.
    
    Bob J.

anyone know what time (EST) the Monoco GP will be broadcast, this Sunday?

I didn't see ESPN mention the time during the Imola race.
In fact, I don't even know that ESPN is broadcasting it ... 
Sometimes one of the 3 majors does Monoco, if I recall ???

/Mike

    The local Manchester,  NH ABC affiliate (Channel 9 - WMUR) is carrying
    Monaco beginning at 4:30pm on Sunday for an hour and a half.  It
    follows on to their Indy Time Trial show beginning at 4:00. 
    
    Monaco's a boring race and a boring track, and with ABC commentary,
    just ices it.  Wake me up for Montreal.
    

Results of the first weekend of time trials for the 1991 Indanapolis 500 Mile
Race (by row):

Rick Mears		Penske 91-Chevrolet		224.113
A.J. Foyt		Lola T91/01-Chevrolet		222.443
Mario Andretti		Lola T91/01-Chevrolet		221.818

Bobby Rahal		Lola T91/01-Chevrolet		221.401
Michael Andretti	Lola T91/01-Chevrolet		220.943
Al Unser Jr.		Lola T91/01-Chevrolet		219.823

John Andretti		Lola T91/01-Chevrolet		219.059
Jim Crawford		Lola T91/01B-Buick		218.947
Danny Sullivan		Lola T91/01-Alfa Romeo		218.343

Eddie Cheever		Lola T91/01-Chevrolet		218.122
Jeff Andretti		Lola T91/01-Cosworth DFS	217.632
Scott Goodyear		Lola T90/01-Judd		216.751

Gary Bettenhausen	Lola T91/01B-Buick		224.468 (fastest qual.)
Arie Luyendyk		Lola T91/01-Chevrolet		223.881
Emerson Fittipaldi	Penske 91-Chevrolet		223.064

Kevin Cogan		Lola T91/01B-Buick		222.844
Stan Fox		Lola-Buick			219.501
Mike Groff		Lola-Cosworth			219.015

Scott Brayton		Lola T91/01-Chevrolet		218.627
Tony Bettenhausen	Penske 90-Chevrolet		218.188
Bernard Jourdain	Lola-Buick			216.613

Geoff Brabham		Truesports TR-91/Judd		214.859 (slowest qual.)	


Roger Penske waved off Emmo's first qualifying attempt on Saturday when his 223
average looked to be uncompetitive for the pole.  Unfortunately, rain prevented
Emmo from making another run on Saturday, relegating him to a Sunday 
qualifying run and a position outside Row 5.

Arie Luyendyk also pulled out of line of Saturday to wait for cooler weather 
in the late afternoon, only to get shut out by the rain.

Bettenhausen is the first driver since 1981 to be the fastest qualifyer not to
start from the pole.

Rick Mears hit the wall on Friday -- the first time in fifteen years of driving
at Indianapolis.  Before the end of the day, he did 226+ on his third at-speed
lap in the T-car. 

Sullivan and Scott Pruett each blew five engines in practice.  Pruett has not
yet qualified.

Mark Dismore was badly injured on Friday when his PC17 crashed into the pit wall
in a near-copy of Cogan's famed 1989 accident.  Truly a frightening crash.

Dominic Dobson broke his left thigh in a Turn 4 crash on Sunday.  Other 
incidents: Ted Prappas and (yes there is a God) Randy Lewis.

    Are there any strong car/drivers left to qualify who might go faster
    yet?  Looks to me like all the fast boys are in.
    
    Paul
    

Re: last

The only one I can think of off the top of my head is Pruett, but given 
teammate Brabham's speed, Scott can't be considered "fast".  The Judds are 
definitely power-deficient, with a trap speed 10 mph lower than the 
front runners.

Dave Letterman's Top Ten Perks for Winning the Indy 500:

10. Getting showered with 10W-40 in victory celebration

9.  Honorary New York City taxi license

8.  Right to represent Earth in Pan-Galactic monster truck rally

7.  Invitation to start John Gotti's car for him

6.  Good chance of meeting Larry "Bud" Melman backstage at Letterman show

5.  Didn't have to shut off lights and lock up speedway like guy who finished
    33rd

4.  Get to throw one free punch at Mr. Goodwrench

3.  Offers of employment by Domino's Pizza

2.  Trophy, bouquet of roses, and a big wet kiss from Jim Nabors

1.  All the Valvoline a guy can drink

    Saw a note in this morning's USA Today that Roberto Guerrero has signed
    with Pat Patrick to run Indy and a few other races this year. 
    Evidently they got over their past problems and Roberto is excited
    about the ride.
    
    His first few laps at Indy yielded a top speed of 210+.  I hope
    everything works out for him since Roberto is one of the truly nice
    guys in racing.
    
    Bob J.

    
    Any explaination of what became of Al Unser Sr.?  I thought he was to
    take the second seat at Patrick.
    
    Poor Roberto must have choked on his pride when he accepted the seat. 
    I hope he has a result as good as his others at Indy.
    
    - Nate

    I don't know if anyone has noticed, but the number of entries at Indy
    is down this year.  And it doesn't appear to be only Indy.  My friend,
    John Jones, who drove F3000 last year and CART the two years previous,
    can't find a ride.  Why?  No sponsorship money.  The economy stinks so
    companies don't spend.  Thus fewer entries.  Le Mans could have fewer
    than 40 cars this year.  TransAm is down.  CART and Indy are down.  F1
    teams, other than the VERY top, are weak with some saying they will not
    have the funds to finish the year.  It seems to point to the entire
    malaise in the economy worldwide, and begins to explain why drivers
    like John, and Roberto Gurrero and a host of others can't get work. 
    
    Paul
      

Times are tough for those of us who can't dig into our pockets and pull
out the few million dollars required to fund a good ride (unlike Mr.
Matsushita who pulls it from grandpas pockets).

Not just that Roberto seems like a real nice guy, I think he's a great
driver too.

    Does anyone know if Tero Palmroth did qualify?
    
    - Jyri -
    

Results of time trials for the 1991 Indanapolis 500 Mile Race (by row):

Rick Mears		Penske 91-Chevrolet		224.113
A.J. Foyt		Lola T91/01-Chevrolet		222.443
Mario Andretti		Lola T91/01-Chevrolet		221.818

Bobby Rahal		Lola T91/01-Chevrolet		221.401
Michael Andretti	Lola T91/01-Chevrolet		220.943
Al Unser Jr.		Lola T91/01-Chevrolet		219.823

John Andretti		Lola T91/01-Chevrolet		219.059
Jim Crawford		Lola T91/01B-Buick		218.947
Danny Sullivan		Lola T91/01-Alfa Romeo		218.343

Eddie Cheever		Lola T91/01-Chevrolet		218.122
Jeff Andretti		Lola T91/01-Cosworth DFS	217.632
Scott Goodyear		Lola T90/01-Judd		216.751

Gary Bettenhausen	Lola T91/01B-Buick		224.468 (fastest qual.)
Arie Luyendyk		Lola T91/01-Chevrolet		223.881
Emerson Fittipaldi	Penske 91-Chevrolet		223.064

Kevin Cogan		Lola T91/01B-Buick		222.844
Stan Fox		Lola-Buick			219.501
Mike Groff		Lola-Cosworth			219.015

Scott Brayton		Lola T91/01-Chevrolet		218.627
Tony Bettenhausen	Penske 90-Chevrolet		218.188
Bernard Jourdain	Lola-Buick			216.613

Geoff Brabham		Truesports TR-91/Judd		214.859 
Buddy Lazier	        Lola T90/01-Cosworth            218.692.
Hiro Matsushita         Lola T91/01-Buick               218.141.
            
John Paul Jr. 		Lola T90/01-Buick		217.952.
Tero Palmroth 		Lola T90/01-Cosworth 		215.648.
Scott Pruett 		Truesports TR-91-Judd		214.814.
            
Roberto Guerrero 	Lola T91/01-Alfa Romeo		214.027.
Willy T. Ribbs 		Lola T90/01-Buick		217.358.
Dominic Dobson 		Lola T89/01-Judd 		215.326.
            
Randy Lewis 		Lola T90/01-Cosworth		214.565.
Pancho Carter 		Lola T89/01-Buick		214.012.
Gordon Johncock 	Lola T90/01-Cosworth		213.812 (slowest qual.)

    Thanks for the grid info.  Who is broadcasting the race and at what
    time?  Anyone know the TV schedule for Boston area?
    
    Thanks,
    
    Jeff
    
    (Hoping that it isn't the usual Channel 5 coverage.)

    Re: last
    
    It is the usual Ch.5 coverage, but this is the one race they deign to
    cover, so we're in luck.
    
    (all times EDT)
    
    Pre-race:	11am-noon
    
    Race coverage:	noon-4:30 pm or whenever the cliff diving coverage
    			starts :-)
    
    Just think, gang, five plus hours of Sam Posey.

    
    	I've been amazed at the lack of news coverage about the Indy 500.
    	I saw more pre-race information during the week before the
    	Kentucky Derby!  Any news out of Indianapolis?  Wasn't yesterday
    	`Carburation Day' (excuse the spelling, if it's wrong)?  
    
    	Annie (who's trying to get information for her husband, Bjorn, who
    		is going to miss watching the Indy 500 for the first time -
    		he's in Japan!)

    Today's (Fri. 5/24/91) USA Today has an entire section on the race.  It
    includes the line up, articles about the teams, etc.  I have not had a
    chance to read it in its entirety yet, but I would suggest picking up a
    copy.  It could serve as a nice program for Sunday's race.  There are
    also articles about the Nascar Coca-Cola 600 and even an article about
    Ayrton Senna!
    
    Senna is skipping the Indy 500 because he feels he has a lot of work to
    do before the Canadian GP next week.  He said the only reason he has
    won all of the races so far this year is better reliability than the
    opposition.  He thinks he has room for improvement in the speed
    department -- just what the opposition was waiting to hear!!
    
    Bob J.

    A good win for Mears... The last 50 laps were pretty exciting stuff.
    Does anyone think Mario intentionally created the "caution" at the
    end to allow Michael a chance ? Result for those who spent the
    weekend on Mars:
    
    1. Mears
    2. Michael Andretti
    3. Lion Dike 8-)

    Anyone know what John Andretti was talking about when he complained of
    being put a lap down?
    
    He was running real good!  Would he have been racing with Arie for 3rd
    if what he was talking about had not happened?
    
    Jeff

    Had an arrangement with someone for them to tape Indy, but his
    TV/VCR/cable went haywire.  Anyone got one I can borrow?  Let's take
    this offline to SOLVIT::Platt
    
    Thans

    Good race for Mears with an exciting end.  Can he make it 5?  I believe
    that he can - and will.
    
    AN interesting note during the race coverage, and it appeared in
    today's newspaper: Indy is interested in changing the engine rule to
    look like the F1 3.5 L normally aspirated engine.  Hmmm?  Nice idea but
    what does it do for the rest of the CART series?  
    
    Paul

Saw something interesting in several papers this morning... it seems that
several photographers reported that Mario asked his crew several times if
they needed a yellow and when they said yes he obliged. Then while being
towed in someone listening (an AP photo editor) to the USAC channel heard 
a official tell mario to "take his foot off the brake". 

Re: 3.5L n/a engines

Nice move, Tony.  I'm sure this will really improve the have-nots' ability to
get top equipment at a reasonable cost.  How much does one of Honda's 3.5s, or 
the Ford-Cosworth HB, or the Renault RS3 cost?  I'll bet $1 million doesn't buy 
you many, and I don't think the usual band of USAC losers will have the kind of
dough needed to belly up to this bar any more than they can today. And, last I 
checked, all of these 3.5 motors run on "gasoline" or some home brew, not 
methanol.

Plus which, who's the only guy in CART who owns a company that already has an 
operating 3.5 engine?  The same guy USAC is accusing of choking off competition 
by keeping the distribution of Chevy V-8s controlled.

We take you now to an office in Media, Pa:

Roger: Hey, does that damn Leyton House shooter run on methanol?

Ilmor guy:  Uh, no, but we can tweak it up for you, boss.

Roger: Good, gimme 50 by next May.

Next phone call:

Roger: Nigel, why don't you flatten out the bottom of that 1993 sled, son.

Penske Cars guy: You bet, RP.

Result: Rick Mears wins his fifth, sixth, and seventh Indy 500s.  Penske and 
other current Chevy teams dominate Indy cars.  No USAC farmers/body shop guys/
part time racers can afford 3.5 liter engines or new and more expensive 
flat-bottom chassis.  Fields are made up of CART folks with Chevy Ilmor V-10s 
and some overseas involvement by Japanese manufacturers. IMS officials complain
about thin fields.  J-M Balestre is found dead, wearing ladies' underwear.  
Tony George is night manager of a car wash in Cleveland.   

    The complaint with the current engines is not really economics. 
    Its that you can't win without a Chevy and Chevy will sell only so
    many.  This is unlike the Cosworth era when anyone could buy one and
    virtually everyone did. 
    
    Gary

But Cosworth has a new-generation 80-degree V-8 running on the bench, with no
takers.  If teams are worried about access to engines, why doesn't one of them 
pony up the dough to finance a development program, like Mr. P did in the 
mid-80s for Ilmor?

re: a few back

I didn't see it but what I assume happened to John Andretti was this -

He was running a short distance behind the leaders. When the pace car
came onto the track it came out just in front of him. At that point
the cars that were just in front of him now drive around the track and
end up right behind him (and alomst one full lap ahead). 

A similar thing happened in my last race if you read my write up. In
my case I benefitted while the person right behind me lost out. In
SCCA and IMSA races the pace car waves around all cars until the first
car in line is the race leader. I think CART didn't do that leaving
John a lap down. 

.104>  [...]the pace car waves around all cars until the first
.104>  car in line is the race leader. I think CART didn't do that leaving
.104>  John a lap down. 
    
    Umm, weren't we talking about Indy?  That wouldn't be CART then would
    it?  Or did I miss some kiss-and-make-up news somewhere?

	During the race Unser & Posey were discussing John A's one lap penalty.
	At that time they said it was for "driving under the white line",
	they could not figure it out as every one was driving under the white
	line.  A little later they said it may have been that he had passed
	under the white line, but every one was doing that too.

	
	Side Note - Read in this mornings paper that someone was killed at
	Indy Monday morning, seems they somehow got onto the track and was
	driving a pick up truck at a pretty good clip and rammed into a
	track maintainence vehicle.

>	During the race Unser & Posey were discussing John A's one lap penalty.
>	they could not figure it out as every one was driving under the white

Why doesn't this surprise me?  Posey for one is, for most things, worthless.
Bobby Unser can be entertaining if they don't make him rehearse his responses.
I'd rather see someone with some character and fire in the booth for racing;
someone like a Jackie Stewart.  The only value I see in Posey is that he doesn't
make political statements.  I can really do without his "color" pieces.

Unfortunately for the broadcasters, auto racing rules don't seem to be as cut
and dried as football (for instance).  It'd be nice if they'd get some kind
of briefing from officials well before the race to ensure that the booth riders
don't make some crucial faux-pas.

Interesting to hear about the truck incident; I thought the security was better
at Indy...

Bob Blunt

    The Posey and Unser show kept saying it was Mario who was penalized.
    Who was it really?

    I've just been flipping through some recent years' magazines (not more
    than 3 years old) and came across some pictures of CART cars showing
    something I can't figure out. 
    
    Some of the cars have a very small number up near the roll bar, next to
    where the PPG logo is. This number is very small in comparison to the
    number on the side of the car, maybe about 1/4 the size of the car
    number. I have also noticed that not all cars have these numbers. 
    
    Sometimes that number is the same as the car number, sometimes it's
    different, and I don't think it's got anything to do with race wins, or
    previous year's placing as I just came across a picture of Bobby Rahal
    after the '86 Indy win with a big number 3 on the side of the car and a
    little number 73 up by the roll bar.
    
    Anybody have any idea what this is for? 

>>    Umm, weren't we talking about Indy?  That wouldn't be CART then would
>>    it?

Yup, that wouldn't be CART. My faux-pas.

re:    The Posey and Unser show kept saying it was Mario who was penalized.

	My mistake, it was Mario.


	
	While we are still talking about the 500, I think the drive of the
	day goes to Gordon Johncock.  Drove a smart race and stayed out of 
	trouble all day.  Started 33rd and finished 7th.  Not bad since the
	Friday before "bump" day he was plowing his corn field and not even
	considering driving in the race.

S'what happened in Motown yesterday?

--Lil (who was helping a friend to move and blew the VCR setup)

.112>   S'what happened in Motown yesterday?
    
    I'll take that as a spoiler invite...
    
    some cars bumped, some crashed, some burned.  CART lost, at least face.
    
    oh, you wanted specifics?	:-)
    
    I watched most of it in fast-forward, trying to get the VCR reset for
    ESPN's telecast from Mexico.  Had I only known...
    
    Little Al nerfed Pruett in the early going.  Ted Prappas pranged the
    new PIG car pretty good, resulting in an apparent small oil fire, with
    the resulting full-course yellow benefitting Pruett who was limping
    back to the pits for a tire change.  
    
    Shortly thereafter Mario had his right rear go down in front of the
    pits, giving him a bit of a moment going into 1, just as somebody else
    (forget who it was) had looped it elsewhere.  Safety truck went out to
    retrieve the disabled car, with local yellow coverage.  Hobbs made a
    prescient comment questioning the safety of the safety trucks.  Mario
    may've benefitted slightly from the effect of the single-corner yellow
    as he limped a full lap for a tire change without losing a lap!
    
    About lap 49, Denis Vitolo went off in turn four, on cold tires he
    overcooked it and then stalled when trying to extricate himself. 
    Pushing by workers didn't get the car clear, so CART 1 responded and
    was preparing to re-enter with Vitolo under tow when Mario submarined
    their rear bumper!  Seconds later Michael came crashing into Vitolo's
    car!  Course blockage, red flag.  Much confusion.  And a brief fire in
    one of the stopped cars, just to add spice.
    
    Reasonably good job of coverage by CBS, Mike Joy in particular gets
    good marks from me.  Mario too, he took time for an interview with
    Economaki before the restart - Mario's car was repairable and he took
    the restart!  Even Economaki was reasonably tolerable yesterday for
    some reason, at least from my viewpoint.
    
    After the restart, Emmo cruised, with a challenge from Rahal but no
    real contest.  
    
    Looked like some interesting racing at times, overall I thought CART
    looked pretty amateurish.  Full course yellow coverage of course
    vehicle runs seems necessary and appropriate.  There were lots of
    justifications offered by the likes of Wally Dallenbach, I just don't
    buy them.

    It can be debated whether or not the CART emergency crew should have
    been on the track without a full course yellow, but I still no reason
    to excuse Mario's and Michael's driving.   Several drivers made it
    through easily before Mario came by.  He just ran into the the safety
    truck -- he made no effort to get off the racing line.  It reminds me
    of when he ran into Roberto Guerrero's parked car that had been there
    for several laps.
    
    In Michael's case, several drivers made it through when Mario was
    already stopped.  To me it looked like Michael was racing somebody into
    the corner.  They made it through he didn't.
    
    I guess the Andretti's feel that local yellow flags mean proceed as
    usual.
    
    Bob J.

.114>    In Michael's case, several drivers made it through when Mario was
.114>    already stopped.  To me it looked like Michael was racing somebody into
.114>    the corner.  They made it through he didn't.

    Look again, carefully.  Michael was following somebody (a blue or green
    car).  He was not close enough to have been racing into the yellow.  He
    may have been close enough to have had his line of sight affected.  He
    did seem to be off the line of the other car to the left, which reduced
    his options when confronted with the incident.  That may or may not be
    a consequence of obstructed visibility.

    Incidentally, the issue of whether or not Michael was racing another
    car into the corner is very germane to the question of whether or not a
    full course yellow is appropriate when the safety vehicles are on
    track.  Consider the following quote, describing the author's on-track
    experience driving in an SCCA club race (an amatuer event!):
755.18>          One of my problems seemed to be that I would slow down too much
755.18>          for yellow flags. It seemed that the other cars wouldn't slow
755.18>          down very much and I would lose them. 
    
    The problem with covering an incident at a pro race with a local yellow
    is that it allows racing to continue over the rest of the circuit.  At
    those levels the drivers cannot afford to give away the kind of
    advantage conceded by Mr. Jankowitz during his race.  The drivers also
    tend to depend on their expectation that the particulars of an incident
    will not have changed drastically since it was previously seen.  This
    is obviously wrong and bad, but it is inherent in the nature of the
    game, and the full course yellow will effectively address it.  Note
    also that in street circuits such as Detroit (which are aptly described
    as "concrete canyons") there are limited sight lines and minimal runoff
    room (eg, when confronted with an unexpected situation the driver
    cannot throw it away to spin safely to a stop).  Again, this seems to
    suggest that full course yellows are the appropriate means to ensure
    safety.  
    
    Finally, in situations such as Detroit, the flag positions are often
    not too good.  From what I could see of the Turn 4 area on the
    telecast, the flagger was located at the apex, sandwiched between
    advertising billboards.  There could have been an alternative flag
    position on the drivers left under braking entering the corner, but I
    could never get a good look to tell (I'd question that position, the
    position would be difficult to locate so the flaggers could see the
    corner exit and the drivers could still see the flaggers).  Point is,
    there is a good chance that the flag stations were not readily visible
    to drivers, especially in traffic.  So the ability of flaggers to
    indicate changes in corner status is likely to have been limited (how
    effectively can you display double waving yellows and a white through a
    three foot opening between billboards?).
    
    All this should not be taken to excuse Mario.  I think it does add up
    to an explanation of why his incident may not have been as outrageous
    as it might seem at first.  I am convinced it does offer a good
    explanation of why Michael's involvement may have been unavoidable.
    
    Before we start down the rathole about overdriving the yellows, I'd
    like to point out that I do not condone that.  But these are *->pro<-*
    drivers and the standards need to be adjusted accordingly.  The point
    is that there is a means of controlling the race, it was available and
    was not used in this case although it was at other times.  That is the
    full course yellow.
    
    Why dump on the drivers without subjecting the (professional)
    administrators of the CART race to the same scrutiny and
    second-guessing?  I think Mario blew it, I think CART blew it, and I
    think Michael was the victim of circumstances.  Let's not dump on
    Michael and ignore CART, please.

    Well, Michael certainly "vindicated" himself yesterday in Portland. 
    After bulling his way thru on the start (and I don't mena that to
    degrade the move), he led all the way home.  There was some close
    racing but not much passing from what I could see.
    
    A comment in the latest Autoweek states that Michael has finally gotten
    some quality time in at McLaren when he, Burger and Senna tested at
    Magny Cours in France.  Michael went almost a second quicker than
    Berger and about a second slower than Senna.
    
    Paul

    Michael's pass of Emmo at the start was just about the only pass,
    anywhere, in the race.  His lappings of Pruet and Layendike (sp?) were
    the only excitement of the race until Emmo's run at the end. 
    
    Anyone have comments on whether Pruet should have moved over?  He was
    racing ... Cheevers? ... at the time.  Once Michael did get by him Scott
    lost a lot of ground on whomever he has chasing so he may have been
    justified.
    
    I did hear a quote that Berger expected to be back at McLaren next
    year and a rumor that McLaren was considering Michael for a ride in an
    Indy like series not F1.  
    
    Gary

Spoiler on CART/Cleveland GP:



Michael 1st again ... and some good racing from Emmo who ended up 
second ... a fair amount of passing throughout the field. 

A quite enjoyable show!

--Lil

Ok, I didn't get to the Meadowlands this year because I was off racing 
at Watkins Glen. I watched the race until a few hundred yards before 
the finish when my tape ran out. I don't think anything happened 
between then and the finish line. But something did happen after the 
finish line between Mr. Ribbs and Mr. Sullivan(?). Does anybody know 
the whole story?

I read a comment from Mr. Walker saying that there was $6,000 worth of
damage to their car and it would take them out for the season. That
seems a bit far fetched to me. You can be tight on money but you can't
run an Indy car budget and not have $6,000 for repairs.

    Excellent race yesterday at Mr. Penske's oval.  Thank God it rained
    here in Mass. -- I haven't seen a race live in ages and I got to see
    the whole thing.  Tough luck for Paul Tracy, but the guy qualified
    eighth for his first Indy car race, so I think he has a bright future
    ahead of him, especially considering who his employer is.  Question:
    aside from F1, is this the first non-American driver signed by Roger?

    Pleased to see Luyendyk do so well.  If it wasn't for the stop-and-go
    he would have given Rick quite a run for the money.  As it was, he
    closed to within 1 sec. after the last yellow.  This guy deserves a big
    dollar sponsorship package; too bad about the Teazak shenanigans that
    are sapping the Granatelli team's energy and concentration.

    I spent my youth wishing for Indy cars to run on road circuits -- but
    the most exciting races I've seen in the last couple of years, on TV or
    in person, have been oval contests.  Maybe those USAC idiots were right
    all along? :-)

    
    Does anyone know exactly why the Granatelli team lost their sponsorship
    and cannot get another?  This is clearly one of the top teams, gets
    lots of coverage (ie, lots of visibility for someone's logo), and might
    do even better with some money.  I would think they would a have a line
    at the door.  Recession or not, this is rediculous.
    
    Gary

    Re: last

    As I understand it:

    1) Last year, Bob Teazak buys the Shierson (Red/Luyendyk) and
    Shierson-O'Donnell (Blue/Scott Goodyear) teams.  Due to the problems
    within the Shierson team after last years Indy 500 win, most of the
    quality crew members shoved off for greener pastures before the end of
    the season.  Thus, come the offseason, Teazak's Red team is left with
    (a) Luyendyk, (b) the Ilmor engine and (c) production slots for 1991
    Lolas.

    2)  Teazak contracts with Vince Granatelli to operate the team, now
    called UNO/Granatelli Racing, for 1991.  Teazak agrees to provide a,b,
    and c, above, plus a fee to be derived from sponsorship money.  In
    return, Granatelli provides an experienced crew, state of the art race
    shop in Arizona, and Morris Nunn, engineer extraordinare. 

    3)  Bob Teazak signs sponsorship deals with Total Petroleum and RCA.

    4)  Vince Granatelli runs the team and puts up front money to get the
    operation started (including paying for the team's two Lolas),
    expecting to be repaid when the sponsorship dollars materialize. 
    Luyendyk wins Phoenix 200, qualifies third fastest at Indianapolis, and
    makes a strong showing at most of the other races.  

    5) Only one problem: neither Granatelli or Luyendyk are ever paid dime
    one by Teazak.

    6)  Due to (5), Granatelli tells Teazak to pound sand after Milwaukee
    and splits off to reform Vince Granatelli Racing.  Luyendyk,
    technically under contract to Teazak, declares said contract null and
    void due to nonpayment and agrees to drive for Granatelli.  Sponsors'
    names disappear from the car (no dollars, no donuts, or so it seems).

    7)  Last week, Total got court order demanding Granatelli put logo on
    car, as it paid Teazak for the privilege.  Court agrees with Total.
    Turns out Total paid Teazak the specified sponsorship fee, only Vince
    and Arie never saw dime one from Bob T.  Granatelli gets temporary
    restraining order overturned when nature of Teazak's activities is
    explained to judge.  Total logos magically appear on Goodyear's car.

    8) 	Luyendyk finishes second, almost wins, Marlboro 500; team is
    legitimate contender; no sponsorship dollars are forthcoming. 

    9)  (most weird) Teazak gets all-important Chevy engine for Goodyear,
    starting in 1992.  

    "Remember," Nigel Roebuck once wrote, "99% of what happens in motor
    racing is directly related to the production, dissemination,
    absorption, or justification of bullshit."

    Re .122:
    
    That's even more unbelievable than the plot to "Days of Thunder!"
    
    Thanks,
    Gary

   What?  No Bill Elliott (NASCAR) turns hot laps in an Indy car wierdness?

Bob

    re.last
    I liked the comment that they wanted Bill to come in after he turned
    210 his first time out. They were worried he might break the car...:-)
    
    re. George, very will said about the racing game and sponsorship.
    
    re. DOT...what plot?
    
    The Mad Weldor....Jim

    Re: Elliott

    He did a very impressive job, first time out.  I'll bet he would do
    just fine in CART if he were to make the switch.  Great race drivers
    are great race drivers, period.  Heck, with everything in disarray for
    him in NASCAR right now, it might make sense to start off with a clean
    slate in a new series.  

    I missed the Michigan 500 on T.V. and failed to tape it! Does anyone
    out there in "Notesland" have a copy that I could borrow?
    
    Thanks,
    
    Bob

    I live in Japan.  I love CART but can't follow it here -- No news!
    Can someone please list the race winners and point standing so far
    this year and the point standings.  
    
    Form the little information I have been able to get so far this
    year, ist seams that Micheal is the driver to beat, if he finishes,
    he wins!
    
    Roger
    

    Surfers Paradise           John Andretti
    Long Beach                 Al Unser Jr
    Phoenix                    Arie Luyendyk
    Indy 500                   Mick Rears
    Milwaukee                  Michael Andretti
    Detroit                    Emerson Fittipaldi
    Portland                   Michael Andretti
    Cleveland                  Michael Andretti
    Meadowlands                Bobby Rahal
    Toronto                    Michael Andretti
    Michigan                   Rick Mears
            The Winners So Far
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------
    
                   Points
                   ------
    
     1.  Bobby Rahal                     141
     2.  Michael Andretti                117
     3.  Rick Mears                      112
     4.  Al Unser Jr                     108
     5.  Arie Luyendyk                    95
     6.  John Andretti                    86
     7.  Emerson Fittipaldi               83
     8.  Mario Andretti                   76
     9.  Eddie Cheever                    51
    10.  Danny Sullivan                   48
    
    -----------------------------------------------------------------
    It's hard to believe there is no CART news in Japan?  I don't subscribe
    to any Japanese magazines, so I don't know - but a photographer friend
    of mine keeps telling me that people in Japan are nuts about car
    racing.  If you would like articles on the CART races so far let me
    know (Allinone - Michael Martin @SEO) your address and I will send you
    photocopies.

    It's true, Japan is nuts about racing, but not CART.  Last year
    I was able to follow the standings in the English newspaper here.
    This year... almost mothing.  The Indy 500 was broadcast live, and
    a couple of other races on satelite.  
    
    Two years ago Tokyo was battling Denver for a new race.  I think
    CART is still considering a race in Tokyo.  
    
    Has anyone heard the latest on a CART race in Tokyo?
    
    Roger
    

    We attended the Denver race (all three days) and had a good time.  It's
    not a fan's circuit, but the weather was good (very warm & dry) and the
    racing fine.  Far more passing than anticipated and some good moves. 
    Al Unser, jr won the race after besting pole sitter Michael Andretti
    early on and never looked back.  There were a number of full course
    yellows, the last about 18 laps from the end brought out when Mario and
    Scott Brayton came together and Mario parked it in the straight on the
    west side of the circuit.
    
    Michael announced that he has signed a one year contract with Newman
    Haas for 1992, while Dad Mario has signed a two year contract.  Mario
    hinted that it may be his last.  In the race, Michael did well to
    finish the race after having a tire go down and explode.  He limped
    around and rejoined well back but made up a lot of time, with the
    yellows reallly helping out.  Fittipaldi came home second in a good
    run.
    
    It was hot again this year, but not quite as bad as last.  All the cars
    sported huge brake ducts in an effort to get air to them.  Rumor has it
    that they will race on a different course next year, one away from the
    downtown area.  
    
    Paul
    

    Interesting rumors heard during the Vancouver race coverage:

    Newman-Hass to use new Cosworth XB engine next year; almost a done
    deal.

    Other potential Cosworth users: Ganassi, Bayside, and Truesports (if
    they don't get a Chebbie).

    And, the Cosworth may carry on its cam covers the blue oval of FoMoCo.

    Ilmor to introduce a second-generation engine for exclusive use by
    Roger P. in '92.  It will be sponsored by a GM division other than
    Chevy.

    Truesports may produce 91C chassis for other teams.  Autoweek says they
    may sell the race team if they don't get a good motor deal, for '92 and
    go into the chassis business.

    Galles says "one other" team will use the Galmer I chassis next year;
    maybe Rahal in a newly independent Kraco team?

    Bobby Rahal will leave Galles-Kraco to join Patrick Racing in 1992,
    according to UPI.  No word on the status of current Patrick driver
    Danny Sullivan, Patrick's engineplans for '92, or whether Galles-Kraco
    will run two cars in '92.

Does this mean that Mr. Rahal isn't interested in driving the new Gallmer
car? From the 1/2 second they showed of the car it certainly looked
interesting, perhaps a little bit like a Jordan F1 car from the side????

As for other rumors, there was one about the possibility of TrueSports
trying to get a Chevy. I found that odd as they claimed one of the main
reasons for building the car was so that it would be a perfect match for
their engine (Judd).

    According to USA Today, Sully is out of a ride and Rahal's contract is
    for one year only -- interesting.  (a) Does Rahal have a long term deal
    in the works for '93 with a major manufacturer, and needs a place
    between now and then?  (b) Is he getting ready to retire and wants to
    do one more year after his potential 1991 championship season?  (c) Is
    Kraco is folding it's half of the Galles-Kraco partnership, and this is
    the best deal he could get? (d) Does Patrick has a killer engine deal
    for '92 that will make it a contender (seems hard to envision Rahal
    willingly moving to a second-tier team)? (e) Maybe he just couldn't
    stand driving the ugliest car in CART for another year?

    Being from Albuquerque the big news yesterday was that Danny Sullivan
    was in town talking to Rick Galles.  Sounds like he has all but
    signed with Galles-Kraco.  So he may not be out of a ride.
    
    Chuck

    Per USA Today, Sullivan has signed a three-year contract
    w/Galles-Kraco.  So Danny will have an Ilmor engine in the new Galmer
    chassis next year -- hopefully he can return to his competitive form. 
    And maybe he'll bring along some Miller sponsorship money so they can
    REPAINT THE FREAKING CAR.

    
    
    	OK OK enuf of the musical chairs...... Who knows the finishing
    order at Vancouver?????? 8^)
    
    
    
    							Rich P.
    
    
    	PS (VCR decided to expire while I was away....)
    

Spoiler:



Can't remeber the complete order, but the ones most relevant to 
the championship are:

        1st: Michael Andretti
        2nd: Bobby Rahal
        3rd: Al Unser Jr.

Emmo dropped out, and is pretty much finished in the points race.
Rahal stills leads over Michael but only by 3 points. (I think, 
maybe 4 ... not too many anyway!)

--Lil        

    
    Truesports to get the Ilmor/Chevy engine.
    
    Newman Haas and another yet to be disclosed team to have the new
    Cosworth.
    
    2nd generation Ilmor due in a Penske chassis next season.  Buick logo
    on cam covers is likely.
    
    Ganassi Racing to use Lola chassis again in '92.
    
    - Nate

There was a discussion about the perfect T.V. coverage a while back but I 
can't find it anymore. My thought was to have cameras in all of the cars
and be able to chose whose car you wanted to watch from. 

I have to say that the last couple of CART races have had some great in car 
camera footage. Yesterdays race was boring except for being able to see the 
the drivers pushing the cars. Rahal was good to watch. You could see him 
understeering going into the turns and then the back end would get loose as 
he got on the gas. The out-the-back shots were good too. You could get a 
better feel for the elevation changes since the camera is so low. One thing 
I guess we will never see is their feet. I'm dying to know who is using the 
clutch to shift and who is doing left foot braking. I'd much rather see 
that than the front of the drivers helmet. In fact a camera wouldn't be 
necessary. They could do that with telemetry. All they need are sensors on 
the throttle, brake and clutch. Didn't they do that in IROC once?

    
    They have telemetry in NASCAR Fords to tell you speed, revs and when
    the car brakes, presumably that could be extended to include the other
    pedals.
    
    In the UK they sometimes have cameras mounted to look at the driver (in
    the passenger footwell) when you can see the drivers legs and arms
    moving. Trouble is, you can't tell where the driver is when he's
    carrying out the various movements.
    
    Mark

The way NASCAR did it at the Glen, with the data from the telemetry 
shown on screen during the in car camera shots, was great! You 
could see where the car was on course, and read what the driver 
was doing. Now if they could only fit in another "window" with a 
shot of the driver, legs, feet and arms ...

>>The way NASCAR did it at the Glen, with the data from the telemetry...

That must be were I saw it! They showed the telemetry diagrams in a window
while you could also see either out the front window or from the trackside
cameras.

The telemetry idea would be better for CART because there's a lot less 
light (none) in the footwell of a CART car than a NASCAR vehicle.

So, the ideal setup would be 

- the normal in-car view looking forward where you can see when he shifts
- a small window showing telemetry for
	o current gear
	o throttle position
	o brake position
	o clutch position
	o rpm (this would give you lots of good information. It would
	also give the information to the other teams so they'd never do it)

    According to Bob Jenkins last night on SPEEDWEEK, NHIS in Louden, NH
    is getting a CART race for 1992.

    Yes! There is a God.
    
    They are going to run the OVAL, aren't they?

    Yes, on the oval is what I heard.
    

    I called the track after the announcement on Speedweek, in fact the
    following morning.  NHIS, at that time, had had no definite word from
    CART that the statement made on Speedweek was correct.  Guess we wait
    and see.

    What are the dimensions of the oval a NHIS?
    
    I personally would rather see a good oval race than a street course. 
    I'm getting tired of them.
    
    Paul
    

    re: last:
    
    One mile ID, 80 ft. width, six degree (?) banking.
    
    Given how fast and close the modern Indy cars run at Nazareth (a very
    interesting racetrack, BTW), a race at NHIS should be a lot of fun for
    both drivers and spectators.

    Nice job by Mr. Luyendyk and crew yesterday at Nazareth.  There's no
    better ego booster than outfoxing the Great Indy Car Brain Trust.

    CART released the official 1992 schedule at Nazareth over the weekend. 
    Seventeen races, with Cleveland out (although that's still up for
    discussion, as Roger Penske promotes that race) and NHIS in (July 5),
    with some other reshuffling (Detroit and Portland follow Indy,
    Milwaukee moves to July, Road America to August and the "New York Area"
    race, either Battery Park City or the Meadowlands, to Sep. 20).

    Forgot to mention: the Michael Andretti to F1 thing is back on again,
    with Andretti pere et fils and Cigar Face Haas talking with Ferrari. 
    Apparently if Hamlet Prost makes good on his threat to quit after this
    season, the boys at Fiat want Michael in the seat.  Unfortunately Carl
    Haas has an ironclad contract with Andretti for the next couple of
    years, so Ferrari would have to buy it out to free up Michael for the
    ride.

    Michael should think long and hard about this, because he'd be stepping
    into the Race Team From Hell and giving up a sure shot at repeating the
    CART championship and taking the Indy 500.  

    If he goes to Ferrari, however, that opens up a top seat in CART . . .

Michael only has a 1 year contract.  His daa signed for 2.

    Re: last few
    
    Yes, it was an interesting race.  The Dutch Boy was super.  And sneaky. 
    Heck, I figured he was about lapped there around lap 160 or so.  Good
    race.  I sure hope they get more sponsorship for 92.
    
    Michael looked good, too.  But so did Bobby.  They both just got
    skanked by Arie.
    
    I'm suprised by the schedule for 92 in a couple of ways.  One, I
    thought Cleveland was more secure.  And here is Denver there is no
    shortage of talk about where the race will be held next year.  Downtown
    is out, but there have been no announcements as to where.  So with all
    the uncertainty, how did that date get on the calendar.  Hmmm???  The
    NH date looks great.  I am becoming a fan of the "short" oval.  The
    best races (I'm talking about the most interesting and competitive) in
    the last few years have been at Nazareth and Phoenix.  So I, for one,
    welcome the NH track.  It'll be good.  I haven't seen any pictures but
    everyone reports that it's a fine facility.
    
    Finally, Michael going to Ferrari?  Yeah, I heard it too.  I'm sure
    Carl won't really get in the way of Michael going, but I agree with
    George.  Ferrari is no place to learn F1.  Look at the driver history
    at Ferrari.  They thrive on driver conflict.  They encourage it.  Can
    Michael withstand that while under an international spotlight?  Prost
    has done resonably well, but even he can't pull against the Ferrari
    politics.  Oh, well.  There are a couple of good  related questions
    here.  One, if Michael signs, Prost is the one who will - retire?  Move
    to Ligier?!?  What?  And who will Haas sign?  There's a couple of fine
    young drivers waiting for a good CART seat.  Who'lll get it?
    
    Paul
    

    If Mario has any sense he'll tell his boy to stick it out with Haas
    for another year... Ferrari will always be there, so will F1. But
    if he goes now he may well never win Indy. As things are set for
    next year he has every chance of victory at the Brickyard.

Has there been any word of how many miles the Indy cars will be running at 
NHIS?  I hope it's more than 200 laps...Nazareth goes by *way* too quickly.

Here's a relevant bit from a letter I sent to Bob Bahre earlier this year...

     o	If (when?) CART comes to NHIS, I hope the race is at least a 400 
	mile event.  I've attended the 200-miler at Nazareth twice and the 
	event is over entirely too soon.  I can understand why that's the 
	case at Nazareth -- the place is almost one continuous corner.  The 
	drivers are under a considerable load.  With the two long straights 
	at NHIS, I feel a 400-mile event is feasible.  Do I dare hope for a 
	500-miler?  A seat-of-the-pants guess would lead me to think that 
	qualifying speeds in excess of 175 mph are possible...

    ...heard on the news this morning (101.1 FM, Manchester):
    
    	The Mayor of Cleveland has vowed to fight the loss of the
    Cleveland Grand Prix CART race. He is to meet with the CART BOD in
    November...hopefully this WON'T adversly effect the NHIS race...
    
    Steve

An interesting weekend of racing. Saturday, Michael Andretti takes the win
in the Marlboro Challenge in the last turn after Roger Penske doesn't give
Mears enough fuel to finish the race. Then Sunday, in an attempt to drive
conservatively for the championship, Michael goes from the pole to the win,
leading every lap. 

RE: .159

>Saturday, Michael Andretti takes the win
>in the Marlboro Challenge in the last turn after Roger Penske doesn't give
>Mears enough fuel to finish the race.

Well, not exactly.  CART rules require the cars to get a fuel efficiency of
at least 1.5 miles/gallon.  To enforce this, they limit the fuel for each race
to just enough to cover the distance at that fuel efficiency.  It's not like
Formula One where you're allowed to carry as much fuel as you wish.  I don't know
for sure, but it's most likely that Rick Mears's car had had every last drop
of fuel put into it.  He ran out because he was using too rich a mixture,
too much turbo boost, not short-shifting as much as necessary, etc.

--PSW

Somwhere in the broadcast they said that fuel would not be a concern
at that race. There are certain tracks that are notorious for using up
all of the available fuel like Elkhart Lake. My thought was that the
Penske crew probably didn't think there'd be a problem and didn't concern
themselves with getting all of it into the car.

RE: .161

Rick Mears was quoted after the race as saying it was a fuel pick-up problem.
It's possible that sufficient fuel was there, but something was wrong with the
pick-up system such that it was unable to pump the fuel when it all sloshed
over to one side coming around that final corner onto the start/finish straight.

--PSW

`anybody heard what time (EST?) ESPN will broadcast the first F1 race (Kyalami,
 S. Africa) this Sunday?

I wouldn't want to miss one ... especially if it's at some uncivilized hour
that I have to tape it	:^)

/Mike Coughlin

    This Sunday night, ESPN, 9pm EST

During the Kyalami race I don't recall ESPN announcing broadcast time for the
Mexico race!

... anybody know what time (EST) ESPN will broadcast Mexico?

thanks,
Mike Coughlin

Re: Note 827.165 by XELENT::COUGHLIN

>... anybody know what time (EST) ESPN will broadcast Mexico?

Sunday at Midnight...that is, it will run until 2 a.m. Monday morning 
(eastern time).

Give 'em a call at 203-585-2000 and (nicely) tell them what you think of 
tape-delays...