DATE

News (chronologically)

7/7/02

Kristensen and Capello win inaugural race at Road America  Tom Kristensen and Rinaldo Capello came back from two in-race penalties to win the American Le Mans Series Road America 500 presented by the Chicago Tribune Sunday at Road America. Co-driving an Audi R8 Prototype, Denmark’s Kristensen and Italy’s Capello scored a 32.172-second win over the Audi driven by Frank Biela and Emanuele Pirro. The two factory team cars battled side-by-side on several occasions during the event, but the winning car led the final hour of the race after the runner-up had to pit due to a cut tire. Kristensen, who was celebrating his 35th birthday, and Capello made only one driver change during the event, which was run under sweltering heat at the four-mile racing circuit located between Milwaukee and Green Bay. Capello, who drove the second half of the race, received a stop-and-go penalty for passing before the green on a restart, and a second penalty for passing during a yellow flag. “The first penalty I agreed with, but the second one made me angry,” said Capello. “We were fortunate that another full-course yellow came out after that to equalize the cars, and then Frank had a tire puncture.” “Emanuele and I raced very hard during the early part of the race,” said Kristensen. “There were a few times when a phone book from a very small city wouldn’t have fit between our cars.” The finish of the race:
1. (1) Tom Kristensen/Rinaldo Capello, Audi R8 (LMP 900), 118, 4:15:01.87.
2. (2) Emanuele Pirro/Frank Biela, Audi R8 (LMP 900), 118.
3. (6) Johnny Herbert/Stefan Johansson, Audi R8 (LMP 900), 118.
4. (7) Clint Field/Joel Field, Lola B2K10-Judd (LMP 900), 111.
5. (12) Kelly Collins/Andy Pilgrim, Chevrolet Corvette C5-R (GTS), 109.
6. (11) Ron Fellows/Johnny O’Connell/Oliver Gavin, Chevrolet Corvette C5-R
(GTS), 108.

7/7/02

CART continues stellar attendance at Toronto  2nd UPDATE Sunday's race day attendance was announced as 73,160 for a 3-day total of 168,421.  Click here for 17-year Toronto attendance history.  7/6/02 - The Saturday crowd here in Toronto was 51,243, bringing the 2-day total to 95,261.  A crowd over last years 73,628 is expected for Sunday. Click here for 17-year Toronto attendance history. 7/5/02 - Attendance was announced at 44,018 Friday (a work day) for CART's opening practice and qualifying session in Toronto under beautiful blue skies and comfortable temperatures in the low 80's.  44,018 is more than most oval track races get on race day.  Tomorrow's crowd is expected to top 50,000 and Sunday of course higher.  We hear ticket sales are excellent.

7/7/02

Allmendinger is the real deal, wins again  A.J. Allmendinger has taken a hold of the Barber Dodge Pro Series 2002 championship points lead with authority and ran with it as he emerged from a race-long battle with pole sitter Rafael Sperafico to take the win and the 20 championship points that go with it, giving him 21 points for the weekend. Allmendinger was joined on the podium by Memo Rojas of Mexico City, Mexico and Marc Breuers of Philadelphia, PA. The second podium finish of the 2002 season moved into the second spot in the season championship points battle some 45 points behind Allmendinger. Behind the podium finishers were Davy Cook, who finished forth ahead of Dan Di Leo after a mammoth race-long battle. Christian Szymczak was forced to storm from the back of the field after a first-lap incident to move himself all the way up to sixth place, showing the speed he had demonstrated all weekend. Danica Patrick finished an impressive seventh after starting back in 14th in her first Barber Dodge Pro Series race, and her first-ever open wheel street race. Josh Rehm kept up his impressive season-long run of top ten finishes after finishing in the eighth spot, with Chris Baker carding his first-ever top ten finish in Barber Dodge competition. Rhonda Trammel recovered from early contact with Tom Fogarty to charge into a tenth-place finish. Sperafico ended up in 11th place after running off course late in the race in his heated battle for the lead with Allmendinger. Today's victory was Allmendinger's fourth win in five races so far this season. Allmendinger has led the points ever since taking the win at the season opener in Sebring, and now finds himself with a commanding lead over the rest of the field. Allmendinger was happy with the result, and was quick to point out the fact that his race-long battle with Sperafico was tough but fair.

7/7/02

Highlights of Chris Pook press conference 

• CART will present 2003 schedule to teams next weekend in Cleveland and then release schedule to the public during that following week.  CART will also give teams sneak view at 2004 and 2005schedule.

• CART has 3 years left on their contract with Toronto and Vancouver, and five years left with Montreal.  CART is committed to Canada and Molson is committed to CART.  Toronto will move back to 2nd week in July in 2003.

• CART shooting for 700 to 750 HP with next years engine, and will track test cars and engines soon.

• CART worked hard to make Chicago a success, yet still only got 25,000 fans to come out.  Chris looks to have about 3, maybe 4 maximum ovals on the schedule going forward.  He expects to stay on oval tracks in Milwaukee, Fontana and perhaps Chicago or one in Europe.  CART will use same wings for all races in 2003 and beyond.

• CART will invite just four of the best engine manufacturers in the world to participate in 2005 when CART rolls out new engines.

• CART is approaching the 1-million total attendance mark for 2002 already.

• EuroSpeedway is back on the 2002 schedule, but future years remain uncertain due to the tracks financial woes.

7/7/02

Foyt's grandson wins first Infiniti Pro race  A.J. Foyt IV, the 18-year-old grandson of four-time Indianapolis 500 winner A.J. Foyt, won the inaugural Indy Racing Infiniti Pro Series race July 7 at Kansas Speedway in the No. 14 Harrah’s/A.J. Foyt Racing Dallara/Infiniti/Firestone. Actor-driver Jason Priestley finished second in the No. 7 HomeMed Pharmacy entry, 2.2197 seconds behind Foyt. Cory Witherill finished third after starting last in the 12-car field in the No. 92 WSA Healthcare entry. “That was a real good race, a lot of good drivers out there, good wheel-to-wheel action and good for the fans,” A.J. Foyt IV said. “Hopefully we can get this series going for the next race and next season.” Foyt’s victory came 21 years after his grandfather’s final Indy-style victory in June 1981 at Pocono, Pa. “He did a hell of a job,” A.J. Foyt said of his grandson. “I was very proud of him. He raced hard, and it was really tight racing. He did great.” Foyt, from Hockley, Texas, led 63 of the 67 laps after starting from the pole on the 1.5-mile oval. But the race was a tight affair throughout. Indy Racing League veteran Ronnie Johncox stalked Foyt for the lead at the midway point of the race and nosed past Foyt to lead Laps 37-38 and 43-44. While Foyt and Johncox dueled for the lead during those laps, Priestley, Arie Luyendyk Jr. and USAC short-track star Aaron Fike closed to within a second of the front. But that spirited chase for the lead among five cars ended on Lap 47 when Johncox, Fike and Luyendyk crashed in Turn 4, eliminating them from the race. The right-front wheel on Luyendyk’s No. 5 entry touched the left rear of Johncox’s No. 8 Rev. 1 Racing Special entry between Turns 3 and 4, with both cars spinning. Johncox’s twirling car collected the No. 91 Hemelgarn Racing entry driven by Fike, and all three cars hit the outside retaining wall in Turn 4. None of the drivers was hurt. Witherill lost part of his front wing during the incident but still managed to drive to third at the finish.

7/7/02

Atlantics: CART hands down fines  For the second time this season, CART Toyota Atlantic Championship Stewards, led by Chief Steward, K.C. Van Niman, levied post-race penalties following Saturday’s Round 7 race at the Molson Indy Toronto. Michael Valiante (Lynx Racing Swift 014.a) won Saturday’s event after a daring inside pass in Turn 1. However, the Stewards determined that Valiante had shortcutted the course during that move and was assessed a five point penalty according to rule 6.13 of the 2002 CART Toyota Atlantic Championship Rulebook. The point deduction was levied per rule 10.8. The reduction reduces Valiante’s Championship points lead down to 14 points heading into next week’s Round 8 race at the Marconi Grand Prix of Cleveland. Also, third place finisher in yesterday’s race, Rocky Moran Jr. (Sigma Autosport Swift 014.a), was fined 14 Championship points along with the forfeiture of $10,000 in race winnings after his car failed the post race inspection per rule 9.2.2c (Item 6). The points and money penalties were per rule 10.8 and 10.9. The point reduction drops Moran Jr. from third to eighth place in the Championship with 59 points. Finally, a pair of drivers were placed on probation for the next two races for multiple incidents in yesterday’s race. Grant Ryley (Lynx Racing/Northwest Speedwerx/ Cupertino Electric Swift 014.a) and Waldemar Coronas (Scuadra Fortia/Aviacsa/ Royse/Maizoro/Millenio Swift 014.a) were placed on probation per rule 8.13 for taking unjustifiable risk.

7/7/02

Barry Green concerned IRL politics will hurt Indy Car racing  In this Autosport interview, Barry Green has this to say - Will your team be back at the Indy 500 next year? "All of my business is based on sponsorship. All my future plans are based on sponsorship. I've been with my sponsors a long time, and I to be honest I feel quite foolish in front of my sponsors right now because I think we had a very strong case and I guess I'm going to have some explaining to do. I race where my sponsors want me to race, so at the end of the day, it will come down to where I can raise money and where they want to race. All I can say is I have some tremendous partners and at the moment they are supporting me in CART. I only hope this doesn't hurt open wheel motor racing in this country. It's going through some tough times right now, especially with the business economy the way it is. There are a lot of teams out there who are going to have to work hard to come up with sponsors in the future, and I hope this doesn't affect them."

7/7/02
Industry News

Bombardier sues for $1 billion  German-U.S. auto giant DaimlerChrysler AG on Saturday said a 1 billion euro ($976 million) damage suit against it by Canadian transportation group Bombardier Inc. was groundless. Bombardier on Friday moved to formally dispute and seek damages related to the group's acquisition of DaimlerChrysler's Adtranz rail unit for $725 million last year. "We think the allegations are totally unjustified," a spokesman for DaimlerChrysler said on Saturday, reiterating earlier comments by the world's No. 5 carmaker. He added the company had not received Bombardier's filing yet.

7/7/02

Study shows oval racing costly for IRL teams  An independent study of Indy car racing has revealed the following interesting statistics for the 2002 season through last weekend.  It shows that not only will it be cheaper to start a Champ Car team than an IRL team next year, it will be far cheaper to maintain that team through the year.  As we have long maintained, and now have the data to back it, oval track open wheel racing at some point becomes cost prohibitive.  This is likely to weigh on CART's mind when they vote to drop all oval races from their schedule.  It's interesting to note the quality of drivers must be far higher in CART than the IRL since their crash damage per race, looking at ovals only, is far less than the IRL.  With such high downforce, one would expect IRL drivers to crash less, not more.

	CART (including Chicago)	IRL (including Richmond)
Total Crash Damage	$2,092,747	$6,364,000
Average per race	$298,964	$795,500
Ovals only	$202,666	$795,500

7/7/02

Walker completes purchase of Reynard  Derrick Walker today confirmed the formation of Walker Racing L.L.C., which has acquired the property of and intellectual rights to Reynard North America, and has become the exclusive supplier of Reynard parts to the CART FedEx Championship Series for 2003 and beyond.   Story

7/7/02

Cleveland race gets backing from City  This Cleveland Plain Dealer article says - "I am confident Cleveland will be on CART's 2003 schedule," said H. Kent "Bud" Stanner, president of IMG Motorsports, which promotes the race along with CART. "This is arguably the most popular temporary course in the whole series." Is there even a handshake between CART, IMG and the city of Cleveland? "We're happy that the Grand Prix is here in Cleveland," Cleveland Mayor Jane Campbell said. "When this summer is over we're going to try and take a look at what the opportunities are next year and beyond."

7/7/02

RJ Reynolds wants The Winston to stay in Charlotte  According to this "That's Racin" article, officials with R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., which sponsors the Winston Cup series, have indicated they would prefer the annual Winston all-star race remain at Lowe's Motor Speedway. The Charlotte track has hosted the race every season but one since its inception in 1985. Recently, NASCAR has indicated a desire to see the race move to a different venue each season. Ned Leary, president of RJR's Sports Marketing Enterprises, said among the reasons Lowe's Motor Speedway is preferred is the amount of work done by the track to promote and develop The Winston; and the City of Charlotte's efforts to demonstrate its support of the event.

7/7/02

Hamilton not returning to Petree Racing  According to this "That's Racin" article, Bobby Hamilton said Saturday he's not returning to Andy Petree Racing next season. "I just don't like change. I'm afraid there might be changes in the organization in different areas or whatever. I'm not sure exactly what. I just don't like change," Hamilton said. "I know Andy is a good car owner and he'll land on his feet in the future, but I don't want to be in the middle of change. It's too damn hard any more. I like to stay with established stuff." Hamilton said he and Petree both had until June 30 to notify each other in writing they had intentions to work together next season. Neither exercised that option. Hamilton's likely destination is Petty Enterprises, sources confirmed Saturday. Hamilton drove for Petty Enterprises from 1995 to 2000, where he won his first series race in 1996 at Phoenix and also had his best finish in the points race, ninth in 1996. "I'm not thinking about retiring. I just won last year. Asked about his destination, Hamilton said there was one team he was especially interested in, but elected not to name it. He did say he would like to join the Dodge camp. Petty Enterprises currently fields three Dodge teams - the #45 with Kyle Petty, the #43 with John Andretti and the #44 with Steve Grissom. Grissom came on board this season when the team released driver Buckshot Jones.

7/7/02

Montoya bored with poles  Juan Montoya joked with team members yesterday after completing a lap which won him his fourth pole position in a row. The Colombian got on the radio to his race engineers and told them he was bored with being in pole. Montoya's 1:18.998 was one of the best qualifying laps of the year, a full second faster than his previous best and set in the final seconds of the session. Williams technical boss Patrick Head applauded his star driver: "Juan did a fantastic job. He did a brilliant lap. He was nearly half a second down in the first sector but did a fantastic Sector 2 in order to get his lap back on course." "Now we've got to try and follow up with what we haven't done in the last three races which is try and get a strong result on Sunday as well."

7/7/02

Lauda asks for more time  Jaguar team boss Niki Lauda has asked for time before the fans and Jaguar bosses begin to ask questions about the disaster that is Jaguar F1. "We ran the new package in Barcelona for the first time last week and combined with yesterday’s wet Free Practice sessions, we haven’t had anywhere near enough time to understand it fully. There are definite improvements in certain areas, but we still need to extract more and address some issues. The Austrian added: "I am sure we will exploit the package to its full potential ­ something we haven’t seen in the very short time since it arrived on the car a week ago."  We suspect that Lauda is quite worried he may lose his job.

7/7/02

Fans pissed at NASCAR  The fans have apparently tired over NASCAR's inconsistency with the rules, pelting the cars with debris as an apparent protest to the Pepsi 400 ending under caution Saturday night. When a caution came out with three laps to go at Daytona International Speedway, NASCAR did not stop the race and Michael Waltrip won under caution. As the cars circled around the track for the final three laps, fans sitting along the backstretch tossed programs, seat cushions and bottles over the grandstand fence. “That was wild, I had some sort of bottle or something bounce right off my hood,” Jeremy Mayfield said. “I guess they were mad because no one knows when races are going to be stopped and when they aren't. We don't understand it, either. “But if they went back green, it was going to be mayhem for the last lap. I guess we got it anyway with the fans throwing all that stuff.” NASCAR has no clear-cut rule on stopping races. AP

7/7/02
Industry News

Grand Prix director dies  John Frankenheimer, Director of 1966 film "Grand Prix" died at age 72.  It was the best auto racing movie ever made.  It Starred James Garner, Eva Marie Saint, Yves Montand, Toshiro Mifune, Brian Bedford, Jessica Walter and was written by Robert Alan Aurthur and William Hanley

7/7/02

Honda scrambling to signup good teams  As reported by the Indy Star newspaper - Honda/Ilmor officials met with IRL teams last week about signing them for 2003, although no contracts were signed.  They got into the game late and all the good IRL teams were spoken for by Chevy and Toyota.  Now Honda is scrambling, trying to woo some CART teams over.  So far, no takers.  Michael Andretti appears to be their best bet if they threw enough money at him, which they are rumored to be doing.  But even if Michael did start a team, he's never been a team owner before.  How many years before they can win?

7/7/02

IRL won't race at Milwaukee  As reported by the Indy Star newspaper - Ken Ungar, the IRL's vice president of business affairs, said a race in Milwaukee wasn't included because the two sides could not find a "mutually agreeable" date. Milwaukee wanted to race on the first weekend of August, but that's NASCAR's Brickyard 400 date at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. That also would have meant IRL races on five consecutive weekends, which would have been a strain.

7/7/02

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7/6/02

Kristensen blisters track at Road America to win pole  Tom Kristensen, looking to break a year-long winless streak in the American Le Mans Series, took the pole position for Sunday’s Road America 500 presented by the Chicago Tribune, the inaugural event for the sports car racing series at the four-mile track. Driving an Audi R8 Prototype, Kristensen turned a lap of 128.381 mph (1:52.166), fastest of the 30 cars that will start the race. Kristensen, the series point leader after three of 10 rounds, has won poles and led races but hasn’t won a race on the series since July of 2001 at Sears Point Raceway. The Dane will co-drive with Rinaldo Capello of Italy.  Story & Grid

7/6/02

Infiniti Pro Series perfect training ground for IRL  The Infiniti Pro Series is turning out to be the perfect training ground for the IRL.  Like their big brothers, the Infiniti Pro drivers run 100% throttle the entire lap.  Arie Lyundyk Jr. hinted that some drivers may be getting better engines than others.  After Qualifying in Kansas, he had this to say - "I was flat out all the way around the track, and the car feels really free. I don't know if we have some sort of engine issues because certain people seem to be running a lot quicker in a straight line. I don't know what we can do to reduce drag in the car. We've tried everything."  Is he saying that AJ Foyt IV is getting a better engine to garner headlines with the Foyt name for the fledging series?  Hmm....

7/6/02

Infiniti Pro Kansas lineup  Qualifying results Saturday for the Indy Racing Infiniti Pro Series event on the 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway with starting position, car number in parenthesis, driver, chassis-engine and qualifying speed in mph:
1. (14) A.J. Foyt IV, Dallara-Infiniti, 180.330
2. (8) Ronnie Johncox, Dallara-Infiniti, 178.505
3. (7) Jason Priestley, Dallara-Infiniti, 177.988
4. (91) Aaron Fike, Dallara-Infiniti, 177.947
5. (2) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Infiniti, 177.725
6. (38) Matthew Halliday, Dallara-Infiniti, 176.645
7. (5) Arie Luyendyk Jr., Dallara-Infiniti, 176.362
8. (3) Marty Roth, Dallara-Infiniti, 175.581
9. (27) Gary Peterson, Dallara-Infiniti, 175.389
10. (99) G.J. Mennen, Dallara-Infiniti, 174.722
11. (37) Mike Koss, Dallara-Infiniti, 173.976
12. (92) Cory Witherill, Dallara-Infiniti, 169.391

7/6/02

Atlantics: Valiante wins in Toronto  On a picture perfect afternoon in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Michael Valiante (Lynx Racing Swift 014.a), who hails from Burnaby, BC, Canada, continued a Canadian winning streak on the 1.755-mile temporary street circuit in Toronto that began with Alex Tagliani in 1998. Fellow countryman, Jonathan Macri (P-1 Racing/NTN Bearings/Miller Genuine Draft/Battlefield Equipment Rentals Swift 014.a) who is from Gormley, Ontario, completed the Canadian sweep of the top two spots.  But the story of the race came on the Lap 6 restart. Two yellow flags had slowed the early portion of the event which set the stage for the highlight of the race. Jon Fogarty (Dorricott Racing/Thomas Fogarty Winery & Vineyards Swift 014.a), who started the race up front after winning his second $1000 Toyota Pole Award of the season earlier in the day and entered the race with a two point lead in the Championship over Valiante, led the opening laps. But on the lap six restart, Valiante, who was in third at the time, charged to the inside of Alex Gurney (Dorricott Racing/Behr Castrol Swift 014.a) and Fogarty heading into Turn 1. Valiante was able to glue the car to the inside of the turn and completed the pass, but the battle was not over. Fogarty continued the fight with Valiante down the long straight heading into Turn 3. As the pair jockeyed for position, Luis Diaz (Dorricott Racing/Telmex Swift 014.a) made contact with the rear of Fogarty’s car sending Diaz airborne into the tire wall. The incident eliminated both of the Dorricott cars from the race.

7/6/02

Barber Dodge - Sperafico wins pole in Toronto  Rafael Sperafico will lead the Barber Dodge Pro Series field to the green flag for Sunday's race after storming to the top of the sheets to take the pole position and setting a new track record along the way. The field is once again extremely close, with the top 11 starters' times separated by less than one second in qualifying over the 1.755-mile temporary street course.   More

7/6/02

Heidfeld blasts Montoya  Sauber's Nick Heidfeld thinks polesitter Juan Pablo Montoya denied him a potential seventh place on the grid when the Williams driver blocked him on his final flying lap. "I'm really unhappy with the session," he admitted. "I could have improved my time by half a second on my final lap, but Montoya blocked me. He was on his out lap, so I don't know what he was thinking. I nearly hit him at Priory. He ruined my best lap. I'm very disappointed because the car has been really good here all weekend. He's happy, he's on pole, but that was not acceptable."

7/6/02

IRL announces 2003 schedule  Continuing its philosophy of steady, controlled growth, the Indy Racing League announced a 16-race 2003 schedule of events that is highlighted by its first international race at Twin Ring Motegi in Japan.  The 2003 Indy Racing League season will mark the eighth season of competition for the Indianapolis-based sanctioning body and will represent its largest schedule of events. Schedule

7/6/02

CART implements new loose wheel rule  Due to the recent rash of wheels falling off after pitstops, CART has issued a new rule to increase the pain a team suffers if it happens.  Effective immediately, the loss of a wheel will cost the team $5000, and if the car continues - a loss of one lap. Subsequent violations will result in additional penalties.  If the loose wheel should impede or cause any damage to a competitor's car, or cause any injury to any person, it will result in the exclusion of the team's entry from the event.

7/6/02

Acordia expands into track insurance business  Already in the business insuring race cars in CART and the IRL, Acordia has now starting selling General Liability insurance to race tracks.  We hear their first customers are Pikes Peak, Road America, Cleveland and Chicago.  K&K Insurance were always the big players in this segment of business.

7/6/02

Seen at Silverstone  They haven't advertised in the British GP program (Bernie won't allow it), but Rockingham has got 'ad vans' carrying posters running up and down the traffic lines outside the Silverstone track and they are advertising in Autosport and other motoring titles starting this week.

7/6/02

Arrows to compete  The Arrows cars will race in this weekend’s British Grand Prix after Tom Walkinshaw came to a compromise agreement with Cosworth for the use of its engines.  Cosworth was seeking $4.7 million in late payments which are part of an agreement Arrows is on with Cosworth. ‘We are currently negotiating with three different parties interested in acquiring the team as a whole or part of it,’ the Scotsman said. ‘I'm optimistic that the future for Arrows is secure, whether I'm part of it or not I'm not sure.’

7/6/02

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7/5/02

Atlantics: Fogarty smashes Toronto record  After Friday morning’s CART Toyota Atlantic Championship practice in Toronto, the run for the provisional pole seemed possible for over half of the field. By the time the qualifying session had ended this afternoon at the 1.755-mile temporary street circuit in Toronto, Jon Fogarty (Dorricott Racing/Thomas Fogarty Winery & Vineyards Swift 014.a) had put all those thoughts to rest. Fogarty’s time of 1:05.578 seconds (96.343 mph) shattered David Rutledge’s 2001 track record by nearly one second and more importantly, earned him another bonus point in the tight Championship battle with Michael Valiante (Lynx Racing Swift 014.a). In fact, two other drivers posted times below Rutledge’s mark of 1:06.419 seconds (95.123 mph). Fogarty’s teammate, Luis Diaz (Dorricott Racing/Telmex Swift 014.a) was second with a time of 1:06.047 seconds (95.659 mph), followed by Sepp Koster (Michael Shank Racing/Blue Bay Golf Resort/Uitert/Respons Swift 014.a) with a time of 1:06.204 seconds (95.432 mph). “This was an exceptional session,” said Fogarty. “Things went my way. We went to stickers midway through the session. When we did, I was fortunate to not catch any backmarkers and I was able to maximize the Yokohama tires when they were at their prime. It was like connecting the dots and finishing the puzzle. My fast lap felt great. I knew coming across the start-finish line it was fast, but certainly didn’t know it would be a track record. It was good enough for the pole, but I hope it will be good enough to hold through tomorrow. That is, of course, unless I can run even faster.”

7/5/02

Sprint dumps Petty   Petty Enterprises is seeking primary sponsorship for the #45 Dodge driven by Kyle Petty for the 2003 season and beyond. Sprint recently notified Petty Enterprises that it will not pick up the option in its contract to continue as primary sponsor. Discussions are continuing with Sprint about future involvement with Petty Enterprises, but in the meantime Petty Enterprises is seeking other potential partners for the primary sponsorship of the #45 Dodge. “We continue to keep our options open with Sprint and we fully expect that we will continue to be involved with them in some way,” said Kyle Petty. “They’ve been an important part of our team since 1996 and it’s been a very successful relationship for both parties. The bottom line is that Sprint has not exercised its option to continue as the primary sponsor and so we need to look at other opportunities for the #45 Dodge.”

7/5/02

Pirro leads opening round at Road America  Defending American Le Mans Series champion Emanuele Pirro set the fast time of the day as American Le Mans Series teams began practice Friday for Sunday’s Road America 500 presented by the Chicago Tribune. The 500-mile race will mark the debut of the American Le Mans Series on the four-mile Road America circuit. Pirro, driving the same Audi R8 Prototype that he co-piloted to victory three weeks ago in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, turned a lap of 1:55.113 (125.094 mph) as teams had two hours of testing during the day. For the Italian, and many other drivers in the field, it was the first time on the Road America circuit in a race car. “Most of us had talked to other drivers who had been here and we had heard nothing but good things about this circuit,” said Pirro, who will co-drive with Frank Biela of Germany in the race. “It is a beautiful, beautiful circuit and very fast.” Jan Magnussen, driving a Panoz LMP-1, was second-fastest in Friday’s practice at 1:55.533 in a car he will share with David Brabham. The Audi R8 of Rinaldo Capello and ALMS point leader Tom Kristensen was third at 1:55.948. ALMS

7/5/02

Danica Patrick has frustrating first day, Trammell shows well  Danica Patrick's debut in the Barber Dodge Pro Series got off to a slow start when she got a bit over anxious, hit a curb and spun.  She ended up 16th fastest.  The other women in the field, Rhonda Trammell, continued to show well with an 11th fastest time.  Trammell joined the series in Laguna Seca and has turned in solid performances ever since.   Patrick, the 20-year-old female driver from Roscoe, Ill., drove the No. 89 Team Rahal/Rahal Automotive Group formula car to 16th fastest in qualifying on the 1.755-mile temporary circuit through the Exhibition Place grounds near downtown Toronto. The 5-foot-1, 100-pound dynamo was as quick as fifth early in the qualifying round and stayed consistently in the Top 10 before tire trouble slowed her. Her single-lap clocking of 1:13.708 at a speed of 85.918 m.p.h. put her 16th on the grid after the first 30-minute qualifying session but Patrick felt she could have been quicker in her first outing in the Barber Dodge Pro Series. Patrick will run one qualifying session on Saturday before Sunday's 45-minute feature race set for 11 a.m. Danica Patrick (#89 Team Rahal/Rahal Automotive Group) - "I'm a little frustrated with myself today. I think I was expecting to come out fast after the Sebring test with the Barber Dodge car. But I quickly realized that the street course is much different than Sebring. It was tough getting a consistency in the chassis setup. In the morning practice, the car was sliding quite a bit. So we got aggressive with the changes - probably too aggressive. At the start of qualifying, I was able to lower my times pretty consistently. But the tire pressures got too high and the traction wasn't there. That's probably some inexperience on my part with these cars. I should have pitted and had the crew guys adjust the pressures. It's only the first day and Bobby (Rahal) and everyone have been very helpful and supportive with me. The track will be getting better as the weekend goes on and that will help me. I ran two days at Sebring and didn't have one problem. Then I spun this afternoon. I couldn't believe it. I just hit a curb and the car got sideways. I think I have to settle down and drive the car like I have in testing. It's the first day and I was probably a little anxious today. The Barber Dodge people have been very good to me and they are excellent to work with on this program." Bobby Rahal (Team Rahal co-owner) -"Danica was a little tough on herself today. She is learning the track and the car all on the same day. That's real hard to do. She has the talent and I think she'll be more comfortable on Saturday and Sunday. She hasn't been on a street course with an open-wheeler before. So that's a learning curve in itself. But she is keeping right on the program that we set up. It's a step-by-step process and she understands that right now."

7/5/02

Zanardi reiterates the obvious  Alex Zanardi said today during his first visit back to North America since his accident, that he enjoys watching all forms of racing, including the IRL.  But he was quick to point out that the skill level required to drive on an oval track pales in comparison to road and street course racing.

7/5/02

CART Ladder: Barber Dodge Toronto Qualifying  A.J. Allmendinger continued to stretch his lead over the rest of the Barber Dodge field in the season championship standings today as he earned one more championship point by taking the provisional pole position in the first round of qualifying for Sunday's race. The performance guarantees Allmendinger of a front-row starting position for Sunday's race. Behind Allmendinger, Rafael Sperafico, Memo Rojas, Davy Cook, and Christian Szymczak made up the provisional top-5, with Josh Beaulieu, Marc Breuers, Leo Maia, Dan Di Leo, and Julio Campos rounding out the Top-10. The top 12 qualifiers were separated by less than one second. With this extremely competitive field, Allmendinger was happy with his run, but is unlikely to rest on his laurels during the second qualifying session on Saturday. "I knew I needed to get a fast lap in early in the session just in case," said Allmendinger. "Running on a street course, you can find your session ruined pretty quickly if there is any kind of accident that needs to get cleaned up. It was really just a matter of getting some clean laps in to get a good time. I am happy to get the point and to know that I will be starting on the front row on Sunday. It gives me a lot of confidence for the race and for qualifying tomorrow. "

Pos/Car/Driver/Hometown/Time/Speed
1/29/A.J. Allmendinger/Hollister, Calif./01:12.033/87.710
2/11/Rafael Sperafico/Toledo Paraná, Brazil/01:12.298/87.388
3/15/Memo Rojas/Mexico City, Mexico/01:12.301/87.385
4/16/Davy Cook/Tallahassee, Fla./01:12.333/87.346
5/34/Christian Szymczak Oakland, Calif./01:12.410/87.253
6/27/Josh Beaulieu/Langley, B.C., Canada/01:12.431/87.228
7/94/Marc Breuers/Philadelphia, PA/01:12.516/87.126
8/31/Leonardo Maia/Oakland, Calif./01:12.574/87.056
9/19/Dan Di Leo/Markham,Ontario,Canada/01:12.578/87.051
10/21/Julio Campos/Curitiba, Brazil/01:12.600/87.025
11/26/Rhonda Trammell/Pittsboro, Ind./01:12.941/86.618
12/33/German Quiroga/Mexico City, Mexico/01:12.984/86.567
13/55/Piero Rodarte/Mexico City, Mexico/01:13.173/86.343
14/66/Tom Fogarty/Portola Valley, Calif./01:13.406/86.069
15/42/Josh Rehm/Plymouth, Mass./01:13.535/85.918
16/89/Danica Patrick/Roscoe, Illinois/01:13.708/85.717
17/67/Jon Vannini/Hillsborough, Calif./01:13.710/85.714
18/69/Chris Baker/Houston, Texas/01:13.883/85.514
19/37/Mike Richardson/Kelowna, B.C., Canada/01:14.034/85.339
20/51/Aurelio Lopez, Jr./Guadalajara, Mexico/01:14.226/85.118

7/5/02

CART stock watch 

MPH closed at $8.64, + $0.32 on volume of 35,400 shares.
$7.95 Bid - $8.95 Ask on close.
Session Low/High $8.32/$8.73
MPH Value Change + 3.85%
END
Courtesy of C3I.AndersonGroupe, Chicago

7/5/02

Hornish to try his hand at NASCAR  UPDATE Dale Earnhardt Jr. confirmed yesterday that he will start a Busch team and Hornish will drive for him part-time in 2003.  6/27/02 - This Indy Star News article says, Ty Norris, executive vice president for high-profile Dale Earnhardt Inc., confirmed Wednesday plans are being finalized to have the defending Indy Racing League champion compete in "some" stock car races next season. Hornish likely will drive in the Busch Grand National division, although John Barnes, general manager of Hornish's IRL team, Panther Racing, said the deal could include a Winston Cup program for the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400. "We're two or three weeks away from knowing our entire lineup for next year," Norris said. "But Hornish is something we want to do if we can get the details worked out." NASCAR officials became interested in Hornish after his second-place finish in his first stock car race, the International Race of Champions event at Daytona in February. Hornish, who turns 23 next week, emphasized he will remain a full-time IRL driver, in part because he's locked in to Panther through next season. The Indianapolis-based team officially exercised its third-year option on Hornish in January and is negotiating an extension through 2005. Both sides hope to sign the contract by season's end. "There is no buyout clause (for Hornish) and we're not interested in selling his contract for any amount of money," Barnes said. "We love him, and he's a big part of Panther Racing. And we hope Panther Racing is a big part of his life."

7/5/02

Barkdoll suffers heart attack  Phil Barkdoll, one of the most popular drivers in NASCAR Winston Cup racing in the late 1980's and early 1990's, is in St. Luke's Hospital in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Barkdoll, 64, suffered a heart attack and is considered a probable candidate for open-heart surgery. Barkdoll competed for Helen Rae Racing, running in races such as the Daytona 500 and Talladega 500. His off-track demeanor captivated the media and public, as well as his fellow competitors. Barkdoll, an auctioneer, always played a role in the Winston Preview and Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind fund-raising campaigns.

7/5/02

Home Depot to host Olympic medalists  The Home Depot® will host seven 2002 Olympic Winter Games medalists at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway on Saturday, July 6. Derek Parra, Tristan Gale, Garrett Hines, Rusty Smith, Dan Steele, Monte Meier and Danielle Goyette, who all financed their training by working for the home improvement retailer will sign autographs at The Home Depot Experience rig located at the corporate display area from 2-4 p.m. and attend other pre-race activities as a guest of Home Depot Pontiac driver Tony Stewart. The athletes will watch the Pepsi 400 NASCAR Winston Cup Series race from the air-conditioned comfort of The Home Depot VIP suite.

7/5/02

Busch big Cubs fan  If anyone has ever read any tidbits about Kurt Busch you probably already know that he is a diehard Chicago Cubs fan. Busch grew up in Las Vegas, but all of his family is originally from Chicago, and throughout his life he has always loved anything "Chicago". On Monday, July 15 Busch will have the opportunity of a lifetime, as he will throw out the first pitch at the Cubs game. The Cubs will be hosting the Atlanta Braves that evening. "I'm really excited about the chance to throw out the first pitch at the Chicago Cubs game," Busch said. "The Cubs are just an all around great team, you can't help but like them. And Wrigley Field has so much history that it is truly going to be an honor just to stand there on the mound and throw the pitch. I just hope that I throw a good, solid pitch." Busch, who will be racing in the Tropicana 400 on Sunday at the Chicagoland Speedway, felt that this would make his trip complete. The Winston Cup circuit keeps the drivers incredibly busy, but Busch was sure not to miss an opportunity like this. "I'm a fan of a lot of sports other than just racing," Busch said. "And to be able to fulfill one of my childhood dreams is just an incredible opportunity. Even though our schedules are a bit hectic, it's still important to be able to do things like this, it's fun and will be a memory that I will have for the rest of my life. And who knows maybe I can give these ballplayers a few tips on the best way to use a Sharpie."

7/5/02

Salo out of action  Toyota's Mika Salo sat out most of today's free practice sessions due to a stomach virus. The Finnish driver completed a single lap in the first session, but was been forced to retreat to the motorhome. "The doctor has advised that Mika should rest," said a team statement.

7/5/02

Grand Prix Americas Gets a BIG Green Flag from the City of Miami  Miami Sports & Exhibition Authority Unanimously Supports Downtown Miami Street Race MIAMI, FL (July 3, 2002) - Raceworks LLC, of Miami, organizers and promoters of The Grand Prix Americas, the mega-auto racing event scheduled to run on the streets of downtown Miami October 4-6, 2002, Monday received the strong support of the Miami Sports and Exhibition Authority which voted unanimously to approve a $2 million loan in support of the street race. * The American Le Mans Series on Saturday Oct. 5th.  And on Sunday Oct 6th, the CART FedEx Championship Series The Friday and Saturday races will be televised on Speed TV Network while the Sunday CART race will be televised on CBS. The Grand Prix Americas will be a historic auto-racing weekend when, for the first time ever, CART and ALMS will participate in back-to-back racing events on the same event weekend. For tickets and more information on The Grand Prix Americas call 305-373-3333 or visit www.miamirace.com.

7/5/02

Update on China race  This F1-Live article is pretty much old news but provides an update to Shanghai China's efforts to build a state-of-the-art track and win a F1 race.

7/5/02

Australia Honda Indy gears up  The Honda Indy 300 has developed into one of the world's most successful and most spectacular motorsport events; but the results have not come easy. When you consider the logistics required to put on the event year after year you really start to wonder how it all comes together and runs so smoothly. This year's event will involve the transportation of 40 Champ Cars from Indianapolis to Brisbane on two 747 cargo planes. They are then loaded on to a dozen semi-trailers and moved to the pit area at Macintosh Island, where they and impounded and cleared through a temporary customs facility. A two-car team will typically bring four assembled race cars, 6,500 pounds of equipment, 17 skids, 10 tool boxes, two tents, 25 firesuits, 40 two-way radios, 300 spare decals, four race engines, 260 spare gears, 14 sets of wheels, four driver helmets, two drink poles, two pit boards, 100 spare springs and 200 team hats. There are approximately 420 temporary structures used for the event, including 160 corporate hospitality suites that can cater for groups of 10 to 280. There are 76 hard-walled portable buildings used for team and administration needs and approximately 190 temporary buildings for facilities such as the media centre, medical suites, emergency services and merchandise sales. Construction of the circuit will begin in mid-August and will take 102 days; streamlined from 199 days in 1996. The 102 days include 69 to build, four for the event and 29 days of demobilization. The venue starts to be pulled down as the last car crosses the start-finish line. The grandstands and the northern and southern ends of the circuit must be dismantled in time to open up Gold Coast Highway by 6am the following morning. The 4.5km circuit consists of 2515 concrete blocks which all weigh four tonnes each. They are moved to and from the circuit six at a time on the back of semi-trailers. Honda Indy 300 Chief Executive Officer, Geoff Jones, says the preparation for the event is a 12-month affair. Our team is working on the event 12 months of the year, said Jones. We are always looking at ways to improve and streamline the event so it runs smoothly and is more enjoyable for the fans and sponsors year after year. Logistically, this is one of the most demanding events in the world today.  Honda Indy

7/5/02

Burton and Caterpillar renew  Ward Burton and his sponsor, Caterpillar, have re-signed multi-year contracts to remain with Bill David Racing. Burton signed on for two more years, through 2004, while Caterpillar has signed on for five years. “I'm done. I'm ready to rock.” Burton said, “Caterpillar has signed for five years. A lot changes in the sport and I wasn't willing to sign a five-year deal. We never even talked about it because I told Caterpillar when we talked that five years is a long time. A lot can change in five years.” “Three years is a long time in this business. Five years is just too far to look down the future. I don't even know for me physically to sign a five-year deal if I would even be up for it. I do want options, and I feel like they need to have options. I'm going to give it 100 percent, and I'm sure they will, too.” More... P. McCole

7/5/02

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7/4/02

Nadeau may run more races for Petty's  Kyle Petty said Thursday he would like to see driver Jerry Nadeau run more races for his organization. Nadeau recently substituted for Steve Grissom at the Sears Point road course race two weeks ago and was leading with two laps to go before his car broke. "Jerry Nadeau can be and has been a winning Winston Cup driver," Petty said. "He's got to put himself in a position to run ovals and other stuff because that's what this series is. "We'd like to have him run some races for us, whether it be oval or whether it be the road courses, but we've just got to figure out his plans and where he's going."

7/4/02

British GP Preview  The Silverstone area has been called the “silicon valley” of Formula One because so many of the F1 teams and related industries are based near the Silverstone circuit. While the British-based teams may have some sort of home-field advantage in this weekend’s British Grand Prix, the visiting Ferrari team from Italy is confident that it can continue its domination of the 2002 F1 season. Story

7/4/02
Industry News

How big is China?  China Central Television's (CCTV) sports channel reaped a bonanza from the World Cup, which nearly four billion people watched. Sports director Ma Guoli told the Southern Weekend that, between May 31 and June 30, the channel's ratings rose from an average of 1.5 to 2 per cent of the audience to 15 to 20 per cent, with nearly four billion watching the 64 games it broadcast live. One percentage point of viewers is equivalent to 12 million people.  In other words, when the ratings were running at their high of 20 points, 240 million people were simultaneously tuned in, or about the equivalent of the entire USA.

7/4/02

Lightening strikes Daytona fans  A lightning strike on the grounds at Daytona International Speedway left eight people in need of medical attention Thursday. Track officials said track employee Walter Williams and race fans Richard Santora, Alfred and Mary Greene and Dwayne and Derek Decoux were treated and released at care centers at the track, where qualifying for the Pepsi 400 was scheduled for later Thursday. Two other guests, Brian and Tina Decoux, were taken to nearby Halifax Medical Center, where they were treated and released. Around 4 p.m., a strong thunderstorm swept through Daytona Beach, drenching the raceway and halting Winston Cup practice. AP

7/4/02

IRL race sellouts a mirage  Since all tickets are sold as a 2 for 1 package deal with NASCAR Winston Cup tickets at both Kansas and Chicagoland, the IRL can make the following claim - "All 75,000 seats have been sold for the Delphi Indy 300 Indy Racing League event Sept. 8 at Chicagoland Speedway, track officials announced. Tickets for MBNA Pole Qualifying on Sept. 7 also are sold out. Seats remain for practice Sept. 6. The Ameristar Casino Indy 200 this weekend at Kansas Speedway, which seats nearly 80,000, also is sold out."  One must not lose sight of the fact that when IRL race tickets are sold standalone, attendance is in the 10,000 to 20,000 range, except for TMS.  However, at TMS a decent block of their IRL tickets are sold as a 2 for 1 deal with Winston Cup as well.  Hence, why only 60,000 showed up for the last IRL race at TMS, yet the attendance was announced as 87,000.  Almost 30,000 fans who had IRL tickets stayed home.  Still 60,000 is a decent attendance, and more than CART has been drawing on its ovals.

7/4/02

Lopsided IRL series sees Chevy clinch engine crown already  Chevrolet has clinched the engine manufacturers’ title for the 2002 IRL season in the shortest time possible after its engines powered drivers to victory in the first eight races of the year. Chevrolet leads Infiniti, 80-56, after eight of 15 races. This is the sixth consecutive season that a General Motors engine has won the manufacturers’ title in the IRL, as GM has won every year of the league’s normally aspirated engine formula. “Chevrolet returned to open-wheel racing with two goals – to win the Indianapolis 500 and to win the IRL Manufacturers’ Championship,” said Chevrolet General Manager Kurt Ritter. “We’ve now achieved both objectives through the exceptional efforts of GM Racing engineers, our affiliated engine builders and the teams and drivers who have made the Chevy Indy V8 the dominant engine in the IRL series.”

7/4/02

Boat switches to Infiniti power  Surprisingly, Billy Boat and CURB/Agajanian/Boat Indy Racing are switching to Infiniti engines starting with the Ameristar Casino Indy 200 this weekend at Kansas Speedway, even though Infiniti has no future in the IRL after this year. Boat, 1998 Indianapolis 500 pole winner, thinks the switch will be a good fit for his No. 98 CURB Records Dallara/Infiniti/Firestone entry during the second half of the IRL season due to Infiniti’s strong performance on longer tracks. Five of the seven remaining tracks on the 2002 schedule are 1.5 miles or longer. “The Infiniti has shown to excel on these longer tracks, and they’ve come a long way in terms of power and reliability,” Boat said. “It’s all about winning. We want to win one or two of the races still left on the schedule. We just feel that we will have a better opportunity to do that with the Infiniti. “We’ve had a great relationship with General Motors, Chevrolet, Speedway Engine Development and RPM Engine Development. They’ve done a fantastic job for us. But the timing is right to move on and try something new. We’ve been facing a lot of gremlins this year, so we feel like we need to make a drastic move to jump-start our season.” Eddie Cheever Jr. won the inaugural Ameristar Casino Indy 200 last July with an Infiniti-powered car. “We’re hoping that this engine will give us the added edge that our team may have been lacking so far this season,” Boat said. “The team is really looking forward to putting the CURB Records car up front on race day.”

7/4/02

Rockingham England ticket sales update  Rockingham England has bucked the market trends regarding hospitality suites. In a market where even the F1 Grand Prix at Silverstone has seen agents returning unsold hospitality suite tickets, they've sold 46 of their 56 suites already, and expect to sell the final 10 within the next month. They're now looking at creating an additional hospitality village to increase their capacity in time for their September 14th Champ Car race.  On the grandstand ticket side, they have only sold slightly over 10,000 of their 52,000 capacity, but their main advertising program just started this week.

7/4/02

Toronto government chooses CART race first  [Editors Note: those visiting Toronto this weekend for the CART race should expect mounds of garbage everywhere as the city-wide garbage strike continues] This Toronto Star article says, The Molson Indy will keep on motoring, but this weekend's Celebrate Toronto Street Festival has become a million-dollar casualty of the strike by the city's outside workers. "I don't like canceling it, but safety comes first," Mayor Mel Lastman said yesterday, announcing that the annual street gathering, which drew more than 1 million people last year, won't go on as scheduled. City officials said it's possible that without the Indy, they'd have the staff to guarantee the safety and health of those attending the festival's five sites along Yonge St. But the auto race is also in town and will go on despite the strike, making its own demands on city services. The street festival was scheduled to take place tomorrow to Sunday, the same days as the pro auto race. "We could only put on one event, and we made a conscious decision to go with the Molson Indy," said Joe Halstead, the city's parks commissioner. The strike stopped garbage pick-up and scaled back paramedic services, both of which are necessary to run the events at the same time and ensure safety, Halstead said. Working with fewer resources, the city decided to go with the Molson Indy because it is expected to bring in more money and more international tourism to Toronto. "We did not take this decision lightly. We waited until the very last minutes to cancel," Halstead said, adding he is deeply saddened Toronto's residents will not be able to spend the weekend partying on Yonge St. "I feel very, very bad, and I want to apologize. Many citizens were planning to enjoy this weekend by coming downtown and having a chance to show off their city."

7/4/02

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7/3/02

Why allow an appeal if you can't appeal  In this Indy Star article, Bob Kravitz has this to say about the IRL Indy 500 appeals process - "Here's what this was: a charade. A shameful, expensive, time-consuming charade. And it's one that drives yet another wedge into the IRL-Championship Auto Racing Teams split, virtually ensuring that Green will not come over to the IRL next season unless his sponsors take him kicking and screaming. The race is over now. The fight is not."  See related AR1 article.

7/3/02

Tony George and the IRL disregard their own rulebook  In this RPM.ESPN.com article, Robin Miller spells out  the total disregard the IRL and Tony George had for their own rulebook when ruling on this years Indy 500 finish.  See related AR1 article.

7/3/02

CART Stock Watch 

“. . . what the market giveth so doth it take away . . . “
MPH closed at $8.32, - $0.30 on volume of 142,100 shares.
$7.63 Bid - $8.63 Ask on close.
Session Low/High $8.16/$8.62
MPH Value Change - 3.48%
END
Courtesy of C3I.AndersonGroupe, Chicago

7/3/02

Fogarty & Valiante in mentor program  Championship Auto Racing Teams announced today that drivers Jon Fogarty of Dorricott Racing and Michael Valiante of Lynx Racing would be participating in the Toyota Atlantic Mentor Program at the Molson Indy Vancouver, July 26-28. The two Atlantic drivers will spend the entire race weekend with a Champ Car team of their choice and take part in every aspect, including debriefings, engineering sessions and team meetings, plus press and sponsor events, when applicable. They will be in pit lane with headsets during all practice and qualifying sessions as well as the race. Fogarty earned the trip by being the Atlantic point leader after Chicago. Valiante was chosen as an at-large invitation, selected by a distinguished panel. The selection committee included CART VP of Marketing Steve Fusek, Toyota Atlantic President and CEO Vicki O'Connor, Toyota Atlantic Communications Director Anne Roy, Atlantic television commentator Brian Till and CART Steward Chris Kneifel. "It's great to receive this award for leading the Toyota Atlantic Championship at the midpoint of the season," commented Fogarty, who won the season opening race at Monterrey, Mexico. "CART is providing a great opportunity and I am very glad to capitalize on it. Gaining insight to the operations of a CART team will no doubt be rewarding in and of itself, but being able to seed a relationship at this point in the 2002 season should help the entry I hope to make into Champ Cars for 2003." "Being selected for the CART Mentor Program feels like the turbo just kicked in on my career," said Valiante, winner at Long Beach and native of the Vancouver area. "Racing for a team like Lynx in the Atlantic series was a huge step forward for me, and getting to spend time developing a relationship with the powers that be at a Champ Car team makes me even more certain that I'm headed in the right direction to reach the goal I've been working toward since I was three years old. Making the jump from Atlantic to Champ Cars is both logical and difficult, but the Mentor Program opens the door just enough for you to get your foot in, and I'm grateful for the opportunity." In the next week, Fogarty and Valiante will select their Champ Car team for the Vancouver weekend. They will be able to choose from FedEx Championship Series competitors Newman/Haas Racing, Target Chip Ganassi, Herdez Competition, Walker Racing, Fernandez Racing and Team Rahal. The Mentor Program is designed to increase the lines of communication between the drivers and teams and expand the future opportunities for the drivers of the CART Ladder System. The 2002 Mentor Program got underway last week during the CART Grand Prix of Chicago when Barber Dodge Pro Series drivers AJ Allmendinger and Marc Breuers mentored with Toyota Atlantic teams Hylton Motorsports and Lynx Racing. The final Mentor Program will be at Fontana, where both the top Atlantic and Pro Series drivers will spend the weekend with Champ Car teams.

7/3/02

Barry Green to hold press conference  As a result of the decision made by Tony George, Barry Green has called a press conference to be held in about 10 minutes.

Green & Tracy response

7/3/02

Refunds from Sears Point  According to this Santa Rosa Press Democrat article, Horrific traffic at last Sunday's Cup race at Infineon Raceway [was Sears Point] has prompted an offer of refunds to disgruntled ticket holders who missed most or all of the race while sitting in their cars waiting to get in. Track officials said they already are considering improvements -- including a mass transit park-and-shuttle system -- to avoid a repeat of the colossal tie-up on Highways 37 and 121 leading to the entrance of the raceway near Sonoma. Infineon Raceway president Steve Page said the majority of ticket buyers were in their seats by race time, but he acknowledged others had tired of sitting in their cars and just turned around and went home. Page said he's received 200 to 300 complaints ranging from broken seats to snail-like lines in the parking lots. He said he's willing to reimburse anyone who had tickets and wasn't able to get into the race track. Page said the biggest problem was too many vehicles using the main entrance, Gate 7, off Highway 121. Then Page both said they thought the crowd was actually larger than that. The track does not disclose attendance figures, but in the past has said up to 100,000 people show up. Page said some sort of mass transportation -- buses are used at some major sporting events such as the U.S. Open -- needs to be implemented. He promised such a system would be in place next year. There were other complaints concerning lack of parking attendants and directional signs to terrace seats and the pedestrian tunnels. Track officials said they will entertain refund requests from anyone who missed the race or a majority of it. Ticket holders should make a copy of the tickets and send the originals, along with the purchaser's name, to Brad Lawrence, Director of Tickets, Highways 37 and 121, Sonoma 95476, or e-mail blawrence@infineonraceway.com. Requests will be handled on a case-by-case basis, so unhappy ticket holders are encouraged to describe in full the circumstances of their race-day situation.

7/3/02

2nd Tier Busch series TV ratings top CART and IRL  Thanks to Tony George and his creation of the IRL, the Indy Car fan base and TV ratings have been cut in half.  Tony George has fallen for ISC's divide and conquer strategy, and conquer they are.  Not only are Winston Cup ratings through the roof, even their 2nd-tier Busch series gets better TV ratings.  The TV beat goes on for NASCAR Busch Series...Nielsen Media Research reports that 1,522,000 viewers watched the Kroger 300 Presented by Oreo at Kentucky Speedway on June 15. The race was televised by FX. The viewership was 28% greater than that weekend's CART race (1.2 overnight rating), which was televised by CBS. Last Sunday's GNC Live Well 250 at The Milwaukee Mile, televised by FX, was watched by 1,747,000 people, more than doubling ESPN's Saturday night telecast of an Indy Racing League event which got a meager overnight rating of 0.8.

7/3/02

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7/2/02

CART stock watch 
MPH closed at $8.62, - $0.63 on volume of 69,400 shares.
$7.98 Bid - $8.94 Ask on close.
Session Low/High $8.50/$9.28
MPH Value Change - 6.81%
END
Courtesy of C3I.AndersonGroupe, Chicago

7/2/02

Herdez prepares to expand to two cars in 2003  Herdez Competition will debut a new trailer this weekend at Toronto as the team gears up to what it hopes will be an expansion to two cars in 2003. The new trailer was built by Ultra Comp Trailers of Highlina, Illinois and includes a built-in kitchen, two office stations and is expandable on both sides. The trailer also features four 42-inch Viewsonic plasma television screens with surround-sound capabilities.  CART

7/2/02

Simple Green and Ace Hardware to increase CART sponsorship in 2003  Simple Green, sponsor of the Simple Green CART Safety Team and the official cleaner and degreaser of the CART FedEx Championship Series, had a significant impact in sales from their recent tie-ins with Ace Hardware for the CART FedEx Championship Series events in Chicago (Round 7) and Long Beach (Round 2). The 2002 promotions within the CART FedEx Championship Series have been so successful that Simple Green and Ace Hardware are stepping up their participation in a much larger way for the entire 2003 season (because they are quite happy with their return on investment in CART). At the Round 17 CART FedEx Championship Series race in Miami, Simple Green will partner will over 800 Publix supermarkets for in-store product displays and special value price points.  CART

7/2/02

Zanardi at Toronto  Alex Zanardi will be in Toronto this week to receive the Greg Moore Achievement Award. The award will be presented to Zanardi during this Year's Black & White Gala Dinner presented by FedEx, the title sponsor of the CART FedEx Championship Series, July 4 at the Liberty Grand at Exhibition Place. The Molson Indy Achievement Award, introduced in 1987 and renamed the Greg Moore Achievement Award in 2000, recognizes an individual, group or organization that has made a major contribution to auto racing, particularly in regard to the CART FedEx Championship Series..."Alex has been a huge supporter of Molson IndyFest events in Toronto over the years," said Executive Director for the Molson Indy Festival Foundation Charlie Johnstone. "He has contributed so much to the CART FedEx Championship Series and is a fan favorite in Toronto, exhibiting a terrific spirit both on and off the track."...Past recipients of the award include Barry Green, Ric Moore, Bobby Rahal, Michael Andretti, Wally Dallenbach, Player's Ltd., Al Unser, Rick Mears, Dr. Steve Olvey and Dr. Terry Trammell, Roger Penske, Jim Chapman, Mario Andretti, John Frasco and Carl Haas.  CART

7/2/02

Tony George to announce Indy 500 decision Wednesday Indy Racing League President and CEO Tony George will announce July 3 his decision on the final appeal of the protest filed by Team Green, Inc., contesting the official results of the 2002 Indianapolis 500-Mile Race. The decision will be announced at 11:30 a.m. (EST) in the Trackside Conference Room of the WorldComplex Media Center at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. IRL

7/2/02

Grosfeld resigns from CART Board  Championship Auto Racing Teams, Inc. (NYSE: MPH) confirmed today that James Grosfeld has resigned from CART's Board of Directors. In making his decision, Mr. Grosfeld cited personal reasons. Christopher R. Pook, CART's President and CEO, offered his thanks to Mr. Grosfeld for the contributions he made as a Board member. "Mr. Grosfeld has provided the CART Board of Directors with useful insight and expertise during his tenure and he will be missed," said Pook. "We appreciate the time and effort he has devoted to CART, his wise counsel and his support and wish him well in his future endeavors."  CART

7/2/02

Only 11 entries for Infiniti Pro debut at Kansas Speedway  The Indy Racing Infiniti Pro Series consists of seven races beginning with this event through the season finale Sept. 14 at Texas Motor Speedway. Drivers will race in 100-mile “sprints” at the same track and on the same day as Indy Racing League events except for the Texas race, which will be conducted the day before the IRL’s season-ending Chevy 500. Drivers will compete for a $100,000 purse at each Infiniti Pro Series race. Infiniti Q45 engines will power new Dallara Automobili chassis built for the series, with Firestone Firehawk tires used exclusively on all cars. The V8 engines will produce approximately 450 horsepower for the single-seat winged chassis. The series is providing a clear road to the Indy Racing League and the Indianapolis 500, breeding future IRL and Indy 500 stars.   Only 6 Americans and 5 foreigners are entered - 2 Ed Carpenter Indianapolis, 3 Marty Roth Toronto, 5 Arie Luyendyk Jr. Den-Bosch, Netherlands, 7 Jason Priestley, Vancouver, British Columbia, 11 Rolando Quintanilla Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, 14 A.J. Foyt IV Hockley, Texas, 27 Gary Peterson Huntington Beach, Calif., 37 Mike Koss Coldwater, Mich., 38 Matthew Halliday Auckland, New Zealand, 91 Aaron Fike, Galesburg, Ill., 92 Cory Witherill Los Angeles.   IRL

7/2/02

Craftsman Pit Crew competition update  Cristiano da Matta has been the hottest driver on the planet in recent weeks, winning three consecutive CART FedEx Championship Series events, but the Craftsman Pit Crew Challenge standings show that the crew of the #6 Havoline Toyota/Lola/Bridgestone is on a roll of equal proportions. Two straight weeks as the race leader in the CPCC competition has vaulted the crew of the #6 car into third place in the overall standings, and earned the team the wild-card berth in the season-ending shootout that was available at Chicago. Craftsman put up a free pass to the finals at last weekend's CART Grand Prix of Chicago, and da Matta's team earned that automatic advance by spending just 1:39.450 in the pits during its three stops Sunday. But if the #6 crew is to take over the top spot, it will have to negotiate a hurdle that it is familiar with as its Newman/Haas Racing teammates with Christian Fittipaldi's #11 Lilly Toyota/Lola/Bridgestone continue to lead the way. Fittipaldi's team leads the standings with 68 points, giving it two more than the squad of the #4 Target Toyota/Lola/Bridgestone of Bruno Junqueira. The Target Chip Ganassi Racing unit has been third or better in the CPCC points in each of the last three races and is looking to take over the top spot with a strong effort at Toronto this weekend. The Team Rahal squad that services the #9 Gigante Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone of Michel Jourdain Jr. holds down the fourth spot with 56 points giving them a cushion over what is becoming a fierce battle for the fifth position in the standings. The fifth position became important over the weekend when da Matta's team took the wild-card spot away from Chicago. Since the #6 team is already in the top four, the rules state that the fifth-place team in the standings will advance to the season-ending shootout if da Matta's squad ends the year in the top four. The Walker Racing team of the #5 Pioneer/Denso Toyota/Reynard/Bridgestone driven by Tora Takagi moved into the fifth and final transfer spot with a strong finish at Chicago but will have to keep the pressure on as seven teams are less than eight points behind them in the standings. Points are awarded to teams via a scoring system similar to the CART standings, with the team that spends the least time in the pits during an event getting 20 points. The final shootout will pit the teams in head-to-head competition during the CART race weekend at California Speedway on November 1-3, with the winning team earning $50,000 from Craftsman.  CART

7/2/02

German bank buys into Ferrari  German bank, Commerzbank, has brought a 10 per cent stake in the Fiat owned Ferrari company for US$223 million confirmed the banks spokesperson on Monday. The purchase comes a week after Italian bank Mediobanca brought a 34 per cent stake in the company. When Mediobanca brought into Ferrari they agreed to sell 12.5 per cent of it to other banks, and Commerzbank now owns 10 per cent of it. Commerzbank spokesman Dieter Schuetz said that the bank is planning to keep their share in Ferrari for investment purposes, however he did not rule out the bank may purchase a larger stake in Ferrari in the future, or how long they plan on keeping their recently purchased stake.

7/2/02

CART promotes Shafer  Championship Auto Racing Teams, Inc. announced today the promotion of Shelly Shafer from her position of manager to senior manager of the sanctioning body's promoter operations department. Shafer will be assuming responsibility for the operational aspects of the department, including all operational aspects of the CART Advance Program corporate and media pace car promotion program and additional duties, as well as her current responsibilities for all CART Fan Activites, pre and post-race ceremonies and other operations. "Shelly has demonstrated her great capabilities over the past 18 months at CART and we are more than confident that she will excel in her new responsibilities," said CART Vice President of Promoter Operations Tim Mayer.

7/2/02
Industry News

Ford whizz-kid heads up luxury car group  This Reuters article says Ford Motor Co's Mark Fields faces a tricky balancing act in his new role as head of the group's luxury unit, as he tries to cut costs through more parts sharing while preserving the identity of each brand in his care. As the world's second-biggest car company struggles to reverse losses this year, the Premier Automotive Group (PAG), which Fields takes over on Monday, is under pressure to raise its profits almost tenfold and account for a third of Ford's profits by the middle of the decade. PAG, which includes Jaguar, Land Rover, Volvo and Aston Martin, will have to raise unit sales by around 80 percent to 900,000 per year by then to get that kind of profit, say analysts who put the group's profit now at about $250 million. "For Ford, the success of PAG is vital," said Garel Rhys, Professor of Motor Industry Economics at Cardiff University. "The groundwork has been laid, but it will be a hard job." Fields, who at 41 has been dubbed Ford's whizz-kid, has a background in marketing and sales and is seen as a cost-cutter. He stripped away layers of bureaucracy at Japanese carmaker Mazda, one third owned by Ford, which returned to profit under his leadership. With the USA being the biggest luxury car market, will PAG cars play a factor in CART?.

7/2/02

More F1 Hot News 

Button: Nothing Is Settled
Rumors Frustrate McNish
Button Set For Williams Return?
Montoya Pushes Williams' Limits
Schumacher: Germany Were Fantastic
Schu Reflects On Broken Leg
Jordan: The Fightback Is On
Goodbye Eddie Irvine?
Stoddart Hints At Cosworth Link
Irvine Attacks F1 Drivers
F1 News In Brief
F1 Birthdays

7/2/02

Houston to vote on GP, might not return  According to this Houston Chronicle article, City Council is expected to wave the yellow caution flag to the Texaco/Havoline Grand Prix today when it votes to amend its contract and give promoters until January to decide whether to return to Houston in 2004. The race will be halted for the next two years because of downtown construction. "There are strong indications that they are not leaving Houston, just giving us a break," said Dawn Ullrich, director for the city's Convention and Entertainment Facilities Department. Councilman Gordon Quan said the city hopes to win the race back, but there are no guarantees. If it passes, the amendment will buy the city and race promoters time to negotiate issues like creating a new track configuration and moving the race to the spring, instead of its traditional fall date. Unless an agreement can be worked out, the city can say goodbye to the $30 million in economic impact the race generates annually. "Money is always nice, but it's truly image-building more than anything else," said Chris Woolwine, director of publicity for the Texaco/Havoline Grand Prix of Houston, who along with Quan said the race brings prestige to the city. Race promoters said they knew 2001's race would be the last on the downtown circuit for a while. "The handwriting was on the wall," said Jim Melvin, executive vice president and general manager for the Grand Prix of Houston. But Melvin said they are willing to hold off if it means better amenities, including a new arena and hotel, once the construction is complete. Part of the new construction will include lengthening the Avenue of the Americas, which runs in front of the George R. Brown Convention Center. One result is that the course, which has been 1.53 miles, will cover almost two miles when it is completed. Because the convention center is such an integral part of the event, with racers using it as a pit stop, Melvin said it would be infeasible to move the race to another location in Houston. Championship Auto Racing Teams, which sanctions the Houston race, said it is not adding a race to its lineup to replace Houston, which draws about 120,000 spectators to the city and is broadcast in 180 countries. "Texas is an important market for us," said Tim Mayer, CART's vice president of promoter operations. "It's a part of the country that, without Houston, we don't go to."

7/1/02

Button claims Williams must give him ride  Frank Williams was tight-lipped on Monday when asked to comment on reported claims by Jenson Button that the 22-year-old British driver has a water-tight contract that guarantees him a race seat with BMW-Williams next season - if he wants it. A spokesman for his team told Ananova: "All contractual matters are private and there will be no comment until the drivers are announced." "I can't go into the finer details of my contract with BMW-Williams, but what I will say is that there is a misconception when it comes to the terms," Button told the London Mail on Sunday. "It is not a case that Williams-BMW can simply get rid of me. "It is I who have the option to go back and, if I wanted to, I would be contractually able to do just that," he is reported to have said.

7/1/02
Industry News

Ford and Vauxhall to unveil big loss  Will this affect Jaguar's F1 program? - Ford and Vauxhall, the UK's two best-selling car brands, are poised to reveal significant losses for the last financial year amid intense price competition in the new car market.

7/1/02

Pook wants downtown Chicago race  In this morning's article in the Chicago Tribune, CART Vice President Adam Saal said he was "satisfied" that a good show had been presented, the kind that fans would pay to see again. Another CART vice president, Rena Shanaman, said the series would return to the Chicago area, but not necessarily Cicero. CART chief executive officer Chris Pook has expressed a desire for a street race, similar to the kind in Long Beach, Calif., that has drawn more than 200,000 fans in recent years. "But it would have to be a win-win situation, and that's hard to find," Shanaman said.

7/1/02

Flat-spotted Brazilians  Sporting a new flat-spotted haircut like his fellow race compatriots from Brazil, Cristiano Da Matta won yesterday's Grand Prix of Chicago. As told in this Chicago Tribune article, the Brazilian drivers in the CART series gathered early Sunday morning and watched together as Renaldo scored a pair of goals to lead their country to the World Cup title. Getting the radical haircuts may be a new racing strategy because two Brazilians finished in the winners circle. (However, don't ask Christian's wife about it as she wasn't too pleased about the new look!!).

7/1/02

Dario - I could have won  In this Chicago Tribune article, Dario Franchitti said he "had the best car in the race" but managed only a third-place finish. The culprit: inferior pit stops. "This can't be happening," he said. "What happened today is unacceptable. Losing two places on our first pit stop, you can't win races that way. We're just not good enough. It's very disappointing. Guys are making mistakes, and we've got to stop it. "We wasted it today." He made an interesting point about why so many drivers may be losing tires during recent races.

7/1/02

Dyson to run MG Lola's in ALMS  The Dyson Racing team announced today that the team has agreed terms with Lola Cars International of Huntingdon, England, to purchase a customer version of the MG-Lola EX-257 Le Mans prototype, which were the only real opposition to the winning Audis at the recent Le Mans 24 Hour race. Dyson Racing expects to take delivery of the car sometime in early August. The team plans to embark on a full testing program and is intending to participate in a selected few of the remaining rounds of this year's American Le Mans Series championship, with a view towards a full season in 2003. The Dyson team is no stranger to the American Le Mans championship, having won the series' inaugural Drivers' Championship in 1999. In the last five years, Dyson Racing has won a total of seven drivers' championships. Since 1995, the team has amassed 35 overall prototype victories, including two triumphs at the grueling 24 Hours of Daytona. "We're excited about the new car, and we think it gives us a great chance to run up front again in the American Le Mans Series," said team principal Rob Dyson. "We are happy to be working with Lola, MG and Advanced Engine Research. We look forward to running a competitive car and getting back to the sharp end of the field."

7/1/02

Facts and figures from the SunTrust Indy Challenge

• This was the third victory of the season in eight starts for Sam Hornish Jr., equaling his win total from his championship season in 2001. He also won the season opener in March at Homestead-Miami Speedway and in March at California Speedway. Hornish earned three victories in 13 starts last season.

• Gil de Ferran led 168 laps in the SunTrust Indy Challenge, the most ever by a driver not to win the race. de Ferran has now led 538 total laps led in his IRL career and is eighth on the all-time lap leader list.

• Gil de Ferran, Helio Castroneves and Al Unser Jr. are the only drivers who have been running at the finish of every Indy Racing League event this year.

• Sam Hornish Jr. earned his sixth career Indy Racing League victory, moving him to third on the all-time IRL list behind Buddy Lazier, who has eight, and Scott Sharp, who has seven.

• Sam Hornish Jr. is the quickest driver to obtain six IRL career wins, doing so in 29 starts. Scott Sharp was previously the quickest driver to earn six wins, in 43 starts.

• Laurent Redon led 39 laps, the first laps he has led in Indy Racing competition. He finished 15th after an accident with Eddie Cheever Jr. on Lap 182.

• Tomas Scheckter finished a career-best fourth. His previous best finish was sixth at the season-opening event March 2 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

• Gil de Ferran earned his third MBNA Pole of the season and his Indy Racing League career. His other poles came in June at Pikes Peak, where he won, and in April at Nazareth Speedway.

• This was the fourth MBNA Pole of the season for Marlboro Team Penske. Gil de Ferran has recorded three poles, while Helio Castroneves won the pole in March at Phoenix.

• Gil de Ferran shattered the track record by more than 8 mph at Richmond International Raceway with his MBNA Pole lap of 168.705. The track record was 160.417 set by Jaques Lazier during MBNA Pole Qualifying last year at this event.

• This was the third time this season that Marlboro Team Penske has swept the front row in MBNA Pole Qualifying, setting an Indy Racing League record. de Ferran won the pole and Castroneves started second earlier this month at Pikes Peak and in April at Nazareth, Pa. No other team has swept the front row more than twice in an IRL season.

7/1/02

CART Ladder series news  CART FedEx Championship competitors Team Rahal and Patrick Racing both announced over the weekend their further involvement in the CART Driver Development Ladder System. Team Rahal, which had previously signed Danica Patrick, announced that the female driver would be starting her CART career this weekend in the Barber Dodge Pro Series at the Molson Indy Toronto. Patrick Racing announced Sunday that it would be supporting Kyle Krisiloff as he begins his Toyota Atlantic career, also at Toronto.  More...

7/1/02

CART's Chicago race garners healthy overnight TV rating  A healthy crowd of over 25,000 fans turned out on a sweltering summer day at Chicago Motor Speedway Sunday to watch Cristiano da Matta win the CART Grand Prix of Chicago, but the fans in the bleachers were not the only people showing interest in the exploits of the finest Champ Car drivers in the world. The overnight Nielsen Media Research television ratings for the event shown live on CBS Sunday showed that a good number of fans from across the country tuned in to see the Brazilian da Matta win his third consecutive CART race. The nationwide overnight rating for the Chicago event was a 1.2, a rating that is up 33 percent from the numbers of the last CART event, two weeks prior in Portland. The market-by-market breakdown of the overnight numbers showed the CART FedEx Championship Series to have drawn strong viewership from many key markets as 23 regions showed ratings of 1.5 or over and nine markets posted numbers of 2.0 or better.  Albuquerque/Santa Fe topped out at a 3.0 with a 6 share, while fans in NASCAR racing hotbed Charlotte tuned in with a 2.7 rating. The series did well in both race and non-race markets with places like Miami, Indianapolis, Portland and Los Angeles drawing over a 1.5 while regions that have never hosted CART racing such as Jacksonville, Las Vegas and Minneapolis/St. Paul posted numbers of over 2.0. The ratings, coupled with a crowd that was better than most pundits predicted, were a sweet reward for the CART staff that worked daily for the last three months to promote and put on a race that had been canceled and was seemingly doomed to be taken off the calendar. "Obviously we are delighted with these overnight television ratings and recognize that this event would not have been possible without the support of our drivers, teams and sponsors," said Rena Shanaman, General Manager of the CART Grand Prix of Chicago. "We most especially want to thank all of our loyal fans who endured such extreme weather conditions to attend this year's CART Grand Prix of Chicago."  CART

7/1/02

Players drivers to model  Player's/Forsythe CART FedEx Championship Series drivers Alex Tagliani and Patrick Carpentier are going to take the days before the first race of the year in their native Canada to help launch the summer issue of a men's magazine in their home country. Carpentier and Tagliani will be attending a special gathering to kick off the Molson Indy Toronto week on Tuesday night, where the summer issue of RAZOR magazine will be launched. RAZOR is a men's magazine that shares the latest trends in fashion, music and current events with its readers along with featuring photo spreads with some of the world's top female models. The drivers will take their turns on the modeling runway during the July 2 party, showing off some of the year's top men's fashions in conjunction with a bevy of RAZOR models. The party will be the first event in a week-long festival centering on Sunday's Champ Car race.

7/1/02

Indy Star says Tony George should not have heard Indy 500 appeal This Indy Star article says There is only one problem with Tony George being the final arbiter of the Indianapolis 500 controversy. It's this: Tony George will be the final arbiter of the Indianapolis 500 controversy. The reason that's a problem is quite simple. Last we checked, George still was the king of the Indy Racing League, and has been known to say that he brings a hammer to work every day in the hopes of nailing the coffin shut on the rival Championship Auto Racing Teams series. Does that sound like a perfectly objective judge to you? Did Bill Clinton make the call on the Bush-Gore election results? Did Bill Gates have a say in the Microsoft tiff with the U.S. government?....So the question is asked again: Is this really the best man to play judge and jury here?

7/1/02

CART stock watch 

MPH closed at $9.25, - $0.60 on volume of 103,800 shares.
$8.50 Bid - $9.50 Ask on close.
Session Low/High $9.00/$9.85
MPH Value Change - 6.09%
END
Courtesy of C3I.AndersonGroupe, Chicago

7/1/02

Wake up CART  UPDATE We forgot to mention in our original response that CART also had more underwing (underbody) downforce in the good old days when there actually used to be side-by-side racing in CART on ovals.  We addressed this issue years ago in this article, but please note that some of the issues have changed since that article was written.  We would not recommend the Handford Device now, but certainly we would recommend increasing underbody downforce along with higher downforce wings.  HP will be down next year, so this concept could work.  6/30/02 - Dear AutoRacing1.com, why doesn't CART run the high-downforce road course wing package on the ovals?  I am tired of watching parades and their low downforce wings are ludicrous.  I can appreciate how much skill it takes to drive those cars with such low downforce, but if I have to watch another race with no passes because the drivers can't run side-by-side, it will be my last.  Do the people making the wing and downforce package even have a clue?  Doug Wilson, Alberta, Canada  Dear Doug, We have to agree, the road course wings would limit terminal velocity on the straights and give the drivers a car that was planted to the ground better in the corners.  The oval track racing was best when CART used to have a high downforce wing package, but when they took downforce out of the cars, they took the racing out of the sport.

7/1/02
Industry News

SPEED Channel President reflects on first year  If you have any interest in any motor sport, we want to be the first channel you turn to when you turn on your television ... our goal is to honor the passion found in all motor sports fans. We need to respect that passion in all that we do." -- Jim Liberatore, SPEED Channel president Interview

7/1/02

Pirro on RPM2Night  American Le Mans Series champion Emanuele Pirro will be an in-studio guest on the popular American television program “rpm2night” on Tuesday, July 2. Pirro, driver for Audi Sport North America, was part of the winning team in the recent 24 Hours of Le Mans for the third consecutive year. Just this past weekend, he and co-driver Frank Biela won the American Le Mans Series event at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. “rpm2night” is a daily motorsports news program that airs on the ESPN2 cable network in the United States. The first showing of the program will be at 6:30 p.m. (EDT), with repeats to air on Wednesday, July 3, at 1:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.  ALMS

7/1/02

Toyota to supply more trucks  Toyota Canada Inc. (TCI) today announced that it will supply three V8-powered Tundra full-size pickup trucks for use at this year's Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) FedEx Championship Series races in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal. These trucks, which will be used as all-purpose, go-anywhere vehicles to help out wherever they're needed, join the specially-modified Tundras of the Simple Green CART Safety Team that will travel to all CART races this season. Equipped for instant response, each Safety Team Tundra carries a physician, a paramedic, at least two rescue/extrication specialists and a full complement of fire fighting equipment. "Toyota performance is about much more than speed, it's about having the right vehicle for the right job," said Tony Wearing, Group Vice President of Vehicle Sales and Marketing of TCI. "While the Toyota-powered race cars of drivers like series leader Cristiano da Matta, Bruno Junqueira, Townsend Bell and Scott Dixon are dominating the field on the track, Tundra is providing essential safety support as well as help behind the scenes. We're very proud that Tundra is the official truck of the FedEx Championship Series." The three Canadian stops on the CART tour are the Molson Indy Toronto (July 5 - 7), Molson Indy Vancouver (July 26 - 28) and Molson Indy Montreal (August 23 - 25).  Toyota Canada

7/1/02

CART stock watch 

As a follow-up to Friday’s close at $9.85 . . .
As of 10:30 Eastern today, MPH down $0.42 to $9.43
A Value Change of – 4.26%
On 13,400 shares traded.
END
Courtesy of C3I.AndersonGroupe, Chicago

7/1/02

More F1 Hot News 

Sauber Welcome HANS Device
Ferrari President To Call It Quits
Salo Gears Up For Silverstone
Lauda Limits Cosworth Supply
German-Brazil Showdown At Silverstone
Pre-Silverstone Testing Round-Up
Irvine: I Won't Stay Around
Williams To Bounce Back?
DC Pessimistic For Silverstone
Irvine Slams Silverstone Circuit
Eddie Set For Mid-Season Walk Out?
F1 Birthdays

7/1/02

Burti gets first taste  Young Ferrari tester Luciano Burti got his first 'incredible' taste of the Italian team's all-conquering F2002 on Friday. So far limited to Bridgestone tire duties with last year's contender, the 26-year-old called his 44 laps of electronic testing at Fiorano a 'dream come true'. 'The F2002 is incredible!' he enthused. 'I have no words to describe it and to drive it is amazing'. Luca Badoer joined the young tester at Ferrari's private facility on Saturday, the Italian shaking down the three cars bound for Silverstone's British Grand Prix on the weekend.

7/1/02

Coughlan denied  London's High Court have denied technical guru Mike Coughlan the right to ditch his Arrows contract to accept a McLaren offer. The talented Briton was eager to line up alongside Adrian Newey at the Woking team, thereby forced into 'gardening leave' by Tom Walkinshaw to protect Arrows' secrets. It is not known if or when Coughlan will resume his Arrows duties.

7/1/02

New Maserati series  Ferrari stars Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello will reportedly take to the wheel of the new 4.2 liter Maserati Coupe as it is developed for the new one-make racing series. Scarlet testers Luciano Burti and Luca Badoer have already piloted the monster around Ferrari's private testing facility at Fiorano.

7/1/02

Briatore to pose nude  Prepare to cringe at a gruesome piece of brief F1 news: Renault boss Flavio Briatore is gearing up to pose nude for a new book, 'The Naked Truth'. Set to star several naked celebrities, Lisa B has already wooed Kylie Minogue, Yasmin and Bruce Oldfield to don their birthday suits for the highly anticipated photo collection. 'As long as Jean Todt keeps his kit on', said an F1 insider, 'I'm sure we'll all survive'.