Where's Mad Max?

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Papis Misses Out on Winston Cup Test

Max Papis will have to wait until January to get his first real taste of a Winston Cup machine. "Mad Max" was set to do his first test in Ray Evernhman's Dodge at Kentucky Motor Speedway this week before Casey Mears crunched the wall after an engine let go. Papis, whose track time consisted of just a handful of installation laps in the car, is now looking forward to testing the Dodge in early January.

"Casey was very sad for what happened," said Papis, "especially for me. But it's OK. You will see me in one of those cars soon."

Whether we will see him in one of those cars often next year remains to be seen. Papis is exploring all of his options at present, including NASCAR, IRL and CART, where he said to be on the short list for Paul Gentilozzi's new Rocketsports Champ Car program. Papis freely concedes he is in the mix at Rocketsports but says no deals are done as yet.

"Yes, I've been talking with Paul (Gentilozzi)," says Papis. "He's one of a lot of people I'm talking with, several in CART and one in the IRL.

"But I still don't know yet what I'm doing for next year. Everything is still in the air - not far in the air though. There's no rush. Hopefully I will be racing in CART, but at the moment I don't know for sure.

"Without sounding arrogant, CART needs me more than I need CART. I tell them they cannot do a series full of unknown guys. Let me say that I wish all the new CART drivers all the success in the world, but at the same time, CART needs to recognize that drivers like me and Jimmy (Vasser) mean a lot to the series. You know, when I first raced in CART I was one of the unknown drivers, but I was competing against guys like Jimmy and Alex Zanardi, Al Unser, Jr., Bobby Rahal and Michael Andretti. That was how I became one of the known drivers; by gaining respect from racing against those guys."

...What exactly does he mean by "Without sounding arrogant"?