Friday in Elkhart Lake

[Muzza]

Dear Folks,

Straight from Elkhart Lake pits, a collection of things and thoughts from Friday. I apologize for not writing a proper article, but if I don't call my girlfriend soon she may not let me go back to the track tomorrow.

- this is my second time in Elkhart Lake. What an unbelievable, beautiful, astonishing place. If you do not live in the United States but wish to visit a road course in this country, Road America is the one to go to. I have been to about fifty road courses in Europe, South America and North America, and in my opinion this is amongst the five best tracks in the world. Hills, valleys, groves, forests, daunting elevation changes, blind crests, tricky turns, fast bends - Elkhart Lake has got it all. And you can freely move from grandstand to grandstand. The track helps many charity/community help associations letting them install and operate booths, and charges a very modest fee for it. On top of everything, the locals are just too nice.

- and as JCClausen wrote, the brats are great. I must have some tomorrow.

- very hot and dry day, sunny skies, not a single cloud. Excellent attendance. If it continues like this, the track will be a maddening carnival by Sunday. The campgrounds are filling up fast. People are camping in the surrounding farms too, as in the good old times.

- CART foes are galvanizing its fan base. The fans are as more partisan than ever. CART flags, stickers and shirts - many homemade - are everywhere. As is anti-IRL gear too. I saw a baby with a "Tony George sucks" button on his bibs, sleeping in a trolley pushed by a guy with a t-shirt that read "I know how to stear to the right".

- Da Matta suffered from understeer in the morning, but his qualifying strategy was masterful. It is clear that he was the one making the difference, as his car was inferior to many today. He was particularly impressive in the Carrousel and Turns 11, 12 and 14. There is no replacement for sheer skill, period.

- Bruno Junqueira was visibly upset for not grabbing Friday's session pole position. He scored the first time right after the chequered flag dropped ending the session - just to see Da Matta overdo him. Bruno was taken by surprise, as he was sure he had been the fastest. But you can expect a lot from him during the weekend - he should be right at the top.

- with the possibility of a rainy day on Saturday, the teams played a lot with ride height and spring rate. Surprisingly, several cars - Fernández and Dixon for example - set the best times with a much soft spring set up than expected. This is credited to the performance of the Bridgestone tires on fast turns under hot weather.

- By the way, Bruno is all but confirmed to stay put in Ganassi Racing for 2003.

- with Michael Andretti bound to IRL, CART marketeers fear that Tony George will build audience upon the family name brand. As a response, Mario is being omnipresent. The "See Mario, Feel Mario" campaign is on full spell - CART is just short of renaming itself Formula Mario.

- Kanaan's dismal season continues. It seems that the rock bottom is always lower - when everybody had thought that just about everything had already gone wrong this season, and therefore that things would get better, they turned to worse. And on a very scary manner. Kanaan was very lucky to escape untouched from a potentially huge accident - his rear wing flew off at the end of the straight, with the car doing almost 200 miles per hour. Luckily, it happened just before the braking zone, so the car was travelling straight and without the effect of braking forces. The car did some 360s, on the track and through the gravel trap, and crashed into Turn 1 tire wall. The car was inspected and it was concluded that the main rear wing supporting plate had cracked. Faces in the Mo Nunn Racing pit were of horror.

- following Kanaan's shunt, Tora Takagi was immediately called in to the pits - and a similar fracture was found on his car...

- Tracy's day was plagued with lots of understear and of steering rack problems. Some consolation must be on the horizon, though. Most of the fans I interviewed have voted Paul for the WorldCom Most Popular Driver Award. The debacle of the Indy 500 results and his "CART or bust" statements made a hero of him.

- Michel Jourdain had an inconsistent day, likely struggling with the set-up. Both he and his team mate Jimmy Vasser suffered braking problems - on a similar fashion to what has been seen in other races this season. The Rahal Team continues to beat all records of spins and off-course excursions.

- Vasser also complained of traction control problems. Indeed, he and Jourdain seem to struggle under acceleration.

- Roberto Moreno, the same sweet guys of ever - and the one that should teach Michael Schumacher how a true champion should behave -, was in the paddock. He is talking to Newman Haas, aiming to the seat to be vacated by Christian Fittipaldi.

- Toninho da Matta - Cristiano's father and a very accomplished racer on his own (I saw him doing seemingly impossible things aboard a VW Passat on the mid-eighties) - smiles from ear to ear when asked if Cristiano is going to in Formula 1 next year.

- not surprisingly, CART is trying to lure Toyota Atlantic teams to make the bold move into the big arena. Dorricott Racing has been the center of a lot of attention from CART powers-to-be. Expect news from this front - CART is very interested on seeing Alex Gurney driving a Dorricott in 2003. Lynx Racing would also love to be in CART, but the girls - Peggy Haas and Jackie Doty are the team co-owners - will not move without a strong sponsor backing them.

- CART confirmed that Vancouver attendance this season was a record crowd.

- Adrian Fernández was clearly in pain to get in and out of the car - as well as to do just about anything else. He is not only using crotches to move, but is also protected by a special undergarment (please don't ask me how I found this out).

- Still on Fernández Racing: if Shinji Nakano moves to the IRL (almost certain, as this is propelled by Honda), the Toyota Atlantic Luiz Diaz is the most likely candidate to fill the gap.

- the CART fan forum was a huge success. Hundreds, maybe thousands of participants flocked to the large tent erected by the promoters in front of the Tower building. There were so many people that rows of fans surrounded all four sides of the tent. Questions were answered by Keith Hylton (owner of the Hylton Atlantics team), George Bruggenthies (President of Road America), Mario Andretti, Derek Daly, Keith Wiggins of Herdez Competition and Dr. Terry Trammell. The fans asked good questions, but too much time was lost on things of secondary (at best) interest, as the exploits of Marco Andretti, Mario's grandson (as any granpa, Mario got fired up and said some ten times that Marco "is a great kid"). Also, Derek Daly almost monopolised the stage - maybe he, and not his microphone, was running on Duracell bunny batteries.

- Keith Hylton confirmed that his team is looking into moving into CART, stating that "Right now is the best window of opportunity".

- Keith Wiggins said that Herdez may add a second car for 2003.

- Macdaddy and Jay, see you here next year!

Talk to you tomorrow,

[macdaddy]

"I apologize for not writing a proper article..." he says!
That was great. Thanx Muzza. Look forward to your Saturday report.
But I'm curious about Diaz/Fernandez connection. Tom Anderson just got done saying that the team wanted to sign Papis.

[Neil C]

Thanks, Muzza. You made me nostalgic for the track on which I learned to race, and learned to love racing.

[Jay]

Great Stuff Muzza! Thanks for the info, and keep it coming.

[Jordi]

Awesome stuff Muzza, reading it, it feels as if we had been there!

[Ben 93 325is]

Good news to hear about the crowd attendence! This year has been great for ticket sales!!! Keep it up CART!!! SCREW THE IRL!!!!

[BootsOntheSide]

Great typo about Adrian walking using CROTCHES!

Great article tho, seems like the naysayers are very much mistaken.

[tanalised]

excellant report muzza!

[mac]

Originally posted by Muzza
- following Kanaan's shunt, Tora Takagi was immediately called in to the pits - and a similar fracture was found on his car...

Why was this? They are both sponsored by the same company, but they are two totally separate teams and one runs a Lola and the other a Reynard.

I feel soooo sorry for Tony, when will things pick up for him? I hope it is soon.

[Muzza]

Originally posted by macdaddy
But I'm curious about Diaz/Fernandez connection. Tom Anderson just got done saying that the team wanted to sign Papis.

Thanks, Macdaddy. You should be here, man.

Indeed, Luiz Diaz and Max Papis are the two candidates with most chances on the quest for the second seat at Fernández Racing.

Not only the team, but also Adrian Fernández himself regards Max very highly. I witnessed Adrian and Max discussing the set-up of the car on Friday and on Saturday, and anyone could see that Adrian was paying a lot of attention to Max's comments (and, of course, Max did not drive this weekend, what makes more significant the fact that Adrian was listening to Max).

Luiz Diaz is an up-and-coming driver, who has been quite competitive in the last Atlantic races - a little unlucky sometimes. Everybody believes that he would carry is main sponsor (Telmex) with him to CART. Telmex - a state-owned telecommunication - is going to increase its sponsorship share next year. Telmex is going to be one the key sponsors for the Mexico Grand Prix race in late November.

This is a tough question to Adrian: on one side, he realizes that drivers like Papis are not on the job market every day. On the other, his business plan is to associate Fernández Racing with the very numerous Mexican community in the United States.

He already managed to do it in Mexico - he transferred his charisma to the team (the guy is an idol there, and you can see a lot of Fernández Racing shirts in the streets of Mexico City, just as if it were a soccer team). Obviously, a second Mexican driver as Diaz would only help.

Remember also that Chris Pook has several times mentioned in interviews that CART is going to "connect with the several communities that make the United States be what it is". Having a full-flagged - and competetive, as Herdez is a back marker, at least for the time being and on a foresseable future (*) - Mexican team in CART is totally aligned with Pook's plans.

(*) Also remember that Herdez is much less of a "Mexican" team than most believe. The man running the show is Keith Wiggins, who is only slightly less Mexican than me.

Cheers,

[Muzza]

Originally posted by BootsOntheSide
Great typo about Adrian walking using CROTCHES!

Dear Boots On The Side,

My embarrassment is so huge that I am laughing non-stop. Man, this one was really bad! A serious candidate to the "Ten Tenths Flat Tire of The Year 2002" award.

Worst of all, it was not a typo. As you may have realized by my writing style, English is not even my third language, and I was not familiar with the word... I kind of knew that the name of that thing that Adrian is using to walk was something like "scracthed", "screech" or "crunch" - and "crotches" just seemed to be perfect!

Now I know that the word is crutch...

Still laughing here,

[Muzza]

Originally posted by mac


Why was this? They are both sponsored by the same company, but they are two totally separate teams and one runs a Lola and the other a Reynard.

Once, months ago, Oversteer corrected me for putting Kanaan and Takagi in the same team, and I learned the lesson - or so I thought (for the record, Kanaan uses a Mo Nunn Racing Lola, and Takagi drives a Walker Racing Reynard).

A professional photographer told me the story - he was in the pits and said that he had "seen it happening". Assuming it is correct (I will check tomorrow - shame on me, I should have checked before posting!), I guess I am not the only one associating Kanaan and Takagi as team members...

My apologies (Journalism 101: "always check what your source discloses"),

[jcclausen]

As Muzza states, Elkhart Lake is one of the five best tracks in the world. Certainly, the best venue that CART races at. The only other venue that has as much attraction, IMO, is Long Beach, although for entirely differnt reasons. Street races are quite a spectacle. I'm going to the one in Miami next month. It's a two-fer. CART and ALMS. This is all for thirty-five bucks for general admission Friday, Saturday and Sunday. What a deal!

[Emfa]

Great report Muzza. Thanks, I really enjoyed reading that (especially the "typos"! ).

[Flatspot]

Muzza:
Sounds like your having a great time. I too, was impressed with your article. Keep up the good work and have a beer for me! Wish I were there.

[Muzza]

Since we are talking about Luiz Diaz, and his possible seat at Fernández Racing in 2003, this is him.

Diaz had his maiden Toyota Atlantic win in Elkhart Lake. He is now in fourth place in the championship - and he is the second best rookie, behind his team mate John Fogarty (who is not Credence Cleerwater Revival's singer... A marshal at Canada Corner asked me that!)

Diaz is reputedly the most technical amongst the new generation of Mexican drivers.