| | Associated Press
CLEVELAND -- Turn one has become a big turnoff for some
drivers at the Marconi Grand Prix of Cleveland.
Moments after the green flag dropped in Sunday's race, nearly
half the field was involved in a pinball-like pileup in the wide
first turn as cars jockeyed for position.
Cars bumped each other from behind. They banged sides. They
spun. Some drivers went on the grass to avoid getting hit.
"The start was a big mess," said Paul Tracy, who actually
caught a break by the melee of machines, jumping temporarily from
17th place to sixth.
Three drivers were immediately forced out, and it wasn't long
before a few others were sent to the pits by problems caused by the
wreck.
"I was staying wide going into the first corner, trying to stay
out of trouble," said Helio Castroneves, whose day was done after
three laps. "I got hit from behind but kept the car under control.
But then I got hit several more times -- bang, bang, bang -- I'm not
sure exactly how many. But one of them broke my radiator."
In an attempt to make the start clean, CART officials angled
orange traffic cones along the course leading into the first turn,
narrowing the entry and hoping to deter too many drivers from
trying to get to the corner at once.
The idea backfired -- badly.
"The start was ridiculous," said Max Papis, who finished 18th.
"I'm not for those cones in the middle of the track. It just makes
it tighter in turn one. I went off the track and hit a manhole
cover in the grass trying to get back and the front wing and brake
duct were broken."
After a meeting on Saturday, some drivers urged CART to change
its mind about the cones. But the decision remained.
"It was a lot more confusing. I think it was a very bad call,"
said Cristiano da Matta, who got hit twice in the turn one incident
but came back to finish third.
J. Kirk Russell, CART's chief steward, said he would review
tapes of the start and the cone issue would be revisited before
next year's race.
"The cones did help direct the traffic," Russell said. "But
it's hard to determine what all happened."
There was at least one driver who had no difficulty negotiating
the first turn. Winner Roberto Moreno was already pulling away from
the field when the bumping began.
"I don't know if it was a good idea or a bad idea," Moreno
said. "Certainly where I was it wasn't a problem."
Comeback kid
Da Matta's third-place finish was the best of
his two-year CART career.
After getting hit and spun in the first turn, da Matta found
himself at the back of the pack.
"I thought, 'I can't do anything from here, I'm in last
place,' " da Matta said. "I was mad, but the guys said, 'Don't
worry, there's still 99 laps left.' "
The 26-year-old Brazilian has four top-five finishes this
season.
Paul's stall
Tracy's weekend in Cleveland went from bad to
worse. And suddenly, his season is in a tailspin, too.
Tracy, forced to use his backup car after the engine in his
primary failed during Saturday's qualifying, dropped out of the
race on lap 41 with a broken gearbox.
He started 17th and was running 11th when he went out.
The early departure means Tracy has not scored a point in his
last four races. Following a sixth-place finish at Japan, Tracy had
a 14-point lead in the overall standings.
"Things were going so well I started thinking about running
first or second, and then the gearbox went," Tracy said.
Zanardi back
Two-time CART champion Alex Zanardi will test in
Mo Nunn's Reynard-Mercedes next weekend in Sebring, Fla., and could
drive in the Molson Indy at Toronto on July 16.
"Having worked with Alex in the past, I really am interested in
his feedback," said Nunn, who was Zanardi's engineer for both of
his championship seasons.
Zanardi hasn't raced in CART since leaving the circuit following
the 1998 season to return to Formula One. He left the Williams' F1
team at the end of last season after failing to score a point.
In the meantime, Nunn started his own CART team.
Zanardi, CART's season points champion in '97 and '98, is still
under contract with Williams, but has said that it would not
prevent him from driving for a CART team.
Bryan Herta is currently driving for Nunn, replacing the injured
Tony Kanaan who broke ribs and his left wrist in a crash at Detroit
last month.
"If all goes well, and Alex is totally comfortable, we just
might see him before Tony is fit to resume as our full-time
driver," said Nunn, who added that Zanardi could conceivably be in
a second team entry in 2001.
Tight turns
Moreno's victory was his first since 1988 when he
won in Birmingham, England, on the European Formula 3000 circuit.
... In a great visual for the series sponsor, Max Papis stopped his
car under the wing of a Federal Express jet parked on the airport's
runway just off the race course. Papis was forced out on the 50th
lap when his engine failed. ... Oil leaks forced the Newman-Haas
team to hurriedly change the Ford-Cosworth engines in both Michael
Andretti and Christian Fittipaldi's cars before the race.
Fittipaldi's engine finally went on the 58th lap, and he was forced
to cross the track on foot to get back to the pits. He said he
expects to be fined by CART. Andretti finished fourth. ... Kanaan,
wearing a high-tech carbon fiber cast, was back at the track for
the first time since his wreck in Detroit. He's hoping to return in
time to defend his title at the Michigan 500 on July 23. ...
Montoya led second-quarter voting for Driver of the Year by a
nationwide panel of racing broadcasters and writers. The award is
voted on four times during the season and at the conclusion. The
first-quarter winner was NASCAR's Mark Martin. | |
ALSO SEE
Moreno captures GP of Cleveland for first CART victory
Marconi Grand Prix of Cleveland results
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