| | HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- The list of drivers expected to contend for the CART driving championship is unusually long, thanks to a
rash of changes that have just about every team guessing.
At the head of that list is defending champ Juan Montoya, last year's precocious rookie, now a seasoned driver going into the
season-opening Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami on Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
The 23-year-old Colombian, who won seven races last season, has to contend with a new car and engine combination, Lola-Toyota.
"There still are a lot of questions," Montoya said Thursday. "But I think we're going to be quite strong. We're pretty close to
where we want to be starting the season."
If Montoya and teammate Jimmy Vasser, the 1996 series champion, are to have a chance to give Chip Ganassi Racing an unprecedented fifth straight title, the Toyota power plant is going to have to
prove to be a winner.
Switching from the proven Honda engines to Toyota is a gamble for Ganassi. Entering its fifth year of development, the Toyota V-8
has yet to win a race.
"The first thing is we've got to get the Toyota to the end (of the race) and get some decent points," Montoya said. "If we do
that, the confidence of everybody will go up, and that's what we need to win."
The early line says Ford's latest engine will be the hot ticket, at least at the beginning of the year. That makes 1991 series champ
Michael Andretti a preseason favorite. But Andretti's Newman-Haas Racing team has switched from Swift
to Lola chassis. Lolas are suddenly the car of choice after a couple of seasons
of being shunned because of serious handling problems.
"At least they haven't forgotten me," said Andretti, referring to his favorite status. "I think it's going to be extremely
competitive. I know you're going to battle the Ganassi team. If they can finish races, they're going to be tough."
Other drivers who appear to have at least a shot at the title include Andretti's teammate, Christian Fittipaldi, in a Lola-Ford,
Team Kool Green teammates Dario Franchitti and Paul Tracy in Reynard-Hondas, Team Rahal's Max Papis and newcomer and 1999 Indianapolis 500 winner Kenny Brack in Reynard-Fords, Marlboro Team Penske's new drivers, Gil de Ferran and Helio Castro-Neves, in Reynard-Hondas, and Patrick Racing's Adrian Fernandez and former
supersub Roberto Moreno in Reynard-Fords.
"This is going to be a year when you have to finish races," Andretti said. "The team that finishes the most races is going to
win a lot of races and the championship."
The once-elite Penske team, which has been stuck on 99 CART victories for 2½ years, made wholesale changes over the winter.
Team owner Roger Penske chose to abandon his own chassis in favor of Reynards, switched from Mercedes to Honda engines and signed two new drivers and a new team manager.
"The learning curve is very steep right now," de Ferran said. "But lots of people have made big changes this year and I think
the issue here is what you do with what you have."
Practice will begin Friday on the 1.5-mile Homestead oval.
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