Cars n' Stars: Long Beach GP a Financial Success, CART Race In Chicago?, Kenny B. Top Fuel Fog In Rockingham
8 April 1998
There was a time, log ago, when a guy named Cliff Tufte ran all the big pro sports car races at Road America's Elkhart Lake four-mile road course. There was NEVER a weather problem, so all the scribes would talk about "Tuftes weather" when describing a great weekend of racing in the kettle Moraine basin. Well race fans, the new weather guru is Chris Pook, Major domo of the Long Beach Grand Prix weekend for the past 24 years. There never seems to be a climate casualty, and last weekend--when all the soothsayers predicted monsoons--the three day racing weekend got but a few sprinkles on Saturday, which caused the schedule to be juggled a bit. Everyone who came to run raced! 213,000 fans paid for the three days; consider that some tickets were 60 bucks--that's serious loot. Beer was $4.50 and the sponsor entertainment areas were booming with party-goers. Some sidelights: Finnish driver J.J. Lehto (Hogan Racing) led his first CART laps, and Greg Moore (Players/Forsythe) drove with a flu bug and was on a chicken soup regimen prior to the green flag. Memo Gidley won $2,000 in the Toyota Atlantic race--which is probably what it costs to just feed his crew for the weekend. Cristiano daMatta won the Indy Lights race, which you can catch on ESPN2 on April 18 at 1:30 a.m. EDT. In the CART crash fest, Toyota powered driver Max Papis couldn't impress his home town crowd: he started and finished in the 24th spot. From here on in Mad Max teams with Robby Gordon, a friendly rivalry that should be interesting to watch. Honda powerplants finished 1-2-5-8-20-25; all the Hondas ran well up front until brain fade took over at various corners on the track. You would think Bryan Herta would be getting sick of Alex Zanardi making (successful) moves on him at the late stages of major races, but the cool and calm Herta said he was not peeved . . . no hard feelings. The consensus was that Zig Zag had fresher rubber and thus could try some hairy tricks. Let's face it, Herta did lead the first 20 laps . . . where was Zanardi THEN? Formula One Czar Bernie Eccelstone attended Sunday's race. We'd sure like to hear what he had to say about open wheel 200 mph race cars actually passing each other. The Pro-Celebrity race was won by Sean Patrick Flanery of the movie "Powder." Actor Andy Lauer of "Caroline in the City" (whatever that is) had the pole. We predicted that the two Japanese ladies, an actress and a journalist, would do well: Kumi Sato finished fifth. Lady drag racer Cristen Powell finished 15th; Queen Latifah came in 18th. Elsewhere: Kenny Bernstein took Top Fuel over Paul Romine at Rockingham, NC with a run of 305.39 and 4.710 et. Funny Car went to Cruz Pedregon over Ron Capps, 312.08 mph and 4.927 et. Pro stock was all Mark Osborne with a 196.89 over Kurt Johnson. Mercedes Benz has set another North American sales record with 16,303 vehicles over the curb and 1,149 of these were SLK sporty cars. Chip Ganassi is heading a group to bring CART racing to Chicago and it's rumored they will take over the one mile oval at Sportsman's Park on the south side of Chi-town. No way . . . it's dirt and champ cars do not run on dirt any more. Silver Crown cars? Sure. Saab just completed a cross continent tour with the new 9-3 sedan. The cars covered 5,782 miles in 96 hours, 23 minutes, driving from the Arctic Circle to Key West, Florida. IN F-1 scuttlebutt we learn that Damon Hill, who finished in 10th place at the Brazilian GP, has been disqualified: his race car was found to be underweight. The GP driver with the most active years in the sport was Graham Hill with 18 years, 1958-1975, but then he bought the farm in an airplane accident. Driver Andrea de Cesaris started 208 races but was unable to win a single event. We chatted with Al Unser, Jr at lunch in the Marlboro-Penske enclave at Long Beach on the Friday, prior to the Sunday debacle wherein he didn't complete a lap. He was full of confidence. Racing luck is fickle. Bill Maloney -- The Auto Channel
