Michigan Race Gets Steered Away From a Collision Course

It’s still called the U.S. 500, and it’s still 500 miles on the high banks of Michigan Speedway, but that is about all that connects Sunday’s CART race with last year’s heavily promoted in-your-face defiance of the Indianapolis 500.

For beginners, last year’s race was on May 26, directly opposite the traditional Memorial Day weekend Indy race. It was the centerpiece of CART’s attempt to blunt the Indy Racing League’s arrival as an Indy car force.

This year, held on July 27--the date annually reserved for the Marlboro 500 at Michigan--the U.S. 500 is little more than Race 12 of CART’s 17-race season.

The prize money tells the difference in CART’s attitude toward the race. Jimmy Vasser collected $1.145 million for winning last year. Sunday’s winner will get closer to $100,000.

To get the $1-million purse, CART collected $200,000 from each of its 16 major sponsors, leased Michigan Speedway from Roger Penske and promoted the race as if it were the Super Bowl. This year, it is the track’s race and is being conducted with no more vigor than any other race at say, Milwaukee, Mid-Ohio or Vancouver.

The change in attitude reflects an attempt by CART management to establish its international series on a level with Formula One. Toward that end, it has races in Brazil, Australia and Canada, and next year will also be in Japan.

“We need to develop in the public’s mind the idea that winning the PPG CART World Series is the ultimate prize in open-wheel racing in this country,” said Andrew Craig, CART’s president and chief executive officer. “I think that while the Indy 500 was part of the series, it was always a little unclear in people’s minds as to what was more important, winning the Indy 500 or winning the championship.

“We, as an organization, really never developed a championship to the level of prestige that it should enjoy. So, very, very high on my list of priorities is to create the mood and atmosphere for the national championship.”

Craig, who next week will announce a street race for downtown Houston in 1998, said he expected the 500-mile race at California Speedway to become one CART’s marquee races.

The Sept. 28 Marlboro 500 in Fontana will be the season finale. In some CART quarters, it is believed that the Fontana race will ultimately become the U.S. 500, closing the season with a flourish that will be followed by the year-end CART banquet in Southern California.

“Certainly I look to Fontana for the future as potentially being one of the major events in our series,” Craig said. “It is a natural fit, it is a 500-mile race and it comes at the end of the season. And it is a very, very important marketplace.”

Vasser, although he went on to become the CART PPG champion, has not won a race since last year’s U.S. 500. He did, however, compile a remarkable record of finishing 25 consecutive races, a streak that ended last month in Portland when he was hit from behind by another car late in the race.

“We’re still not out of the points,” Vasser said Friday between practice runs on Michigan’s two-mile oval. “I want to win the U.S. 500 again this year, it would mean a lot in defending the championship.”

Vasser is seventh in PPG Cup standings, but is only 34 points behind leader Paul Tracy.

“Obviously, the circumstances surrounding the U.S. 500 this time around are a lot different,” Vasser said. “The political aspect of the event isn’t there this time, and that’s fine with me. That doesn’t mean it’s not an important race. Any 500-mile race is big.”

Another major difference Sunday will be in the start. Last year, starting three abreast to emulate the Indy 500, the result was a disaster before the race even started. After much beating of their breast about having “the real cars and the real drivers,” CART found itself embarrassed with a 12-car pileup involving pole-sitter Vasser that caused more than an hour delay and knocked several drivers, who did not have backup cars, out of the race.

Vasser, jumping in one of Chip Ganassi’s second Target Reynard-Hondas, started on the pole despite the accident and led 35 laps, including the final one.

“Fortunately, we had practiced in that car, so it wasn’t like we were starting totally from scratch,” Vasser recalled. “Still, when we got ready for the restart, I wasn’t sure what to expect. After [Adrian] Fernandez got me in the rear and started that huge, huge wreck, I was very disappointed thinking that perhaps my day was over, but thankfully the backup car was ready to go at a level we needed.

“It turned out to be a very great win for our team, and you know, it was the last time I won a race. It feels like it has been 10 years.”

Vasser, who was rookie of the year at Indy in 1992 and drove in four 500s before the CART-IRL split last year, said he still misses the excitement of Indianapolis.

“Certainly, from a driver’s standpoint, I missed the Indianapolis 500 last year. I still miss it. It’s sad what’s going on, but what can you do?

“We can’t keep worrying about it, we have to focus on this season, and the championship. My teammate, Alex Zanardi, is only three points from the lead, and I feel I’m still in the chase, so our concern is winning the U.S. 500 and running up some points. If I can’t win, I’ll do everything I can to help Alex.

“I think the fact that there are so many drivers in contention after 11 races tells a lot about the state of CART. It is very strong, very competitive, and each race it seems to get more and more competitive. We’ve had six winners and a few others of us have come awfully close. I would say the series has done quite well without Indianapolis.”

Sunday’s race poses a problem not faced in the past, however. Never before has the season’s first 500-mile race come so late in the schedule, and never has there been such a short time to prepare for it.

For years at Indy, there have always been two weeks or more to get ready. And last year, even though there was no “month of May” for the U.S. 500, qualifying was held one weekend and then the teams came back a week later for the race.

This year, the U.S. 500 is the third consecutive weekend of racing, following back-to-back races on temporary road circuits at Cleveland and Toronto.

“The drivers may be able to handle the quick turnaround, but the crews are having the devil of a time,” one car owner said. “I don’t know what the schedule makers were thinking about. The cars have to be completely changed to meet the requirements of 500 miles on the fastest track in the world, and everyone one has to install their 400-gallon refueling rigs. We don’t use them any place but at 500 milers.

“Two or three weeks at Indy might be too much, it certainly stretched our budgets, but only four hours of practice at Michigan just isn’t enough to get everything sorted out.”

After 2 1/2 hours practice Friday, the teams get another hour and a half today before qualifying.

The lack of practice didn’t appear to slow them down, however. Mauricio Guglelmin ran a lap at 234.283 mph in his Reynard-Mercedes, which is only a fraction off the Vasser’s 234.665-mph track record set last year.

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U.S. 500 Facts

* Where: Michigan Speedway, 2-mile high-banked oval, Brooklyn, Mich.

* When: 10 a.m. Sunday.

* TV: Channel 7 (delayed, noon).

* Qualifying: Today.

* Defending champion: Jimmy Vasser.