Imports Are Dominating in CART

Where have all the Americans gone?

When CART completed its 1999 season of international open-wheel racing last October at California Speedway, there were 10 U.S. drivers in the race.

There will be only two in this season’s opener. Only Michael Andretti and Jimmy Vasser are left to drive March 26, in the Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami at Homestead, Fla.

Scott Pruett, Robby Gordon and PJ Jones have gone to the highly popular NASCAR circuits, Pruett and Gordon to Winston Cup and Jones to Busch Grand National.

Al Unser Jr., a two-time CART champion, two-time Indianapolis 500 winner and for six years the mainstay of Roger Penske’s team, has gone to the Indy Racing League, in hopes of getting a shot at a third Indy 500 win. He will be racing Sunday at Phoenix in the IRL’s second race this season.

Penske’s team, once the proud home of Rick Mears, Bobby and Al Unser and Danny Sullivan before Al Jr., is now manned by two Brazilians, Gil de Ferran and Helio Castro-Neves.

Richie Hearn has been replaced by Argentine rookie Noberto Fontana, although Hearn may remain with the Della Penna team as a test pilot. Bryan Herta was to have driven a Swift-Honda for the Forsyth team but that car has been withdrawn for the season in the wake of a franchise dispute between CART and car owner Gerald Forsythe.

Dennis Vitolo has retired. Alex Barron, who drove for Penske at Fontana, is looking for a ride.

Could this country’s premier open-wheel series succeed without a single American driver? What happens when Andretti, 38, and Vasser, 34, decide to retire?

This year’s roster of 25 drivers has more countries involved than Formula One. There are nine Brazilians, following the lead of the great Emerson Fittipaldi; three Canadians, two each from Mexico and Japan and single representatives of Colombia, Italy, Sweden, England, Scotland, Spain and Argentina.

This trend toward becoming Formula One Jr. has not hurt CART’s appeal, according to figures released by chairman Andrew Craig.

Domestic TV viewership increased last year for the first time since 1995, up 7.4% over 1998 according to Nielsen Media Research. Spectator attendance, compiled by Sponsors Report, increased 6.4%.

Other massive changes in CART teams make the season opener at Homestead more intriguing than usual.

Team owner Chip Ganassi, after winning four consecutive championships with Honda-powered Reynards, has switched to Toyota engines and Lola chassis. What makes this so surprising is that Toyota-powered cars have not won since Dan Gurney introduced the Japanese manufacturer to CART in 1996.

Ganassi, whose winning drivers included Vasser in 1996, Alex Zanardi in 1997 and 1998 and Juan Montoya in 1999, has a record of success with unexpected changes, however. He was the first CART owner to try a Reynard chassis in 1994 and Michael Andretti won in its first outing. This year, 17 of the 25 cars will be Reynards.

Honda engines had won only one race and had been given up by Bobby Rahal after a miserable 1994 season before Ganassi switched from Ford-Cosworth in 1996 to begin his championship reign.

Penske also has a new look to go with his new drivers. His team will have a new engine, Honda; a new chassis, Reynard; and new tires, Firestone. The tire change was a necessity since Goodyear, always Penske’s choice, withdrew from the CART series.

Andretti, previously the Swift factory driver for the Newman-Haas team, is now in a Lola, Carl Haas’ longtime favorite chassis, going back to the days he was the North American distributor. The car will be powered by Ford-Cosworth, Newman-Haas’ choice since 1992. Andretti, with 37 victories CART’s all-time leader, is enthusiastic about his new package.

“We have set the quickest times everywhere we’ve tested, which is nice, although there are no points given for testing,” he said. “We will be a force to be reckoned with this year, but it won’t be easy.”

Dario Franchitti, runner-up to Montoya for the CART championship last year, has been given medical clearance to drive after recuperating from a fractured pelvis and brain bruises suffered in a spring training accident Feb. 9 at Homestead. The Scotsman is scheduled to test Sunday and Monday at Nazareth Speedway to determine his status for the opener.

“Dario passed all the neurological and psychiatric tests and an MRI of the brain,” said Dr. Steve Olvey of CART. “They were all normal. He is clear to test at the team’s discretion. He looks great, he has a great attitude and his upper body strength is excellent.”

Franchitti spent last week in Europe with trainer Tony Matthis for strength conditioning.

“I’m really looking forward to getting back in the car and rejoining my team,” Franchitti said. “I told them I don’t want anybody else in my seat. That’s my car.”

Another change will be the Handford MKII wing package, which is mandated for all short ovals this season.

“This is going to make for a much better race than last year,” said Max Papis, one of Rahal’s drivers after testing the new device. “With this new wing, you can really feel comfortable attacking the corners, unlike last year.”

Paul Tracy, of Team Kool Green, added, “You can take different lines and the car ‘sticks.’ I ran behind a couple of other cars and the turbulence didn’t upset my car very much. I think we’ll see a lot better racing on the short ovals.”

The season’s first two races are at Homestead, a 1.5-mile oval, and Nazareth, a mile oval. Then comes Long Beach, the season’s first street race, April 16.

INDY RACING LEAGUE

Tony George keeps talking happy talk, but his racing organization continues to slide backward. Now he has changed the name, to Indy Racing Northern Light Series.

“We believe the name more accurately positions Indy-style cars for the future,” George said. “As our league develops, we may be adding more support series, and now we have a template in place to handle our future growth.”

Growth. What growth?

Two years ago there were 11 races on the IRL schedule and George said, “Our major objective is to expand our schedule and make it more attractive for sponsors.”

A year ago it was down to 10. This year, after the cancellation of a Sept. 10 television date, it is nine.

For race No. 2 at Phoenix, interest is minimal at best.

DAYTONA 200

For the second consecutive time last Sunday, Mat Mladin, an Australian living in Chino Hills, was involved in a photo finish in America’s most prestigious motorcycle race.

Last year he lost to Michel Duhamel of Canada by 14/100ths of a second.

This year it was even closer when Mladin’s Suzuki flashed across the line 11/100ths of a second--about one foot--ahead of 18-year-old Nicky Hayden, a Honda rider from Owensboro, Ky. Hayden would have been the youngest winner of the Superbike classic. It was the second-closest finish in the 200’s history, dating back to 1937.

Mladin, defending AMA Superbike champion who turned 28 last Friday, averaged a record 113.631 mph for the 200-mile road race. Three-time Superbike champion Doug Chandler of Salinas was third, his fourth time in the top three without a win.

LAST LAPS

Al Unser, 17, son of Al Jr. and grandson of the original Al Unser, made his racing debut last week in the USAC Formula Russell series at Sears Point Raceway. Driving in the rain, he spun out and dropped to seventh place before coming back to finish third. . . . Former L.A. police officer Johnny Parsons, 55, celebrated the 50th anniversary of his father’s Indianapolis 500 win with his first U.S. Auto Club victory in five years, in the Thunder in the Dome XVI midget race last Saturday night at Indianapolis.

Roberto Guerrero, 41, twice an Indy 500 runner-up and a 16-year Indy car driver, is switching to stock cars this year. He and his brother Jaime, 28, will share a NASCAR Busch Grand National ride, starting April 1 at Texas Motor Speedway. They will drive for the new Hispanic Racing Team. . . . For the third time in the last five years, San Diego Bayfair’s Mission Bay was chosen national race site of the year by the Unlimited Hydroplane Racing Assn.

Jerry Welchel and Mark Post, winners of the unlimited racing buggy class in 1998, will race a four-wheel-drive Ford F-150 Trophy-Truck, built by NASCAR driver Robby Gordon, in Saturday’s 14th annual Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250 desert race. Corky McMillin, 71, the San Felipe winner in 1983 and 1984, will drive a Class 1 vehicle with his son, Mark.

Irwindale Speedway will conduct an open practice session Saturday for all of the NASCAR divisions that will race in the track’s stock car season opener March 25. The5 p.m. session will be open to the public free of charge.