Weather Takes the Fun Out of a Sunday Drive

If clocks had not been moved back an hour at midnight Saturday, the Marlboro 500 would be history, a $1-million champion would be crowned and CART would be celebrating the close of its season at an awards banquet tonight.

But that pesky hour gained overnight came into play Sunday when misty drizzle descended on California Speedway around noon and brought what had been a dazzling display of speed to a halt after only 33 of the scheduled 250 laps. An extra hour of racing would probably have allowed cars to complete 126 laps--one lap past halfway--and the race could have been declared official.

But now the whole cast of cars, drivers, mechanics, officials and as many of the 80,000 spectators who can afford a day off, will return here today for what CART officials hope will produce an official race. If there is more rain, as forecast, the race will be continued Tuesday.

Resumption of the race is scheduled for 10 a.m. with cars lined up in single file, starting at lap 34. The remainder of the race will be shown live on ESPN.

Juan Montoya, hoping to win a third 500-mile race this season as a going-away present for car owner Chip Ganassi, will be in front for the restart. He will be followed by Dario Franchitti, Michael Andretti and Gil de Ferran, the pole-sitter and series points leader.

For the first 23 laps, De Ferran and his Marlboro teammate, Helio Castroneves, traded the lead at speeds close to 240 mph. At times the two would circle the two-mile oval almost side by side, which undoubtedly made car owner Roger Penske a bit nervous. The two red and white cars appeared to be thoroughly dominant.

Officially, there were five lead changes between the two at the start-finish line, but that didn’t count the times they passed and repassed while storming around the D-shaped oval.

A yellow caution flag at Lap 23, brought out when Paul Tracy’s car blew an engine and Cristiano da Matta crashed after running over the debris, changed the complexion of the race.

“I don’t really know what happened,” said Tracy, who was one of four drivers with a shot at the $1-million champion’s prize. “There was no warning. We were just cruising, kind of taking it easy, and all of a sudden we lost the engine. I looked at the car when I got out and the top of the engine was gone.”

When Da Matta ran over the pop-off valve from Tracy’s car, it broke his suspension and sent him crashing into the wall.

“Basically, I was nothing but a passenger,” said Da Matta. “At that point the only thing you can do is pray to be all right.”

It was a final disappointment for team owner Cal Wells, who earlier in the week learned that he had lost his sponsorship from Toyota for not only his CART cars but also his off-road team.

During the flurry of pit stops, Castroneves stalled his car in the pits and dropped from first to 18th. Christian Fittipaldi had an air hose become tangled in the front wing, dropping him from fifth to 14th. Montoya and Franchitti, on the other hand, had swift and efficient stops, and moved up, Montoya from sixth to first and Franchitti from fourth to second.

Before the race could be resumed at full speed, light sprinkles dampened the backstretch and after running a few more laps under caution, CART officials displayed a red flag, stopping the race. Cars were pitted, covered with tarps, in hopes the race would be resumed, but at 2:50 p.m. it was suspended until today.

De Ferran, who led 16 of the 33 laps in quest of his first CART FedEx championship, holds a six-point lead over Adrian Fernandez in season standings. With Tracy out, the only other contender is Kenny Brack, 19 points back.

“Obviously I’m disappointed [at the race being stopped],” said De Ferran. “We had a good start and were looking good for the first 30 laps. Now I’m going to continue to stay as focused as I can. I plan on having an early dinner and getting a good night’s rest so we’ll be ready to go tomorrow.”

Fernandez, who said he started with a conservative approach to the race, will be in ninth place for today’s start.

“We were hoping for a yellow flag to change our setup, and we got it, but then it started to rain,” said the Mexican favorite who is starting his own team next year. “The rain will be disappointing for the teams, but for the fans too. I feel bad for everybody.”

Neither Tracy nor Da Matta were injured in their accident, but not so fortunate were two people in a CART pace car that hit the wall in the second turn during a pre-race guest ride. The car, an Acura ASX, was being driven by Toyota Atlantic driver Andrew Bordin. He and his passenger, Yoshimichi Inada, senior managing director of Pioneer Electronics, were transported to Loma Linda Hospital for evaluation.

Bordin sustained a fracture and dislocation of the fourth cervical vertebra. Inada was unconscious briefly but was listed in satisfactory condition with a head injury.

Marlboro 500

Rescheduled for today: 10 a.m.

Fontana Motor Speedway

TV: ESPN