New Venues, Faces Are Giving CART International Flair

CART held what it called a sneak preview of the 2001 FedEx championship car series Tuesday through Thursday at California Speedway, complete with drivers and cars.

Missing, though, was the sound of racing.

No cars took to the two-mile course, and no engines were fired.

It was all talk and picture-snapping, a preliminary to the expanded 22-race season, which will open March 11 on a new course in Monterrey, Mexico.

That track, as well as new ones in Germany and England, along with established tracks in Brazil, Japan, Canada and Australia give CART a distinctive international look.

Also new is the CART president, Joseph Heitzler, and for the first time since 1990 the CEO is an American. Heitzler is from Rolling Hills. The last two--not counting interim-serving Bobby Rahal--were Bill Stokkan of Finland and Andrew Craig of England.

Not new, but returning after two years’ absence is Alex Zanardi, the 1997 and ’98 champion who left Chip Ganassi’s team to drive in Formula One with Frank Williams. After lasting only part of the 1999 season and sitting out last year, the likable Italian driver was talked into returning by his former engineer, Mo Nunn.

Nunn, who left Ganassi to go out on his own last year with Brazilian driver Tony Kanaan, has expanded to a two-car team.

“Running one car is a headache,” Nunn said. “Two cars is a bigger headache. Going from one car to two means three times as much work.

“We’ll give both of them the same equipment, the same effort and hope for the best results.”

Kanaan, winner of the U.S. 500 two years ago at Michigan, said he welcomed Zanardi to the team, hoping to benefit from his background and experience.

“We want to win and the best way to win is to work together,” said Kanaan, 26. “Alex has a lot of knowledge that can be very important to me. I have the passion of youth. We have a nice atmosphere, a good balance. Alex is happy and his coming back has brought excitement to Morris [Nunn].”

Zanardi, starting over at 34, said, “I think Tony and I are very similar, character-wise, in driving style and our mental approach in and out of the car.

“I can see a lot of me in Tony and I can certainly help him to avoid some of the mistakes I did. I can help him find a shortcut to success, because he has everything it takes to win races.”

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Among the CART interviews scheduled was one for Casey Mears and the Brooke Racing team.

The problem was, Mears had signed earlier in the week to drive an IRL car for Rick Galles.

“That whole thing got a little bit out of proportion,” Mears said. “A buddy of mine said he saw on [Brooke’s] Web site that I was going to drive for them, but the only thing I’d done was just talk with them. That’s all it was, just talk.

“I sure don’t know how it got all the way to a scheduled press conference.”

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Texaco/Havoline and Newman-Haas Racing have resolved their contract dispute regarding sponsorship of the Newman-Haas team in the CART FedEx series. The dispute arose when Michael Andretti was not re-signed to a contract and Texaco/Havoline claimed he was part of its sponsorship package. Texaco spokesman Michael Hargrove said sponsorship would continue with new driver Cristiano da Matta.

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New Zealand driver Scott Dixon, a winner of six Indy Lights races last year, has signed to drive a Toyota-Reynard for PacWest in the CART series. Dixon won at both Long Beach and Fontana last year. He will be a teammate of Mauricio Gugelmin.

SUPERCROSS RETURNING

The EA Sports Supercross Series, motorcycle racing’s most popular competition, will return to Edison Field on Saturday night for the second of three appearances in the Anaheim baseball park.

The season opener two weeks ago was sold out and another capacity crowd is expected this week to watch the 250cc and 125cc riders careen around the man-made obstacle course. The third Anaheim race will be run Feb. 3.

Defending series champion Jeremy McGrath won the opener, but will face stiff competition from national outdoor champion Ricky Carmichael, who beat McGrath last Saturday night in San Diego, and Ezra Lusk, who won two races in 1999 at Anaheim before missing the 2000 season because of injuries. He was runner-up to McGrath two weeks ago.

LEFFLER MAKES A SWITCH

Jason Leffler has left Joe Gibbs’ racing team, where he was a Busch Grand National series protege of Tony Stewart, to drive a Dodge for the Ganassi team in Winston Cup. The three-time U.S. Auto Club midget car champion from Long Beach will make his debut in the Daytona 500 on Feb. 18.

Leffler, 24, said he made the surprising move from Gibbs because “there wasn’t a plan to move [me] to Winston Cup, it wasn’t guaranteed. I really didn’t think Gibbs wants three Cup teams.”

Winston Cup champion Bobby Labonte and Stewart are Gibbs’ Winston Cup drivers. Last year in the Busch series, Leffler had two top-five finishes in 31 races.

“Anywhere I go wouldn’t be as good as Joe Gibbs Racing right now, but eventually I think we can be as good,” Leffler said. “My goal has always been to race Winston Cup and now I will be able to pursue that dream.”

Ganassi, whose cars won four consecutive CART open-wheel championships, has taken over Felix Sabates’ team in NASCAR and will field Dodges for Leffler and veteran Sterling Marlin.

MIXED SIGNALS

Busch champion Jeff Green was in Beverly Hills last Friday night for NASCAR’s awards banquet at the Beverly Wilshire, but he skipped the American Auto Racing Writers & Broadcasters Assn. All-American team dinner the following night in Pomona.

Maybe he was embarrassed at having been selected as a “short track” All-American, a category designed more for drivers from the World of Outlaws, U.S. Auto Club midget and Silver Crown, and tracks of half a mile and shorter.

The Busch series runs on most of the superspeedways used in Winston Cup and of Green’s six wins, three were on tracks of a mile or longer.

Outlaws champion Steve Kinser was the other short-track recipient, but overlooked were Jay Drake, winner of a record 19 USAC events last year; Kasey Kahne, USAC midget car champion, and Gary St. Amant, ASA stock car champion.

DIFFERENT STROKES

CART champion Gil de Ferran’s reaction to being selected to drive a Pontiac Firebird Trans-Am in the International Race of Champions:

“I’ve never driven anything in my life with a roof over my head.”

LAST LAPS

The SCORE Desert off-road racing series will get underway this weekend with the Laughlin Desert Challenge along the banks of the Colorado River in southern Nevada. Racing is scheduled Saturday and Sunday over a 13-mile loop course. . . . The U.S. Auto Club will hold its Western States awards dinner Saturday night at Radisson Resort Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park.

NECROLOGY

Quin Epperly, one of a group of Southern California car builders who dominated the Indianapolis 500 in the 1940s and ‘50s, died Jan. 7 at his home in Paso Robles. Epperly, 87, did the bodywork on the Novi Special and helped build the Belond Special, the last car to win successive 500s, Sam Hanks driving it to victory in 1957 and Jimmy Bryan in 1958.

Epperly also built the body for Craig Breedlove’s Spirit of America in his shop at Gardena and was crew chief for its land-speed record attempts.

Survivors include sons John and David. A memorial will be held Feb. 10 at the Masonic Temple, 320 Sherwood St., Paso Robles. The family requests donations to the Indianapolis 500 Oldtimers Club, of which Epperly was a member.

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Carl Hogan, co-owner of the winning 1992 Indy 500 car driven by Rahal, died last Saturday, apparently of a heart attack, at his home in New Hampshire. Hogan, 71, retired as a CART car owner after the 1999 Marlboro 500 at Fontana.