Herta Takes Stand for CART Decision

Driver Bryan Herta of Valencia, an eight-year veteran of CART’s champ car series, took issue Monday with a racing promoter’s claims that the sanctioning body should have known in advance about the safety concerns that prompted postponement of the inaugural Firestone Firehawk 600 Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway.

Herta also denied reports that the postponement was the result of a threatened driver boycott, saying CART officials proposed the postponement.

In criticizing CART’s decision to postpone indefinitely because drivers were becoming disoriented at high speeds on the high-banked track, Eddie Gossage, Texas Motor Speedway’s general manager, had said Sunday: “The bottom-line point is, CART should have known [about excessively high speeds and their effects]. It should have been tested months and months and months ago.”

Herta said no one could have predicted speeds of more than 230 mph at the track but added that chassis and engine developments are made from race to race and that his car’s turbocharged Ford engine feels more powerful now than it did before a rule change this year reduced turbocharger pressure in an effort to cut speeds.

Kenny Brack, who had reached speeds between 220 and 224 mph in a test on the 1.5-mile oval with 24-degree banking last December, qualified on the pole Saturday at 233.447. Another rule change made by CART this year virtually eliminated all in-season testing.

“The big thing is the draft,” Herta said. “Running in a pack of 20 cars increases speeds even more. They couldn’t reach those speeds in testing.”

Herta, director of the Championship Drivers Assn. safety committee in 1998, was one of only four drivers, among 25, who did not experience dizziness, disorientation, nausea or blurred vision in practice or qualifying, probably because he had not made any extended runs.

According to Herta, the issue of excessive G-forces was brought up at the Saturday night drivers’ meeting by CART’s director of medical affairs, Steve Olvey, who asked for a show of hands of drivers who had experienced symptoms of vertigo.

“In over eight years in CART, I know Dr. Olvey and the president of CART [Joseph Heitzler] don’t normally come to our drivers’ meetings, so when I walked in and saw them at the front of the room, I knew something was up,” Herta said.

“When Dr. Olvey asked for a show of hands, I saw how many hands went up and I was just floored.”

Herta said that until then, drivers hadn’t discussed their symptoms with each other.

“We’re kind of macho guys, so when you have a problem, you keep it to yourself,” he said. “I’m sure a lot of the guys thought it was an isolated incident, due to something like jet lag or lack of sleep.”

Herta said that he hopes the decision by CART officials to postpone the race can be an example for other series.