Passing Interest Drives Changes

By SHAV GLICK

April 16, 2004 12 AM PT

Temporary street races, the most famous of which are Long Beach and Monte Carlo, are notorious for being so narrow and twisty that there is little or no passing.

In the first two Formula One races at Long Beach, there was not a single pass for the lead until three laps remained in the second race. Mario Andretti squeezed by Jody Scheckter, who was slowed by a leaking tire. It was a pattern that continued at Long Beach, and is commonplace at Monaco.

In last year’s Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, a CART champ car race, there were seven lead changes, but all were when the lead car was in the pits. Not one occurred while cars were racing.

The new owners of Champ Car World Series, the former CART, have several ideas they hope will change that and make the racing more fun for fans and TV watchers by creating passing opportunities. They will be introduced during Sunday’s 30th Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

The most unusual will be what Champ Car officials call a push-to-pass mechanism, a button in the cockpit that when pushed will give the car an immediate boost of 50 horsepower from its Ford-Cosworth XFE racing engine. The catch is, drivers can use the extra boost for a total of only 60 seconds, about five times if used on the long Shoreline Drive sweeping swerve.

The second is the mandatory use of a softer compound option tire that must be on each car at some point during the approximately two-hour race. The softer tires offer more grip to the racing surface, thus producing quicker lap times, but they do not last as long as harder tires.

Spectators can keep track of both systems: the push-to-pass through monitors that will reveal which car is using its boost and how much each has remaining in its boost reserve, and the softer tires by use of red markings on the sidewalls. Drivers contacted seemed enthusiastic, if confused, about how the two gimmicks might affect the race.

“It’s going to be interesting, that’s for sure,” said Paul Tracy, the series champion. “Every team is probably trying to decide how to use them, but you really can’t make any decisions until you’re racing and the situation develops.”

The scenarios are endless.

With passing difficult, it has always been important to get the jump off the starting line and have a chance to get ahead and stay ahead.

“Some guys might try hitting the button on the green flag, but what if it comes down to the last few laps and some guy is right on your rear end and you’re out of boost and he has some left,” asked Ryan Hunter-Reay, winner of last year’s final CART race in Australia.

“The guy in front wouldn’t have a chance. Any time two cars are running nose to tail and the trailing car driver hits the boost button, the guy in front doesn’t have a chance.”

Unless, of course, he hits the button at the same time.

Each time the boost is used, it takes about seven seconds off the total of 60 allowed for each car.

“It’s going to be tempting to use it to pass a slower car early in the race, but you’ve got to hold some back in case you need it more later,” said Alex Tagliani, who is starting his fifth champ car season. “It’s going to be a real guessing game.

“No one knows for sure exactly how it will play out, and we won’t know until Sunday. There is no way to prepare yourself for what might happen.”

Use of the power boost is not permitted during qualifying or even during practice. Just before the start of Sunday’s race, Ford-Cosworth engineers will activate the mechanisms on each of the 18 cars.

Paul Gentilozzi, a team owner and also one of the series owners, said he didn’t think the performance window would be changed much, but that it should create more interest for people watching.

“It will be great for fans to see when and where different drivers use the boost, and they can keep track of how much each driver has left through the teleme- try,” Gentilozzi said.

“Most people seem to think of it as an offensive weapon, but it can be a defensive weapon too. For instance, if there are three or four laps to go, and you’ve got the lead, but you see another car coming fast behind you, you hit the button and put some distance between you.

“I think the drivers are going to find that the 60 seconds goes by pretty quick. It’s sort of a cat-and-mouse deal: Do I do it now and get an advantage, or should I wait and hope I get a better one later? If nothing else, it and the new tire combinations should make for more exciting racing for the fans, and that’s what we’re looking for.”

For a new organization looking for support, the Champ Car World Series seems to be lacking in public relations savvy.

The Grand Prix Assn. held its annual media luncheon Wednesday, an event attended in the past by nearly all the drivers, and only five of this year’s 18 were there. Nearly every newspaper in the area was represented, and three TV stations were on hand, but only Hunter-Reay, Tagliani, Mario Dominguez and rookies A.J. Allmendinger and Nelson Phillipe were there.

“It was very embarrassing,” said Jim Michaelian, president of the Grand Prix Assn. “The Champ Car people knew it was our media day and you know what they did? They scheduled a test at Fontana. That’s where guys like Jimmy Vas- ser and Paul Tracy and the Newman-Haas team, people we expected, were while we sat and stewed in Long Beach.

“And another team thought so little of media day, they sent their driver to Disneyland.”

It gets worse.

Dale Coyne, a longtime CART team owner, has entered two cars in Sunday’s race, two of the 18, but he will not disclose the names of his drivers until 9 a.m. today, one hour before the cars begin practice.

That is like the Dodgers announcing they have signed a new pitcher, but his name won’t be revealed until an hour before the game, and he’ll be pitching.

Oriol Servia, one of the most colorful and entertaining drivers in the series, will be one of Coyne’s drivers, but no one will read a profile on the Spaniard driver because, technically, he is not yet in the race. How ludicrous to delay the announcement when Servia and Tarso Marques were in Coyne cars testing Wednesday.

“I wonder if they’ll be in their driver’s suits for the announcement,” Michaelian said.

Last Laps

The battle for West Coast non-winged sprint car supremacy will hit its peak Saturday when the rival organizations hold races at the same time, the new and powerful USAC/CRA circuit at Perris Auto Speedway and the older and struggling SCRA a few miles down the road at Barona Speedway, about halfway between Ramona and Lakeside in San Diego County.

The same drivers have appeared in both series this year, but this is the first time that teams must choose one or the other. It should be interesting at both tracks.

Five divisions of NASCAR stock cars will be racing Saturday at Irwindale Speedway. Featured will be the super late models, with Tim Woods III of Chino Hills hoping to hold his six-point series lead over Greg Pursley of Canyon Country. Pursley has two victories to none for Woods, but Woods has two seconds and a third in three races.

USAC midget cars will be at Ventura Raceway on Saturday night for the first time since 1999 in a 30-lap main event on the one-fifth-mile dirt oval. Defending series champion Michael Lewis led every lap to win last week at Madera.

A “Drag Strips We Knew and Loved” symposium over long-gone strips such as Lions, Orange County, Santa Ana, Fresno and Fontana will be held Saturday at 10 a.m. More details can be obtained at (909) 622-8562.

Chris Morgan, who has been affiliated with numerous tracks locally, has been named Southern California coordinator for the U. S. Auto Club. Morgan, 31, has been involved in motorsports since 1988, when he was a starter at his hometown Ventura Raceway oval.

Speedway bikes, a staple of racing at the Orange County Fairgrounds for the last 35 years, will begin another season Saturday night with the annual Sprint Classic. U.S. Nationals champion Scott Bryant will race a field that includes former champions Mike Faria, Chris Manchester, Alan Christian and Bobby Schwartz.

The fourth round of the Toyota Cup will feature a double-points race for Formula One riders Sunday at Willow Springs Motorsports Park. After three races, the top five riders are separated by only 10 points.

THIS WEEK

*--* NASCAR Advance Auto Parts 500

*--*

* When: Today, qualifying (Speed Channel, noon); Sunday, race (Channel 11, 10 a.m.).

* Where: Martinsville (Va.) Speedway (oval, 0.526 miles, 12 degrees banking in turns).

* Race distance: 263 miles, 500 laps.

* 2003 winner: Jeff Gordon.

* Next race: Aaron’s 499, April 25, Talladega, Ala.

*--* CRAFTSMAN TRUCKS Kroger 250

*--*

* When: Today, qualifying, 10:30 a.m.; Saturday, race (Speed Channel, 10 a.m.).

* Where: Martinsville (Va.) Speedway (oval, 0.526 miles, 12 degrees banking in turns).