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Posted By	Discussion Topic: CART racing chat thread
NYR2119935	posted on 05-04-2001 @ 1:32 AM
Psychopath Registered: May. 00	All CART stuff will go in here so we don't clutter up the forum. CART Taco Bell Ice Hockey MetallicA
NYR2119935	posted on 05-04-2001 @ 1:33 AM
Psychopath Registered: May. 00	http://www.seventhgear.com/cgi-shl/...ic&f=1&t=000609 "Everyone keep Mauricio Gugelmin and his family in your thoughts and prayers this weekend..... unfortunately his ill son, Guiliano (I believe), just passed away this morning. Guiliano was a twin to Bernardo - just two of the cutest kids you would see around the paddock!! Unfortunately due to complications at his birth, he was stricken with several problems throughout his life - but oh what a joyous kid!! Mauricio, we will miss you racing this weekend, but we will keep your entire family in our prayers!" That's a very sad story :( CART Taco Bell Ice Hockey MetallicA
NYR2119935	posted on 05-04-2001 @ 9:10 PM
Psychopath Registered: May. 00	http://espn.go.com/rpm/cart/2001/0504/1191472.html Friday, May 4 Gugelmin withdraws after son's death Associated Press NAZARETH, Pa. – Bruno Junqueira isn't as excited as a rookie could be after posting the fastest speed in practice for the Lehigh Valley Grand Prix in his first time on an oval track. The 24-year-old Brazilian has his sights set on bigger things, like his first CART victory. As the latest phenom-designate to race for Chip Ganassi, Junqueira knows he will be judged against his predecessors as much as the opposition. "I have to win," he said Friday after going 166.248 mph at Nazareth Speedway. "I don't have to win the championship, although that can happen, but I have to win races." Junqueira and teammate Nicolas Minassian, the 1-2 finishers last season in the Formula 3000 series, are the new drivers charged with returning Ganassi's team to the top in CART. The team won four titles from 1996-99, but is rebuilding now after the departures of champions Juan Montoya and Jimmy Vasser. Junqueira isn't ready to predict anything spectacular, but concedes much is expected of him. "They are a winning team, and they want to keep winning," he said. "If they're going to do that, I have to be winning." He realizes that is immense pressure, but explains that most of it is self-inflicted. He loves challenges, and says drivers have to accept and defeat them to make a successful career. That was his approach last year, when he edged Minassian by three points to win the F3000 title. "I had to win to move up," he said. Junqueira posted his fastest speed in the morning practice, getting around the .946-mile oval in 20.485 seconds in his Lola-Toyota. He also was seventh-fastest in the afternoon session as temperatures reaching 90 slowed the cars slightly. Team Rahal's Max Papis was second overall at 164.896 in his Lola-Ford. He was happy, but said much work remained before he'll consider himself one of the favorites in the race Sunday because it's the first short oval event since his team switched after last season from the established Reynard chassis. "We're still exploring the car," Papis said. "We are quite a bit away from the maximum performance." Team Penske's Helio Castroneves was second in the faster session in a Reynard-Honda at 164.681 and third for the day. Castroneves is coming off a wire-to-wire victory last month in the Long Beach Grand Prix. "I was happy with the setup on the Marlboro car right out of the box," Castroneves said. "I feel we are in good shape for qualifying tomorrow." Papis teammate Kenny Brack was fourth-fastest at 164.595. Both posted their speeds in the afternoon heat. Brack said the difference of about 10 degrees in the sessions made hard work essential. "It was an up-and-down day for us," he said. "So it was good for us to work on a lot of different things." The race will be the first in a month for CART, which postponed the Firestone Firehawk 600 last Sunday because excessive speed in the turns at Texas Motor Speedway caused what series physician Steve Olvey said were intolerable G-force loads on the drivers. The race Sunday is the last CART event at Nazareth, which has suffered at the gate with early and late dates each season and some terrible weather since 1987. Last year, the race was snowed out April 9, then rescheduled for May 27, the day before the IRL's Indianapolis 500. CART champion Gil de Ferran won the race here last year, giving Roger Penske his 100th victory as a Champ Car owner. De Ferran was sixth-fastest Friday, immediately behind the Lola-Ford of Michel Jourdain Jr. Two-time Nazareth winner Paul Tracy was next, followed by Oriol Servia and points leader Cristiano da Matta. Michael Andretti, racing for the last time in his hometown, posted the 20th-fastest speed. Mauricio Gugelmin, second last year at Nazareth, withdrew because of the death of his 6-year-old son, Giuliano. Born 27 minutes after his twin brother, Bernardo, the boy was a quadriplegic with a form of cerebral palsy. He died Thursday of respiratory complications at his home in Coral Gables, Fla. Gugelmin, badly bruised after crashing during practice in Texas, is expected to return May 19 at Motegi, Japan. Gugelmin will miss a race for the first time in his CART career after 130 starts, the longest streak among active drivers and fifth-best in history. CART Taco Bell Ice Hockey MetallicA
NYR2119935	posted on 05-05-2001 @ 5:32 PM
Psychopath Registered: May. 00	http://www.cart.com/News.asp?ID=530 Brazilian rookie Bruno Junqueira won the pole at Nazareth in only his third Champ Car start. By John Oreovicz Logic would seemingly have dictated that Bruno Junqueira’s Champ Car breakthrough would come on a road or a street course. After all, the 24-year old Brazilian rookie has never raced on an oval track, and his FedEx Championship Series career got off to a rocky start in the first two events of the season. But with the support of his team, four-time CART champions Target/Ganassi Racing, Junqueira stepped up his game and garnered his first career Champ Car pole Saturday at Nazareth Speedway, where he will pace the 25-car field in Sunday’s Lehigh Valley Grand Prix Presented by Toyota. Junqueira’s pole lap was timed at 19.700 seconds, for an average speed of 172.873 miles per hour. The pole, which was Junqueira’s first since he started from the front in a Formula 3000 race at the Hungaroring in August 2000, proved that Bruno’s strong performance throughout the weekend at Nazareth was no fluke. He was quick to credit Mike Hull and the Target/Ganassi team. "I’m really happy to start the first oval race of my life from the front," Junqueira said. "Everyone said it’s important to start from the front here, so I guess I’ll find out just how good it is tomorrow. I hope I can do some good laps tomorrow, and I know that I will learn a lot. "I’m not too worried because I know what the Target team is capable of," he added. "I have a lot to learn about this series, but I hope I can become a consistent front runner." Junqueira said he was slightly frustrated by the difficult start to his Champ Car career. He tangled with Alex Zanardi at Monterrey, Mexico, before retiring, and he failed to post a qualifying lap at Long Beach. But the race was better, as Bruno worked through the field to finish ninth. "It’s very strange, because my first two weekends were very bad and now this weekend is very good," he remarked. "I’m not normally up and down; one of the things I was good at in Formula 3000 was consistency. I won a lot of races, and if not, I finished second or third. "I don’t know what to expect tomorrow, especially in traffic, but I like to run on the ovals. I think my style fits very well." One man who has plenty of oval experience is Kenny Brack, but the Swedish Team Rahal driver came up just short in his quest for the pole. Brack’s lap was timed at 19.738 seconds for a speed of 172.540 mph. As one of the last drivers to run, Brack was affected by higher track temperatures than the early qualifiers drew. According to Firestone, the ambient temperature was 69 degrees when the qualifying session started, with a track temperature of 82 degrees. Junqueira had just run when his Target/Ganassi teammate Nicolas Minassian smacked the Turn 2 wall, stopping the action for around 20 minutes. By 2:45 p.m., the sun came out, bumping the ambient temperature up to 76 degrees with a track temp reading of 95 degrees. Of the late runners, only Helio Castroneves, who ended up fifth, was able to approach the times they did in the cooler morning practice session. "It was difficult to qualify because of the conditions," Brack commented. "On these one-mile ovals, you have to have the car so well-balanced to go fast. If the temperature goes up or down a degree or two, it can really turn things upside down. "We were a little conservative, maybe, but we’re solidly in the show," Brack added. "The Ford-Cosworth/Lola is obviously a good combination, but it’s new to us and we have a lot to learn. Team Rahal had a lot of experience with the Reynard, but it’s difficult to start from a clean sheet of paper. It’s been interesting and hard, but we’ve come a long way in a short time with the Lola, so I have to give the team credit." Michel Jourdain Jr. qualified a CART career-best third in the Herdez/Bettenhausen Ford-Cosworth/Lola--the engine/chassis combination that took three of the top four spots (Junqueira’s car has Toyota power). Jourdain’s prior best effort had been fifth on the grid for the 1997 race at California Speedway. "It’s been a good weekend so far," Jourdain said. "All year, we’ve shown we could be fast. Once we changed to the Ford engine, we knew we could be competitive. Even last year with all the problems we had, we had a good car on the short ovals. "My engineer Tom Brown has a lot of experience, and I’ve been able to do good times on old tires, so I’m very optimistic." Oriol Servia rounded out the Ford-Cosworth/Lola contingent at the front of the field, while the third row was filled by Castroneves ("We made a mistake and got the gearing wrong") and Adrian Fernandez, who enjoyed his best qualifying performance of the year in the Tecate/Quaker State Honda/Reynard. The top 10 was rounded out by Bryan Herta, Paul Tracy, Cristiano da Matta and Tony Kanaan. Other notables included local hero Michael Andretti in 13th, defending series champion and Nazareth winner Gil de Ferran in 15th ("Too much understeer, all weekend long") and Alex Zanardi in 21st. While Minassian had the only wall contact of the weekend so far, Team Rahal’s Max Papis drew the day’s biggest cheer when he saved his Miller Lite Ford-Cosworth/Lola from contact after he spun exiting Turn 3 on his way to taking the green flag for his run. The car rotated 1 1/2 times, but Papis steered it backwards down the track and onto the grass away from harm. He went back out on new tires at the end and qualified 14th. "It’s nice to hear the crowd cheer, but I want them to do it when I take the pole, not when I mess up," he said. CART Taco Bell Ice Hockey MetallicA
NYR2119935	posted on 05-07-2001 @ 8:52 AM
Psychopath Registered: May. 00	http://espn.go.com/rpm/cart/2001/0506/1192111.html Rookie Scott Dixon won the Nazareth 225 after starting in the 23rd position. Sunday, May 6 Dixon sets Nazareth record Associated Press NAZARETH, Pa. -- Scott Dixon, a 20-year-old rookie, became the youngest winner in major open-wheel racing Sunday when he held off Kenny Brack to capture the Lehigh Valley Grand Prix. The New Zealand driver eclipsed the CART record of the late Greg Moore, who was 22 when he won for the first time in 1997. Sam Hornish Jr. was 21 when he won this season in the Indy Racing League. The victory Sunday was particularly emotional for PacWest Racing Group, which had to withdraw one of its cars because driver Mauricio Gugelmin's son died Thursday. Dixon displayed the kind of talent he used to win six races and the Indy Lights developmental series title last year. He never wavered after taking the lead when Tony Kanaan pitted on lap 191 and stayed ahead of Brack for the last 36 laps at Nazareth Speedway. "This was amazing, especially because this was a difficult week for all of us," Dixon said. "I just kept looking up at the board to see how many laps were left. I had a mirrorful of Kenny over those last laps." Dixon's only close call came on the final lap when he ran over the left rear wheel of Max Wilson's car. "I probably shouldn't have done that, but I'm 20," Dixon said with a laugh. But his Reynard-Toyota bounced back down without damage, allowing owner Bruce McCaw to relax. "We're so thrilled," said McCaw, whose team last won when Mark Blundell -- whom Dixon replaced this season -- got the last of his three victories in 1997. "It's been a long weekend, but it's a great way to come out of it." Only Nigel Mansell, who won in his first start in 1993, was faster. Juan Montoya also won in his third start, in 1999. Dixon and beat Brack by .366 seconds. The win from the 23rd spot on the 25-car grid was the second-greatest advance to victory in CART history. After the Lola-Ford of Brack came the Reynard-Honda of Paul Tracy, and the Lola-Toyotas of Jimmy Vasser and Christian Fittipaldi. Defending series champion Gil de Ferran, who won this race last May, six weeks after it was snowed out, wound up 23rd. Cristiano da Matta, who shares the points lead with Tracy, finished 10th. Two-time Nazareth winner Michael Andretti was sixth in the final race in his hometown. CART has not included the 15-year-old event on the 2002 schedule. About half the 42,000 seats were filled. Like Tracy, Andretti was trying to tie Emerson's Fittipaldi's record of three Nazareth victories. The race was the first in a month for CART, which postponed the Firestone Firehawk 600 on April 29. Drivers worried they could pass out because of the G-forces during turns at Texas Motor Speedway. CART Taco Bell Ice Hockey MetallicA
NYR2119935	posted on 05-07-2001 @ 8:55 AM
Psychopath Registered: May. 00	Here are the final results of the race. 1 Scott Dixon 18 Toyota/Reynard 225 running 2 Kenny Brack 8 Ford-Cosworth/Lola 225 running 3 Paul Tracy 26 Honda/Reynard 225 running 4 Jimmy Vasser 40 Toyota/Reynard 225 running 5 Christian Fittipaldi 11 Toyota/Lola 225 running 6 Michael Andretti 39 Honda/Reynard 225 running 7 Bruno Junqueira 4 Toyota/Lola 225 running 8 Dario Franchitti 27 Honda/Reynard 225 running 9 Oriol Servia 22 Ford-Cosworth/Lola 225 running 10 Cristiano da Matta 6 Toyota/Lola 225 running 11 Helio Castroneves 3 Honda/Reynard 225 running 12 Roberto Moreno 20 Toyota/Reynard 225 running 13 Michel Jourdain Jr. 16 Ford-Cosworth/Lola 224 running 14 Tora Takagi 5 Toyota/Reynard 224 running 15 Shinji Nakano 52 Honda/Reynard 224 running 16 Tony Kanaan 55 Honda/Reynard 224 running 17 Max Wilson 25 Phoenix/Lola 222 running 18 Nicolas Minassian 12 Toyota/Lola 220 running 19 Adrian Fernandez 51 Honda/Reynard 182 electrical 20 Alex Zanardi 66 Honda/Reynard 167 mechanical 21 Bryan Herta 77 Ford-Cosworth/Reynard 133 mechanical 22 Alexandre Tagliani 33 Ford-Cosworth/Reynard 121 contact 23 Gil de Ferran 1 Honda/Reynard 121 contact 24 Max Papis 7 Ford-Cosworth/Lola 77 mechanical 25 Patrick Carpentier 32 Ford-Cosworth/Reynard 29 mechanical CART Taco Bell Ice Hockey MetallicA
HummerLovin I hope people forgot that I went home with Sandy Kane one night	posted on 05-07-2001 @ 9:23 AM
O&A Board Regular Registered: Oct. 00	Who the hell are you talking to in all of these chat threads??? "Exams are over and I am happy! So, if i'm mean, it just means that you're an asshole!"
Francine Banger	posted on 05-07-2001 @ 4:09 PM
O&A Board Regular Registered: Dec. 00	Are you going to get the hint soon that nobody F'n Cares!!!!
HummerLovin I hope people forgot that I went home with Sandy Kane one night	posted on 05-07-2001 @ 8:17 PM
O&A Board Regular Registered: Oct. 00	So who's into the Lumerjack competitions!! Man that is some great shit! I saw Biff Gunderson saw through a 5 ft thick tree in mere seconds! Man! What gripping fuckin' action!! Maybe later i'll post the current standing in the Lumberjack Wood Cutters Association!!! "Exams are over and I am happy! So, if i'm mean, it just means that you're an asshole!"

Displaying 1-9 of 9 messages in this thread.