(just for you Martin, I’m sure…)
from, you guessed it-
www.autoracing1.com
CART signs deal with ARD for Germany, and probably Sky for Europe We have
it on very good word that CART has done a deal with ARD in Germany to show
CART races live, and are close to announcing a deal whereby Sky will show
all CART races live throughout Europe. We await the formal announcement.
We also hear CART will indeed have an international TV announcement before
Long Beach. MC
from www.autoracing1.com
Oh Canada…….
SPEED Channel to show Monterrey race live in Canada We have it on very good
word that SPEED Channel will not be blocked out in Canada and will show
CART’s Monterrey opener live. Why? Because TSN was going to show the race
taped delayed, and Chris Pook stepped in and more or less said, over my dead
body. MC
OK, TV coverage could have been better: (1) We still need live timing
F1 style for qualifying because just following the cars around and not
knowing the splits is frustrating, (2) the look and feel is still too
ABC/ESPN and not enough raw glory days of Speedvision (i.e. cutting
away from fast laps for commercials and/or pit interviews in
inexcusable).
But that’s it for complaints. Oh wait, can we take a few years off
Michael Andretti and make him competitive in qualifying again?
Now the good news: CART is not yet dead, and I think Friday proved,
from a competition standpoint, 2002 will be just as good as any
previous year. Beg, borrow or steal your way to an event this year
because CART is still the pinnacle of motor racing in the United
States. In 2003, who knows? All bets are off.
As for Friday, on the first day of the year, with the new rules we had
drama right to the end with the quickest driver on the day knocked
from the pole by the new red-flag rule and, he (Christian Fittipaldi)
completely agreed with the penalty and placed the blame squarely on
his own shoulders. There was disappointment all over his face – loads
of drama.
Speaking of which, poor Michele Jourdain could not control his
emotions and who could blame him. I was almost in tears for the guy
myself. But instead of glory today he learned the hard lesson to not
celebrate too early. Now he and the team are probably going over their
miscalculations that saw them complete their maximum number of
qualifying laps too early. Doh!
When I heard earlier in the day Adrian Fernandez had the pole (beware
RPM2nite spoilers!) I was thinking my worse NASCAR thoughts of putting
people on the pole to draw the most publicity. And then when I saw the
empty grandstands (hey it is only Friday) and I thought again ‘How
convenient – this should sell some Sunday tickets’. But watching the
entire show it was apparent there was no fix, unless you believe
Fittipaldi was paid to throw his car into the grass and draw a red
flag to give up the fastest lap of the day he had yet to turn.
So congratulations to Fernandez for winning the first CART
Championship point for 2002 and for locking in a front-row spot for
Sunday’s race.
No doubt, the fix is on, and Chris Pook is to blame.
-Bob Heathcote
Pos Driver Car# Team Lap Time Mph
1 L. Diaz 33 Dorricott Racing 1:27.089 86.973
2 J. Hand 27 DSTP Motorsports 1:27.515 86.550
3 A. Gurney 34 Dorricott Racing 1:27.643 86.423
4 J. Fogarty 32 Dorricott Racing 1:27.703 86.364
6 R. Hunter-Reay 1 Hylton Motorsports 1:27.775 86.293
7 M. Valiante 19 Lynx Racing 1:27.897 86.174
8 R. Moran Jr. 4 Sigma Autosport 1:27.950 86.122
9 R. Lavin 11 Michael Shank Racing 1:28.199 85.879
10 R. Dalziel 28 Michael Shank Racing 1:28.284 85.796
11 A. Figge 14 World Speed Motorsports 1:28.304 85.776
12 W. Coronas 88 Scuadra Fortia 1:28.406 85.677
13 J. Macri 31 P-1 Racing 1:28.425 85.659
14 G. Ryley 23X Lynx Racing 1:28.559 85.529
15 S. Koster 5 Michael Shank Racing 1:29.116 84.995
17 F. Dancs 6 Condor Motorsports 1:29.737 84.407
18 D. Wieringa 3 Sigma Autosport 1:29.852 84.299
20 G. Ryley 23 Lynx Racing 1:30.821 83.399
21 E. Figueroa 86 Scuadra Fortia 1:31.696 82.603
22 A. Garcia 8 Transnet Racing 1:31.845 82.469 132.717
23 C. Russo 81 Performance Development & Racing 1:32.475 81.908
24 D. Cutler 26 P-1 Racing 1:33.249 81.228
There’s a Mexican on pole for the race. Must have been given the call too,
eh Outlaw? It’s nice to see Alex Gurney back in the series and doing well,
though it’s sad that he couldn’t translate a promising first year in
British F3 into a better ride over there. Looks like not all the teams made
the trip down to Monterrey.
Remember folks, the race will be shown tonight on Speed immediately after
CART qualifying coverage.
–
Ron Payne
accipit…@hotmailnospam.com
See my Field Guide To Open Wheel Race Cars:
http://members.fortunecity.com/1accipiter/field_guide.html
………………………………………………………..~o^=o>
Reply to group or E-mail address in message text.
Man it’s like going to another country. I mean I’m seeing CART commercials,
I’m not having to record qualifying while I sleep and watch it the next day,
good graphics, coverage, commentating is knowledgable (especially when
Beekhuis comes in). I was prompted to stand up in my living room and yell
"fuck you ABC".
The shifter cam in Michael’s car was cool to.
Did anybody else see the dueling microphones when interviewing Da Matta in
the pits? It was an ESPN mic, justg had to laugh.
… to find that the cart.com live broadcast is being done by the
international commentators Jeremy Shaw and Leigh Diffey.
They’ve just said that they will be broadcasting their TV coverage of the
race via cart.com, audio only of course. No pictures, but I’ll take it 
They are commentating directly for CART Radio at the moment.
Lets hope it’s not so wet tomorrow!
—
Pat (UK)
"If everything seems under control, you’re just not going fast enough." –
Mario Andretti
This has been fantastic coverage…plus next week 12 hours of Sebring, man
the work week is getting hard to take.
Thank you Speed Channel!
Well I am impressed at how many people stayed in the rain to watch
qualifying today. Sponsors have to love that. While listening to the
broadcast today I heard an estimate of the race crowd tomorrow might be
300,000. Any estimate on whether the race in Mexico City will be even
larger?
If so could this crowd exceed that of the Indy 500 in a few years?? I’m
curious as to whether this might develop into the CART crown jewel that
everyone talks about needing outside of Indy? In a way I kind of doubt that
the US crowd would accept it but it wouldn’t bother me.
Can’t wait for the race tomorrow. It should be a great race with some fast
cars having to come from the back. All in all am looking forward to a great
season.
One more tradition that I need to go through tonight though and I would like
to invite each of you to join me. The night before the season starts I just
say a short prayer that the year will be a safe one with no driver or fan
injuries.
–
Mark
Did anyone see how lean PT looks? My girlfriend actually said he’s
hot! I How much weight did he lose?
Sean
I found an article on the internet that said "In a keynote address at the
Motor Sport Business Conference in Monaco, CART senior vice president
marketing Richard Henley, said the series brand name was under review and
that the company would conduct a research program over the next year to see
how fans would respond."
That was late last year, so maybe I missed the discussion.