"My Kind of Town," da Matta sings.

But not Max Papis' kind of town. Max couldn't get started at the CART's race this past Sunday, taking his flaming Miller Lite ride directly to the pits during warm-up laps.

At least Papis made the race. Christian Fittipaldi took a hard shot into the wall during practice Friday, came away unconscious and was forced to withdraw.

That meant a field of 24 cars, until Papis went up in flames.

With the race underway, pole-sitter Juan Montoya took up where he left off in Michigan, at the head of the pack where he stayed to lead the first 20+ laps. There was a nice mix of engines at the front - a Toyota, Helio Castroneves' Honda, a Ford, and a Mercedes.

Then Memo Gidley overran Gualter Salles, and the caution flag flew.

That Honda apparently didn't like the caution, for Castroneves' engine either cracked a header or swallowed a couple of valves, resulting in another yellow flag.

Everyone headed for the pits, except for Brack and Vasser. As the troops got ready for the charge, Montoya found himself starting from 6th position.

And stacked up behind a slower Tarso Marques. A threat of a black flag - and a daring outside pass - got him by and in pursuit of Brack. Watching the black flag being brandished at Marques makes a fan wonder if it wasn't being held in the hand of Mr. Favoritism, for Tarso wasn't blocking and he was fighting for position. Montoya finally made an outside pass, with Marques racing him hard but cleanly.

Then the Green Machine threw a rod ...

Tracy stuck a nose under Franchitti, and Franchitti came down on him. Both Team Kool Green cars spun into the wall, and team-owner Barry Green walked over to the TV cameras and blamed the blond bad boy. Second-guessing from behind the TV remote control makes that judgement hard to swallow too.

That meant a rush to the pits, where leader Kenny Brack, who really needed the yellow flag at lap 70-something, prompting stalled his car and handed the lead back to Montoya.

From there on out, it was long green runs punctuated by motors, gearboxes or electrical systems collapsing - including Juan Montoya's. Other victims included Tony Kanaan, Shinji Nakano and Oriol Servia. Oddly, Montoya's came during a caution brought on by Patrick Carpentier spinning into the wall while attempting a pass.

With Montoya out, the field was down to 11 cars, Cristiano da Matta shaking out as leader and Michael Andretti following.

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