Rumor becomes reality with The Captain's decision to pilot Team Penske once again into the waters of the legendary Indy 500. You can't say Penske has been deceived by the seeming ease of Ganassi's success last year. Penske has won there ... and also has gone before race day after a nasty spanking in qualifying. Nevertheless, his team of de Ferran and Castroneves should be every bit as good as Ganassi's two rookies or any other CART FedEx team that shows up to qualify. Of course, the Penske team knows enough to sandbag, "Unlike Ganassi, we're a year behind," said team president Tom Cindric.
Team Penske returning to Indy 500
By Curt Cavin
Indianapolis Star
Jan. 18, 2001
FONTANA, Calif. -- On a cold Wednesday in southern California, the
competition at the Indianapolis 500 heated up.
Marlboro Team Penske ended months of speculation by confirming it will
return to racing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where team owner Roger
Penske has won a record 10 500s.
Full story
The Penske story emanated from the CART FedEx Sneak Peek at Fontana last week.Among other interesting announcements, we learned the undeniably deserving Bryan Herta will be back in a driver's seat for the 2001 season.
The team is something of a hybrid, but at least Herta is getting a shot at a season-long ride. Maybe.
Zakspeed/Forsythe driver lineup finalized.
By John Crowley
FONTANA, Calif. -- The members of Zakspeed/Forsythe Racing assembled publicly for the first time Thursday in the media room at California Speedway. Other than the crisp white polo shirts, at first glance the four members of the first-year team had little in common -- a German owner in Peter Zakowski, an American Champ Car veteran in Bryan Herta, a German Champ Car rookie in Marcel Tiemann and an American team manager in Tony Brunetti.
Full story.
Everyone in racing seems bouyed by the news that CART FedEx is returning to Montreal. CART always does well in Canada, last year drawing nearly a third of a million fans to the two events held in The Great White North. One thing setting the Internet auto racing discussion lists abuzz about the announcement is that the Champ cars will be running on the same venue as the F-1 glamour boys. It'll be interesting to compare times.
Champ cars will race in Montreal
The Associated Press
FONTANA, Calif. (AP) -- The CART FedEx Series is adding a new Canadian venue, racing in Montreal for the first time in August 2002.
