Waiting Game

Okay, I'm jealous. The straight-line NHRA hot rods burned rubber at Pomona over the weekend. The email lists and Web sites buzz with the countdown numbers for the Daytona 500.

But we CART/FedEx Series fans are stuck in the groundhog's hole, waiting for the March open wheel opener down in Mexico.

Until then, we're stuck touring the 'Net.

And with all that, now we have believe we may not be "flyin' down to Rio" either. Autoracing1's Ed Donath is on top of the story complete with a cell phone call from a certain legendary Brazilian driver. Note the talk about what this could do to CART economically. I'd venture there are more Brazilian drivers in CART than any other nationality, and they bring South American sponsorship dollars.

Rio held hostage
Ed Donath
February 3, 2001
"The Brazilian O Globo newspaper had just reported that the financial conflicts surrounding this event are, again, listed in the 'unsettled' column. The City of Rio de Janeiro passed a measure that took effect on Jan. 1, 2001, authorizing 'added' fees to be collected by the city in order for the CART event to receive the City Council's final approval. Additionally, Rio's City Council and its recently re-elected Mayor, Cesar Maia, have indicated that they will not pay any CART sanctioning fees in excess of the $1.2 million that was originally assessed by CART for the inaugural Rio race in 1996." Get the scoop here on Autoracing1.com.

Mayor Cancels Rio CART Race Again
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Feb. 2
Less than a week after putting the CART event in Rio de Janeiro on administrative hold, only to see it put on life support by a proposed $2m grant by the state's governor Anthony Garotinho, mayor Cesar Maia again pulled the plug on the March 25th event, in an announcement made by city solicitor general Júlio Rebello Horta.
Speedvision's take on the story.

Whenever I watch something like the Rolex 24, I always think of the movie LeMans, which starred the late actor - and sometime racer - Steve McQueen. Minimal dialogue, great atmosphere shots, absolutely riveting racing, LeMans is worth the few bucks it'd take to pick it up at a video store.

FUMES by Methanol Boy
The Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona Opens The 2001 Racing Season.
Detroit. The "Rolex 24" runs this Saturday starting at 12:30 p.m. EST. Speedvision will feature flag-to-flag, continuous "live" coverage for the first time in the event's history. For road-racing aficionados, the 24 Hour marks the beginning of the season and reminds us that spring isn't that far away. Though it certainly lacks the glamour and history of Le Mans, it is clearly this continent's toughest endurance test and (along with the 12 Hours of Sebring) one of two of North America's most prestigious road-racing events. We recall watching ABC's "Wide World of Sports" when it was the Daytona "Continental," a three-hour event (broadcast in black & white of course) that featured all the current stars of the day like Dan Gurney, Phil Hill, Roger Penske et al.

The copyright of the article Waiting Game in CART Auto Racing is owned by Gary Presley. Permission to republish Waiting Game in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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