Are We Really Going Racing Again?

Did someone say racing? Are the CART teams actually going racing?

True enough. Another schedule hiatus is over, and the CART/FedEx Traveling Show heads for Texas. It's the first time the series has visited this tri-oval, another clone in the Bruton Smith one-size-fits-all racing venues patterned after Charlotte -- or, in NASCAR-speak, Lowe's Motorspeedway.

These tracks are wicked fast. While the IRL has run at Texas without creating headlines, the NASCAR teams had a series of problems when the track first opened. It will be interesting to see the speeds at which the CART gang qualifies. It will also be worth a prayer or two -- if you're of that persuasion -- that there's a safe race come Sunday.

Here's the details ...

The Firestone Firehawk 600 Presented By Pioneer Fires Up On April 29th
"Kenny Brack, Christian Fittipaldi, Cristiano da Matta, Michael Andretti, Jimmy Vasser, and the rest of the CART FedEx drivers come to The Great American Speedway to compete in the Firestone Firehawk 600 Presented By Pioneer."

• April 29, 2 p.m. Local Time
• Texas 600, Texas Motor Speedway, Fort Worth, Texas, 1.5 Mile Oval
• Race will be telecast 3-6 p.m. (Eastern) on ESPN Live

Over the past couple of weeks, everyone with any insight, authority or ability to fabricate a believeable rumor was busy issuing press releases, granting interviews or speculating in print about a new CART engine formula that would make possible reconcilation with the IRL.

No surprise, really. No one was racing. What else was there to do except to talk about What might come to be ..., or in less polite terms, gossip.

But, if you're a techno-geek like me, you like a guy who can offer some hard facts, some numbers. Politics is politics. We know Toyota, Ford, Honda, GM and Nissan all have an axe to grind in one series or another, and so the egos tied up in those corporate towers would rather drink motor oil than let a competitor get the best of them.

Mark Cipolloni at Autoracing1 continues to provide some excellent insight on the issue. Grab your calculator and take a read this week. Here's a few interesting tidbits from his article.

• "However, in the last several months a normally aspirated, two HP-level, engine solution was proposed by CART's engine manufacturers to both CART and to the IRL for a common engine formula that would have served both series ...