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A Mile Ain't Far Enough

© Gary Presley

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A Mile Ain't Far Enough

I don't think I'm too hard to please. Hey, I know the hot shoes from the various CART-FedEx teams are out there risking their lives to put on a good show. But I also think the show is not uppermost in their collective minds. No, I'd guess it would be something more like a win, or maybe a good performance for their sponsor or team owner, or maybe even the prosaic things like family and finances about which we all worry.

Okay, what's the point?

I didn't much like the race at Chicago last week. The one-mile paperclip-shaped track just didn't seem to lend itself to the type of racing that trips my trigger. I loved Michigan. The super ovals provide the pressure cooker that brings out the maximum in car and driver and team. I like Cleveland. A left-right course laid out on a perfectly flat airport surface, with plenty of room for run-off if a driver makes the wrong move. But you can put the one-mile ovals right down there with street courses as far as I'm concerned.

A one-mile oval just doesn't provide the setting to show the best in CART racing.

Personal opinion? Sure, but, hey, I'm an average fan. I get my racing fix via the tube, and last Sunday I found my finger itching on the Previous Channel button for the TV remote. The NASCAR lead sleds were at Pocono, and I gotta admit I ended up switching back and forth between the races.

Last week, with the NASCAR gang at the Loudon, New Hampshire one-mile track, I hit the remote only when the CART telecast went to commercial. Good grief, I thought, are they really movin' that slow? This week I found myself wishing the two series could swap tracks. It would've made for a more interesting race for the CART gang for sure. Imagine the champ cars on that 3700 foot straight-away at Pocono.

Chicago had its moments, of course, and, perhaps the most telling came close to the end. Maurico Gugelmin accomplished a no-contact spin as the race drew to a close. Some pitted. Some didn't. Most of those stopping took on fuel. One or two took on tires.

And then Kenny Brack gave them all a lesson in the Fine Art of the Re-start. The savvy Swede suckered 'em all. Slow at first, quick when he needed to be, and like a rocket when the green flag dropped, Brack shot out to an appreciable lead and proved untouchable to the end.

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