Prayer service replaces usual celebrations

Wednesday, Nov. 3, 1999 | 8:30 a.m.

FONTANA, Calif. -- The tragic death of Player's/Forsythe Racing driver Greg Moore during Sunday's Marlboro 500 at California Speedway moved CART chairman and CEO Andrew Craig to cancel both Adrian Fernandez's victory-lane celebration and Juan Montoya's series championship festivities.

Instead of the customary postrace celebrations, all drivers, crews and spectators took part in a brief prayer service at the conclusion of the race, and observed a moment of silence in Moore's memory.

Craig explained his decision to let the race continue after Moore was pronounced dead at a local hospital.

"(Canceling the race), I'm fairly certain, would not have been what (Moore's) family would have wanted," said Craig, who met with Moore's parents and girlfriend at Loma Linda Medical Center.

"The race was in progress, (the accident) did not involve anybody other than a competitor ... and given that, the decision was made to continue the race. We felt the appropriate thing was to continue with the race but to cancel all the usual things that happen after events."

Craig said he met with series sponsors Federal Express and PPG Industries and all parties agreed to cancel tonight CART awards banquet. But after speaking with Moore's family, Craig said the banquet will go on as planned.

"At the specific request of Greg's family, they very much want the banquet to go ahead and we're going to honor their request," Craig said. "We will honor our champions and we'll do that in the memory of Greg Moore."

* MIXED RESULTS: Of the four Southern Nevada residents who compete in the CART FedEx Championship Series, only one -- Jimmy Vasser of Las Vegas -- was running at the end of Sunday's 500-mile race.

Vasser started fourth in the 27-car field and finished in fifth place and moved up one spot to ninth in the final series points standings.

Paul Tracy of Las Vegas started 19th on the grid but drove to the lead in 37 laps and led the race on two different occasions for nine laps. Tracy's day was cut short, however, when an electrical problem sidelined his Team Kool Green Reynard/Honda after 141 laps.

Tracy did manage to finish the season third in points behind Montoya and Dario Franchitti, and 10 points ahead of Michael Andretti.

Henderson's Richie Hearn was the first car to drop out of the race when he hit the inside retaining wall after spinning coming out of Turn 2. Hearn, who was not injured in the crash, was credited with 27th place and finished 22nd in the series' final points standings.

Patrick Carpentier, a new resident of Las Vegas and Moore's teammate, saw his day end after 21 laps due to an electrical problem. He finished 25th in the race and 13th in the championship.

* TRACY HONORED: In what has to be considered one of auto racing's most impressive turnarounds, Tracy was voted CART's Most Improved Driver by his peers in the FedEx Championship Series.

Tracy, involved in several accidents last year that ultimately led to his one-race suspension from this season's opener in Homestead, Fla., won two races this year and finished third in the championship.

* FOND FAREWELL: Two drivers who are leaving CART to race elsewhere next season -- Al Unser Jr. and Scott Pruett -- will be honored by the FedEx Championship Series.

Prior to Sunday's Marlboro 500, CART chairman and CEO Andrew Craig asked Unser and Pruett to hand over their driving shoes following the race. Craig said CART planned to have the shoes bronzed and mounted on special commemorative plaques, which will be presented to the drivers at a later date.

Unser, who will drive in the rival Indy Racing League next season, was the CART series champion in 1990 and 1994 and has 31 victories and 80 podium finishes. He finished in seventh place Sunday.

Pruett, who is leaving CART to compete in NASCAR's Winston Cup Series, has two CART wins and five poles. Pruett sat on the pole for Sunday's race, but retired after 48 laps with an engine problem.

* RACING FOR A CAUSE: Former CART driver Stefan Johansson will team with actor Anthony Edwards in forming Team CAN, a charitable non-profit organization dedicated solely to finding an effective biological treatment, prevention and cure for autism and related disorders.

Johansson announced that Johansson Motorsports and CAN, an acronym for "Cure Autism Now," will become partners for the year 2000 to field a one-car effort in the FedEx Championship Series, as well as a one-car effort in the Indianapolis 500.

"We are focusing on taking the issue outside of the community directly affected by autism and bringing it into the mainstream," Johansson said. "Racing fans are among the most generous group of people I know, and because of that, I know they will rally around this cause."

* TRACY'S CREW TOPS: Tracy's Team Kool Green crew won the inaugural Craftsman Pit Crew Challenge competition that was held in conjunction with the Marlboro 500.

TKG crew chief Tony Cotman's charges claimed the $50,000 first prize by averaging 37.65 seconds on a pair of pit stops. The crew for Max Papis (Team Rahal) finished second, followed by the crews for Michael Andretti (Newman-Haas Racing) and Juan Montoya (Target/Chip Ganassi Racing).

"Early in the year, this was one of the goals we set for ourselves," Tracy said. "Good results were kind of slow in coming at the start of the season. It really wasn't until mid-season that we started scoring some points and always it was because we had great pit stops."