Pruett crashes the party

Doug Padilla

Sunday, Oct. 31, 1999 | 1:11 a.m.

FONTANA - The old veteran showed at California Speedway on Saturday that he's not gone yet, while the young rookie put himself in position to make a run at the championship in today's Marlboro 500.

Scott Pruett, a 10-year CART veteran who will be racing on the NASCAR Winston Cup circuit next season, posted an early qualifying speed of 235.398 mph on a windy mid-morning run, then watched anxiously as the rest of the field made unsuccessful attempts to catch him.

Juan Montoya, the series' rookie sensation, qualified third at 234.251, five positions ahead of Dario Franchitti, who leads the points standings. Montoya, who has won a rookie-record seven races this season, trails Franchitti by nine points in the battle for the championship.

Max Papis, who has yet to win a race in four CART seasons, qualified second in 234.544.

"The toughest thing was waiting until the end, because I really thought Max was going to take it away from us," Pruett said. "He's been running strong all weekend, he ran strong at the Michigan race, so I was sweating bullets while he was doing his run."

For Pruett, it is his second consecutive pole at Fontana. The Sacramento native, in his first season with Arciero-Wells Racing, was the first driver to win a pole position with a Toyota engine. The accomplishment came one day after the three-time defending champion Chip Ganassi Racing Team, with drivers Montoya and Jimmy Vasser, announced it was switching from Honda to Toyota engines beginning next season.

"A lot of people have asked me why I'm moving to Winston Cup," Pruett said. "Is it because of Toyota, the team, this, that? First and foremost, I think Toyota is going to get on top. That's the thing I see right now. We've had some tremendous runs in the past and we're up in front now."

Montoya only had a little problem with how events unfolded Saturday. He will start well ahead of Franchitti and was happy to see that Toyota, the engine he will be switching to next season, had an impressive performance.

"I'm a little disappointed about missing the pole and the championship point, but it's OK," Montoya said. "My car was perfect and there wasn't a tenth of a mile an hour left in it. When the first guys went out, the conditions were better, then the wind picked up and it was getting stronger all the time."

The scenario wasn't the greatest for Franchitti, but he is content knowing it could have been worse in his bid to hold off Montoya and win his first championship in his third CART season.

"If I couldn't be on the pole, I didn't want Juan to get it and collect that extra point," Franchitti said. "We'll be racing at the start, but we won't be going all out. I want to stay in touch with the leaders, but I won't be looking to lead every lap."

Papis is considered a driver to beat this weekend despite the fact that he has yet to pick up his first career CART victory. He has finished second, fourth and third in his last three races, and in July, he dominated the U.S. 500 at Michigan Speedway, a track similar to California Speedway.

"Everyone wants to win this race and I don't want to get in the way for the championship with Dario and Juan," Papis said. "I'm going to run my race as hard as possible. There is no revenge because of Michigan. It was just another event."

It was Papis that pointed out at the post-qualifying press conference that the past, present and future of Toyota engines took the top three spots for today's race.

Papis, who races Ford engines for Team Rahal, raced Toyotas for Arciero-Wells the past three years before being replaced by Pruett this year. Montoya will be Toyota's highest-profile driver next season.

"This is really, really amazing," Pruett said. "The fact that it's my last CART race makes it that much more meaningful for me personally, and to be able to make history is special."

It might be a good omen for Toyota that it was Pruett who won the first pole position with one of their engines. At Michigan Speedway in 1995, Pruett was the first driver to win with Firestone tires in the company's return to CART. Firestone now is the tire of choice, leading to the announcement earlier this week that Goodyear no longer will make tires for the series.

"No one will ever be able to do this again," Pruett said of his accomplishment with a Toyota engine. "There's just nothing like being first."