No joking about da Matta’s star potential

Mike Harris

Thursday, Aug. 3, 2000 | 8:19 a.m.

Cristiano da Matta is much more than the subject of a one-liner nowadays. "Da Matta, What's da Matta?" the joke went.

No more. The 26-year-old Brazilian won Sunday for the first time in his CART career.

And he certainly didn't back into it, even though defending series champion Juan Montoya fell out of the Target Grand Prix with an electrical problem. Da Matta won with points leader Michael Andretti looming in the mirror at Chicago Motor Speedway.

Da Matta took the lead during the final round of green-flag pit stops, and never faltered against Andretti, the career leader in CART victories.

"He was pretty impressive," Andretti said. "I just couldn't get close enough."

Da Matta came to Champ cars at the start of the 1999 season after an Indy Lights championship. His first year with Cal Wells' PPI Motorsports was mostly a learning experience, although da Matta showed flashes of promise.

A fourth-place finish in Nazareth was not only his best of that first season. It was until this year Toyota's top result.

This season, the improvement continued as da Matta began to run consistently among the top five. Mechanical problems and some bad luck stopped him in several races, but he had five top-10 finishes - including a career-best third in Cleveland - before winning.

Wells has no doubts about da Matta's ability. Just a week before the driver gave the car owner his first CART win in his six years in the series, Wells exercised his option to keep da Matta next season.

"We had until October, but the other owners were starting to get too interested," Wells said. "I felt the distraction was becoming a little too much. I wanted to make sure this is where he wanted to be. Then we just got it done.

"He's a gentleman and a nice guy, and the right guy to fill Jeff Krosnoff's shoes."

Krosnoff was the driver Wells wanted to build his team around, but he was killed in a wreck during a race four years ago in Toronto.

Krosnoff was followed by Max Papis, who moved to Team Rahal, and Scott Pruett, who now drives for Wells' new NASCAR team. But it wasn't until da Matta came along that Wells believed he found the right driver to take his team to the next level.

So, how good is this kid?

"He's fabulous," Wells said. "I don't think most people have any idea how good he is because he's just getting started."

Most people do know how good Montoya is. The 24-year-old Colombian burst out of the European Formula 3000 series last year to win seven poles, seven races and the CART championship.

Although he also has struggled with mechanical problems and bad luck this year, Montoya has won two more CART races as well as the rival Indy Racing League's Indianapolis 500.

Now, Montoya might be heading back to Europe to drive for Team Williams in Formula One.

Would that make da Matta the up-and-coming star of CART?

"It's hard to compare Cristiano to Montoya," Wells said. "Montoya's got an emotional advantage. He's ice cold. I think Cristiano has more emotion in the race car.

"But I believe Cristiano is one of the top two or three on this pit lane, and that makes him one of the top 10 or so in the world."

Da Matta demurs when asked to compare himself with the best drivers in the world. But he doesn't believe in false modesty.

"I know I'm a good race driver," he said. "If I didn't have confidence in what I do, I couldn't be out there.

"But I also know I'm still learning, still finding out what it takes to finish consistently, to score points and to win races."

The folks at CART would love to see da Matta establish himself as a star, especially with some people calling CART a developmental series for Formula One.

Alex Zanardi, who preceded Montoya with Chip Ganassi's team and won the previous two championships, went to F1 - following the route of 1995 CART champion Jacques Villeneuve.

Now, Montoya and fellow CART ace Dario Franchitti are about to decide whether to make the move to F1.

Does that mean da Matta is eventually heading that way, too?

"I'm very happy in this series, and I'd like to win more races and win championships here," he said. "You never know for sure what the future holds, but right now, I'm here."