CART talks could stall

Monday, April 30, 2001 | 10:03 a.m.

The decision by Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) to indefinitely postpone Sunday's Firestone Firehawk 600 at Texas Motor Speedway due to safety concerns also may have put the brakes on negotiations to bring a CART race to Las Vegas Motor Speedway next year.

Before Sunday, CART and LVMS were said to be close to an agreement that would bring the world's fastest closed course racecars to Las Vegas in 2002. Reportedly, about all that had yet to be worked out was a suitable date.

But all that changed when CART pulled out of Texas, a sister track to LVMS run by Bruton Smith's Speedway Motorsports Inc. TMS officials were upset that CART waited so long to address the issue of blistering speeds approaching 240 mph at the 1.5-mile, high-banked Texas track and the excessive G forces they produce.

Twenty-one of the 25 drivers who qualified for Sunday's race complained of dizziness after extended practice runs during the weekend and said they did not feel comfortable competing under those circumstances.

According to sources at the scene, the drivers were ready to pack up on Saturday night before Smith intervened. Smith, according to reports, told CART that failure to race on Sunday would jeopardize a Las Vegas race and any future races at Smith-owned tracks.

But other reports said CART would try to make good on the Texas commitment by offering to reschedule the race in Las Vegas later this year.

LVMS general manager Chris Powell refused to speculate on how Sunday's decision would impact the CART-to-LVMS negotiations.

"This is something I don't have any experience with," Powell said Sunday afternoon. "We'll just have to wait and see."

But others were quick to voice their opinions.

Robin Miller, who covers open-wheel racing for ESPN's RPM2Night, said the Texas decision "completely destroyed" any potential partnership between CART and LVMS. Miller also questioned the viability of CART moving its headquarters from Michigan to Las Vegas, as it has hinted it might do, without a race here.

While Miller and others chastised CART for not addressing the safety situation sooner, they also praised the sanctioning body for listening to its drivers and erring on the side of safety.

"If I was pulling 6 G's or 5 G's at Texas, I wouldn't be going out there, either," said NASCAR star Jeff Gordon, who finished second in Sunday's Winston Cup race at California Speedway. "It was very big of them to do what they did -- I take my hat off to them -- but, boy, they are going to suffer a lot from it.

"To do it the day of the race, that's going to be very tough on them because they're going to get criticized, I'm sure, for that. But I think in the drivers' minds, they did what was right.

"I've flown with the Blue Angels before and I know what tunnel vision is and it's no fun; I can't imagine driving out there like that. I really don't want to see them out there and getting hurt."

Added Rusty Wallace, who won Sunday's NASCAR race at Fontana: "I know the CART cars are so doggone fast and Texas is a little bit rough. For those guys to run over 240 miles per hour, you've got to be some brave individuals to do that. I think the guts probably ran out and the brains started kicking in because to hit a wall at over 240, that's a bad deal."

You don't have to remind Las Vegas resident Patrick Carpentier of that. Carpentier suffered a broken wrist at the Long Beach Grand Prix earlier this month during a crash in which he was traveling less than half as fast as the cars at Texas.

"I know it's disappointing for the fans ... (but) there was no way we could race under these conditions," said Carpentier, who posted the second-fastest qualifying speed -- 233.345 mph -- on Saturday. "Four drivers almost passed out whey they got out of their cars (on Saturday)."

But another Las Vegas driver was one of the few who thought racing was possible on the Texas high banks.

Paul Tracy, who has a reputation for being a hard-headed tough guy, reportedly was one of only two drivers (polesitter Kenny Brack was the other) who did not experience problems with vertigo.

"We're here, we're racing here," Tracy said on Saturday. "Deal with it."