Da Matta trying to escape Andretti legacy

Tim Puet

Thursday, Aug. 16, 2001 | 5:21 a.m.

Cristiano da Matta's biggest problem might be that he isn't Michael Andretti.

The 27-year-old Brazilian was picked as Andretti's replacement with Newman-Haas Racing after CART's leader in career victories ended a 10-year association with the team and moved to Barry Green's new Team Motorola.

It looked like co-owners Carl Haas and Paul Newman had pulled off a coup when da Matta began the season with a victory in Mexico and a second-place finish in Long Beach, Calif.

The euphoria of that start is long gone, though, and da Matta is having difficulty getting his crew accustomed to a new way of doing things.

"Michael had a very peculiar driving style that was all his own and the car still does a lot of things I don't necessarily like because it's been set up for different tracks the way Michael liked it," da Matta said. "I'm asking my crew members to do things differently now, and they're very willing to, but I know the changes are something they're not used to."

Still, the 27-year-old Brazilian is tied for sixth in the CART points race as he gets ready for Sunday's Motorola 220 at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis.

Da Matta says he's not intimidated by his role as Andretti's successor at Newman-Haas.

"People have asked me whether Andretti left me with big shoes to fill, but I say that he hasn't been doing that great anyway lately, so it's not that big of a shoe," he said. "He won last year but so did I, and I've won one race this year and so has he. He's a big name and a good driver, but so am I."

Da Matta has left three races this year, two of them on the opening lap, because of contact with other cars, and said he can't pinpoint a particular reason for his difficulties in other events.

"We've been trying to find out what's happened and it's been a bunch of things," he said. "We had a lucky period at first, it seemed to have gone away and now I think we're coming together again."

After a finish of 10th on Sunday in Lexington, Ohio, da Matta trails leader Kenny Brack by 34 points with eight races remaining.

Kenny Siwieck, assistant team manager for Newman-Haas, is impressed with da Matta's demeanor.

"He's very composed and very analytical, whether during a race or in practice or qualifying, and that's a very important quality," Siwieck said. "Cristiano is still pretty young, but has a professional attitude that goes far beyond his years."

Don Hoevel, da Matta's chief mechanic, describes him as a driver who knows what he wants and has been trained very well. Hoevel is optimistic about the team's future.

"We're learning his ways and he's learning ours, and it's been a good experience," Hoevel said.

Siwieck, Hoevel and other Newman-Haas employees are actively pushing da Matta as a candidate in fan balloting for CART's most popular driver award.

The campaign's centerpeice is a sticker featuring the 5-foot-4 driver in his racing suit - posing like a body builder. The tagline reads: "130 pounds of pure nice guy."

Even some of his rivals have da Matta's sticker on their paddock bikes and scooters. Teammate Christian Fittipaldi put one on his helmet.

"The whole thing was the team's idea, not mine," da Matta said. "I tried to get them to bump me up to 140 pounds."

Da Matta, like most drivers, follows a regular fitness regimen and finished first among 77 novice competitors in a mini-triathlon in Miami earlier this month when CART had an off week.

He swam a half-mile, rode a bicycle 10 miles and finished a 3.1-mile run in a combined 1 hour, 10 minutes.

"Fortunately, no one was good in all three areas," he said. "I survived the swim and run and was strong on the bike. I ride a bicycle nearly every day and if I wasn't racing cars, I'd either be racing bikes or playing my guitar."

Da Matta said he was invited by Kenny Brack and Patrick Carpentier to join the musical group they have formed which plays at some races. But he turned them down.

"I haven't done much with the guitar because I've been too busy racing and I don't want to compromise my performance on the track," da Matta said. "I'm not here to play guitar."