Herta’s team getting up to speed

Tim Puet

Thursday, July 12, 2001 | 8:06 a.m.

His engine no longer silent, Bryan Herta is starting to make some noise on the CART circuit.

That's good news for Zakspeed-Forsythe Racing, which last year at this time was hoping just to get on the track.

The team, then known as Forsythe Championship Racing, was the only one in the series to choose a Swift chassis. But preseason testing showed it wasn't competitive.

So the team was idle for all but one race, although owner Gerald Forsythe paid the salaries of the crewmen. Team manager Steve Dickson was grateful, but he missed the excitement of racing.

"It was a lot more difficult than we thought to just sit around, prepare for next year and do maintenance work at our shop," he said. "It was essentially harder than just doing the work we love and were trained for."

Now, after Herta's finish of third two weeks ago in the Cleveland Grand Prix, it's on to Toronto to see if there's any momentum. And, with a driver whose strength is road-course racing, Forsythe's team could be a contender again Sunday in the Molson Indy.

At least progress has been made, starting with the team switching this year to a Reynard chassis and Ford engine. It used that combination in its only race last season, in Laguna Seca, Calif., where Herta finished fourth after winning there the previous two years for Team Rahal.

"That provided us with some real encouragement, that with the right package, we could be competitive with anybody," Dickson said. "Things haven't gone as well as we'd hoped this year, but what happened in Cleveland reaffirmed the feeling we got during testing and early in the season that we had a really good car."

Dickson doesn't consider the team a championship contender this year. But he thinks a top-10 points finish is not unrealistic. Herta jumped eight positions to 15th with his finish in Cleveland, his best since 1999.

"Finishing third was so huge for myself and the team that it really felt like a victory for us," Herta said. "It was a lot of fun racing up front again."

He concedes this season has been a struggle but says the team learned much last month in Portland, Ore., that carried over to Cleveland. There, the crew performed well in a contending situation.

Unlike his crew, the driver from California was busy at the track last season. He replaced injured drivers in five events for the Mo Nunn and Walker teams besides driving for Forsythe in Laguna Seca.

"It may not look that way on paper, but last year wasn't a bad one for me," Herta said. "Everybody I talked to seemed to want me to be miserable over not having a ride, but that wasn't the case.

"I'm 30 years old and have been racing for 18 years, so it was nice to have a little break. Now I'm ready to go another 18 years."

The irregular schedule gave Herta the opportunity to spend considerable time with his wife and two children. And he was able to put to good use knowledge he gained from watching other teams.

Now, his team would like to gain a sponsor.

Dickson believes that will make a big difference.

"As a one-car team with a limited budget, we can't work as independently as the teams with additional cars or more resources," he said. "Bryan and his input are a big help, but the more resources you have, the more information you can get, and that's a big factor in winning."