Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: De Ferran to go all out at Fontana

Friday, Nov. 2, 2001 | 11:19 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand's motor sports notebook appears Friday. Reach him at bh@lasvegassun.com or 259-4089.

FONTANA, Calif. -- Two weeks ago, Gil de Ferran talked about his frustration over not being able to challenge for the win in a race at Laguna Seca Raceway. Although he said he had the car to chase down eventual race winner Max Papis in the closing laps, he had to back off to protect his points lead.

Now that de Ferran has clinched his second straight CART championship, the 33-year-old Brazilian doesn't have to worry about driving a conservative race and can shoot for the $1 million first-place check being offered in Sunday's season-ending Marlboro 500 at California Speedway.

"With or without a million dollars, if you enter a race you want to win it," de Ferran said. "Certainly, last year in Fontana, it was a race where our strategy was very biased towards the championship and not winning that particular race, even though we had a race-winning car for sure.

"I think the big difference this year is that we will be able to play our cards to try to win the race which, I can tell you right now, is not going to be easy."

A year ago, de Ferran set a world closed-course speed record of 241.428mph in capturing the pole for the race -- a mark that is not likely to be challenged this year because of aerodynamic changes made to the cars. De Ferran went on to finish third in the race, which was completed on Monday when rain halted the race on Sunday after 33 laps, and capture his first CART championship in his first year with Marlboro Team Penske.

Whether or not he wins Sunday's race, de Ferran already has assured himself a million-dollar payday at the CART awards banquet next week in Las Vegas. By clinching the title last weekend in Australia, de Ferran earned the $1 million championship bonus.

More importantly, de Ferran became only the fourth driver in CART history to win back-to-back championships, joining Rick Mears (1981-82), Bobby Rahal (1986-87) and Alex Zanardi (1997-98).

"Never in a million years did I ever think I would achieve this much success," de Ferran said. "For me to be speaking as a two-time champion is very special. I guess it hasn't completely sunk in yet. All I can think is I'm a very fortunate person to be driving for a guy like Roger (Penske) and a team like we have.

"I've been living in a dream since I joined the team two years ago. My life has been wonderful from a personal and professional standpoint."

The four Las Vegas residents competing in the race each have their own motivation -- other than the million-dollar bonus -- for winning Sunday's race.

Paul Tracy was leading the 1998 Marlboro 500 with five laps to go when he spun out on the restart and was relegated to a 14th-place finish.

"It has been a tough year, but I guess if we end up only winning once race, Fontana is the one to win," Tracy said. "It would be a good way to end the season for everybody at Team KOOL Green, and there are a million great reasons why everybody wants to win at Fontana so the racing will be flat-out, no-holds-barred."

Patrick Carpentier would like to win the race to prove his win in the 500-mile race at Michigan in July -- his first career CART win -- was not a fluke. A podium finish also would allow Carpentier, now ninth in points, to climb as high as sixth in the final standings.

"It would be great to cap the season with a win at Fontana because that would deliver another message that we're going to be a major force in the 2002 series," Carpentier said. "Besides, the one-million-dollar bonus for winning this race would be a nice reward for all the guys on Team Player's who have played such a big role in our success this year.

"We've made some good progress this year, with a race win and six podiums, and that's definitely something to build on. Winning on the two-mile super oval in Michigan a few months ago for my first CART win adds to my confidence going into the Fontana race."

Alex Tagliani, Carpentier's teammate at Team Player's, was running third last year when he lost his engine and spun out on the penultimate lap and finished sixth.

"I remember what a disappointing finish it was in Fontana last year and I'm determined not to let that happen again," Tagliani said. "This time I'm going to Fontana with more experience under my belt and I hope that, like last year, Team Player's is in a position to win going into the last few laps. If that happens, I'm convinced we can get the job done.

"I know I've been saying for the past few weeks that I believe I can get my first CART win by the end of the season. Well, it's down to one race and I'm going to go all out to come up with a win, not just for myself but for the entire Team Player's crew."

Jimmy Vasser, the 1996 CART champion, won the Marlboro 500 in 1998. A strong showing this weekend could result in a top-10 points finish for Vasser.

Lasoski held only a seven-point edge over Kinser going into Tuesday's O'Reilly Grand Finale at State Fair Speedway in Oklahoma City, where Lasoski finished fifth and Kinser took 12th.

Kinser, who has 16 A-feature wins this season to Lasoski's four, needs to beat Lasoski by eight positions in both Friday's and Saturday's main events to capture his third WoO championship.

Spectator gates open at 5 p.m. both days and qualifying begins at 6.

Ray, who was fired earlier this year by team owner John Menard, will join 1996 IRL co-champion Scott Sharp as Kelley's drivers for the 2002 season.

A link to the auction, which includes 22 items donated by F1 drivers, can be found at www.usgpindy.com. Bidding on the items closes on Nov. 10.

Among the cars going on the auction block will be the NASCAR Winston Cup cars of Jeff Gordon, Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt; Formula One cars of Michael Schumacher, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna; CART cars of Mario Andretti, Jacques Villeneuve and Juan Montoya; and Joe Amato's Top Fuel dragster and John Force's Funny Car.

The cars will be auctioned at the Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale Classic Car Auction from Jan. 17-20. The 30,000-square-foot, two-level Race Rock closed in April.