Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: CART finale exciting for fans, but not drivers

Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2001 | 9:46 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. Reach him at bh@lasvegassun.com or 259-4089.

CART's season finale Sunday at California Speedway may have been the most exciting Champ Car race ever from a fan's standpoint, but not every driver in the field was crazy about the close racing.

Because of the series' new speedway aerodynamic package, the Marlboro 500 -- which was shortened to 220 laps because of a rain-delayed start and impending darkness -- featured a CART-record 73 lead changes among 19 drivers and plenty of three- and four-wide racing in packs that resembled a NASCAR Winston Cup race at Daytona or Talladega.

"Most of the drivers don't like this kind of competition because it kind of put all the bad cars and the good cars about in the same level because the draft helps so much," race winner Cristiano da Matta said Tuesday.

"As drivers, I think everybody would like to see something like a wing package that if you have a good car in your hands, you can pull away (and) if you have a bad car in your hands, you're going to drop back. I mean, the race was a spectacular race; it's just I think we're running a little too close for the speeds we were running."

Las Vegas resident Alex Tagliani, who finished third Sunday, said the fans who watched the race weren't the only ones on the edges of their seats Sunday.

"It was pretty good, except when we were running four-wide, three-wide," Tagliani said. "You need to have confidence in everybody around you. You never know; you're just hoping that nobody is going to lose an engine in front of you or nobody will pick up a big understeer and touch wheels with you."

Tagliani said the side-by-side racing that seemed to go on forever amazed him.

"At one point in the race, I looked at the cars ahead of me, running three-wide, and I thought 'Those guys are (messed) up in the head,' " Tagliani said. "Then I looked to my left, then to my right, and I realized I was in the same situation. It was crazy.

"Sometimes it's luck (that there wasn't a big crash) but sometimes it's also the way we take care of each other and after many laps, we kind of know what is the turbulence and we have a lot of respect for each other."

Andy Hillenburg won the season finale and Lasoski finished in ninth place to claim his first WoO title by 30 points over Mark Kinser.

"I owe this all to Tony Stewart," Lasoski said. "He believed in me enough to help me put this team together. This team never gave up, and worked their tails off to get me here. I learned something from 'The King' (Steve Kinser) a couple of years ago: He won a championship when he only won four or five features, and the consistency is what we tried for all year long."

Lasoski won the championship with only four A-feature wins this season. Kinser, who finished seventh Saturday, was second in the points with 16 A-feature victories.

Hamilton suffered severe leg and foot injuries in a crash during an Indy Racing League race in June at Texas Motor Speedway and is continuing his recovery in Indianapolis.

Pankratz, the 2000 USAC Western Midget Car Series champion who will be driving in Las Vegas on Nov. 24, said he hopes to raise enough money to cover Hamilton's airfare and hotel accommodations.

"Irwindale is one of Davey's favorite tracks," Pankratz said. "He has always run well here and we think it would be great if he could be here with us on Thanksgiving Night.

"Davey Hamilton is just about everyone's favorite racing driver (and) we want to get him and his family out here to remind him of that at the racetrack."