Europeans learn about oval racing

Stephen Wade

Thursday, Sept. 27, 2001 | 2:26 a.m.

ROCKINGHAM, England - Europe got a quick study in American-style oval racing, and CART weathered its first trip to the continent despite tragedies there and at home.

The success of the European swing was tempered by the terrorist attacks at home and a nearly fatal accident in Germany.

Crowds were larger than what CART draws at many U.S. venues, and the races were exciting. But some competitors would have preferred not to race, especially in Klettwitz, Germany, just four days after the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.

"My initial feeling was that I just wanted to go home and be with my family and my friends and my loved ones," said Jimmy Vasser, CART's 1996 series champion.

Vasser's former teammate, two-time series champion Alex Zanardi, lost both legs after an accident in the German race, which was renamed the American Memorial 500.

Weather was a big problem in England. Europeans are used to races being run in the rain, so fans were puzzled by canceled practices and qualifying and a shortened event. Water seeping through the racing surface was a big problem at Rockingham Motor Speedway.

"Rain stops play on ovals," one British newspaper said, explaining that cars on slick tires can't race on ovals at 240 mph.

Formula One, this was not. But Europeans got a new experience at Rockingham and a week earlier at EuroSpeedway - a view of the entire layout and races decided on the track instead of in the pits.

"You will see more passing in one CART race than in an entire season in F1," Kenny Brack said.

Brack, who won in Germany and finished second to Gil de Ferran on Saturday in England, might have a point. But even that created a bit of confusion for Europeans, who had trouble figuring out who had the lead.

Without a doubt, CART won the fan-friendly contest against F1.

"You don't have to spend half your time bothering about politics," said car designer Gary Anderson, who was fired in a power struggle at F1's Jaguar team and now works for chassis builder Reynard. "Everybody just wants to go racing."

At both sites, fans were allowed to wander through the paddock area with drivers such as Michael Andretti casually signing autographs. Michael Schumacher or David Coulthard doing the same is unimaginable.

Former CART champion Juan Pablo Montoya, who showed up for the race in Rockingham, probably signed more autographs in the English paddock than he did the week before - after getting his first F1 victory in the Italian Grand Prix.

Coulthard is among many F1 drivers who believe their series is superior. Fellow Scotsman Dario Franchitti, who drives for Team Kool Green, begged to differ. If F1 drivers are better technically, CART drivers seem more daring.

"Tell DC to come over and play with us and we'll see who is superior," Franchitti said. "Look, technically Formula One is superior, which is hardly surprising since some of the teams there spend 10 times what even the big teams spend in CART.

"But the Formula One drivers are definitely not superior to us. We have to do a lot more overtaking. We have to drive the cars a lot more. Each series has its strong points and weak points."

Franchitti and several other drivers described the mood as "absolutely somber" after Zanardi's crash. As Zanardi rested in a Berlin trauma center, where both legs were amputated following the crash on Sept. 15 with Canadian Alex Tagliani, the highly popular Italian was constantly in the thoughts of many at the track Sunday.

"There's not five minutes that go by that I don't start thinking about him," Tagliani said.

He wasn't alone.

"We're thinking of U Alex," read black lettering on a white sheet hung on the main grandstand on race day in Rockingham.

Now, CART is back in America, and will race next Oct. 7 in Houston. It will try to remember the good things in Europe - mostly drawing about 80,000 fans in Germany and close to 40,000 in England - and move ahead from the bad.

"It has been a tough couple of weeks," Bryan Herta said. "But we hung in the there."