Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: LV’s Patrick Carpentier looking for a new team

Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2002 | 9:37 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at bh@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4089.

Nothing is official, but it appears Las Vegas resident Patrick Carpentier will not be driving for Player's/Forsythe Racing in the CART FedEx Championship Series next season.

"It's certainly looking that way," Carpentier said during a teleconference Tuesday. "I think that that's the way it's heading and that's the way it's going to be. That's actually everything we're doing and everything we're working on -- to move on."

Carpentier, who has won two of the past three CART races and is second in the championship with seven races remaining, said he is talking to several CART and IRL teams. Persistent rumors have him heading to CART's Newman/Haas Racing to replace one of its two departing drivers, Christian Fittipaldi and Cristiano da Matta, and Carpentier admitted he has been talking with team owner Carl Haas.

Team owner Gerald Forsythe already has hired another Las Vegas resident, Paul Tracy, to drive one of his two cars next season, meaning either Carpentier or fellow Las Vegan Alex Tagliani is out after this season.

Carpentier said that the timing of Tracy's hiring was "not very good."

"I think that the question that a lot of people ask is not why did they hire Paul Tracy, because everybody knows why they hired Paul Tracy," Carpentier said. "A lot of teams wanted him. But it's just at a point when the team is coming together and I've had the strongest year with the team in a long time, and we may have a shot at the championship.

"It is my best year ever. I feel I'm ready to win races and win championships. So I think the timing is not very good. But sometimes that's life. Maybe it's time to move on for both of us -- or maybe it's not. We will see in the next few weeks."

While Carpentier said he would not rule out a move to a competitive IRL team, his preference would be to remain in CART, with its blend of ovals, street and road courses.

"I'm really enjoying what I'm doing now," he said. "I really enjoy these tracks ... and I think this series has 18 drivers who are some of the best drivers in the world. I think both series have good and bad sides but right now the only thing I can tell is at the moment I have nothing firmed up.

"I like ovals and I like road courses. (But) if there is no opening for me in CART, and I (could) be with a top team that would support me and give me the equipment to win races, then I would go somewhere where I believe I can win races."

Hearn, a Henderson resident, broke his ankle in a crash on lap 24 of Sunday's race at Kentucky Speedway and underwent surgery Sunday night at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis. Hearn was listed in good condition Tuesday and team owner Schmidt said Hearn likely would be on crutches for six weeks. The IRL season ends Sept. 15.

"We still have Anthony under contract as a driver, so we're going to test him (Tuesday and Wednesday at Gateway) and see how it goes," Schmidt said. "He raced there last year and tested there last year so we think we can get up to speed with that program."

Lazzaro had a pair of ninth-place finishes in four starts this season for Schmidt but did not qualify for the Indianapolis 500. Hearn, who finished sixth at Indy in a second Schmidt Motorsports car, has been driving for the team since Indy.

Luyendyk, the 20-year-old son of two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Arie Luyendyk, was treated and released from Saint Louis University hospital about three hours after hitting the wall in Turn 2.