Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: LV’s Tracy looks to maintain fast start

Friday, June 7, 2002 | 9:58 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.

Paul Tracy is on a roll heading into this weekend's Grand Prix of Monterey at Laguna Seca Raceway, but the 33-year-old Las Vegas resident knows all too well how quickly fortune can change in racing.

A year ago, Tracy was sitting atop the CART standings after three races with 40 championship points and proceeded to not score a point in the next five races. He finished the season with only 73 points.

"It was frustrating last year for sure because I started off the year pretty well," Tracy said. "I was leading the championship and (from the third race) until the end of the year ... I only scored another (33). It wasn't for a fact that we were not quick anywhere; we had plenty of opportunities where we were fast.

"It just seemed like every time we got something going, bad luck would strike us. We would have engine blow-ups or a bad pit stop or I would make a mistake -- just little things that would just hamper you and would just let it kind of slip through your fingers."

Tracy is off to another quick start this season, his 12th in the FedEx Championship Series. He opened with a pair of top-10s in Mexico and Long Beach, led the race in Japan before falling victim to mechanical woes, finished second in the Indianapolis 500 and won last weekend at Milwaukee.

He heads into this weekend tied for third in points and only 10 points out of the lead.

"I know that after last year ... we were always wondering when is the bad luck going to turn to good luck and I think it's starting now," he said. "Hopefully, we can continue our momentum and continue working hard.

"I will be the first to admit, when things get frustrating sometimes it can be hard to stay motivated and stay positive (but) you have to work through the bad times and get to the good times. I think that's what really everybody on the team has done."

Tracy, who credits at least part of his turnaround to a new workout regimen that has allowed him to lose 35 pounds since last season, faces at least one significant challenge as he prepares for Sunday's race at Laguna Seca -- a road course on which he has won twice.

"I think the biggest challenge for me is that I haven't driven the Lola on a road course yet, so that's going to be very new to me," Tracy said. "I have had good success on the ovals so far but haven't actually gotten out on a road course and turned the car right yet so it's going to be a bit of an adjustment.

"I feel good about coming to Laguna. I have been fast there throughout my career and had good results and have been able to win a couple of times ... but we have definitely got our work cut out for us."

The list of changes include freezing development on major aerodynamic components, implementing a new, two-stage pit lane speed limiter and requiring that all cars be weighed along with their respective drivers, as Formula One does.

The changes will be implemented beginning later this month and will continue through the 2003 season.

"The only pain I had all day was getting in and out of the race car," Benson said. "Once I got strapped in and all situated, I was feeling pretty good. Driving the car was fine. There were a few areas where I was sore but, heck, I've been out of the car for three weeks so that's to be expected."

Gaughan qualified 10th for the O'Reilly 400 with a lap of 177.061 mph. Jason Leffler won the pole with a speed of 179.838 mph.

Other drivers taking part in the charity event were Jeff Burton, Greg Biffle, Todd Bodine, Jeff Green and Hank Parker Jr.

Highlights of the tournament will be televised July 27 on ESPN2.