Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Controversy still follows CART like a black cloud

Wednesday, March 6, 2002 | 10:10 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.

Much like NASCAR's Sterling Marlin, Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) just can't seem to avoid controversy.

CART on Tuesday went ahead with an announcement that it would join the American Le Mans Series in the Grand Prix of Americas street race Oct. 4-6 in Miami despite a judge's ruling a day earlier that voided the race promoter's contract with the city.

Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Michael Genden ruled Monday that the City of Miami illegally granted Raceworks, which is promoting the event, the right to stage the race because the city did not seek competitive bids before granting the contract.

A Raceworks official said on Tuesday that the company was proceeding with its plans to stage the races. Referring to the judge's injunction, the official told Speedtv.com that "the situation is not as grave as some of the people are making it out to be."

Raceworks and the ALMS agreed to move the date of the race from April to October to accommodate CART's schedule.

On Monday, CART confirmed that it would promote its own race at the financially troubled Chicago Motor Speedway in June. The race had been in jeopardy since the track announced last month that it was suspending its 2002 racing schedule.

In the past year, the open-wheel series has been mired in controversy that included the loss of two races from its schedule (Rio de Janeiro and Texas); the alienation of its engine suppliers; the defection of one of its founding members, Roger Penkse, to the rival Indy Racing League; the payment of $3.5 million to settle a lawsuit over the cancelled Texas race; and the forced resignation of its president and CEO, Joe Heitzler, after only one year.

CART opens its 2002 season Sunday with the Tecate Telmex Grand Prix on the 2.1-mile road course in Monterrey, Mexico.

"Opening the season in Monterrey will be fun," Tracy said. "Team Kool Green did a great job there last year. Dario and I both ran well and I even got a podium.

"You want to start the year off on a positive note and I hope I can be on the podium again this year. The atmosphere in Mexico is electric; even on Thursday, when the cars aren't running, there are people everywhere."

Tracy also said he favors some of the rules changes CART made during the winter.

"There have been some rule changes made this off-season that I think fit my style of driving," he said. "Getting rid of fuel economy runs and letting us run flat out all race is a great change. That's the way I like to drive and I'm sure the fans will like seeing everyone driving hard throughout the race."

"We talked about this until I was blue in the face. 'Take your time,' we said to him," Cheever, who also owns the cars he and Scheckter drive, said. "I would be just as angry right now if he had done that to somebody else -- but to do it to your teammate, that's just asinine."

Scheckter went on to finish sixth in his first IRL start while Cheever took 25th.