Tracy’s woes continue in Calif.

Monday, Nov. 4, 2002 | 9:25 a.m.

FONTANA, Calif. -- Paul Tracy might be one driver who wouldn't mind seeing California Speedway dropped from the CART schedule.

In six starts on the 2-mile oval, the Las Vegas resident has an average finish of 20.5 -- including Sunday's 17th-place finish in the 500 Presented by Toyota.

Tracy's worst memory of California Speedway still is the 1998 race, which Tracy was leading with five laps remaining when he spun out on the final restart.

Tracy, who was running at the front of the field for the first third of the race and led eight times for 15 laps, dropped out after 86 laps with electrical problems.

"Obviously, it's a disappointment for everyone at Team Kool Green," Tracy said. "We were fast and running at the front the whole time.

"When we came in for our last pit stop, something went wrong with the ignition and the motor shut off. After that, the throttle started sticking wide open and the engine kept shutting off. We went to the back of the pack and we never seemed to run properly again."

Tracy qualified fifth for Sunday's race -- his best starting position in six races here -- but once again failed to finish.

"I don't know what it is with me and this track but every year I have problems finishing the race," he said. "It's very frustrating because I've been at the front of the pack every year.

"I'm just really disappointed with what happened today; I felt like it was my best opportunity to win here."

With one race remaining, Carpentier said he would treat the Mexico City race as if a championship were on the line.

"This was an excellent day," Carpentier said. "We just need to have a good car in Mexico for the last race and hopefully we'll get (second place in the points) -- that's what we're aiming for."

"I'm glad they threw (the red flag)," Rahal, Jimmy Vasser's car owner, said. "It was pretty bush league of Dario to run around out there with an engine that obviously was ready to blow."

Franchitti's engine failure brought out the red-flag situation that set up Vasser's late pass of Andretti for the win.

Jourdain had been the only driver running at the finish of each of the first 17 races this season. He also was the only driver to score championship points in each of those 17 races.

"I see a lot of positives in the future of this series and have the utmost confidence in (CART president and CEO) Chris Pook," Fernandez said."

Max Papis filled in Sunday for Fernandez, who suffered two fractured vertebrae in an accident at the start of the Oct. 27 race in Australia.