Tracy catches lucky break to win Long Beach event

Monday, April 14, 2003 | 9:41 a.m.

LONG BEACH, Calif. -- Michel Jourdain Jr. had the best car Sunday but Paul Tracy had all the luck.

Tracy, a Las Vegas resident, won the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach when race leader Jourdain suffered a mechanical failure during a pit stop with seven laps remaining.

The victory was Tracy's third in a row to open the CART Champ Car season -- a series record -- and his third career win on the streets of Long Beach.

"It was a frustrating day for (Jourdain) because he definitely was fast and we had some luck today, which was nice," Tracy said. "We needed some luck to keep the winning streak alive and we had some of that today."

Jourdain's misfortune provided a dramatic finish to a race he appeared well on his way to winning after he had taken the lead on lap 66 of the 90-lap event.

On his final pit stop of the race, Jourdain took on four tires and a splash of fuel in plenty of time to get back on the track ahead of Tracy, but Jourdain couldn't get his car into gear and he sat on pit road as Tracy inherited the lead with seven laps remaining.

"Michel had me covered -- he was faster than me," Tracy said. "I was doing everything I could do just to keep sight of him. I don't think there was any way I was going to get by him because his pace was as fast as me.

"To outright pass would have been very difficult without a mistake and he wasn't making mistakes."

Tracy said he could hardly believe his good fortune as his crew provided a play-by-play of Jourdain's pit stop over the in-car radio.

"They told me to go as fast as I could on the out lap, that Michel was in the pits," Tracy said. "They said, 'Go fast, he's still in the pits, he's still in the pits.'

"The next thing I knew, they said, 'He's still in the pits,' and I was down at the end of the front straightaway."

Jourdain, who sat on the pole for the first time in his career, was visibly upset when he retired from the race. After climbing out of his car, Jourdain wiped tears from his eyes as he received a consolation hug from his team owner, Bobby Rahal.

"I don't know if this is the best or the worst day of my life," Jourdain said. "It is by far the best car I have ever had and it was just real easy to pull away from everybody.

"It is terrible when everything goes so perfect and you don't win."

Jourdain, who led a race-high 48 laps, finished in 15th place.

Adrian Fernandez followed Tracy to the checkered flag for his best career finish in Long Beach and Bruno Junqueira took third. Jimmy Vasser of Las Vegas was fourth -- his best finish of the season.

Las Vegas residents Patrick Carpentier and Alex Tagliani finished sixth and 10th, respectively.

Tracy, 34, became the first driver in a North American racing series to win three races to start a season since Al Unser Sr. in the 1971 USAC Champ Car series, a forerunner to what is now the CART Champ Car World Series.

The victory was the 22nd of Tracy's Champ Car career and gave him a 26-point lead over Junqueira in the championship. It also gave Tracy something he said he has lacked throughout his 11-year career -- momentum.

"It just seemed like, in the last couple of years, I just could never get any momentum going," he said. "You know, I'd have one good race and three bad races, then one good race.

"Momentum is everything and you have to take advantage of it when it comes because when good luck is shining upon you and things are going right, if you don't take advantage of it, then you're a fool."