El Nino still was a phantom weather pattern comedians widely ridiculed and Monica Lewinsky was an anonymous intern who had yet to be transformed into a household name. That’s how long ago the CART World Series last was on public display.
Back then, on the final weekend of September, it managed to provide a scintillating character all its own.
His name was Mauricio Gugelmin and he gained his acclaim when he turned the fastest official lap in racing history.
His average speed that day on the two-mile oval of the California Speedway was 240.942 m.p.h. To understand just how fast that is, reflect on these numbers: At 240 m.p.h., you are covering four miles every minute. Or one mile every 15 seconds. Or 117 yards every second. Or 11.7 yards every time you blink.
“It’s hard to describe what it’s like. You know, it’s almost like you’re on a different planet because you have to have your mind so far ahead of the car,” Gugelmin recalled of his memorable run.
But in the immediate wake of it, he and other CART drivers tempered their amazement with trepidation, wondering aloud if they finally were going too fast for their own good.
Discussions of their concern led to the development of an experimental rear wing, which Gil de Ferran recently tested on the same track that produced Gugelmin’s record.
There it proved capable of slowing de Ferran down by 15 m.p.h. Yet the wing isn’t ready for mass production so it isn’t ready to be affixed to CART’s open-wheeled monsters. CART’s drivers, when they open their new season Sunday with the Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami, will be in cars that can cover more than a football field in a second.
“I’m very happy with the concept they’re coming up with to slow them down. I think we’re going in the right direction,” Michael Andretti said.
“If we don’t keep these speeds in check, I mean, who knows what the limit would be? It would go beyond the limit of the physical side of it.”
Gugelmin has some reservations.
“Fans, they love to see those numbers,” he said. “You look at those numbers, it’s just incredible. . . . When, every year, you are jumping five to 10 miles an hour, yes, I do worry. But if it’s a controllable increase, that’s fine.
“That’s what auto racing is all about.”
It’s what sells, it’s what is marketed, it’s what is touted in CART’s attempt to attract fans to its World Series.
It’s also one of the reasons the Metro-Dade Homestead Motorsports Complex, the 1.5-mile oval that’s the site of the season opener, was reconfigured over the winter.
Now, with its abrupt turns gone, drivers are able to turn laps 15 m.p.h. faster than Paul Tracy’s track record of 198.59.
“We’re going faster in Miami,” Gugelmin said, “but we are also going safer because the angle of the corners is better. It’s not only the speed, it’s also the angle you are going to hit the wall (if you crash). That’s very important too.”
Smiling faces, changing places: The mercurial, unpredictable Tracy was the CART points leader at the halfway mark last season, but staggered in fifth at the end and was gassed by Marlboro Team Penske. This year he will drive for Team KOOL Green, which also is the new home of Dario Franchitti.
Tracy’s was the series’ most-notable off-season move, yet hardly the only one. Patrick Carpentier, the 1997 rookie of the year, jumped from Bettenhausen to Player’s. Andre Ribeiro abandoned Tasman to take Tracy’s spot with Penske. And Robby Gordon, who spent most of last year on the Winston Cup circuit, signed with Arciero-Wells Racing.
Gordon, for contractual reasons, wasn’t expected to make his debut with his new team until the April 5 Grand Prix of Long Beach. But now, sources say, that could happen this weekend in Miami.
Still simmering: With the dawning of a new season comes the resurrection of the old feud between CART and Indianapolis Motor Speedway President Tony George, who controls the world’s most famous race and is the creator of the Indy Racing League.
The three-year-old schism in open-wheeled racing “is definitely on our minds,” Michael Andretti said. “It’s something that will always bug me. I think the IRL is something that will be a thorn in our side for a long time. It’s just a shame that it’s even there. There’s no reason for it to be there.
“Imagine if Indianapolis and CART were together right now how much bigger they both would have been. Imagine if we had Indy, how much better off Tony George would be and how much better off we all would be.
“It’s something that will always irk me. CART is moving forward. We’re growing, definitely, but we’re not growing at the rate we could have grown. And Indianapolis is doing the opposite. Indianapolis has shrunk.
“It’s not a real race anymore. Really, the tradition and everything has been destroyed there.”
The long goodbye: Bobby Rahal announced during the winter that this would be his last season as a driver. So on Sunday he begins a nine-month farewell tour that will close out the career of one of the finest competitors and ambassadors in the sport.
“He is a big part of the reason this series is what it is today,” Andretti said. “He has been a great asset for all of us.”
Defending CART champion Alex Zanardi, on what he expects from Rahal, who’s both an owner and a driver: “Since this is his last season, he’s going to raise his own salary.”
