MEMO GIDLEY
Age: 30
Birthplace: Fishing boat off coast of Mexico (Citizenship: US)
Team: Player’s/Forsythe Racing
Engine/Chassis: Ford/Reynard
Points standing: 23rd
Comment: Picked up points while subbing for the injured Carpentier early in season. Not expected to run in Chicago.
ROBERTO MORENO
Age: 41
Birthplace: Rio de Janeiro
Team: Patrick Racing
Engine/Chassis: Ford/Reynard
Points standing: 1st
Comment: After performing admirably last season as a substitute for injured drivers Mark Blundell and Christian Fittipaldi, Moreno received a full-time CART ride for the first time since 1996. This season’s surprise, and the feel-good story of the season as well.
Age: 37
MAURICIO GUGELMIN
Birthplace: Joinville, Brazil
Team: PacWest Racing
Engine/Chassis: Mercedes/Reynard
Points standing: 17th
Comment: Remains the only driver to top 240 m.p.h. on an enclosed track, which he did at the California Speedway in 1997. But his second place finish in Nazareth this year was his first trip to the podium since that same year of ’97, so clearly needs some of that speed back.
SHINJI NAKANO
Age: 29
Birthplace: Osaka, Japan
Team: Walker Racing
Engine/Chassis: Honda/Reynard
Points standing: 22nd
Comment: Rookie got off to an impressive start with an eighth-place finish in season opener. But then he was injured in a testing accident, missed two races and still is looking to regain early-season form.
MICHAEL ANDRETTI
Age: 37
Birthplace: Bethlehem, Pa.
Team: Newman/Haas Racing
Engine/Chassis: Ford/Lola
Points standing: 2nd
Comment: Won in Japan in May and a month later finished second to Juan Montoya in Milwaukee. Then he won July 16 in Toronto. Holds the CART record with 39 career victories and is still a force in his 17th season on the series.
GIL DE FERRAN
Age: 32
Birthplace: Paris, France (Nationality, Brazilian)
Team: Marlboro Team Penske
Engine/Chassis: Honda/Reynard
Points standing: 3rd
Comment: In his first season with Penske, which staggered through 1998 and 1999 without a victory. Snapped that losing streak with a victory at Nazareth in late May and followed that up three races later with another victory in Portland.
BRYAN HERTA
Age: 30
Birthplace: Warren, Michigan
Team: Mo Nunn Racing
Engine/Chassis: Mercedes/Reynard
Points standing: 18th
Comment: Lost full-time ride with Team Rahal at the end of last season. Has replaced Moreno as series’ supersub, stepping in for Shinji Nakano and Tony Kanaan when they were injured. With Kanaan back, he’s not expected to run in Chicago.
MAX PAPIS
Age: 30
Birthplace: Como, Italy
Team: Team Rahal
Engine/Chassis: Ford/Reynard
Points standing: 9th
Comment: In his second year with owner Rahal, whose seat he inherited when Rahal retired from driving in 1998. Picked up the first victory of his CART career in the season opener in Miami.
MARK BLUNDELL
Age: 34
Birthplace: Barnet, Hertfordshire, England
Team: PacWest Racing
Engine/Chassis: Mercedes/Reynard
Points standing: 19th
Comment: Posted three victories in 1997 and stamped himself as a driver to watch, but winless ever since. Highlight of his season came when CART announced it would run next year in his native England, where he still is regarded highly.
ADRIAN FERNANDEZ
Age: 35
Birthplace: Mexico City
Team: Patrick Racing
Engine/Chassis: Ford/Reynard
Points standing: 11th
Comment: Won in Rio in season’s third race, but that remains his highlight. Has been hampered by poor qualifying efforts and a variety of mechanical problems.
MICHEL JOURDAIN JR.
Age: 23
Birthplace: Mexico City
Team: Bettenhausen Motorsports
Engine/Chassis: Mercedes/Lola
Points standing: 21st
Comment: His name is the Spanish rendition of the most famous name in sports. Alas. His performances are anything but Jordanesque.
ORIOL SERVIA
Age: 26
Birthplace: Pals, Catalonia, Spain
Team: PPI Motorsports
Engine/Chassis: Toyota/Reynard
Points standing: 15th
Comment: Won last year’s Indy Lights Championship. Has shown flashes of promise with a sixth in Long Beach and a third in Detroit.
KENNY BRACK
Age: 34
Birthplace: Arvika, Sweden
Team: Team Rahal
Engine/Chassis: Ford/Reynard
Points standing: 4th
Comment: Won Indianapolis 500 in 1999 while driving for A.J. Foyt in the rival Indy Racing League. Plucked from that series by team owner Bobby Rahal, he already has graced the podium during his promising rookie season.
CHRISTIAN FITTIPALDI
Age: 29
Birthplace: Sao Paulo, Brazil
Team: Newman/Haas Racing
Engine/Chassis: Ford/Lola
Points standing: 14th
Comment: Enjoying his first injury-free season since 1997. Set to make his debut at Chicago, which he missed last year with one of those recent injuries.
TONY KANAAN
Age: 25
Birthplace: Salvador, Bahia, Brazil
Team: Mo Nunn Racing
Engine/Chassis: Mercedes/Reynard
Points standing: 20th
Comment: Broke forearm during practice at Detroit in mid-June, but missed only four races before returning last week to defend his title at Michigan 500. First season for team formed by Nunn, former engineering guru for four-time series champion Target/Chip Ganassi Racing.
ALEXANDRE TAGLIANI
Age: 27
Birthplace: Montreal
Team: Player’s/Forsythe Racing
Engine/Chassis: Ford/Reynard
Points standing: 16th
Comment: Another rookie. Grabbed off the pole in Rio in just his third CART start. He was leading that race with only nine of its 108 laps remaining before he spun out on the restart and finished 13th.
PATRICK CARPENTIER
Age: 28
Birthplace: Ville Lasalle, Quebec
Team: Player’s Forsythe Racing
Engine/Chassis: Ford/Reynard
Points standing: 10th
Comment: Finished fifth in season opener, but then missed three races after falling down the stairs and breaking his wrist. Says enforced inactivity helped him refocus, which he supported with a third-place finish in his second race back.
NORBERTO FONTANA
Age: 25
Birthplace: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Team: Della Penna Motorsports
Engine/Chassis: Toyota/Reynard
Points standing: 25th
Comment: Replaced longtime Della Penna driver Richie Hearn at the start of this season. Has yet to make an impression, or answer the question, “Why him and not Hearn ?”
TAKUYA KUROSAWA
Age: 38
Birthplace: Ibaragi, Japan
Team: Dale Coyne Racing
Engine/Chassis: Ford/Lola
Points standing: 27th
Comment: First Japanese driver in CART history to lead a lap, which he did at Long Beach. Led seven of them, in fact, and went on to finish a respectable 13th, just short of earning points.
PAUL TRACY
Age: 31
Birthplace: Scarborough, Ontario
Team: Team KOOL Green
Engine/Chassis: Honda/Reynard
Points standing: 5th
Comment: Started season with a third, a first and a third, and was the early leader in the championship points race. But, beginning in June, went four consecutive races without earning a point to drop back into the pack before placing third July 16 in Toronto.
HELIO CASTRONEVES
Age: 25
Birthplace: Sao Paulo, Brazil
Team: Marlboro Team Penske
Engine/Chassis: Honda/Reynard
Points standing: 12th
Comment: Got his ride with Penske after tragic death of Greg Moore, and in his second race with it, finished second in Long Beach. Then he helped further revitalize that team by picking up his first career victory in Detroit.
DARIO FRANCHITTI
Age: 27
Birthplace: Edinburgh, Scotland
Team: Team KOOL Green
Engine/Chassis: Honda/Reynard
Points standing: 13th
Comment: Challenged Montoya for championship last season and was expected to do the same this year. But an early injury cost him valuable practice time so is trying to rally from miserable finishes (two 11ths and two 23rds) in four of the year’s first five races.
TARSO MARQUES
Age: 24
Birthplace: Curitiba, Brazil
Team: Dale Coyne Racing
Engine/Chassis: Ford/Swift
Points standing: 24th
Comment: Spent last season driving part-time for Penske. Started this season without a ride, then replaced Gualter Salles in Japan and is set with Coyne for rest of year.
JIMMY VASSER
Age: 34
Birthplace: Canoga Park, Calif.
Team: Target/Chip Ganassi Racing
Engine/Chassis: Toyota/Lola
Points standing: 6th
Comment: The 1996 series champ hasn’t won since the last race of the 1998 season. But he is having a solid year and would be closer to the top if he hadn’t finished 24th in Portland (because of an accident) and 21st in Japan (mechanical problems).
CRISTIANO DA MATTA
Age: 26
Birthplace: Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Team: PPI Motorsports
Engine/Chassis: Toyota/Reynard
Points standing: 8th
Comment: Former Indy Lights champ (1998) who’s in the middle of a second solid year with a developing team. A battler who earned his first podium earlier this month with a third-place finish in Cleveland.
LUIS GARCIA JR.
Age: 29
Birthplace: Brazil
Team: Arciero Project Racing Group
Engine/Chassis: Mercedes/Reynard
Points standing: 26th
Comment: He is his team. A Project with a capital “P.”
JUAN MONTOYA
Age: 24
Birthplace: Bogota, Colombia
Team: Target/Chip Ganassi Racing
Engine/Chassis: Toyota/Lola
Points standing: 7th
Comment: Was nothing less than a rookie sensation last season while winning the series championship. This year he has led more laps than any other driver, but a pit stop error cost him a probable victory in Japan and typifies the bad luck that has dogged him.
