The CART series is based in the United States, where two-thirds of its races are run. But only three of 28 regular drivers are Americans and 11 nations are represented.
The quest for speed knows no national boundaries.
“Champ cars”–CART stands for Championship Auto Racing Teams–can achieve speeds of up to 240 m.p.h.; close to 200 on shorter tracks such as Chicago Motor Speedway’s one-mile oval.
Here’s a look at the men who pilot these machines.
Michael Andretti
Age: 38
Hometown: Bethlehem, Pa.
Car: No. 39 Team Motorola Honda Reynard
Career: 280 starts, 41 victories, 33 poles.
2001: 10 starts, 1 victory, 6 top 10s, 0 poles. 4th in points.
Profile: If a casual sports fan knows the name of only one open-wheel racer, it’s Andretti’s, so his continued high-level performance is important to CART. He’s the circuit’s winningest active driver. Went from last to first to win in Toronto July 15. Dad Mario had 52 open-wheel wins and also won on the Formula One and NASCAR circuits.
Kenny Brack
Age: 35
Hometown: Arvika, Sweden
Car: No. 8 Team Rahal Ford Lola
Career: 30 starts, 2 victories, 3 poles.
2001: 10 starts, 2 victories, 3 poles. 1st in points.
Profile: The Swedish speedball seemed poised to pad his points lead when he and teammate Max Papis got together late in last week’s Michigan race. Still, it has been a fine year for the driver who won the Indy 500 in ’99, then switched to CART and was rookie of the year in 2000. He has some of the star quality CART needs: He recently sat in with the band during a TV show of his car’s co-owner, David Letterman.
Patrick Carpentier
Age: 29
Hometown: Ville LaSalle, Quebec
Car: No. 32 Player’s Ford Reynard
Career: 79 starts, 1 victory, 0 poles.
2001: 10 starts, 1 victory, 3 top 10s, 0 poles. 14th in points.
Profile: Upset victory at Michigan last week was his first on the circuit. His 11th-place series finish last season was his career best, but he’s 14th this year.
Helio Castroneves
Age: 26
Hometown: Sao Paulo, Brazil
Car: No. 3 Team Penske Honda Reynard
Career: 69 starts, 5 victories, 7 poles.
2001: 10 starts, 2 victories, 5 top 10s, 1 pole. 3rd in points.
Profile: His post-victory ritual of climbing a grandstand fence, to the cheers of the crowd, is refreshing. He did it first in Detroit last year and this year has done so twice on the CART circuit and also at the Indianapolis 500, which everyone hopes soon will be part of the circuit again.
Cristiano da Matta
Age: 27
Hometown: Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Car: No. 6 Newman Haas Toyola Lola
Career: 50 starts, 2 victories, 0 poles.
2001: 10 starts, 1 victory, 5 top 10s, 0 poles. 5th in points.
Profile: Took Newman Haas seat (the “Newman” being actor Paul) vacated by Michael Andretti and won immediately in 2001 opener in Mexico. It was the second victory of his career, the first coming last year at Chicago Motor Speedway.
Gil de Ferran
Age: 33
Hometown: Paris
Car: No. 1 Team Penske Honda Reynard
Career: 119 starts, 5 victories, 12 poles.
2001: 10 starts, 0 victories, 5 top 10s, 1 pole. 6th in points.
Profile: Brazilian really will have to hustle to repeat his series championship. He’s only sixth this year. Won just two races last year but his remarkable consistency–14 top-10s in the 20 races–gave him the title. Considered one of the circuit’s top technical drivers.
Scott Dixon
Age: 21
Hometown: Auckland, New Zealand
Car: No. 18 PacWest Toyota Reynard
Career: 10 starts, 1 victory, 5 top 10s, 0 poles. 7th in points.
Profile: Rookie’s victory at Nazareth, Pa., made him the youngest driver (20) to win a big-time open-wheel race. Leads all rookies this year and is a solid seventh in points. Moved up after winning 2000 championship in the developmental Indy Lights series. He loves Chicago Motor Speedway, where he won Indy Lights races in 1999 and 2000.
Adrian Fernandez
Age: 36
Hometown: Mexico City
Car: No. 51 Fernandez Racing Honda Reynard
Career: 135 starts, 7 victories, 1 pole.
2001: 10 starts, 0 victories, 2 top 10s, 0 poles. 18th in points.
Profile: A decidedly off year for the driver who finished second in the standings last season. He’s only 18th in the points. It may be the burden of becoming an owner-driver this year, the only one on the circuit. He’s teamed with former Target Ganassi managing director Tom Anderson.
Christian Fittipaldi
Age: 30
Hometown: Sao Paulo, Brazil
Car: No. 11 Newman Haas Toyola Lola
Career: 105 starts, 2 victories, 1 pole.
2001: 10 starts, 0 victories, 4 top 10s, 0 poles. 10th in points.
Profile: Twenty victories short of the total achieved by his legendary uncle Emmo in 1985-95, but he’s making a name for himself. Earned his first victory at Elkhart Lake in 1999. Season-ending victory at California last year was worth $1 million. Missed last year’s Chicago race because of a concussion. Father Wilson was also an accomplished racer.
Dario Franchitti
Age: 28
Hometown: Edinburgh, Scotland
Car: No. 27 Team Kool Green Reynard
Career: 85 starts, 7 victories, 8 poles.
2001: 10 starts, 1 victory, 8 top 10s, 0 poles. 2nd in points.
Profile: One of CART’s marquee names: He’s handsome, he’s engaged to Ashley Judd and he knows how to drive.
Tied Juan Montoya in ’99 CART points race but Montoya won title because he won more races. Slipped badly to 13th last year but this season is a close second behind Brack. None of his victories has come on an oval.
Luiz Garcia Jr.
Age: 30
Hometown: Brasilia, Brazil
Car: No. 21 Team PRG Phoenix Reynard
Career: 41 starts, 0 victories, 0 poles.
2001: 2 starts, 0 victories, 0 top 10s, 0 poles. No points.
Profile: Team PRG merged this year with Dale Coyne Racing, which had been Payton/Coyne racing until the death of the Bears Hall of Famer. Won the Brazilian Formula Ford championship in 1991 but has struggled since then.
Memo Gidley
Age: 30
Hometown: LaPaz, Mexico.
Car: No. 12 Target Toyota Lola
Career: 26 starts, 0 victories, 0 poles
2001: 4 starts, 0 victories, 1 top 10, 0 poles. 20th in points.
Profile: The Target Ganassi team used to enter the battle with the likes of Juan Montoya, Jimmy Vasser and Alex Zanardi at the top of their games; now it’s Gidley and Bruno Junquiera. Owner Chip Ganassi would dearly like to repeat Montoya’s ’99 victory in Chicago.
Gidley got a regular ride when Ganassi dumped rookie Nicolas Minassian after the Detroit race last month.
Mauricio Gugelmin
Age: 38
Hometown: Joinville, Brazil
Car: No. 17 PacWest Toyota Reynard
Career: 137 starts, 1 victory, 4 poles.
2001: 9 starts, 0 victories, 4 top 10s, 1 pole. 21st in points.
Profile: He turned the first 240 m.p.h. lap in auto racing history when he went 240.942 to win the pole at California in 1997.
His streak of 130 straight starts was ended early this year.
Winning the pole in Cleveland was a good sign, but this veteran has been stuck in the role of No. 2 on the Pac West team behind Scott Dixon.
Bryan Herta
Age: 32
Hometown: Warren, Mich.
Car: No. 77 Forsythe Ford Reynard
Career: 110 starts, 2 victories 1 pole
2001: 10 starts, 0 victories, 3 top 10s, 0 poles. 16th in points.
Profile: His victories came in 1998 and ’99 at Laguna Seca, where he won the pole from 1997 to 1999. Switched last year from Team Rahal to Forsythe last year but managed only an 18th place series finish. Best series finish is eighth.
Michel Jourdain Jr.
Age: 26
Hometown: Mexico City
Car: No. 16 Herdez Ford Lola
Career: 91 starts, 0 victories, 0 poles.
2001: 10 starts, 0 victories, 1 top 10, 0 poles. 22nd in points.
Profile: Was in it until the very end at Michigan last week and finished third, the best showing of his career.
Best series finish is 22nd, last year, and best race finish is seventh. In 1996 he became–at age 19 years, 6 months–the youngest driver to compete in a CART race.
Bruno Junqueira
Age: 24
Hometown: Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Car: No. 4 Target Toyota Lola
2001: 10 starts, 0 victories, 4 top 10s, 0 poles. 17th in points.
Profile: The expectations have been too high: South American rookie for the Target team; does the name Juan Montoya come to mind? Has had his moments but is mired in 17th place. Won the Formula 3000 championship last season.
Tony Kanaan
Age: 26
Hometown: Salvador, Brazil
Car: No. 55 Mo Nunn Racing Honda Reynard
Career: 65 starts, 1 victory, 1 pole.
2001: 10 starts, 0 victory, 5 top 10s, 0 poles. 13th in points.
Profile: His only career victory was at Michigan in 1999 and only pole came that year at Long Beach. Slipped from 11th in ’99 to 19th last year.
Three finishes of 21st or worse in last five weeks have hurt. Change to Honda engine this year was supposed to help.
He won the Indy Lights series championship in 1997 and was CART’s rookie of the year the following season.
Michael Krumm
Age: 21
Hometown: Reutlingen, Germany
Car: Team PRG Phoenix Reynard
2001: 2 starts, 0 victories, 0 top 10s, 0 poles. No points.
Profile: Rookie contested the Japanese Touring Car series and the Nippon series last year.
Won titles on Japanese circuits in ’94 and ’97. Young, underfunded team looking for its first victory makes it hard to judge how talented he is.
Roberto Moreno
Age: 42
Hometown: Rio de Janiero, Brazil
Car: No. 20 Patrick Racing Toyota Reynard
Career: 91 starts, 1 victory, 1 pole.
2001: 10 starts, 0 victories, 4 top 10s, 0 poles. 12th in points.
Profile: Everyone on the circuit was happy when this popular driver won his first in Cleveland last year, but it has been rough going since then.
Breakthrough year of 2000, when he shed his “supersub” label and got his first fulltime ride, saw him finish 3rd.
He’s back to 12th this year, however. It’s his second CART stint, the first one was in 1985-86. He’s also had two tours on the Formula One circuit.
Shinji Nakano
Age: 30
Hometown: Osaka, Japan
Car: No. 52 Fernandez Racing Honda Reynard
Career: 27 starts, 0 victories, 0 poles.
2001: 10 starts, 0 victories, 2 top 10s, 0 poles. 24th in points.
Profile: Career highlight is four top-10 finishes for Minardi team in Formula One in 1998. CART rookie season last year was dull: two top 10s in 17 starts.
Max Papis
Age: 31
Hometown: Como, Italy
Car: No. 7 Team Rahal Ford Lola
Career: 89 starts, 2 victories, 2 poles.
2001: 10 starts, 1 victory, 4 top 10s, 1 pole. 11th in points.
Profile: “Mad Max” (his given name is Massimiliano) added Portland victory this year to triumph last year at Homestead, Fla., where CART doesn’t race anymore.
He was handpicked to replace Bobby Rahal in the driver’s seat. Slipped from fifth in 1999 to 14th last year.
Oriol Servia
Age: 27
Hometown: Pals, Catalonia, Spain
Car: No. 22 Sigma Ford Lola
Career: 30 starts, 0 victories, 0 poles
2001: 10 starts 0 victories, 2 top 10s, 0 poles. 25th in points.
Profile: Won Indy Lights title in 1999 without winning a race. His rookie year included a third-place finish at Detroit and rookie of the year runner-up status.
Alex Tagliani
Age: 28
Hometown: Montreal
Car: No. 33 Player’s Ford Reynard
Career: 30 starts, 0 victories 1 pole
2001: 10 starts 0 victory, 3 top 10s, 0 poles. 15th in points.
Profile: We know one thing, he’s a clever driver. Last week at Michigan he found himself a lap down but in position to help frontrunning teammate Patrick Carpentier, which he did with some nifty blocking. Finished 16th as a rookie last year but crashed twice while leading races.
Tora Takagi
Age: 27
Hometown: Shizukoa, Japan
Car: No. 5 Walker Racing Toyota Reynard
2001: 10 starts, 0 victories, 0 top 10s, 0 poles. 27th in points.
Profile: Rookie known as “the Tiger” in Japan, where he dominated the 2000 Formula Nippon series, winning eight of 10 races. Regarded as the best driver to come from Japan. Has Formula One experience.
Paul Tracy
Age: 32
Hometown: Scarborough, Ont.
Car: No. 26 Team Kool Green Honda Reynard
Career: 162 starts, 18 victories, 13 poles
2001: 10 starts, 0 victories, 5 top 10s, 0 poles. 8th in points.
Profile: A threat to win every week; won three times last year but hasn’t finished better than third in 2001. His 18 victories are second behind Andretti among active drivers. Has finished third in the points race three times and fifth twice in his 11 full years. Known as an aggressive (some say careless) driver. Was on probation for much of 1998 and forced to miss ’99 opener. What does a race car driver do to relax? Tracy likes to drive around in his Harley.
Jimmy Vasser
Age: 35
Hometown: Canoga Park, Calif.
Car: No. 40 Patrick Racing Toyota Reynard
Career: 157 starts 9 victories 7 poles
2001: 10 starts, 0 victories, 5 top 10s, 0 poles. 9th in points.
Profile: The 1996 CART champion parted ways with the Target Ganassi team last season after six mostly successful years. He’s doing better than his former mates, currently in ninth place for Patrick, whose cars finished 2-3 last year. Owner of Jimmy Vasser Chevrolet-Toyota, a dealership in Napa, Calif., that he operates with his father, Jim. He, Andretti and Herta are the only CART drivers from the United States.
Max Wilson
Age: 28
Hometown: Hamburg, Germany
Car: No. 25 Arciero Brooke Ford Lola
2001: 8 starts, 0 victories, 1 top 10, 0 poles. 23rd in points.
Profile: Brazilian rookie sustained bruised ribs on his left side in a practice crash at Michigan last week, so his status this week is up in the air. Fourth-place at Portland last month is his best effort. Has been a test driver on several circuits.
Alex Zanardi
Age: 34
Hometown: Bologna, Italy
Car: No. 66 Mo Nunn Racing Honda Reynard
Career: 61 starts, 15 victories, 10 poles.
2001: 10 starts, 0 victory, 2 top 10s, 0 poles. 19th in points.
Profile: His fall from the top of the motorsports world has been nothing short of spectacular. He won CART championships in 1997 and 1998 before moving to Formula One, where he didn’t score a point in 1999. His contract was bought out for a reported $11 million. He didn’t have a ride last year but has joined the team formed by Nunn, former Target Ganassi guru. Has finished 20th or worse six times this year, although fourth-place finish at Toronto raised glimmer of hope.
