John Sturbin 
THAT'S RACIN'
CART's lone TMS visit remains a memory served with a tray
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
The trophy that sits in the office of Mike Zizzo, director of media relations at Texas Motor Speedway, has become the object of high curiosity and borderline ridicule since the events surrounding April 29, 2001.
If you were one of the estimated 60,000 confused fans in attendance on that otherwise beautiful spring Sunday morning, you are well-versed in the outcome of the Firestone Firehawk 600 Presented by Pioneer. It was the first and last Championship Auto Racing Teams event booked for TMS, and The Race That Never Was.
"That was the last CART race. The patient stayed on life support for another seven years," said TMS president Eddie Gossage, aware the official open-wheel finale for what now is badged as the Champ Car World Series is scheduled for Sunday, the highly successful 34th annual Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.
Champ Car already is two races into its merger with Tony George's Indy Racing League and the IndyCar Series, a union announced in February that ended 12 years of bitter separation. Among the innocent victims were those fans and TMS -- then only recently dubbed "The Great American Speedway" -- and certainly the CART organization headed by "Jargon" Joe Heitzler.
Hours before the scheduled start, CART officials announced the race had been canceled in the interest of safety. The decision followed a tumultuous drivers' meeting, during which 23 of 26 entrants reportedly voted not to race because of the effects of dizziness and disorientation due to g-forces created by constant speeds in excess of 230 mph.
Among those voting to race was Kenny Brack, who qualified on-pole at a track record 233.447 mph, and bad boy Paul Tracy. Among those voting to pack-and-scat were CART superstars Michael Andretti and Alex Zanardi.
"These guys were warriors, and these guys had a true concern," said Zizzo, then employed as CART's vice president of competition and public relations. "Eddie and I will never agree on this. [Helio] Castroneves or [Tony] Kanaan or one of the guys blacked out momentarily [during practice]. Max Papis said it was like a video game -- it was so fast he couldn't understand where the pits were. Michael Andretti said he felt like there was a huge weight on his chest, and it was hard to breathe."
And so the race was canceled via separate news conferences staged by Heitzler and Gossage, followed by the inevitable breach of contract lawsuit and the obligatory out-of-court settlement.
In addition to the ill will, what remained was the "trophy," fittingly enough a backup to Gossage's original hardware.
"We marketed the race as an international event," said Gossage, who charged a staffer with having gold, silver and bronze medals cast for the top three finishers, like the Olympics. On Friday of Race Week, Gossage got his first look at the medals and decided they were gold, silver and bronze junk. Plan B produced a hastily engraved sterling silver tray, measuring approximately 2 feet long and 1 foot high.
"It looks like a little vanity plate a woman might have on her dresser. It is not a trophy you'd give for a big-time event," Gossage said.
"It looks like a serving tray for tea... a tray you would win at Wimbledon," said Zizzo, who unearthed the prize after joining the TMS staff in 2005. "Found it in a box, all wrapped up. I said to Eddie, 'Boss, can I put this in my office? For all the hair I lost that day, I deserve the damn trophy.'"
PIT STOPS
COT test set for Lowe's: NASCAR will conduct an open test for the Sprint Cup Series' Car of Today at Lowe's Motor Speedway on May 5-6, responding to half of the requests issued by Speedway Motorsports Inc. last week.
TMS president Eddie Gossage and Lowe's Motor Speedway counterpart H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler called on NASCAR officials to test at their sister 1.5-mile quadovals in the wake of complaints voiced by a number of Cup drivers after the Samsung 500 in Fort Worth on April 6. NASCAR approved the open test at LMS in advance of the Sprint All-Star Race on May 17 and the Coca-Cola 600 on May 25.
However, Gossage said he and Brian Z. France, NASCAR's chairman/CEO, have been playing phone tag since last Thursday. "I still want an open test in Texas," Gossage said. "Now that they've given it to Charlotte, I would think there's no way they could say 'no' to an open test in Texas and for the Dickies 500 in November. Glad they listened to me. We're making progress."
TMS fall race tickets on sale: Tickets for the NASCAR fall weekend at TMS, highlighted by the fourth annual Dickies 500 Cup race Nov. 2, are on sale. Tickets for the Dickies 500, Race No. 8 in NASCAR's 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup playoff, range from $52 to $130. Also scheduled are the O'Reilly Challenge Nationwide Series race Nov. 1 and the Silverado 350 Craftsman Truck Series event under the lights Oct. 31. Ticket prices are as low as $25 for the O'Reilly Challenge and start at $34 for the NCTS race. All tickets are available by calling the TMS ticket office at 817-215-8500, on the Web at www.texasmotorspeedway.com or through Ticketmaster locations. Camping for the Dickies 500 tripleheader weekend will go on sale on Wednesday.
Harvick exploring NHRA: Cup regular Kevin Harvick and wife DeLana are looking to expand their sphere of ownership influence into professional drag racing. Already co-owners of NASCAR Nationwide and Craftsman Truck series teams under the banner of Kevin Harvick Inc., the Harvicks reportedly are looking at the National Hot Rod Association's Top Fuel ranks in partnership with Bob Vandergriff Jr. The proposed Harvick-Vandergriff Motorsports team would field a Top Fuel Dragster in addition to Vandergriff's UPS-sponsored rail.
Rahal smashes monopoly: Graham Rahal's victory in the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on April 6 for Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing marked the first for an IndyCar Series team other than Andretti Green Racing, Target Chip Ganassi Racing or Team Penske since Aug. 14, 2005 -- a span of 37 races. Scott Sharp's victory for Fernandez Racing at Kentucky Speedway was the last by a team outside the open-wheel series' Big Three.
WHO'S HOT
Ashley Force. Emerged from Sunday's ninth annual Summitracing.com NHRA Nationals at Las Vegas as the first woman to lead the National Hot Rod Association Funny Car points standings. That's a feat spanning the 39-year history of the volatile class. Force, 25, has reached the final of the last two national events, losing to Tim Wilkerson at Vegas and against Del Worsham at Baytown. The driver of the Castrol GTX Ford Mustang, Force has a five-point lead over Wilkerson after five of 24 events.
WHO'S NOT
John Force. Ashley's 58-year-old dad and car-owner spent Sunday as a spectator after failing to qualify at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the second consecutive year. It marked the first time in Force's prolific Funny Car career he has failed to qualify at the same event two years in a row. A 14-time champion, Force is closing in on his historic 1,000th round win. But his best quarter-mile pass of 5.020 seconds at 277.72 mph was not quick enough to put the Castrol GTX High-Mileage Mustang into the show.
BY THE NUMBERS
A1 Floridian Jonathan Summerton scored Team USA's first A1GP race victory Sunday at China's Shanghai International Circuit.
ON THE GRID
NASCAR Nationwide
Mexico 200
Site: Mexico City, Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez (road course, 2.518 miles)
TV schedule: Saturday, qualifying (ESPN2, 10:30 a.m.); Sunday, race (ESPN, 12:30 p.m.)
Race distance: 201.44 miles/ 80 laps
2007 winner: Juan Pablo Montoya
Indy Racing League
Indy Japan 300
Site: Motegi, Twin Ring Motegi (oval, 1.5 miles, 10-degree banking in turns)
TV schedule: Saturday, race (11 p.m., ESPN2)
Race distance: 300 miles/ 200 laps
2007 winner: Tony Kanaan
Champ Car World Series
Grand Prix of Long Beach
Site: California, streets of Long Beach (temporary road course, 1.968 miles, 11 turns)
TV schedule: Sunday, race (ESPN, taped, 4:30 p.m.)
2007 winner: Sebastien Bourdais
jsturbin@star-telegram.com
