A Great Day for Brazil

[Liz]

Well done Cristiano! (and of course Gil, working up to a solid third although he was driving one-handed.)

CAUTION: SOLE COMMENT ON MIKEY'S RACE COMING UP: HIDE YOUR EYES IF YOU ARE OVERLY SENSITIVE.

I expect Mikey will have to throw away those boots - they must be soaked in the slobber coming from the broadcast booth all over them ... did we really need to break up a run of 16 commercials just to see Mikey's pit stop?

This concludes my comments on Mikey's race.

Thank you.

FORZA BRAZIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What a great race by Cristiano and I hope it is the first of many many more. Well done PPI and Cal Wells too!

[JAM]

I am with you Liz.

The win in CART and F1 today could not had gone to the nicest guys, Brazilians Cristiano da Matta and Rubinho Barichello.

Also here in California in the US Open Surfing Championship, Tita Tavarez won women div, Paulo Moura the Junior Div., Karla Costa Bodyboarding Women Div., Diego Cabel Bodyboarding Men Div. and the week started with the great victory of Brazil over Argentina in World Cup qualifying.

Mas que bonito, so deu Verde Amarelo!

[Jay]

A great day for Brazil all round!

I have always been going for Christiano because he is my size!

I have to agree with you Liz, they should have just called that broadcast the Micheal Andretti show. If I did not know anything about the series, and had just turned into this broadcast, I would have thought that the whole purpose of the series is for Micheal Andretti!

Why can't we get the Eurosport guys more often?

Still a great job by Christiano!

[Liz]

Jay, your hair is much better than Cristiano's. Instead of a TV they should get him a haircut.

[AndrettiRULES]

You have to give him credit for moving up from 15th to 2nd however.

This is just rationalization but, Michael Andretti is the points leader, so common sense should tell you that he will be the guy most talked about. But again, I've already commented on Page before and I completely agree with you....he talks about Michael way too much.

AR

[Crash Test]

19 7 26 Paul Tracy Honda Reynard Firestone 75 0 150LAPS 9LAPS CONTACT

i Havent seen the race yet, but can anyone explain this to me? I must say it is unusual to see the words PAUL TRACY & CONTACT in the same sentance

[Crash Test]

Dont worry Mr Test, I'll answer you!


Team Green drivers collide again
Associated Press

CICERO, Ill. -- Team Kool Green drivers Paul Tracy and Dario Franchitti have gotten into a bad habit of running into each other once a year.


It happened again Sunday in the Target Grand Prix, when Tracy tried to slip under his teammate as they battled for 11th place on lap 75 of the 225-lap race on the 1.029-mile Chicago Motor Speedway oval.


"Dario had just gotten around me and I was trying to get the position back," Tracy explained. "But he was busy trying to work on (eventual race winner Cristiano) da Matta and didn't see me coming.


"I was down on the edge of the apron and we just barely touched each other. It's so hard to pass with these (rear) wings. You've got to make a big commitment to get by. If a guy doesn't see you, there's no way you can stop on the entry and give him enough room."


Franchitti said, "It was just a racing incident. I didn't see Paul coming down the inside. I don't know how far down the inside he was at the time. It's just unfortunate that both cars were put out of the race that early."


Tracy finished 19th, Franchitti 20th. They earned no points, with Tracy remaining fifth in the standings but falling 40 points behind leader Michael Andretti. Franchitti slipped all the way to 11th, 62 points back with eight CART races remaining.


The first time the two got together was in Houston in October 1998, with Tracy winding up out of the race and Franchitti avoiding major damage and going on to win.


In May 1999 in Madison, Ill., the two collided again, and again Tracy was knocked out of action and Franchitti managed to continue and finish third.


"It's not a good day," said team owner Barry Green. "I keep reminding my guys that there are two green and white cars out there and they need to take some consideration that they're teammates. It's tough, though, because I've asked them both to race hard.


"The championship is still fairly wide open, and they both can do well if they have some success. They're trying, but in this series today, it's tough."


Need i say any more than tracy is a goose, and he will never win the championship...GROW UP PAUL, YOU'RE A BIG BOY NOW!!

[bella]

go cristiano.....there's nothing wrong with his hair. there's also very little you can do with an afro

[KC]

Congrats to daMatta. I told some friends yesterday morning that I would not be surprised to learn he won. I will hopefully get a chance to watch the racer tonight.

I hold nothing against Andretti as a driver, other than he will on occasion do something completely stupid, but CART is at a quandry. All of the media pundits continue to rant that CART needs more American drivers and this will help CART in TV viewership. CART responds by trying to focus more of their coverage on the one American actually challenging for the title. If you go back and look at TV coverage you will find that the actual coverage is no more than Montoya got last year and Zanardi got the two previous years. They are following the drivers at the front hoping to catch them in that second of brilliance that separates these guys from the rest of drivers filling the grid. I am not a big fan of Andretti, I respect his ability as a racer, but I do not actively support him or the team. Paul Page is a big fan and has been a close friend of the family for 30 years. He has known Michael since he was a snot-nosed child and it shows in his broadcasts. I do not think that CART needs to promote American drivers, they need to promote the best drivers. I do think that promising American drivers need to be protected from poaching by the various NASCAR series. Drivers like Memo Gidley and Jason Lefler have the necessary talent, but need the honing to at least be competitive against drivers from the ultra-competive arenas in Europe. CART needs to do more to assist these guys who do not have the necessary backing from major sponsors that so many of the foreign drivers have access to.

As far as daMatta's hair goes, give up the the big hairdo. I have curly hair as well and keep it cut very short to make it manageable. The last thing I want to do all day is keep trying to make it lay down when it never will.

Again, great result for PPI Motorsport and daMatta. Their confidence in him has proven to be worth it. His loyalty to the team when he surely has had a few offers is paying off as well.

[Liz]

Paul Page is merely irritating people, not making a case for more Americans in CART, by his constant repetition of That Name. As far as his knowing the family, so what. He's supposed to be calling the race, not reminding people who his friends are.

Cristiano looked like Marvin the Martian at the Post-Race - all I could see over the microphone was his baseball cap and his eyes! Didn't anybody tell him that he could move that microphone down to where his mouth actually was? Well he's new at this so I guess he'll pick it up.

Good race by Gil, too, driving one handed and he still finished third!

P.S. to Crash: Why pick on Our Paul? It was equally Dario's fault and they both said so.

[Crash Test]

Why pick on Our Paul?

-Why pick on Michael? Oh, shouldnt have said that..

It seems most team mates dont have problems with crashing into other things, and Paul has a much greater experience at hiting things...

Was Dario at fault because he had a mad man behind him and should have pulled over and let him by safely? Does Paal have a problem over taking people at chicago, or do ya'll blame Mikey for what happened last year?

[Liz]

Now I have not said one word about Mikey this week, have I? My comments have been entirely about Paul Page.

Dario should have dropped back when he realised that Paul had not left him enough room. Dario himself admitted that he was not looking.