The Player's Pair

[Jay]

A few years ago it was Tracy and Franchitti, and before that Tracy and Al. Jr. Now it appears to be Carpentier and Tagliani are in a bit of a rif after Vancouver.

I did not see the Vancouver race or the highlights, but this is the story following the race.

(Jul 28) VANCOUVER (CP) - While Patrick Carpentier celebrated a fifth-place finish at Sunday's Molson Indy Vancouver Alex Tagliani was left fuming over the setup of his car and the conduct of his Team Player's teammate.

``The first three-quarters of the race I was trying not to crash the car, the car was that bad,'' said the Lachenaie, Que., native.

It didn't help that Tagliani was knocked out of the race with just eight laps to go when Carpentier lost control of his car and spun around, resulting in a pileup involving Tagliani, Adrian Fernandez and Bruno Junqueira.

``Earlier in the race I let Pat by because he was quicker, then I end up in this situation because of his mistake,'' said Tagliani, who didn't finish he race but was given a seventh-place finish.

``I had to fight with a bad car in the race and the car was fine all weekend long. It makes me very mad because I was in that position.

``At the end some guy did a mistake and you end up in some incident you never should have been involved in because you should have been up front.''

Carpentier used an early pit stop to leapfrog from 16th to fourth place. He then survived the race of attrition which saw 18 cars start and only seven finish.

``During the warmup this morning the car was horrible,'' said Carpentier, of Joliette, Que., who came to Vancouver after winning the last CART race in Clevelend.

``We found out what the problem was. We fixed it and it was a lot better. The car, all it could do was fifth and I was happy.''

Scotland's Dario Franchitti won the race, finishing ahead of Team Kool Green teammate Paul Tracy of Toronto. Brazil's Tony Kanaan was third.

Carpentier said he's he'd be lying if he said it was skill that allowed him to keep his car on course after clipping the wall on the backstretch on the 92nd lap.

``I'd love to say I could see it coming and I saved it, but it was a bit of luck,'' he said. ``It was a lot of luck and I'll take it today.''

The crash behind him sent Fernandez to the hospital with a bruised hip.

``I was looking in the mirror and could see smoke and parts and things,'' said Carpentier, who picked up 10 points and sits fifth in the overall standings. ``It was like a twister coming towards me. It was a shame for those guys but that's racing.''

Tagliani didn't hesitate when asked if the accident was Carpentier's fault.

``Yes, probably,'' he snapped.

Asked if he was going to say anything to his teammate later, Tagliani shook his head.

``There's nothing to say. What can I say. `Keep the car on the track?''

Questions have swirled around Team Player's all year. Carpentier's contract is up at the end of the season and he's not sure where he'll re-sign.

Player's involvement in open-wheeled racing will probably end next year when new Canadian tobacco legislation comes into effect.

Signed to drive next year, Tagliani seemed to be the one certainty for the team.

Not any more.

``I don't care anymore,'' he snorted.

``I'm going to do my own stuff. I don't care about who is going to drive the second car.

``I've been a good teammate in the past, I did a lot of things for teammates, but now I'm just thinking on my own.''

[f1manoz]

All is not well in Team Players it appears. However, depending on how long after the race this interview was conducted, Tagliani was probably just blowing off steam.

[macdaddy]

Never thought of Tags as a whiner. Carpentier spun, clear and simple. It's not like he was attempting an impossible pass or doing something stupid. The fact that Tags, amongst others, got caught up in the melee... Well, that's racing.

[Liz]

I'd guess that was something said in the heat of battle and likely he's wishing he hadn't said it to people with live microphones now.

Likely if anyone had spoken to Bruno immediately after Townie Bell wiped him out in Toronto, he would have got the same kind of interview with a few knobs on to boot.

[Jordi]

That's racing. And he can be happy, he scored points even without finishing...

[mac]

I love this one ...

Asked if he was going to say anything to his teammate later, Tagliani shook his head.

``There's nothing to say. What can I say. `Keep the car on the track?''

[Jordi]

Well, he could say that!

[Bizzo5000]

Getting a little bitter about not being payed back from Michican last year?