De Ferran steals Ganassi's thunder at Nazareth

Penske driver runs away with win at Bosch race

Saturday, May 27, 2000

By Chris Dolack, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

NAZARETH, Pa. -- This was supposed to be the Chip Ganassi show at Nazareth Speedway. After racing yesterday, his team is competing again today in the Indianapolis 500. Same drivers, same crew.

But Gil de Ferran grabbed the spotlight and led the final 68 laps of the Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix at the .946-mile oval to give owner Roger Penske his long-awaited 100th victory and center stage on racing's biggest weekend.

"I wasn't really thinking in terms of the 100th win. I was just focused on the race," said Penske, whose last Championship Auto Racing Teams victory was with Paul Tracy May 24, 1997 at Gateway International Raceway in Madison, Ill. "We had some ups and downs, and it's great to see the red-and-white cars be competitive again."

The most competitive car of the day, though, belonged to Ganassi driver Juan Montoya, who started from the pole position. But Montoya, who led 110 of the 225 laps, had a rough day in the pits and finished fourth. After dropping nine places when he pitted on lap 118, Montoya fought his way back to fifth. By lap 200, Montoya, teammate Jimmy Vasser, who finished seventh, and leader de Ferran were the only drivers with enough fuel to last the final 25 laps without stopping.

Then, the worst-case scenario happened for the Ganassi drivers. Two lengthy cautions late in the race extended the leaders' fuel mileage and made the closing laps a battle between de Ferran, second-place finisher Mauricio Gugelmin and rookie Kenny Brack in third.

"I was just so disgusted because at one point we had enough fuel to go to the finish," Ganassi said. "Five of the six cars in front of us didn't have enough fuel to make the finish. They needed some big yellows to make the finish and they got two long yellows. We didn't have to stop at all, we were set for fuel.

"Some of those car owners in front of us, I need to go to Vegas with them. You talk about lucky. The guy leads the most laps, has the best car, but, unfortunately in racing, the fastest car doesn't always win the race."

"I was on today," said Montoya, who was involved in a four-car accident on lap 129 and had to stop for a new nose and wing assembly. "After we replaced the nose, I was on old tires, and the car was getting a bit loose. When I was running alone, I was fast."

The victory completes an overhaul of Team Penske from last year, when the powerful owner and Al Unser Jr. parted. Aside from hiring drivers de Ferran and Helio Castroneves, Penske has changed chassis, engines and tires this season.

"You have no idea [how meaningful this victory is]," said de Ferran, who edged Gugelmin by .815 seconds. "There is so much meaning to this, it's hard to put into words. It's really a big day in your life. When I first had contact with Roger and we started to do the deal, it was a very emotional time for me. After that, though, you kind of get on with your work. It's only when you get out of the car at the end of the day that the whole feeling floods."

Penske's first CART victory came July 3, 1971 at Pocono with driver Mark Donohue. Ten of his wins have come during the Indianapolis 500.

De Ferran's average speed was 101.219 mph, slowed because of eight cautions for 70 laps. The worst of the wrecks brought out the first of the two cautions that angered Ganassi.

Mark Blundell and Castroneves raced wheel-to-wheel across the finish line. Castroneves appeared to bump Blundell's right rear tire, sending both cars careening into the turn-one wall. Castroneves walked away, but Blundell needed assistance. He was later released from the infield care center.

With this race over, Ganassi's team shifted it focuse to the Indianapolis 500 today.

"About a millisecond after the checkered flag fell, that's what I was thinking about," said Ganassi, whose team arrived at Nazareth from Indianapolis early yesterday morning and returned after the race. "It's still a good warmup. We certainly got a lot of experience out there dealing with traffic. Probably more than we needed.

"Everything's been smooth so far. We're just keeping our fingers crossed it keeps going. The weekend is only half over."

Montoya will start from the second position today, Vasser from the seventh.

"I'll get to Indy and go out and have some fun," Montoya said. "Hopefully, we'll have better luck."

NOTES -- Rookie Takuya Kurosawa smacked the turn-four wall hard nine minutes into the morning practice session and was airlifted to St. Luke's Regional Hospital. Dr. Steve Olvey, CART's medical director, said Kurosawa experienced a brief loss of consciousness but was awake and alert when he left the track. He was to remain at the hospital overnight ... Since CART rules require all drivers to start on the same tires they qualified on, when the race was postponed in April, Firestone kept the tires in a heated trailer and transported them back to a warehouse in Indianapolis, where they remained until early this week when they were returned to Nazareth in the same manner.