CEO Rahal trying to get CART on track

Sunday, July 02, 2000

By Chris Dolack, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

CLEVELAND -- Bobby Rahal has had three weeks to settle into his new role as interim chief executive officer of the Championship Auto Racing Teams after the board of directors decided against extending former chief Andrew Craig's contract.

Today's Marconi Grand Prix of Cleveland on the runways of Burke Lakefront Airport will be the third race since Rahal, a three-time CART champion who owns a two-car team with drivers Max Papis and rookie Kenny Brack, was elevated into his current role -- and he still seems to be adjusting.

"I've been all over the place the last few weeks," he said. "On the phone. In airplanes. It's actually been quite rewarding. The response has been very positive.

"We're not out of the woods yet," said Rahal about the once-popular series trying to regain a foothold in the American racing scene. "There's a lot of work to be done. From a relationship standpoint, I've worked very hard in the last several weeks trying to repair those that needed repairing, to try to strengthen those that need strengthening and to try to advance those that are in a position to be advanced."

But yesterday, Rahal talked about the future of the open-wheel series and was pushed to decide if he would take the CEO job on a full-time basis.

"As my team has so beautifully shown, they really don't need me," he said. "They've done very well without me.

"As far as interim, I'm not even thinking about what's happening five months down the line for me personally. What happens five or six months from now, happens, but I will tell you there is some major thoughts I have to really resolve for myself in order to even consider taking this on as a full-time situation."

Aside from losing time with his family, Rahal was concerned about a possible conflict of interest between his CEO role and being a team owner.

"Even though I can say until I'm blue in the face, 'There isn't a conflict of interest,' what would the effect be if there was a ruling toward my team and how would people perceive that? That's an issue I can't answer; the teams and the drivers have to be comfortable with that," he said.

Rahal's main task over the past three weeks has been to resolve next season's schedule, which is expected to include CART's first race in Europe. He had hoped to present the schedule yesterday but expects at least a one-week delay. Rahal did say there will be an opening again in late May for teams to compete at Indianapolis, but as for a unification with the IRL, he wasn't so certain.

"I've had social calls with Tony," he said of Tony George, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway president and IRL founder. "He knows we're here. I expressed that we would keep two weeks open for our teams that do have the ability to go to Indianapolis. It's still a bit of an unknown for me just how many there might be. Last year at this time, it sounded like everybody was going and then only one went. I think there will be a few more, but we will keep that period of time open.

"Whether it goes beyond that, there has been an awful lot of effort expended. I suppose as long as there is a possibility there will continue to be a lot of effort expended. But the time hasn't been right, obviously, otherwise it would have happened. We will continue to explore ways and in some way, shape or form create some kind of resolution."

Rahal also said he would like to have more than 20 races next season, which would force teams to cut back on testing.

"I think we definitely feel like we would like to race more," he said. "There would be a reduction in testing as a result of that. Testing really doesn't create anything other than more expense. When you look at the number of days we were testing, last year we were doing the equivalent of 36 races. That's a huge amount of testing, achieving very little in a value sense so I think the view is that we should add races, we should take advantage of opportunities that are out there."

Moreno gets pole

Not since the 1995 Grand Prix of Cleveland has the Target/Chip Ganassi Racing team failed to start from the pole position on the runways of Burke Lakefront Airport.

That streak will end today because points leader Roberto Moreno raced around the 2.106-mile, 10-turn temporary road course in 57.436 seconds at an average speed of 132.001 mph to win the pole. And less than one minute after recording the fastest lap of the day, Moreno spun in turn four with four minutes remaining in the final qualifying session and brought out a red flag, which ended the hopes of any other driver surpassing him.

The pole is a first for Moreno in CART. In fact, Moreno, a 41-year-old native of Brazil, said it was his first pole since 1988 when he was racing in Europe. It also was the first pole for Patrick Racing since Scott Pruett captured the top spot at California Speedway in 1998.

"It's been great, it's just been fantastic," Moreno said. "I want to take this opportunity to thank everybody who helped me get to this place. They told me to keep going, and it's just great to get the pole when it's this competitive. It's all coming together now."

Starting second today will be Team Penske's Gil de Ferran, who qualified his Honda-Reynard in 57.524 seconds at 131.799 mph. De Ferran, who is second in points, won last weekend at Portland International Raceway.

Mauricio Gugelmin will start third, followed by Michael Andretti, Cristiano da Matta and Ganassi's Juan Montoya, last year's pole winner.

"I needed one more lap to really go for it, but the red just killed me," said Montoya, who was steadily moving toward the front when Moreno spun. "I think I really had a fast car. With the changes we made, it now feels like a race car."

Ganassi's other driver, Jimmy Vasser, who is fifth in points entering today's race, will start from the 12th position in the 25-car field.