TRACK: Rain? In a Portland race? Stunning. Simply shocking...

RACE: That had to be one of the worse races in CART history. Only the last ~20 laps and Christian Fittipaldi saved it from total infamy.

PAPIS: Talk about a turnaround. From a dismal Detroit and last in the first practice session, Max grabs the pole out of the slower group and drives a brilliant race in horrid conditions to perhaps save his job. "Now Mad Max is here, and he's back!" Indeed.

RAHAL: This is Team Rahal's best season ever since Bobby went on his own from Carl Hogan. Then again, is it a coincidence that Bobby is not around full time this year?

MORENO: Now that Roberto has woke up this year, he got a third last week, a second this week, and Cleveland is up next week where he got his first victory a year ago. Take the natural progression, and put your money on the smiling Brazilian.

FITTIPALDI: An absolutely fantastic run in the wet. Perhaps his best drive ever in his CART career.

WILSON: Whoa, Nellie! The last time we spoke of Wilson, we hinted perhaps he didn't belong in the big leagues. Talk about eating crow. It wasn't just his fine run in lousy conditions, but the "other" Max drove great the whole weekend as this reorganized team looks like it could mean business.

DIXON: A fine run.

ANDRETTI: Now, be honest. If you watched the entire year and were not paying attention whatsoever to the points race, would you believe that Michael is third in the championship? Neither would we.

DA MATTA: Dumb, dumb, dumb.

BRACK: Seems that Kenny is on an opposite pendulum swing from his teammate.

DE FERRAN: Have you ever seen Gil off the track so much in a weekend?

GUGELMIN: A good run spoiled by Tracy.

TRACY: Same old story -- nobody to blame but yourself, Paul. In a long list of dorkbrain moves -- and this is a very, very long list, maybe as long as the list Santa Claus keeps -- this one ranks right up there.

JUNQUEIRA: Bruno, welcome to a very crowded place -- the Paul Tracy club.

KANAAN: When you are going slow, maybe it is not such a good idea to drift across the track.

GIDLEY: Given a chance of a lifetime, quite frankly, Memo didn't come through. Hopefully, it was just nerves and rust, and Chip gives him another chance.

ZANARDI: If this was Alex's first year in CART, everybody would be writing him off as just another overrated, over hyped European.

SWINTAL: Needs to ice his flagging arm.

FESTIVAL CURVES: CART's missing the chicane rule has always bugged us. It just doesn't seem right that someone who bypasses the track, while everyone else risks a greater off by staying on the proper piece of pavement, should be allowed to reenter in the exact same position without penalty. He was off the track, for crying out loud! If there was a wall, he'd be walking back to the pits carrying the steering wheel. There should be a consequence for not being able to negotiate a turn, like being held until all traffic has gone by.

STAT OF THE WEEKEND: Sure there were a ton of yellows, but it still seems odd that with the gazillion spins out there, 16 cars would finish on the lead lap, and only 7 would DNF.

HISTORICAL FACT OF THE WEEKEND: The last championship car race in Portland that was slower was way back in 1909 when Bert Dingley averaged 58.792 mph in a 7 lap race over a 14.6-mile road course (as in real roads), driving a Chalmers-Detroit. The sanction fee for that race was $50.

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND: In the Jesse Ventura would be proud category, Max Papis on the yellow flag shenanigans with Paul Tracy, "He came close to me on the straight, and I say 'you want to come close to me? There's the wall.' Nobody intimidates me. If you come too close, you'll get in trouble. So stay in your place and be quiet."

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND RUNNERUP: In the maybe you should try a different technique category, Gil de Ferran explains what happened on his pace lap off, "To be honest, I was just experimenting to how much grip there was off line. I hit the gas, the car went sideways, and I said 'Whoaa! I guess not much.'"

SCHEDULE: Ahh, Cleveland -- always a good race.

Copyright © 2001 by Deep Throttle. All Rights Reserved.