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1997 Milwaukee Thoughts

THE RACE: If Gateway was "Wow!", then Milwaukee was "Wow, Squared!" This had to be one of the best races ever held. I'm still catching my breath. The Unser-Carpentier side by side battle for three entire laps was mind boggling (can NASCAR guys even do that on a one-mile oval?). Then there was the Tracy-Moore side by side battle going on while Andretti was battling with someone else side by side at the same time. The director had no idea which one to follow. They should have just used a split screen.

TRACK: Was I the only one who was getting sick and tired of Bob Varsha hyping up the fact that Tracy broke the track record by 18 mph? Come on Bob, perspective. The track, horribly bumpy at one time, was repaved before last season, but last year's qualifications were rained out. So, of course they were going to smash the old mark. 184+ mph on a one-mile oval is amazing enough to stand on its own merits. You don't need to constantly repeat the "broke the old record by 18 mph" mantra.

TRACY: His "let it all hang out" qualifying effort is the kind of stuff that legends are made of. His last lap when he tapped the wall showed that he was out to break the magical 20 second barrier. There is no question that Tracy is the fastest man in CART.

MOORE: Sometimes life works out fairly, and this was the case for this race. It became quite evident early on that Moore was the man to beat, yet it kept appearing that fates would intervene. First, two fast but not fast enough pit stops kept putting him behind Tracy. Then, he almost hit Rahal coming out of the pits. Finally, the fuel gamble looked to be the wrong decision. Instead, Moore wins, and rightly so. In the process he becomes the youngest winner in CART history, by 19 days.

UNSER JR.: Why is it that Unser, who is always easy on his equipment, is the only one on the Penske team to constantly suffer mechanical breakdowns?

JOHNSTONE: Hey Parker, just drive the damn car! You don't need practice on your interviewing techniques.

ANDRETTI: Michael puts himself right back into the battle, but it will be interesting to see how he holds up in the point standings now that his Swift has to deal with a bunch of road courses. An Andretti-Tracy showdown will be quite interesting when considering how much these two don't like each other.

ZANARDI: When was the last time you heard Alex in the headlines? Seems like forever, doesn't it? Just goes to show how competitive CART is. Things change so fast. And what exactly happened between him and Tracy in practice that got Zanardi so hopping mad? Was it Alex's typical Italian hot headedness?

VASSER: Zanardi may be the fastest man on the Ganassi Team, but Jimmy is once again showing everybody why he won the championship last year and not Alex. The problem for this year is that Vasser has some catching up to do.

TOYOTA: Hey, none of the Toyota engines blew up. But 50% of them ended up in the wall. Maybe their drivers weren't use to running so long and got tired...

SCHEDULE: Well, after two thrilling short oval races (something I never thought I would say about ovals five years ago), the circuit returns to Detroit. Ugh! The epitome of the dreaded street circuits of follow the leader parades. But wait. They've changed the configuration to add more passing zones and longer straights. This may not be so bad afterall. We'll have to wait and see.

Deep Throttle

Copyright © 1997 by Deep Throttle. All Rights Reserved.

 
 
2008 Thoughts
Long Beach

2007 Thoughts
Preseason Las Vegas Long Beach Houston
Portland Cleveland Mont Tremblant Toronto
Edmonton San Jose Road America Belgium
Holland Surfers Paradise Mexico City Postseason

2006 Thoughts
Preseason Long Beach Houston Monterrey
Milwaukee Portland Cleveland Toronto
Edmonton San Jose Denver Montreal
Road America Surfer's Paradise Mexico City Postseason

2005 Thoughts
Preseason Long Beach Monterrey Milwaukee
Portland Cleveland Toronto Edmonton
San Jose Denver Montreal Las Vegas
Surfer's Paradise Mexico City Postseason

2004 Thoughts
Preseason Long Beach Monterrey Milwaukee
Portland Cleveland Toronto Vancouver
Road America Denver Montreal Laguna Seca
Las Vegas Surfer's Paradise Mexico City Postseason

2003 Thoughts
Preseason St. Petersburg Monterrey Long Beach
Brands Hatch Germany Milwaukee Laguna Seca
Portland Cleveland Toronto Vancouver
Road America Mid-Ohio Montreal Denver
Miami Mexico City Surfer's Paradise Postseason

2002 Thoughts
Preseason Monterrey Long Beach Japan
Milwaukee Laguna Seca Portland Chicago
Toronto Cleveland Vancouver Mid-Ohio
Road America Montreal Denver
England Miami Surfer's Paradise
Fontana Mexico City Postseason

2001 Thoughts
Preseason Mexico Long Beach Nazareth
Japan Milwaukee Detroit Portland
Cleveland Toronto Michigan Chicago
Mid-Ohio Road America Vancouver German
England Houston Laguna Seca
Surfer's Paradise Fontana Postseason

2000 Thoughts
Preseason Miami Long Beach Brazil
Japan Nazareth Milwaukee Detroit
Portland Cleveland Toronto Michigan
Chicago Mid-Ohio Road America Vancouver
Laguna Seca Gateway USGP Houston
Surfer's Paradise Fontana Postseason

1999 Thoughts
Preseason Miami Japan Long Beach
Nazareth Brazil Gateway Milwaukee
Portland Cleveland Road America Toronto
U.S. 500 Detroit Mid-Ohio Chicago
Vancouver Laguna Seca Houston
Surfer's Paradise Fontana Postseason

1998 Thoughts
Preseason Miami Japan Long Beach
Nazareth Brazil Gateway Milwaukee
Detroit Portland Cleveland Toronto
U.S. 500 Mid-Ohio Road America Vancouver
Laguna Seca Houston Surfer's Paradise Fontana

1997 Thoughts
Miami Surfer's Paradise Long Beach Nazareth
Brazil Gateway Milwaukee Detroit
Portland Cleveland Toronto
U.S. 500 Mid-Ohio Road America
Vancouver Laguna Seca Fontana
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