RACE: For an event that had the makings of a boring affair -- street circuit, Blundell's flag to flag victory, and potential for lots of full course yellows -- this one turned out to be quite exciting. You were always kept on edge whether Blundell would be able to hold onto his lead, Zanardi nearly pulled another great drive through the field, his challenge of Blundell, and the great battle between Andretti and Ribeiro which nearly lasted the entire race.

FIELD: How in the world 26 cars missed the spun vehicles of Franchitti and Fittipaldi in the first turn of the first lap without hitting anything, never mind causing a massive pileup, is nothing short of a miracle.

FRANCHITTI: A brilliant effort in qualiying thown away within one turn of the start and totally trashed 39 laps later. Dario learned a valuable lesson from a wiley old veteran -- yeah, technically it was his turn, but at the start you've got to leave room for the inevitable.

BLUNDELL: They always say that the second victory is a lot easier than the first. Blundell is driving with the confidence of a champion.

ZANARDI: Just three points back of Tracy. This was closer than he was last year. If Alex finishes up like he did in '96, the championship is his.

MOORE: Sorry Greg, that incident was your fault. Zanardi was as far in as he could be. You could easily have given him room. It looked like you misjudged how much faster you were going, and thought you already cleared Zanardi's car. Your exuberance cost you this time.

RIBEIRO: If anyone doesn't believe that a good driver can get lost in bad equipment, just bring up Andre Ribeiro's 1997 season to rebut that.

DE FERRAN: Gets the quote of the weekend award. When asked during qualiying if he was upset that his team sold the Reynard that Ribeiro was driving, and now was going faster than him, he responded, "No. He's just another competitor that I have to worry about." Now that's a great attitude.

TRACY: Another poor showing on a non-oval. Tracy needs to do real well at Michigan. There aren't many ovals left, and his championship lead is dwindling.

MATSUSHITA: King Hiro strikes again.

VITOLO: Well, Nearburg didn't last long. So much for his 4 race contract. Although Vitolo went faster, he also dropped out from that mysterious "handling" syndrome.

FOOTAGE: I thought the in-car camera footage was some of the best I have ever seen. Good job ABC for keeping us in the cars for such long stretches of time.

SCHEDULE: Next up, the second running of the U.S. 500 and the Vanderbilt Cup. With this being the first 500 mile endurance race and in typical Michigan fashion, it could prove to be very unpredictable. The Ford engine has shown to be fastest in trap speeds lately and the Swift has shown very well on ovals. For those two reasons, and the fact that this is not Indy, I'm picking Andretti.

Deep Throttle

Copyright © 1997 by Deep Throttle. All Rights Reserved.