Turbocharger boost pressure may be going down, but everywhere else the pressure is going up. While rule changes have decreased turbo boost for the Mercedes Benz IC108D engine and its competitors from 45 to 40 inches (and lowered horsepower by approximately 100) for the 1997 PPG CART World Series, as the season opening Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami -- at the Metro-Dade Homestead Motorsports Complex, in Homestead, Fla., March 2 -- approaches, the pressure on the racing teams is still rising.

The pressure, that is, that racers -- drivers, engineers and technicians; rookies or seasoned veterans -- experience as they prepare for the first race of the season. It’s a kind of self induced stress born of their own competitive nature, and it’s a stress they live for.

Paul Ray, vice president of Ilmor Engineering, the race engine building arm of Mercedes Benz, explained it like this: "It’s more about the competitive nature of racers than about the technology of racing. There’s confidence in the Mercedes engine because it has tested well, and it went well at Spring Training. But the opposition is unknown because you don’t know who’s been sandbagging. It’s similar, I suspect, to going into battle without knowing what secret weapons your enemy might have. The first race is where you find out, and you always go into it wondering, ‘Is everything I’ve done over the winter going to be good enough?’."

Ray was quick to make the point, however, that racers are drawn to the challenge of competition, and it is under those stressful circumstances that they truly thrive.

"That’s what it’s all about -- measuring your performance against your competition," said Ray, a 15 year veteran of professional auto racing, who raced karts as a teenager. "From an engineer’s perspective, the start of the season is a very busy time. You focus on every single element of the car/engine combination that can possibly have an effect on the performance or reliability.

"But that’s when it’s the most fun," he added with a grin "When you’re up to your eyes in muck and bullets, and you’re doing your job."

No member of the Mercedes Benz CART contingent will be facing more pressure at the season opener than Dario Franchitti, the 23 year old rookie, who will drive a Firestone-shod Reynard/Mercedes Benz for the newly formed Hogan Racing team. Franchitti, who sat in an Indy car for the first time in late January, is facing his first oval race and only the second pit stop of his career.

"I’m just going to go out and do my best job," said the young Scotsman. "But until you’ve done it, you always wonder if your best will be good enough."

Like Ray, the former Mercedes Benz touring car pilot relishes the challenge. "As the race gets closer, the pressure will certainly increase," Franchitti said. "But that’s part of being a racer, isn’t it -- mastering that pressure and turning it into strength."

Five teams with seven drivers will be powered by the Mercedes Benz IC108D engine in this season’s 17 PPG Cup races. Heading up the Mercedes effort, Marlboro Team Penske will field drivers Al Unser Jr. and Paul Tracy. PacWest Racing will have Mauricio Gugelmin, backed by Hollywood, and Motorola sponsored Mark Blundell, and Greg Moore will return with Players/Forsythe Racing. Hogan Racing rookie Franchitti will be joined by fellow first year PPG Cup competitor Patrick Carpentier, driving the Team Alumax Reynard/Mercedes Benz.

The 1997 season marks the 103rd year that Mercedes-Benz has participated in motorsports competition.