NOW AVAILABLE! — The Official Directory for CART Racing
		Gugelmin Breaks 240mph in Qualifying at Marlboro 500 ©1997 SpeedCenter Internet Publishing, Inc. A new closed course qualifying record By Peter Burke After practice speeds already exceeded 242mph earlier this morning,faster than an open-wheeled race car had ever gone before duringofficial or unoffical laps on a closed race course, drivers went outfor single car qualifying laps. The track temperature was up, and thesurface slightly slicker. After several hard accidents on Friday(including Zanardi, Carpentier, who were withdrawn from the event),drivers were to run at the limit on track conditions so farunencountered during this race weekend. Fastest Man in Town Big Mo put his Reynard/Mercedes-Benz on the top starting position fortomorrow's Marlboro 500 presented by Toyota. A chillingly fast lap of240.942mph (387.942 km/h) was enough to break the closed courseall-time best qualifying record lap, previously held by Arie Lyendykfrom his '96 Indianapolis run at over 237mph. He is followed closely by Jimmy Vasser, who for just moments was thefastest driver ever on a closed course at 239.222mph (384.908km/h). Hooked up once again, and possibly the sensation of the day, wasMichel Jourdain in his Payton-Coyne Racing Reynard/Ford, who puthimself in front of such oval greats as Andre Ribeiro and Gil deFerran. He ran a 236.603mph (380.694km/h) lap to qualify on gridposition #5 ,topping his team's best all-time qualifying position of7th (that came just 3 weeks ago at Laguna Seca). Being this close tothe Mexican border at this venue, there are a lot of green/red/whiteflags waving in the crowd. Michel now is the fastest Mexican, beatingarch rival Fernandez by 9 positions on the grid. Robbie Gordon continues to impresses in his return to CART,driving the #9 Hogan Racing entry previously piloted by DarioFranchitti. After only 2 days in the car, he is showing potentialCART employers that he is still among the best in the business,qualifying solidly in 13th position. The cars of track owner Roger Penske were disappointingly 'slow'— Unser ran a 229.980mph (370.038km/h) lap, Tracy ran 230.401mph(370.715km/h) — putting them behind such competitors asToyota-powered Juan Fangio II and Dennis Vitolo. Neither tires(Fangio ran on Goodyear's just as Team Penske), nor Mercedes powercan be blamed for this lack of speed. Expect the people at the PenskeCars design facility to work overtime throughout the next few monthsin order to provide Team Penske with more competitive cars for thenext season. Department "Other Disappointments" includes Christian Fittipaldi, whoran well below his usual qualifying performance in 16th, whileteammate Michael Andretti did comparatively well and put hisSwift/Ford on the 7th grid position. Note: Ganassi Racing has put out a press release today thatthey may attempt to qualify Jimmy Vasser's backup car with ArieLyendyk at the wheel, who is at the track! Stay tuned for this storyto develop later today! If he qualifies, his lap will come without asingle practice lap in a CART car for well over 2 seasons.