©1998 SpeedCenter Internet Publishing, Inc.
If you thought you saw Santa Claustooling around Monument Circle in downtown Indianapolis at the height ofnoon lunch hour, you can rest assured that you weren't going crazy fromthe Holidays just yet. Yes, it was Santa. Yes, a Champ Car driven byMauricio Gugelmin was towing his sleigh. Yes, those were reindeer affixedto the front wing of the car. 
Testing the '99 Handford Device?
Santa, somewhat of a rookie to the racing world, commissioned Gugelmin tohelp him deliver the goods collected from CART CARES '98, a holiday fooddrive conducted by the Indianapolis-based family of CART teams andsuppliers who compete in the FedEx Championship Series and the PPG-DaytonIndy Lights series. The drive will benefit Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana.Gleaners, a Second Harvest agency, will in turn support over 348 CentralIndiana agencies that provide to those in need.
"Santa caused a bit of oversteer in the corners," said Gugelmin, whoholds the world closed course speed record for his 240.942 mph qualifyinglap at California Speedway. "I think he's doing remarkably well. We'regoing to work on perfecting the street setup first, and then we'll seehow the car handles on the roof tops."
Over thirty companies based in Indianapolis have contributed food or cashto the drive. Fans also participated by bringing food items to PacWestRacing Group's shop in Indianapolis. Since the program began, over 750gallons of food have been collected in addition to cash.
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| Mo with a new fan; Note aero devices on front wing! |
www.pacwestracing.com
Source: Pacwest Racing Group
