NOTEWORTHY: Beginning with the CART FedEx Championship Series G.I. Joe's 200 this weekend, the race cars co-owned by actor/race car driver Paul Newman will carry new logos. "The Road to Perdition,” a movie starring Tom Hanks, Newman and Jude Law and produced by DreamWorks SKG, will be featured on the rear wings of the #6 Chevron Toyota/Lola/Bridgestone and #11 Lilly Toyota/Lola/Bridgestone race cars of Cristiano da Matta and Christian Fittipaldi, respectively…"It's great to be able to combine my two passions of racing and acting,” said Paul Newman, co-owner of Newman/Haas Racing. "I have the utmost respect for the talents of Christian and Cristiano as well as the many talented people involved with this movie and it is great to have the two worlds working together to promote the movie. The top speed of this film will be equal to the top speed of these cars.”

• Welcome back to Portland International Raceway for CART FedEx Championship Series qualifying! The Champ Cars will once again follow the new qualifying format introduced in 2002 this weekend. Gone are the days of divided qualifying groups, as the 2002 season brings all Champ Cars on course in a single session that will require drivers to race for their starting position in Sunday's race.

• 2002 QUALIFYING FORMAT: The return of Friday qualifying at street circuits and road courses and a revised qualifying procedure will see the fastest driver from each day of qualifying awarded a championship point. Each race's pole winner will again be determined by the fastest lap of both Friday and Saturday qualifying sessions, but the provisional pole winner will be guaranteed a front row starting spot regardless of the outcome of final qualifying.

Additional qualifying enhancements include the establishment of a maximum of 15 timed laps per session with a guaranteed 45 minutes (of a 60 minute session) of green flag time at road course events. Additionally, all cars will qualify in one group. The penalty for creating a red flag situation in road course qualifying has also been changed. Drivers causing such conditions will now lose their fastest lap in that session rather than be parked for eight minutes in the pits as has been the case the last few seasons. The practice of carry-over penalties to the next race has also been abolished.

• POST LAGUNA SECA QUALIFYING UPDATE: As a response to last week's qualifying incident at Laguna Seca, CART has established seven "safe havens" this weekend where drivers can pull stricken cars off course and not incur the above-mentioned penalty for causing a red flag. The areas will be marked by horizontally-mounted orange cones and are in Turns 1,5,6,7,8 and 10 along with one halfway through the backstraight. Cars that can not reach these areas and stop during a qualifying session will be subject to the penalty for causing a red flag.

• In the morning practice session #11 FITTIPALDI of Newman/Haas Racing was fastest with a lap of 59.781 seconds (118.573 mph).

• CART FedEx Championship Series Starter Jim Swintal displays the GREEN FLAG at 2:10 p.m. The Champ Cars now have the option to take the track for the first qualifying session.

• At 2:22 p.m., #52 NAKANO is first out.

• At 2:26 p.m., #51 FERNANDEZ is on course along with #55 DOMINGUEZ. #52 NAKANO turns a lap of 1:00.869 (116.453 mph).

• At 2:29 p.m., #51 FERNANDEZ is on pole at 1:00.597 (116.976 mph).

• At 2:30 p.m., #51 FERNANDEZ spun and continued. #44 DIXON is on course along with #26 TRACY and teammate #27 FRANCHITTI.

• At 2:33 p.m., #26 TRACY is on pole with a lap of 1:00.114 (117.916 mph), then spins entering Turn 1 and continues.

• At 2:36 p.m., #26 TRACY improves his best time to 59.875 seconds (118.387 mph). #32 CARPENTIER is off course, collects a number of orange course cones under the front wing and continues.

• At 2:37 p.m., #27 FRANCHITTI on pole now with a lap of 59.710 seconds (118.714 mph), followed by #26 TRACY, #8 VASSER, #51 FERNANDEZ and #32 CARPENTIER.

• At 2:39 p.m., #8 VASSER is up to second fastest and under a minute at 59.861 seconds (118.414 mph).

• At 2:44 p.m., All Champ Cars have taken the course. #6 DA MATTA takes the pole with a lap of 59.645 seconds (118.843 mph).

• At 2:46 p.m., #6 DA MATTA improves his fast lap time to 59.390 seconds (119.353 mph), followed by #27 FRANCHITTI, #12 BRACK, #8 VASSER and #26 TRACY.

• At 2:50 p.m., 20 minutes remain. No one has run over eight of the allotted 15 timed qualifying laps.

• At 2:54 p.m., #44 DIXON moves to third fastest with a lap of 59.712 seconds (118.710 mph).

• At 2:55 p.m., #44 DIXON moves up a notch to second on the speed chart with a lap of 59.479 seconds (119.175 mph).

• At 2:58 p.m., #52 NAKANO shortcut Turn 1 which will negate his time this lap.

• At 2:59 p.m., #8 VASSER receives the BLACK FLAG for exceeding the pit lane speed limit.

• At 3 p.m., #26 TRACY shortcut Turn 1 and will lose his lap time.

• At 3:01 p.m., #20 BELL turns a lap of 59.426 seconds (119.281 mph) which places him second on the speed chart.

• At 3:02 p.m. #27 FRANCHITTI turns a lap of 59.443 seconds (119.247 mph) to place him third. Now #27 FRANCHITTI up to second with a lap of 59.403 seconds (119.327 mph).

• At 3:03 p.m., #12 BRACK takes the pole with a lap of 59.324 seconds (119.486 mph).

• At 3:05 p.m., #12 BRACK improves to 59.168 seconds (119.801 mph) on his 10th lap. #6 DA MATTA improves his time to 59.258 seconds (119.619 mph), placing him second on the speed chart.

• At 3:06 p.m., #6 DA MATTA takes the pole at 59.083 seconds (119.974 mph) on his 11th lap. Three minutes remain. #11 FITTIPALDI up to third at 59.215 seconds (119.706 mph) on his 11th lap.

• CHECKERED FLAG, #6 DA MATTA earns a championship point with his fast time of 59.083 seconds (119.974 mph). #12 BRACK was second at 59.168 seconds (119.801 mph), followed by #11 FITTIPALDI at 59.215 seconds (119.706 mph).

• Bridgestone Tire engineers report that track temperatures ranged from 125° to 128° F and air temperature from 78° to 79° F during the first session of Champ Car qualifying at Portland.

CHAMP CAR PROVISIONAL TOP-THREE QUALIFIER QUOTES

CRISTIANO DA MATTA (#6 Chevron Toyota/Lola/Bridgestone): "I was actually surprised with our qualifying effort. Everyone was improving on their times from the first set of tires to the second set. When I went out the second time I found the track to be much better than expected. It was at least three- to four-10ths faster that round. Overall, my team seems to have a good understanding of what I want out of the car and that showed today."

KENNY BRACK (#12 Target Toyota/Lola/Bridgestone): (On trading the top spot with da Matta late in the session) "I didn't get to see all the action going on out there because I was trying to concentrate on my run. As Christian [Fittipaldi] said, we are all running within about a 10th of each other which is a result of the road course work our team has done. For now, we're happy to be sitting where we are sitting in second.”

CHRISTIAN FITTIPALDI (#11 Lilly Toyota/Lola/Bridgestone): "Unfortunately, it didn't go the way we would have liked in the end. But I was 13th or so and shot up to third which isn't bad. I think the first set of tires hurt us and we were really loose. The second set was much better. I felt we had a shot at it because we were only about a tenth off the pole. I guess it was kind of wide open for any of the three of us here to get it. This is a very competitive series and things usually go this way.”

• This concludes the CART FedEx Championship Series pit notes for Friday, June 14, 2002, from Portland International Raceway. We'll see you tomorrow morning for more "Real Racing. Real Sport,” as the Champ Cars come to life again in the 10–11:15 a.m. practice session. Good night!