Race No. 14

Texaco/Havoline 200
Elkhart Lake — Wisconsin
August 15 — August 17, 1997

1996 Pole Winner: Alex Zanardi
1996 Race Winner: Michael Andretti
1996 SpeedCenter Report
Elkhart Lake Weather Forecast
Road America Area Map

CART Returns to Packerland
Road America Next Stop of PPG CART World Series
By Peter Burke

One of the most popular venues of the PPG CART World Series is Elkhart Lake Wisconsin: the track is called Road America, and its 4 miles of scenic pavement will host the next episode in a title hunt that seems to have a clear favorite after the last two events.

Alex Zanardi is the man. Last year he was the man to be beat at Road America (and he was defeated due to a first lap incident with Gil de Ferran, but he charged back to third place from the tail end of the field). If he can extend his lead this weekend, the season title may be decided long before the end of the season. But winning in the CART series isn't that easy...

First, Zanardi will have to qualify well. There are a few others in the field who have a word to say about who will start up front on Sunday. Gil de Ferran is a favorite for the pole after being edged out last year only by Zanardi during the last minutes of qualifying. Bryan Herta ran fast here in '96 and just grabbed the pole at Mid Ohio - he's still trying to get that first win for Team Rahal (and so is Bobby).

It's the season of fuel economy, and Road America is a race where fuel strategy can be extremely important. There are only 50 laps to drive and getting stranded on these long laps is not what the teams have in mind for raceday.

The weather forecast has been rather unspecific for the last few days, expecting 'scattered T-storms' each day of the event. If rain does occur on Sunday, Goodyear drivers will have access to a new rain tire. SpeedCenter saw a few of these tires with more chevron-shped grooves in use by some of the Goodyear teams last week, mixed in with sets of their original wet tire design. This June at Portland, the Firestone rain tires were the tire to beat. There hasn't been a wet race in Elkhart Lake for a few years now and Goodyear hasn't been sleeping over the summer.

Other drvivers to look out for this weekend: Michel Jourdain is getting faster each week - and now his teammate Charlie Nearburg is also drving a '97 Reynard. Expect these two drivers to run higher than previously this season. Toyota-power seems to be still off, but AAR and Arciero Wells are making the best of it at the 'slower' raod courses. Last year, Juan Fangio II finished eighth at Road Amercia, followed by Max Papis in ninth place. Watch for them to run consistent throughout the race.

Arnd Meier will start his last race of the season for Project Indy this Sunday. He ran really strong at the US 500 and especially last weekend at Mid Ohio - his goal for the season is to impress a bigger team with his talent in the hope to get a more competitive ride in 1998 (an exclusive interview with Arnd is coming up on SpeedCenter when we get a breather from these back-to-back races).

Never count out the usual suspects (Rahal, Unser, Tracy, Andretti, Fittipaldi, Pruett, and another dozen drivers), all able to win on Sunday if things work their way. The race will be live on TV at 3pm Eastern on ESPN.

©1997 SpeedCenter Internet Publishing, Inc.