Race No. 16

Toyota Grand Prix of Monterey
Monterey — California
September 5 — September 7, 1997

1996 Pole Winner: Alex Zanardi
1996 Race Winner: Alex Zanardi
1996 SpeedCenter Report
Current Points Standings
Monterey Weather Forecast
Laguna Seca Area Map

Laguna Showdown
Zanardi expected to wrap up Championship
By Ray Sprouse

Entering the Grand Prix of Monterey at Laguna Seca in '96, it was Alex Zanardi's teammate Jimmy Vasser (both driving for Target/Chip Ganassi in Reynard Hondas) with a likely chance to clinch the PPG CART World Series championship. This year, Zanardi has scored victories in the past 4 out of 6 races, and enters the Grand Prix of Monterey as defending champion with a commanding lead in the '97 PPG Cup chase.

Celebrating their 40th Anniversary this season, Laguna Seca Raceway will once again play host to the possibility of deciding the season champion. Last year was an absolute, being the final race of the season, and Vasser needing only to finish eighth place or better to clinch. This year, Zanardi's lead is so great (37 points, 181/144 over Gil de Ferran) with two races remaining, that Alex could literally lay back by his late standards. He needs only eight points in the next two races combined to put the Cup out of reach, and collect the $1 million dollar championship prize.

Chief Steward Wally Dallenbach has levied a $25,000 fine and a two-race probation against Zanardi for and incident with then-leading Bryan Herta during last week's Molson Indy Vancouver. Herta was blatantly booted from behind while entering the first chicane.

Zanardi's aggressive style also surfaced about this time last year when an incident with Gil de Ferran led to a $20,000 fine for Zanardi, following the fine-filled '96 Road America event. Other fines were levied against Paul Tracy and Andre Ribeiro, who were each fined $40,000, of which $20,000 was suspended pending their performance in the year's final two races. In the event of any rough driving infractions in those two races, the suspended fine would have been imposed, along with additional penalties as determined by the stewards.

Article 8.12 of the IndyCar [now CART] Rule Book reads: "Unjustifiable Risk - Any action that represents an unjustifiable risk or reckless endangerment in the opinion of the stewards will result in the assessment of penalties..."

"My perspective of this is the reality of what happened," de Ferran said after the race, "I don't know what his problem was. He just decided to move over and knock me out. It was not as if I just came on the scene. There was plenty of room for both of us and he knew that, and he knew I was there. I just don't understand what he was thinking."

"They should have black-flagged him for that stunt," said an upset de Ferran, "I'm out, and he should be, too. It was unsporting and the worst blatant action I've seen in my two years on the circuit. We were side-by-side and he takes me out. It was stupid. I'm not going to talk to him about it. That's the stewards' job, but in my opinion, he should have been disqualified."

Zanardi ended up finishing on the podium, in third place. He didn't bother to mention the de Ferran incident in his post race interview.

Are we witnessing the evolution of a great champion? Or are we witnessing the evolution of another soon-to-be-deemed "bad boy" behind the wheel of a 200mph projectile? You can bet that two drivers will be very hard for Zanardi to pass come Sunday.

©1997 SpeedCenter Internet Publishing, Inc.