Race No. 10

Medic Drug Grand Prix of Cleveland
Burke Lakefront Airport
Cleveland, Ohio
July 10-12, 1998

1996 Pole Winner: Jimmy Vasser 1997 Pole Winner: Alex Zanardi 1996 Race Winner: Gil de Ferran 1997 Race Winner: Alex Zanardi 1996 SpeedCenter Report 1997 SpeedCenter Report Cleveland Weather Robby Gordon's Track Preview in RealAudio

Cleveland Rocks

In recent years, the races at Cleveland's Burke Lakefront Airport have been nothing short of spectacular. "Keep 'em Separated" comes to mind - most of the readers here will rememeber the 1996 race this phrase refers to... With all the room to pass on the wide airport runways, drivers are able to choose lines through turns at will, and they still manage to make contact on occasion. It is a fast track with few markers for drivers to use for brake points and turn-in points. The drivers who have the best setup for a bumpy, but fast track usually dominate the race. In recent years, the dominant drivers at Cleveland were Alex Zanardi, Gil de Ferran, and Bryan Herta. Greg Moore was on the podium as a rookie already, an Al Unser Jr. finshed well, even with last year's troubled Penske car.

But as usual, this list of recent top finishers doesn't cover all the drivers who may have a shot at the podium. There is for example Paul Tracy who won at Cleveland in 1993 – he may just be ready to put his name on the score board to turn things around. Dario Franchitti is ready to get his first win after having been very close at Portland. Bobby Rahal is always in the mix, and Cleveland is a track he has finished every single race. He won there in 1982 already, so he has had plenty of time to study the bumps in the taxiways.

There is also Zanardi's teammate Jimmy Vasser - pole sitter in 1996 and no stranger to finishing on the podium this season. He has the tools to mount a solid challenge on Sunday, and he is one of the few drivers who have finished ahead of Zanardi this season.

Don't forget Michael Andretti: Charging hard in every event of the season, he may finally shake his streak of bad luck. In the same breath, one has to mention Christian Fittipaldi, who seems to attract other vehicles like a bug light. At Cleveland he should have the room to make it to the finish.

In the rookie camps, the rivalry between Tony "the Tiger" Kanaan and "Handsome Helio" Castro-Neves is not only expressed by their close points race — they are about to stage a media-intensive boxing match in pit lane on Friday morning. We'll try to be there and see if any of the team owners throw in the towel early.

Then there is Robby Gordon's prediction that the race may be the best for his team this season yet (click here to see his new column). Don't miss his track preview linked at the top of this page.

Can anyone stop Zanardi? Cleveland at half race distance marks the season midpoint. A lot of points are still to be awarded, but people have to begin finishing ahead of the #1 car — otherwise there will be a lot of circular rubber marks to be seen following future CART events.