Paul Tracy of Team KOOL Green took theFedEx Championship Series points lead, moved into sole possession of eighthplace on the CART career victory list and claimed a piece of FedExChampionship Series history when he drove to victory in Sunday's ToyotaGrand Prix of Long Beach.

Tracy's victory was the 16th of his 10-year career, breaking a tie for ninthin CART annals with two-time FedEx Championship Series champion AlexZanardi. His triumph from the 17th starting position was the second-furthestback a driver has claimed victory on a road or street circuit in CARThistory, exceeded only by Al Unser Jr.'s drive from 19th to victory at Miamiin 1986.

Tracy, who finished third in the season opener at Homestead, owns aneight-point lead (34-26) over Target/Chip Ganassi Racing's Jimmy Vasser(Target Toyota Lola) into the next round of the championship, the April 30Rio 200 at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Vasser finished third, the best finish inFedEx Championship Series history for a Toyota-powered driver, exceedingfourth-place efforts by himself in the season opener at Homestead andCristiano da Matta at Nazareth last year.

The performances were sandwiched around a runner-up performance by HelioCastro-Neves (Marlboro Honda Reynard) of Marlboro Team Penske, which matcheda FedEx Championship Series career best established at Milwaukee in 1998 andmatched at Gateway last year. Castro-Neves turned in an outstanding drive toovercome a pit-lane speeding violation penalty assessed on the 44th of 82laps.

Tracy led the final 21 laps en route to a 3.191-second margin of victoryahead of Castro-Neves. He averaged 82.626 miles per hour en route to hisfirst win since last year at Houston and only his second on a road or streetcircuit since the second round of the 1995 season at Australia.

From the green flag, Tracy moved steadily forward and took advantage of anearly pit stop during a caution period caused by single-car contact on Lap10 involving Adrian Fernandez (Tecate/Quaker State/Patrick Racing FordReynard). Tracy stood 12th on Lap 31, then, when the leaders came in fortheir first round of as-scheduled pit stops, picked up 10 places in the nexttwo laps to stand sixth by Lap 33.

Tracy was fifth on Lap 34, then moved as high as second on Laps 35-39 beforepitting for the second time on Lap 40 and dropping to fifth. He was eighthunder caution a lap later, then began a drive to the front when the greenflag fell, taking seventh on Lap 43, sixth on Lap 46, fourth on Lap 48 andthird under caution on Lap 54.

A lap later, rookie Takuya Kurosawa (MTCI Ford Reynard) of Dale Coyne Racingassumed the first lead of his FedEx Championship Series career undercaution. He held onto the lead through Lap 61, but on the ensuing triparound the track, Tracy got around Kurosawa heading into the first turn.Castro-Neves got around Kurosawa on the same lap and Tracy and Castro-Nevesran one-two for the balance of the event.

Rookie Alex Tagliani (Player's Forsythe Racing Team Ford Reynard) finishedfourth, 3.784 seconds behind Tracy, to collect his second points-payingresult in as many career starts. Bryan Herta (Avex Honda Reynard) finishedfifth in his FedEx Championship Series season debut. He is substituting atWalker Racing for injured rookie Shinji Nakano, who is recovering frominjuries sustained in a March 31 testing accident at Milwaukee.

Max Papis (Miller Lite Ford Reynard) of Team Rahal, whose victory in theseason opener gave him the points lead heading into the event, finished 20thdue to contact and slipped to third in the championship.

WHAT THEY'RE SAYING

PAUL TRACY, KOOL Honda Reynard: "Really, with this new car we haven't beenable to get a good handle on the setup. Both (teammate) Dario (Franchitti)and I really struggled all weekend but we never gave up. We've really got togive credit to (engineer) Steve Challis. He worked with Greg (Moore) lastyear. We tried all different setups and we couldn't get one right so we wentinto Greg's notebook and put one of his setups on the car and it worked.I've got to give a lot of credit to Steve. I'm happy to be leading thechampionship - that's our goal this year. Some guys might give up if thingsare tough but this team doesn't do that. Early on, I had a big train of carsin front of me and there's not much you're going to do. That's when I relyon my guys. I know I've got a great crew and I'm not going to losepositions. It's certainly the furthest back I've ever come from to win arace. I'm just so proud of my crew. When you get the job done and win therace, it's a whole team thing, not just one individual."

HELIO CASTRO-NEVES, Marlboro Honda Reynard: "I tell you, I couldn't controlmy emotions [Castro-Neves shed tears in the cockpit after finishing second].We need to remember someone very special, Greg Moore. I wish we could sharethis with him today. We had a problem with the pit lane speed limiter and wehad to come all the way back. It was a great result with Marlboro TeamPenske. Of course, I have to thank Honda, it was my first great result withthem and also Firestone. It was a great result and I'm really happy."

JIMMY VASSER, Target Toyota Lola: "The Toyota engine was making phenomenalmileage. I was running behind Gil (de Ferran) and we thought he was runningrich which he did at Homestead. But (Roberto) Moreno did a great job. He wasthe real deal. We were content and I was second or third and then gotshifted back a bit with pit strategy. I'm happy with the performance of mycar, the Lola, the Toyota, and the team. I think you're going to see a lotmore Jimmy Vasser this year."

WHAT'S NOTEWORTHY

* The Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach drew the usual list of celebrityluminaries, headlined by Grand Marshal John Elway, the two-time, SuperBowl-winning quarterback of the Denver Broncos. Others in attendanceincluded producer/director George Lucas; actors Sylvester Stallone, NicolasCage, Tim Allen, Josh Brolin and David Arquette; actresses Ashley Judd,Minnie Driver, Melissa Joan Hart and Courtney Cox Arquette; singer NaomiJudd; former NBA player Dennis Rodman and baseball Hall of Famer RobinYount. Stallone is working on a feature film titled "Champs," which uses theFedEx Championship Series as its centerpiece.

* Paul Tracy (KOOL Honda Reynard) of Team KOOL Green became the FedExChampionship Series' new points leader, marking the first time he has ledsince 1997. Tracy, with 34 points, holds an eight-point advantage over JimmyVasser (Target Toyota Lola) to give him his first lead since Round 11 atToronto in '97. The points leader entering the Toyota Grand Prix of LongBeach was Max Papis (Miller Lite Ford Reynard), who was held scorelessSunday and dropped to third with 20 points.

* Alex Tagliani of Player's Forsythe Racing became the first rookiesince 1988 to score points in the first two races of the season. Taglianifinished ninth at Homestead and fourth Sunday to become the first rookiesince Scott Atchison to score in the first two events. Atchison finished12th in the '88 season opener at Phoenix and ninth at Long Beach. NigelMansell scored in his first four starts in his rookie season of 1993, butthe streak was interrupted when he missed the second race of the season(Phoenix) due to injury.

* Rookie Takuya Kurosawa (MTCI Ford Lola) of Dale Coyne Racing ledseven laps Sunday to become the first Japanese driver to lead a lap in the22-year history of CART. Kurosawa, who finished 13th, led laps 55 through 61of the 82-lap event before being overtaken by eventual winner Paul Tracy(KOOL Honda Reynard). Kurosawa, a 37-year-old from Gotenba Shizuoka, arrivedin the FedEx Championship Series from the All-Japan GT Championship, wherehe finished runner-up in the title race last year.

* The top-six finishers in Sunday's Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beachare all products of the CART ladder system, which consists of the ToyotaAtlantic Championship and Dayton Indy Lights Championship. Paul Tracy ofTeam KOOL Green, Helio Castro-Neves of Marlboro Team Penske, Bryan Herta ofWalker Racing, and rookie Oriol Servia of PPI Motorsports competed in DaytonIndy Lights and Jimmy Vasser of Target/Chip Ganassi Racing and Alex Taglianiof Player's Forsythe Racing raced in Toyota Atlantics. Of that group, threewere series champions in Indy Lights. Tracy won the title in 1990, Herta in'93 and Servia in '99.

* Paul Tracy (KOOL Honda Reynard) won the Budweiser Hard Charger Awardfor the second consecutive event after storming from the 17th startingposition to a victory in the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. He receives$1,000 from Budweiser, The Official Beer of CART. The Budweiser Hard ChargerAward is presented to the driver who makes the greatest improvement in trackposition from start to finish.

* Honda notched its 15th consecutive victory on temporary streetcourses and fifth in a row at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. Thetemporary street course run began in 1998 when Alex Zanardi won at LongBeach.

* Gil de Ferran (Marlboro Honda Reynard) of Marlboro Team Penske hasled the most laps in each of the first two events of the FedEx ChampionshipSeries season. De Ferran led 41 laps at Homestead and 30 Sunday, giving him71 laps led of the 232 laps contested.

* Memo Gidley (Player's/Indeck Ford Reynard), substituting for theinjured Patrick Carpentier in the No. 32 entry for Player's Forsythe Racing,led the first lap of his CART career when he led Lap 34 of the 82-lap event.Misfortune, however, struck soon after as Gidley retired after completing 37laps for mechanical problems and finishing 21st.

* Former Denver Broncos' quarterback John Elway, grand marshal of the26th Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, brought his legendary right arm out ofretirement for a few moments Sunday when he launched autographed footballsinto the grandstands just prior to the start of the FedEx ChampionshipSeries Champ Car race. Elway, who won Super Bowls XXXII and XXXIII with theBroncos, signed the five balls on the starting grid and then fired them intothe huge crowd across from the pit lane on the streets-turned-race-course inthis Southern California city. "I'm not sure how this is gonna go," saidElway as he stretched his right shoulder and arm with a bit of concern inhis voice. Of course, as was usually the case with his NFL passes, they hitthe mark when he let them go. And five lucky fans walked away with anunexpected souvenir.

"Man, I know I will feel this in the morning. All the blood on the rightside of my body feels like it's in my hand," he said to wife, Janet, and histwo sons. "But this has been a fantastic weekend and I am honored I couldbe a part of it. We've had a great time." Elway, who finished ninth in theToyota Celebrity race Saturday, then stepped to the microphone and gave thecommand of "Gentlemen Start Your Engines," to the 25, 900-horsepower ChampCars running in the second event in the 20-race CART series

WHAT'S NEXT