Race No. 2

©1996 SpeedCenter Internet Publishing, Inc.

In the past, they have been to Italy, Japan, Canada, Argentina, England, Mexico and Australia. And now the Indy Cars are set to give Brazil a race they will not soon forget. Motorsports has been extremely popular in this South American country for many years. With the loss of Formula One legend, Ayrton Senna, who was literally worshipped as a racing god, Brazilian fans have found a home with the PPG Indy Car World Series. And now they are rewarded with a race in their own backyard. The Rio 400. The Emerson Fittipaldi Speedway is located within the Nelson Piquet International Raceway. It is an odd looking trapezoid-shaped oval. Without question, this is the most unusual track the Indy Cars have raced at. The track is 1.868-miles long. Sunday’s race is slated for 133 laps, which translates to 248.444 miles or 400 kilometers. With an official lap yet to be run, the Emerson Fittipaldi Speedway already holds a record! Turn three is 85 feet wide, which is the widest turn of any track on the 1996 Indy Car schedule and should translate into the best passing we have seen on any oval track in recent years. Not only does this speedway hold a record, it is not without concern and controversy. Due to the unusually heavy rains, there are some problems with the track. Turns 1 and 4 are the main concerns in the braking areas as the asphalt has evidently has experienced some heaving, associated with high ground-water levels. Mauricio Gugelmin recently commented, "The ideal in an oval is to use the car as low as we can in order to create a low pressure and downforce. But due to undulations we need to raise the car to don't (sic) bump the bottom and then we loose downforce making the car much more unbalanced." Fellow Indy Car drivers, Mark Blundell, Emerson Fittipaldi and Raul Boesel also raised concerns about the loose asphalt in these areas. IndyCar’s Kirk Russell, CART operations vice-president, agreed with the drivers and called for immediate repairs. Mr. Russell said the repairs would not delay track completion, or the race. The is the second of sixteen races in the 1996 PPG Indy Car World Series. Two races and two new courses equals more unknowns and a guaranteed record setting weekend! The race will be broadcasted in the United States via ABC-TV’s tape delay at the following times: 3:00pm EDT 2:00pm CDT 1:00pm MDT 12:00pm PDT In addition, the Indy Car Radio Network will be broadcasting the race live at 11:00am EDT.