Race No. 4 Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix |
1. | Scott Pruett | Brahma | Reynard | Ford | Firestone |
2. | Alex Zanardi | Target | Reynard | Honda | Firestone |
3. | Michael Andretti | KMart/Texaco | Swift | Ford | Goodyear |
4. | Greg Moore | Players | Reynard | Mercedes | Firestone |
5. | Mauricio Gugelmin | Hollywood | Reynard | Mercedes | Firestone |
The only evidence of any dominance thus far is the Reynard chassis andFirestone tire combination. Yet based on what happend on the track in the recent races, a dominance of Firestone would be hard to defend. The power plants are well mixed for top fivehonors in the constructors battle. Previous success at Nazarethshouldn't be too much of a factor, since only three current drivers in thetwenty-eight car line-up have ever won races at Nazareth: MichaelAndretti in '87, the tracks' inaugural year hosting CART events, thenagain last year. Bobby Rahal won the race in '92, and Paul Tracy won in'94.
The one-mile tri-oval at Nazareth Speedway has presented drivers withthe same challenge dealt by any short oval track...a traffic jam. Lastyears' winner, Michael Andretti had this to say in the post raceinterview:
"We had a really good car, maybe not so much on our own, but really soin traffic. And that's always the difference here."
One note of interest in the upcoming event is regarding the status ofthe Player's sponsorship on the #99 car of Greg Moore. As of Monday,April 21, Player's has threatened to act immediately to cancel it'ssponsorship should Canadian legislation regarding tobacco companies cometo be. This was in a story released by the Canadian Press on Saturdaystating one particularly dooming sentence that was included in thecontroversial Bill C-71:
This weekend will be a telling story. Will Greg Moore's car have all ofit's original paint excluding the Player's sponsorship? Or will theaction take place and actually eliminate Moore from contention?