Race No. 8

Budweiser/G.I. Joe's 200 Presented by Texaco/Havoline
Portland International Raceway
Portland, Oregon
June 18-20, 1999

SpeedCenter Rearview Mirror: 1996 Pole Winner: Alex Zanardi 1997 Pole Winner: Scott Pruett 1998 Pole Winner: Bryan Herta 1996 Race Winner: Alex Zanardi 1997 Race Winner: Mark Blundell 1998 Race Winner: Alex Zanardi 1996 SpeedCenter Report 1997 SpeedCenter Report 1998 SpeedCenter Report Portland Weather

Back to Road Course Wings

By Greg Spotts

After seven races the chase for the PPG cup is like deja-vu all over again, Honda-Reynard-Firestone is still the combination to beat, and there looks to be another series of epic battles between Target Red and Kool Green at the front. Road-course dominator Alex Zanardi is gone, but his successor Juan Montoya has done the master proud, heading to Portland with three wins and the championship points lead. Just two points behind Montoya is Dario Franchitti, who came into his own in the second half of last season with three victories but has yet to win a race this year. Greg Moore, who won the opener in Miami and has finished every race this season, is also in the thick of the championship fight, only four points behind Montoya. However, Moore will not be able to stay with the two leaders unless Mercedes finally solves their road course driveability gremlin.

Newman-Haas drivers Michael Andretti and Christian Fittipaldi are tied at 61 points apice. While Michael, who won at Gateway, has racked up his points in mad all-or-nothing charges to the front, Christian has been Mr. Consistency, finishing all seven races in the top ten even though he still awaits his first Cart victory. Early season favorite Adrian Fernandez has been distracted by a series of chassis changes: he takes delivery of a '99 Reynard this week and will hopefully be able to settle down and drive that car for the rest of the season. Fernandez is currently in sixth place with 53 points.

The biggest surprises of the season have come from the triple-championship winning Target Ganassi team. Many Cart-watchers felt that Jimmy Vasser entered the season as the premier driver in the series, and yet it has been his rookie teammate who has harvested all the glory thus far. Vasser's relationship with team owner Chip Ganassi seems to be fraying with each passing race, as Montoya more than doubled Vasser in points earned. The paddock was surprised to see the team opting for a split pit at Milwaukee, and indeed Vasser let loose with some explicitly anti-Chip comments after the race. Insiders are also perplexed by the dysfunctional relationship between Vasser and Mo Nunn, who has an incredible record of giving Zanardi and Montoya the fastest cars in the field for the last four years. Whereas in 1997 Vasser complained about being forced to use the setups Nunn devised for Zanardi, Vasser now has begun complaining about a lack of access to Nunn. Vasser needs to find a way to win, and soon.

Second-year driver Tony Kanaan had his best showing at the only road course event this season, taking the pole position at Long Beach and leading the race until Montoya pressured him into a mistake. Currently twelfth in the points, Kanaan is looking forward to flexing his road course muscles. Fellow second-year pilot Helio Castro Neves trails Kanaan by five points, and has been quick on the ovals all season. His confidence is at an all-time high following a second place finish at Gateway and a pole position at Milwaukee, but can his Lola chassis keep up with the Reynards on the ovals? Meanwhile, road course specialist Bryan Herta is desperate to return to the podium after a series of embarrassing problems managing the adjustment to speedway wings on the short ovals. Herta's current total of 15 points is surely not the kind of performance owner Bobby Rahal expects of the sixth-year driver.

Paul Tracy heads to Portland with a new spring in his step having achieved his fourteenth career victory at Milwaukee, and is tied for eighth place in the points with Herta's teammate Max Papis. Other drivers to watch include P.J. Jones, who is eleventh in the poitns, and rookie Cristiano daMatta, who is the top-ranked Toyota driver, with more points than Robbie Gordon, Richie Hearn and Scott Pruettcombined.