Saturday, July 24, 1999
Papis hopes for speedy
Associated Press
U.S. 500BROOKLYN, Mich. -- Max Papis vividly remembers cruising around Michigan Speedway's 2-mile oval last year, watching most of the action go by him.
On a day when there were a CART FedEx Series-record 62 lead changes, Papis was basically a spectator.
"Last year, I was just running around and not having much fun," Papis said.
In fact, after last July's U.S. 500, fellow Italian Alex Zanardi kidded Papis about how slow he was in the race.
"Zanardi told me he thought I was running with two cars because he was passing me every 15 or 16 laps. I hope it won't be like that this year," Papis said, smiling.
At the time, Papis was driving for Arciero-Wells, a team working hard to develop the Toyota engine and still well behind the competition.
Now, Papis is racing for Team Rahal, driving a Ford-powered Reynard and hoping to contend for a victory in tomorrow's race.
Rookie Juan Montoya, who took over Zanardi's seat after he left for Formula One this season, was fast yesterday, the opening day of practice, turning a lap of 231.258 mph.
Close behind were Mauricio Gugelmin at 230.740 and Papis at 230.518.
"We worked hard in testing here to get a comfortable car," Papis said. "It's completely different from what I have felt in the past."
Hitting speeds like this can be somewhat disconcerting to the drivers.
"It's almost like a video game at times out there at Michigan because things happens so slowly. That is, until you hit something."
But no less an authority than Mauricio Gugelmin, the driver who set the open-wheel qualifying record of 240.942, says CART's year-old Handford wing, an aerodynamic device that slows the cars down, is working very well.
"When I did 240, that was a great number; it was a great feeling," said Gugelmin, who set the record at California Speedway in the fall of 1997. "But to do that all the time is pushing your luck."
The winglike device, devised by Swift engineer Mark Handford, was used last year in both the U.S. 500 and the season-ending Marlboro 500 in California, slowing the cars by about 10 mph.
"When you run on your own, it's almost boring, like running on rails," Gugelmin said. "But, when you get other cars around you, you can have some big surprises, and that's not much fun."
Michael Andretti, a two-time Michigan winner, doesn't enjoy racing at Michigan Speedway, but not because of the sizzling speeds.
"You have to hold your breath all weekend here," said Andretti, who was 10th in practice at 228.964. "The Handford Device makes it more like Talladega type racing. You have to rely on drafting more with this wing."
Montoya, who came to CART this season from the European Formula 5000, a road-racing series, says the speeds on Michigan oval take some getting used to.
"It's pretty exciting," the 23-year-old Colombian said. "The first time I drove here, I did about 40 laps in testing and that helped. I actually got a nice rhythm."
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