Monday, September 6, 1999
Carpentier moves
Star-Bulletin staff
into 12th spotPatrick Carpentier made the biggest move in the "Points to Paradise" chase for starting spots in the Hawaiian Super Prix yesterday
Carpentier's second-place finish in the CART-Molson Indy race pushed him up two places into 12th place in the FedEx Championship Series season standings.
The top 12 drivers at season's end will receive automatic slots in the Nov. 13 race at Kalaeloa Airport.
The top 16:1. Juan Montoya -- 194
2. Dario Franchitti -- 171
3. Michael Andretti -- 124
4. Paul Tracy -- 122
5. Christian Fittipaldi -- 101
6. Greg Moore -- 97
7. Gil de Ferran -- 96
8. Adrian Fernandez -- 95
9. Jimmy Vasser -- 94
10. Max Papis -- 91
11. Tony Kanaan -- 68
12. Patrick Carpentier -- 57
13. Helio Castro-Neves -- 48
14. Roberto Moreno -- 42
15. Bryan Herta -- 40
16. PJ Jones -- 37
Montoya outfoxes
Associated Press
FranchittiVANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Juan Montoya gave Dario Franchitti just enough room to make a big mistake.
Holding a narrow lead in yesterday's Vancouver Molson Indy, the 23-year-old Colombian rookie tantalized Franchitti by moving just wide enough on the narrow temporary street circuit to entice the Scotsman into trying a pass.
It didn't work.
The 26-year-old Franchitti wound up sliding backward into a tire barrier, and Montoya went on to his third win in a row, seventh of the season and a 23-point lead over Franchitti in the CART FedEx Series standings.
"I was a bit worried about Dario," Montoya said. "I knew he was quick, but I knew we could be quicker than him.
"I knew he couldn't get me there, but he went for it. If I would turn, I would spin as well, so I just gave him more room, and he just touched me and he spun."
Franchitti was able to drive his car back to the pits, where his crew tightened down the rear wing well enough to allow him to salvage a 10th-place finish and three points.
"My team worked really hard to get me back into second place and then I made a mistake," the 26-year-old Franchitti said. "I saw the gap and went for it.
"I got halfway alongside Juan when he started to turn in. Then I hit the brakes pretty hard and lost the back end. It wasn't a clever move."
The incident on lap 60 of the 74-lap event gave second place to Paul Tracy, Franchitti's teammate. But the Canadian driver ran into trouble later on the same lap, brushing the wall and slamming into a concrete barrier.
"We could have finished 1-2 if we had just kept it off the fences," the unhappy Tracy said.
Once Franchitti and Tracy were out of the picture, Montoya simply had to keep his Firestone tires under him on the treacherous track.
The race, scheduled for 90 laps on the 1.871-mile, 12-turn circuit and cut short by a two-hour time limit, began in a downpour and ended with the sun shining on a drying track.
Some teams switched their cars to slick tires, but Target-Chip Ganassi Racing chose to keep Montoya on grooved rain tires, which tend to wear out fast in drying conditions and also make the cars less easy to handle.
"Normally, that is my call," Montoya said. "The track was getting dry except for two corners. If you had slicks on, you could be fast everywhere else. But I think three cars on slicks didn't get through those corners."
Ganassi kept reminding his young driver to take care of the tires, but Montoya said he wasn't worried.
"My car was sliding, but I felt I had it under control," he said. "If I felt it wasn't under control, I wouldn't be pushing as hard."
Montoya averaged 65.279 mph while leading 73 of the 74 laps.
Burton gets help from rain
DARLINGTON, S.C. - This time, Jeff Burton didn't need the rain to win at Darlington.
At the TranSouth 400 here in March, Burton's car was a mechanic's nightmare -- tire jutting out at a 30-degree angle, no brakes, metal twisted at crazy angles -- after he crashed just before rain stopped the race with him in the lead.
Yesterday, Burton again led the Southern 500 when officials called the race 97 laps from completion. But even if the skies had cleared and the race had gone green, Burton's Ford would have rumbled forward and pulled away.
"That's the way I saw it from my vantage point," said runner-up Ward Burton, Jeff's older brother.
"I figured no way that could happen to us twice in one year," said Jeff, who won a $1 million bonus for himself and NASCAR fan Phylis Farmer of Hillsboro, Mo. "I wasn't convinced this one was over."
Jeff Burton, who finished second to Jeff Gordon here the past two years, never let Gordon or anyone else get too far ahead. And when Burton had the chance to blast in front, he streaked to as much as a five-second lead.
"We made a few adjustments to the car halfway through, and boy, it just lit up," Burton said. "I watched Jeff Gordon win a lot of Southern 500s with his head, then when it was time, with his foot."
The victory stopped Gordon's unprecedented streak of four Southern 500 wins and gave Burton a place in the sport's history he had always dreamed about.
The race was halted for 24 minutes, with Jimmy Spencer ahead of Burton. But Burton took control in the seven laps before NASCAR stopped it again, this time for 80 minutes.
Burton gestured to the heavens, like he did in the spring, then talked to Ward, car owner Jack Roush, and crew members. NASCAR planned a restart, but called it for good after 10 caution laps.
Jeff Burton led 89 of the 270 laps, collecting $148,170 from a purse of $2.2 million and the $1 million bonus from the series sponsor. It was his fifth victory of the season and 10th of his career.
Hawaiian Super Prix
