CART Fans,

MountaineerTom · April 29, 2001

From http://www.racingone.com/default.htm

In a stunning announcement, CART FedEx Series President Joseph Heitzler announced that Sunday’s Firestone Firehawk 600 has been postponed indefinitely due to serious driver concerns over safety.

With speeds reaching as high 236 mph at the high-banked, 1.5-mile oval, drivers began complaining of serious vertigo and feared possible blackouts, which caused CART Director of Medical Affairs Dr. Steve Olvey to become concerned.

In a meeting Saturday night, Olvey asked how many drivers had experienced vertigo-like symptoms and all but four drivers raised their hands.

“The Texas race-track did everything they could to make this track as safe as they could and they did a good job in a short period of time, but that’s not the issue,” said Michael Andretti, who reportedly had his attorney by his side throughout Sunday’s meeting. “The issue here is an area that we’ve never been before physically. Drivers have the potential of passing out. This is something we cannot have. I was not aware of these problems until the driver’s meeting and I was shocked when I saw all the drivers raise their hands that were having these problems.”

In an hour-long meeting of drivers, team owners, and safety officials Sunday morning, the CART stewards decided to reduce the boost from 37 to 36 inches and enlarge the wicker bill from ¾ of an inch to 1.5 inch, in an effort to slow the cars by 10 miles an hour. In reducing the boost by an inch, the stewards were hoping to reduce engine production by 25-30 horsepower.

It was after this long meeting that CART officials decided to postpone the race.

“I am confident that we have exhausted every available option to find a suitable solution,” Heitzler said. “Once we process all the data which we’ve gathered over the last 18 hours, we concluded that there are no other alternatives.”

Andretti commented on Saturday that a mistake on a track as narrow as Texas would be “catastrophic.”

“I must say in my 20 some years of auto racing I have never experienced what I was experiencing out there this weekend,” Andretti said. “The G-forces that were put on our bodies were way beyond anything I could imagine. I really have to applaud Joe Heitzler and everyone in the CART organization to stand up for the drivers and their safety and try to come up with an answer to fix this problem and not go on with this event at this time.”

Kenny Brack, who won the pole for Sunday’s race at 233.447 mph, is the only CART driver to have raced at Texas and just a handful of drivers tested there in the off-season.

Mauricio Guglemin, President of the Championship Drivers Association, was highly critical of the track in the off-season and petitioned to get a portable wall installed between the track and pit lane, among other modifications. Gugelmin himself was injured when he hit the wall hard in practice Friday afternoon.

According to reports from Texas, Heitzler first cancelled the race Saturday night. Reportedly, however, Speedway Motor Inc. President Bruton Smith met with Heitzler in a closed-door meeting late Saturday and the two agreed to make aerodynamic changes for the race.

April 29, 2001

This is a double "beat on 'em" for me.

CART drivers are a bunch of sissies. The champagne and caviar crowd is overpaid and under raced.

Texas Motor Speedway has been a problem since it was built. If Bruton would stop trying to make everything look like Charlotte, everyone would be better off.

General Lee 01 · April 29, 2001

I don't think much of CART drivers either. I think they oughta take a couple laps in a REAL CAR.

MountaineerTom · April 30, 2001

I can't stand Bruton Smith. He's a greedy SOB.

Don't really care alot for CART or IRL racing, but I'll watch it if nothing else is on.

Kansas Kid · April 30, 2001

In all honesty I could care less, because I am not a fan of big time open wheel racing. (Cart, IRL, Formula One) All this does is confirm my feelings that these guys are "sissies".

Now if I were a fan and it attendance at this race, I would have been iriate. Not only would I have wanted a full refund, I would have never bought another ticket again. In all honesty, I think Bruton Smith should sue CART for this little deal (if it is completely cancelled). The problem isn't the all the track, it is mainly the drivers.

(Edited by Kansas Kid at 12:26 am on April 30, 2001)