CART @ Portland

Pity poor CART. Other than their drivers dominating the Indy 500, CART just can't seem to be able to catch a break. Yesterday they held the annual race at the Portland International Speedway. A couple of things strike me as being wrong with this race. First, it's a boring track and looks like, other than the pit straightaway, it provides little viewing area for the fans in attendance. Second, the race always seems to be held on the same day of the Winston Cup race down at Sonoma, CA. Therefore, both races usually start at the same time. The last thing CART, or any other racing series, needs to do is to try to go head to head on television against NASCAR. It's a no win situation.

Apparently CART isn't worried about competing against the Winston Cuppers. I would think they would be! To make matters worse, rain fell during the entire race at Portland. This resulted in 9 full course yellows, numerous excursions off the track and the race distance shortened to a timed event of 2 hours. It was absolutely painful to watch. The CART officials should have stopped the race and waited for the skies to clear. I know, I know, they run on road courses in the rain. Well if that is the case, then let them run. If cars slide off the course, they usually get back on the track. And as long as they are out of the way, keep the track green. I thought that if there were crashes on road courses, the system of flags warns the drivers of impending peril and the whole course doesn't have to be slowed. That didn't happen yesterday.

I bet the F1 guys got a big kick out of watching you fumble your way around the wetlands of Oregon. That is, if they were able to stay awake. Come on CART, tracks like Portland have no place in your schedule. I really want to follow CART but the way things happen over there, especially this year, it isn't easy. That's 2 weeks in a row the pole sitter has won and led throughout. It happens in F1 because one car manufacturer is dominant. But CART cars are all basically the same, or at least when it comes to an oval, that everyone has a chance to win. And if you feel you must run in Portland, don't run it on the same day NASCAR is on the west coast. Their race at Sears Point isn't very exciting either, but yesterday it was like comparing the Daytona 500 to go kart racing over at Great Times!

One thing I did notice about the race yesterday at Portland was the Toyota advertising behind the wheels of the Newman/Haas team cars. It was a bright red or orange and the rims allowed the logo to be seen as they turned. The effect was a flashing-like effect which was very cool indeed.