CART: Good news could have been better for Kanaan at Nazareth
7 April 2000
Tony Kanaan #55 Hollywood/Mo Nunn Racing Mercedes-Benz Reynard Friday, April 7, 2000 – Practice Notes/Quotes Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix – Nazareth (Pa.) Speedway Round 2 of 20 on the 2000 CART FedEx Championship Series It was a good-news, could-have-been-better-news opening day of practice for Tony Kanaan and his #55 Hollywood/Mo Nunn Racing Mercedes-Benz Reynard today. He was fastest in his group in this morning’s first practice for Sunday’s Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix on cool and cloudy day here at Nazareth Speedway, circling the 1-mile tri-oval in 19.902 seconds (an average speed of 171.118 mph). Seven cars from the second of two practice groups bested his morning practice time to leave him eighth overall. The full for Sunday’s race practiced together in the afternoon, and even though Kanaan was a tick faster than his morning effort at 19.789 (172.096 mph), Kanaan wrapped up the day in 15th position. Practice continues Saturday morning with qualifying set for 1:15 p.m. Race time is 1 p.m. EDT on Sunday, with a live broadcast set for ABC-TV. TONY KANAAN – We had a very strong run this in practice this morning, but this afternoon everything got very confusing out there on the track with all the traffic. It was frustrating ... like rush hour in New York. Every time we were on a good set of Firestones, we were tied up in traffic and then our chance to get in a hot lap went away. Traffic cost us a lot of good laps this afternoon. But, looking at the bright side, I know I have a top-10 car under me, both for qualifying and the race. We just need to find our way through the traffic. That’s what I said before we came here ... the car that’s set up to work best in traffic is the one that will have the best chance at success. ACE IN THE HOLE -- Team owner Morris Nunn is hoping a life moment on the golf course earlier this week is a sign of things to come here this weekend. Nunn, a devout golfer, shot his first hole-in-one on Tuesday at his home course in Palm Coast, Fla. The vitals: Hammock Dunes Country Club, Hole #12, par-3, 137 yards, 7-iron. "I hit it spot on," Nunn said, "... one bounce, and it went straight into the hole. The country club did a really nice thing in that they framed a beautiful color picture of the hole ... which is over water, I might add ... and presented it to me! I'm still catching a lot of heat from the guys in the clubhouse, though, because my wife (Kathryn) has had two in the last eight years, and I'm only halfway there!" For the record, the very next day, Nunn birdied the very same hole, having hit his tee shot to within 6 feet of the cup.