CART: DOMINGUEZ SPLASHES TO WIN DOWN UNDER

October 27, 2002

SURFERS PARADISE, Australia--Mario Dominguez started Sunday in the middle of a nine-car pileup and ended up in victory lane. That's how crazy Sunday's Honda Indy 300 turned out to be.

In one of the wettest, most treacherous and confounding races in CART history, Dominguez was out in front when the red flag fell on Lap 40 and scored a very improbable win.

Strong, steady downpours (the first rain here in several months) forced the yellow flag to wave for 34 of the 40 laps--including the last 31--as most of the crowd of 103,351 was long gone by the time Dominguez took his initial checkered flag in near-darkness.

"Obviously, this isn't the best way to win but a win is a win and you take it no matter what," said the 26-year-old Mexican rookie who also gave the Herdez Competition team its first Champ Car triumph.

"I feel like the luckiest man in the world at the moment, but I had great strategy from my team and they really deserve this."

The race began in a driving rainstorm, which directly contributed to the massive accident involving Tora Takagi, Adrian Fernandez, Jimmy Vasser, Christian Fittipaldi, Michael Andretti, Michel Jourdain, Patrick Carpentier, Alex Tagliani and Dominguez.

Takagi flipped wildly and landed upside down, suffering two minor fractures in his pelvis while Fernandez sustained small fractures in his neck and was released from Gold Coast Hospital wearing a cervical collar.

"To be honest, none of us could see because the visibility was so bad," said Vasser, who also flipped in the melee but escaped injury. "I clipped Adrian when he braked early and then all hell broke loose.

"I'm thankful nobody was seriously injured, but I feel bad for the Australian fans because they didn't get to see a race today."

The race was red-flagged and Team Rahal, Player's/Forsythe Racing and Team Motorola all readied their backup cars for the restart while the Herdez crew repaired the suspension damage to Dominguez's Ford-Cosworth/Lola.

Following a 90-minute delay, the race resumed under caution for three laps before the green waved to start Lap 4. Polesitter Cristiano da Matta had built up a two-second advantage over Bruno Junqueira before the full-course yellow was displayed on Lap 10 because of more driving rain.

From that point until the end, the 2.795-mile street circuit was engulfed in running and standing water and the green flag never waved again. It had been determined that the distance would be shortened from 70 to 50 laps due to the first-lap crash and subsequent red flag. Officials also announced that 36 laps--half the original scheduled distance of the race--would need to be completed in order to make the race official.

Thus began the strategy game from all the teams.

"It was all roulette, it wasn't a race, and those guys (Herdez) guessed right," said Scott Roembke, team manager for Vasser and Jourdain. "Our thinking was that they would probably call it at 36 laps so that's how we planned it."

Late-race leader Michael Andretti also planned his pit window to conclude on Lap 36, but officials determined that in order to make the race fair for everyone, the race was extended to 41 laps so that all drivers would make at least two pit stops. CART Chief Steward Chris Kneifel admitted afterwards there was no way to make everyone happy.