Da Matta remains CART's man to beat

FONTANA,California, October 31, 2002; AP reports that the focus has been on Cristiano da Matta all season, and there's no reason for that to change now.

Da Matta, who has already clinched the 2002 CART championship, needs victories in Sunday's 500 presented by Toyota at California Speedway and in the season-ending event Nov. 17 in Mexico City to break the series record of eight wins in a season.

The diminutive Brazilian, nicknamed "Shorty" by his Newman/Haas Racing crew, can match the record set in 1991 by Michael Andretti and matched in 1994 by Al Unser Jr., simply by defending his victory here last fall.

"Records are good," da Matta said. "More important is for the team to finish the season strong. Nobody is quitting because we've already won the championship. If we can win two more races, it would make this a very, very successful season for Newman/Haas, and that's what we all want."

It won't be an easy task.

The wide, two-mile California track is one of the most unpredictable circuits on the CART schedule. Last fall, 19 different drivers took turns at the front of the field in a race that featured a CART-record 73 lead changes.

In the end, da Matta, who gave indication of things to come by winning the last two events of 2001, nipped Max Papis for the win, holding the Italian driver off by inches as they raced to the yellow flag after Scott Dixon crashed. The race ended under caution.

It appeared Papis wasn't going to get the opportunity to run the race this year, losing his ride early in the season when the Sigma team closed its doors because of financial problems.

But an injury to Adrian Fernandez in a wild, first-lap crash in last Sunday's race in Australia put Papis back in the seat he occupied for one race earlier in the season after Fernandez was hurt in a crash in Vancouver.

"Adrian, unfortunately, is the most unlucky driver," Papis said. "This is another unfortunate circumstance for him. But I am pleased that the team again called me to drive.

"I have never won the Fontana race, but I finished second last year by 0.123 seconds, and I finished second to Adrian in 1999. I am going to try to do what I didn't do last year, and that is to win the race."

He'll have help from an old friend: David Watson, who was his engineer at Sigma and recently joined Fernandez Racing.

Other than the expected battle between da Matta and Papis, the spotlight will be on the fight among seven drivers for second place in the CART standings.

Bruno Junqueira holds the runner-up spot heading into Friday's opening of practice and qualifying. He leads Dario Franchitti by just nine points and Patrick Carpentier by 13 with a maximum of 46 points remaining this season.

Bunched behind them, with only a slim mathematical chance at second place, are 2000 California winner Christian Fittipaldi, da Matta's teammate, Michel Jourdain Jr., Alex Tagliani and Paul Tracy.

This race should be wide-open, though, and any of that group could move into serious contention for the runner-up spot, worth $500,000 at season's end.

Tony Kanaan, who finished fifth here last year, said, "It's going to be a crazy race, as usual, so the key will be to be up front when the racing stops."

The race is also an important one for rookie Mario Dominguez, the surprise winner of the rain-soaked event last Sunday in Surfers Paradise, Australia. Dominguez and his Herdez team would love to prove that earning their first victory down under was no fluke.

"It was a very, very good win for the team," Dominguez said. "The reality hasn't really sunk in. It was a very well-deserved win by the team because not only did they fix that car after the big crash at the beginning, but they had a wonderful strategy in the pits.

"I think this is what we needed to cheer us up. We've had all the bad breaks this year. Finally, a very good one came back."