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CART: Jimmy Vasser and Jaun Montoya prepared to storm the Beach

13 April 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
What: Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, round three of the 20-race CART FedEx Championship Series.

When: Race - Sunday, April 16 (1 p.m. local time, tape-delay broadcast at 5 p.m. Eastern on ESPN). Practice - Friday, April 14. Qualifying - Saturday, April 15.

Where: The 1.586-mile temporary street course in Long Beach, Calif.

History: Juan Montoya started fifth and won at Long Beach in 1999. Jimmy Vasser started ninth and finished 10th last year. Team Target has claimed four straight victories at Long Beach.

Fast Facts:

* Target/Chip Ganassi Racing is pursuing an unprecedented fifth consecutive CART FedEx Series championship and fifth straight victory at Long Beach.

* Juan Montoya is the defending CART champion and defending Long Beach race winner.

* The Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach was Montoya's first CART victory. He went on to win seven races in his rookie season.

* Montoya has started third or better in 12 of his 21 CART races.

* Jimmy Vasser has finished fifth or better in five of his last nine races.

* Jimmy Vasser earned Team Target's first victory at Long Beach in 1996.

* Team Target has 30 victories in its last 73 starts.

* Vasser finished ninth in the 1999 PPG Cup point standings.

* The Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach is Target/Chip Ganassi Racing's second race running a Toyota engine and Lola chassis (last weekend's Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix was cancelled due to snow).

* Montoya claimed his eighth CART pole position at the Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix on April 8 (the race was postponed due to snow).

* Jimmy Vasser (Target Toyota Lola) owns five top-10 finishes in eight appearances at Long Beach, including a victory in 1996, seventh in '92, ninth in '97, eighth in '98 and 10th last year.

* Target/Chip Ganassi Racing will race in the Indianapolis 500 on May 28.

* Team Target has won at least one of CART's first three races every year since 1996.

* Team Target has moved into a new shop in Indianapolis in 2000. The 70,000-square-foot facility features 10 car bays, nine truck bays, a show room, a sales area, a workout room and a cafeteria.

St. Jude Target/Chip Ganassi Racing is again donating money to Target House at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis. Target House is a comfortable place for the families of St. Jude patients to stay while their children receive treatments. The team will donate $5,000 for each race win, $1,000 for each pole position and $25 for each lap led. During the 1997 season, the team raised $46,275 for Target House. Target matched the donation and awarded St. Jude Hospital a $100,000 check. In 1998, Team Target's success on the track resulted in a $71,875 donation to St. Jude. In 1999, the team raised $68,250 for Target House, which opened May 17, 1999. Founded by the late entertainer Danny Thomas, St. Jude is the largest center in the U.S. for the treatment and research of pediatric cancer and other catastrophic childhood diseases.

TEAM TARGET EXCITED FOR SHOT AT FIFTH STRAIGHT LONG BEACH TITLE

Montoya eager to return to site of first CART victory

Long Beach, Calif. -- Since 1996, the team claiming the checkered flag at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach has gone on to win the CART FedEx Championship Series title. In each case, that team has been Target/Chip Ganassi Racing.

The team's first taste of success on the streets of Long Beach came in 1996 when Jimmy Vasser took the checkered flag en route to the CART championship. Former Team Target driver Alex Zanardi followed suit in 1997 and 1998. In 1999, a 23-year-old rookie named Juan Montoya, thrilled to be driving on his first CART street course, took the Long Beach checkered flag. The momentum from that win propelled him to six additional race victories and the team's fourth consecutive CART title.

With its off-season package and personnel changes and one race under its belt, Team Target is relishing a return to lucky Long Beach.

"When I won here last year, Jimmy Vasser came up to me and said, 'Congrats, welcome to the club,'" said Montoya, who has finished fourth or better in 10 of his 21 CART races. "That's when I realized just how special Team Target is and how good they've been over the years. That was a pretty amazing feeling to win and keep our team's streak going at Long Beach. I'm really looking forward to racing here again and going for No. 5."

Vasser, the man responsible for starting the Long Beach and CART championship streaks, is confident his team can earn another win on the Pacific Shore.

"It seems like such a long time ago that I won the Grand Prix of Long Beach," said Vasser, whose best finish at Long Beach since then was eighth in 1998. "I can't believe Team Target has already won three times here since my victory. I'm thinking of this race like it's my Long Beach five-year class reunion, and I plan to be the life of the party. It would be great to get a win here and give Team Target five straight. The Toyota-Lola has been running extremely well and the team is really clicking, so there's no reason we can't have a great race."

Knowing the historical significance of winning at Long Beach, team owner Chip Ganassi believes Sunday's race is important, but not do-or-die.

"Long Beach has been a springboard for our team the past four years," Ganassi said. "This race is always early in the season and has given us confidence that we have a competitive package and the ability to win. Obviously, if we don't win here, it's not the end of the world. It's a long season, but it would be pretty nice to get our fifth straight. It would also be great to give Toyota its first series win at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. We're running very well, so only time will tell."

It's no guarantee that the winner at Long Beach will go on to claim the series title, but Montoya doesn't want to take any chances.

"Can someone win the series without winning in Long Beach? Probably, but I don't really want to find out the answer to that this year," Montoya said. "It was such a great feeling to cross that finish line last year in first place...I sometimes dream about that at night. I'm hoping my dream can come true again on Sunday."

Text provided by Jana Griffith

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