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Sunday, August 12, 2001

By Chris Dolack, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

LEXINGTON, OHIO -- One year ago in the Miller Lite 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Chip Ganassi watched his team come as close to rock bottom as he will allow it. Juan Montoya ran out of gas. Jimmy Vasser crashed into Dario Franchitti, who was two laps down at the time. Standing outside his team's garage in the paddock, Ganassi described the day as "difficult to stomach."

By the end of the weekend, Vasser was fired. After the season, Montoya departed for Formula One. The rebuilding process was under way.

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A year later at Mid-Ohio, Ganassi, whose teams won four consecutive Championship Auto Racing Teams titles in the late 1990s, still is disappointed with his team's performance.

"It's very tough," he said. "Very tough."

He already has fired Nicolas Minassian, one of two drivers he hired in the off-season. The other, Bruno Junqueira, still is learning the ropes. Minassian's replacement, Memo Gidley, has fared better, scoring a second-place finish at Cleveland and a fifth-place finish at Cicero, Ill. Junqueira will start 10th today in the Miller Lite 200, Gidley will start 17th.

"I'm a little bit disappointed," said Ganassi, who lives in Fox Chapel. "We're not having the kind of year we're used to. We haven't had any wins. Changes have to be made. [Minassian] was the obvious one."

Ganassi's NASCAR Winston Cup team is faring much better. Sterling Marlin is fourth in points headed into the Global Crossing at the Glen in Watkins Glen, N.Y., today. Marlin is the top Dodge driver in the standings.

Although hectic, Ganassi is getting used to being a car owner in two major racing series. He spends the weekends running his CART operation, but he was in Watkins Glen for qualifying Friday.

"I figure I've got 10 years that I can go at a pace like this in both series," he said.

A Penske front row

Team Penske gave the rest of the teams on the CART circuit a year to catch up after dominating at Mid-Ohio last year. Seems there still is a gap.

In qualifying yesterday, Gil de Ferran won the pole in 1 minute, 5.442 seconds at 124.214 mph and will be joined on the front row today by teammate Helio Castroneves, who clocked in at 1:05.877 at 123.394 mph, for the second year in a row.

Castroneves won last season with de Ferran, the eventual series champion, in second. With nine races remaining, six on road or street circuits, Ganassi said there is only one way to catch Team Penske.

"The teams have to race harder is what they have to do," he said. "They have to dig down, get focused and get back to the front."

Points leader Kenny Brack, whose three wins this season have come on ovals, qualified 13th in 1:06.494 at 122.249 mph.

Points tighten at Lernerville

Championships will be decided in two weeks at Lernerville Speedway and expect each division to go down to the final lap.

In sprints, Jimmy Hawley worked his way through the field to take the checkered flag Friday night, but points leader Rod George kept pace and finished second. The victory moves Hawley within three (420-417) of George.

John Flinner had a 15-point lead over David Scott in late models entering the night, but Russ Kolesar spun Flinner out going into Turn 4 in the feature. Flinner restarted in the back and was caught in traffic for the rest of the race. Scott took advantage by holding off defending champion Nick Jones to win. Scott, the runner-up last year, trails Flinner, 361-358.

The most incredible comeback to save his points lead came from Brian Swartzlander in the modifieds. Something in the rear end of his car broke during a heat race, rendering it unusable for the rest of the night. His team raced to his shop, picked up a backup car and returned to Lernerville in just enough time to make the feature, starting last in the 18-car field. But on lap 13, he finished off a remarkable charge to the front by passing Tom Marshall for the lead. Swartzlander increased his lead over Dave Murdick to 377-365.

"I didn't even know what the car was going to do in the first corner because we've never run it here," Swartzlander said. "My idea was to get in the top five and stay out of trouble. Once I got a couple of laps on it, I knew it was going to be good, it was just a matter of getting through some traffic."

Chris Dolack can be reached at cdolack@post-gazette.com.