| | Associated Press
VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Despite big crowds and plenty
of support from the city, the future of the Vancouver Molson Indy
remains in question.
With one year left on the current contract with CART, organizers of the 11-year-old Canadian race are hoping to negotiate a two- or three-year extension. But the hangup remains the False Creek site, which is owned by Concord Pacific.
The area at the edge of downtown Vancouver -- alongside the city's basketball-hockey arena and football stadium -- is part of Concord Pacific Place and is in nearly constant flux due to ongoing construction of office and apartment buildings.
The course has been changed nearly every year due to new
construction and the organizers are quickly running out of room.
Molstar, which owns the rights to the current CART races in
Vancouver and Toronto, will likely move this event to Circuit
Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal if an appropriate alternate site in
Vancouver isn't found.
"Vancouver has to have a facility that pleases the fans and
meets the standards of this type of racing," explained Bobby
Rahal, interim president and CEO of CART.
Norman Legault, promoter of the Canadian Grand Prix Formula One
race run in Montreal, as well as owner of the Villeneuve circuit on
an island near downtown Montreal, was seen huddling with the
Vancouver organizers over the weekend, but had no comment.
Asked if it was possible there could be three Canadian races on
a future CART schedule, Rahal said, "If anyone believes in
Canadian racing, it's me. But if we said yes to everybody who
wanted a race, we'd have 33 races next year. We can't say yes to
everybody."
Franchitti finally runs up front
Although he failed to pick up his first win of the
season, Dario Franchitti did finally lead a race for the first time
in 1999.
The preseason favorite to the win the CART FedEx Series title
after losing the championship in a tiebreaker last year, Franchitti
started from the pole and led the first 40 laps and 50 of the first
52 before giving up the top spot to Team Kool Green teammate Paul
Tracy.
Franchitti became the 20th different driver to lead a CART event
this season.
Tracy went on to the win, while Franchitti's second-place finish
matched his best showing of the season -- May 13 in Japan.
It was the first 1-2 finish for the team since the race last
fall in Houston, where Tracy also won.
Tracy became the first driver to win three races this season,
breaking out of a tie with series leader Michael Andretti, Gil de
Ferran and Juan Montoya.
Canadian problems
As well as the race went for winner Tracy, fellow Canadian drivers Alex Tagliani and Patrick Carpentier suffered through a difficult day that saw the Player's-Forsythe Racing teammates finished 18th and 24th in the 25-car field.
Rookie Tagliani banged off of Carpentier on the third lap of the 90-lap race after Carpentier's car bounced off one of the concrete walls lining the temporary road course. Carpentier's car slid into a tire barrier and was then hit by the trailing car of Mark Blundell, ending the race day for those two drivers.
Carpentier stood alongside his car until Tagliani came past
again and shook his fist at his rookie teammate.
"My car went sideways and Alex went inside me," Carpentier
said. "There was no way he was going to make it there unless I was
going to let him through. He probably saw an opening, but he didn't
give me a chance to back off.
"When I gestured at him, I was mad because I couldn't believe
he was going to make that pass."
Tagliani said, "When he (Carpentier) made a mistake all I saw
was an opportunity for me to move up a position. We'll talk about
the incident and I'll explain to him how I saw it."
Later, a bump with Adrian Fernandez sent him into a tire wall,
damaging his front suspension. After a spin and sliding off the
track again, Tagliani left the race.
"We had a tough weekend, but we are trying hard to make things
happen," Tagliani said.
No Juan-derful day in B.C.
Defending series champion and 1999 Vancouver Molson Indy winner Montoya ran in the top five through much of the race before a fuel pressure problem ended his race and relegated the 24-year-old Colombian to 17th.
"It's disappointing because I really had a fast car today,"
Montoya said. "The car was getting better and better, but there is
just no room for mistakes."
Great One remembers Moore
Among the people paying tribute Sunday in a pre-race ceremony honoring the late Greg Moore was retired hockey great Wayne Gretzky.
Moore, a huge hockey and Gretzky fan, drove cars with Gretzky's No. 99. That number was officially retired Sunday by both CART and the Dayton Indy Lights series.
Moore, 24, a native of the Vancouver suburb of Maple Ridge, was
killed in a crash during a race in Fontana, Calif., last November.
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