Da Matta

CICERO, Ill. -- Cristiano da Matta had his silly moments Sunday, leading CART's contingent of Brazilian drivers in a spontaneous decision that produced some outrageous haircuts in celebration of their country's World Cup championship.

Then the diminutive da Matta got serious, showing why he's now the biggest man in CART.

He made it one more win for Brazil, fighting off the challenge of countryman Bruno Junqueira and oppressive 90-degree weather to win the Chicago Grand Prix for the second time in three years.

Still jubilant about Brazil's 2-0 victory over Germany earlier in the day, da Matta raced to his third straight victory, his fourth of the year and sixth in nine races.

Da Matta arrived at the track at 6 a.m. to watch the soccer match, celebrated with his fellow Brazilian drivers and joined them in getting haircuts just like Brazil's soccer star Ronaldo -- with the whole back of their heads shaved to stubble.

''After the game, I met with my engineers and you just start to get into your work and forget about it,'' da Matta said. ''The happiness is in the back of your mind all the time but, for me, driving is a lot more important than soccer.''

Da Matta, shaking off jokes about his hair -- including Dario Franchitti's remark that he ''looked like an 80's pop star,'' proved his focus was back on track. The 5-foot-4 driver led a race-high 82 laps, including the final 16 of 250 on the 1.039-mile Chicago Motor Speedway oval.

His team had struggled on oval tracks this season, while dominating road courses, but da Matta turned things around at the track where he earned the first of his eight career wins in 2000.

''Everybody had a lot of doubts about our teams on the ovals,'' he said. ''The team worked hard to get it right. It's just a lot of things, not one thing or another.''

	Cristiano da Matta had struggled on the ovals before winning the Chicago Grand Prix.

Junqueira, who grew up in the same city, Belo Horizonte, followed his longtime competitor and friend's Toyota-powered Lola across the finish line by 0.639-seconds -- about five car-lengths. Franchitti, who started from the pole and led the first 68 laps, was close behind in third.

It was the second-straight race in which the three finished in that order, marking the first time there have been duplicate 1-2-3 finishes since Al Unser Jr., Paul Tracy and Emerson Fittipaldi did it at Mid-Ohio and Loudon, N.H., in 1994.

Junqueira was gasping for breath when he climbed from his car.

''I didn't get tired, but I did dehydrate,'' he said. ''It's really tough to pass here. We did very good pit stops, but I just couldn't get by him.

''The championship is long, though, and I'll try to catch Cristiano.''

Da Matta gained only five points on Junqueira, who came in tied with Michel Jourdain for second, 20 points behind the leader.

Franchitti moved to third, 31 back, followed by Jourdain, who slipped to 38 behind after finishing 10th.

Franchitti lost the lead during the first pit stop when his Team Green crew had a problem changing a tire. He had another slow stop later in the race and came away frustrated.

''We have the car to win and we're losing races,'' the Scotsman said. ''Every time we come in the pits, we lose places. No problem with speed, we just have to get our pit stops right. Once we do that, we're looking good.''

CART came up with a rule this year to eliminate fuel conservation strategies, giving the cars enough fuel to race flat out. But the rule also forces the cars to pit and change four tires within a specific window -- every 68 laps Sunday -- at each track.

That has changed the focus of the pit stops, putting more pressure on the crews to make the tire change and get the car out.

''Some teams have started to short fill and stuff to get track position,'' Franchitti said. ''Now they're waiting for the tires instead of a full fuel load.''

Da Matta's teammate, Christian Fittipaldi, and Scott Dixon both had tires come off after leaving their pit stall. Tracy and Kenny Brack both lost tires in similar incidents in the past two races.

Brack, the defending winner, didn't get past the first turn of the race as he collided with Jimmy Vasser. Brack tried to pass Vasser on the high side of the track and made it five wide before it appeared he came down and clipped Vasser's car, sending both into the wall.