CICERO, Ill. -- CART president Chris Pook could have the toughest job in motorsports today, trying to revive a series that is on virtual life support compared to other more prosperous four-wheeled bodies such as NASCAR, the NHRA and even the IRL.

Since assuming the top spot of CART's administration last December, Pook has come up with plenty of plans and ideas on how to restore the series to its former glory, when going to a CART race really meant something.

But is it simply too late for a sanctioning body that, in medical terms, would be diagnosed as being in critical condition? Is the patient on the way to checking out?

Judging by Sunday's Grand Prix of Chicago, the answer may not necessarily be a definitive 'no' just yet, but a miraculous turnaround and recovery don't appear to be on the horizon in the immediate future, either. As significant as Chicago is to CART and its future, the entire picture will have to become more focused if CART's and Pook's visions are to become crystal clear and successful.

First off, Sunday's race was unsponsored, with CART having lost Target as primary race sponsor after a three-year run that ended with last year's event in Chicago. To make matters worse, CART previously had endured a huge public relations fiasco when it announced in February that it was canceling the race, only to turn around a month-and-a-half later and miraculously reinstate Chicago on the schedule.

And what a hefty price tag it paid: CART had to assume all the promotion, sponsorship and running of the event, becoming its own race promoter. In other words, major bucks were paid out that could have come out of someone else's pocket, like that of another race title sponsor, the way Target paid the bills for the previous three years.

Then there was Sunday's race itself. For the second consecutive race, a dismal field of only 18 cars showed up to compete in a market that ranks among the largest that the series races in. As if that wasn't bad enough, only 13 cars finished the event. Defending race winner Kenny Brack lasted all of a ½-turn before tapping wheels with Jimmy Vasser in Turn 1 of the first lap, sending both into the wall and out of the race.

Less than 50 laps into the 250-lap race, Patrick Carpentier fell victim to mechanical troubles, and then the only other American-born driver other than Vasser and Townsend Bell in the race, Michael Andretti, dropped out after 79 laps with a blown engine. He was followed 58 laps later by former teammate Christian Fittipaldi.

There were also several on-track embarrassments that certainly must have made Pook groan in exasperation, including tires falling off cars (something that seems to becoming a bit of a trend lately), including Fittipaldi's, and a couple of bump-and-spins.

	Cristiano da Matta has won twice at Chicago Motor Speedway.

But as the race drew to a finish, the competition drew even more exciting, with Cristiano da Matta continually shutting the door on a hard-charging Bruno Junqueira and Dario Franchitti, ending the race with the same 1-2-3 finish as occurred two weeks ago at Portland. It was also the third-consecutive victory for da Matta, who remains the series leader.

So, what started out dubiously and had more inauspicious moments as things played out, ended up with a fairly decent finish. But that begs us to revisit several questions: What will be the future for CART and Chicago? Will there be a fifth-annual event in the Windy City next year? Will there have to be major changes to the event to keep it viable both from an economic and popularity standpoint? Will CART ultimately dump Chicago off the schedule like it did to Detroit?

Simply put, where does CART go from here?

As a Chicago native, I'm glad to see CART racing in my hometown. Despite the series' struggles, CART is good for Chicago and vice-versa. But admittedly, a lot of work has to be done to bring this event back to the prominence it enjoyed in its inaugural campaign in 1999, when nearly 70,000 fans packed Chicago Motor Speedway. After all, drawing 25,000 fans for the last two years -- Sunday's announced crowd was 25,268 -- just isn't going to cut it or make for a viable, successful event in the long-term.

In a sense, Sunday's crowd was a feat in and of itself. With about 90 days to promote the event and sell tickets, drawing over 25,000 race fans despite other major events going on in town at the same time -- Taste of Chicago in Grant Park and the Cubs-White Sox series at Comiskey Park, among others -- CART officials should be commended.

But now comes the hardest work of all. CART will literally start shoring up the Chicago event as early as Monday. That will give the series a full year to tweak, refine and improve what has the potential to be a world-class draw, if only enough hard work and effort are injected into it.

First on Pook's agenda will be the venue itself. For all the promise it offered when it was transformed from the Sportsman's Park horse track to Chicago Motor Speedway four years ago, the fact of the matter is CMS is not a driver-friendly racing facility. It may be fine for horses, but not motorized horsepower.

Passing is next to impossible, turns can be especially slick in high heat and humidity conditions (as evidenced by the numerous problems in Turns 1 and 2 on Sunday), and the tight configuration of the four turns does not allow drivers the kind of wide-open room they need to maneuver on tracks like Fontana and Motegi and even the Milwaukee Mile.

If CART is to stay at CMS (which reverts back later in the year to a horse track, and then back to a Champ car facility, the only one of its type on the current circuit), extensive work will have to be done on top of the $60 million rehab project initially done four years ago. The turns will have to be flared out considerably to give drivers some opportunity to get by the next guy, unlike the way the track is configured now.

After all, this is still a horse track at heart, and horses don't need as much room to pass each other in the turns as Champ cars do.

Then there are other scenarios that have been bantered around.

CART says it is still committed to the Chicago market, although that doesn't necessarily mean CMS. Pook said this past week that the series is quite interested in running a race at Chicago's downtown commuter airport, Meigs Field, a la Burke Field in Cleveland. But the reality is the available surface at Meigs is not wide enough to allow proper run-off areas without the cars running the risk of being catapulted into the adjacent Lake Michigan.

There has also been talk about running a street race through downtown Chicago, but mayor Richard M. Daley has said he would nix such an event, as it would cause too much disruption to the business community. That's too bad because a temporary street course that would run up Michigan Avenue and over to Lake Shore Drive, through the beautiful Grant Park, past the striking Buckingham Fountain and back over to Michigan Avenue would give the circuit one of its most challenging, picturesque and high-profile courses ever -- perhaps even better than venues such as Long Beach and Toronto.

As CART leaves the Windy City and heads north of the border for next Sunday's annual foray through the streets of Toronto, while the future of both the series overall as well as its stop in Chicago are both still in need of lots of help, it's quite apparent that Chicago will continue to be an integral part of CART's long-term recovery plan.

Jerry Bonkowski covers NASCAR and other forms of motorsport for ESPN.com.