LONG BEACH, Calif. -- After eight years and 123 starts, it was finally Michel Jourdain's day.

Leading, and more importantly controlling Sunday's 29th annual Long Beach Grand Prix, he was seven laps from his first ever CART win when he pulled into the pits for the final time on Lap 83.

He never made it back out.

In one of the more heartbreaking storylines in recent memory, Jourdain's car failed to go into gear -- depriving him of certain victory. The best drive of his career dissolved into disbelief.

"I don't know if this is the best or the worst day of my life," he said as he received hugs from his disconsolate crew in the Team Rahal transporter. "Everything was perfect all weekend and it was easy to pull away from everybody after I got in front.

"That's what sucks so bad because you just don't get many days like this."

At least not in his first seven years. Starting in Champ Cars in 1996 at age 19, Michel lacked the experience and equipment to show much. He always seemed to have the wrong chassis or engine and, until last year, never even had a teammate.

He showed speed, just not much aggression, and was about to be dismissed as another guy who could easily be forgotten.

But, after spending 2002 with Team Rahal and Jimmy Vasser, Jourdain's race craft seemed to be improving. He still couldn't qualify and that kept him off the podium.

This season, between engineer Todd Bowland and team manager Ray Leto, they pushed him to work on going quick in a couple of laps to simulate qualifying and it's working.

He qualified fifth and finished second to Paul Tracy in the opening CART shows at St. Pete and Monterrey, Mexico.

Saturday, he captured his first pole position here and Sunday he clearly had everybody covered before his mechanical meltdown.

"I had nothing for Michel and I was pushing just to try and hang onto him," said Tracy, who is now 3-0 in 2003. "It was his day and he deserved to win."

A thunderous ovation from the Shoreline grandstands, many pats on the back walking down the pits and Tracy's praise still didn't provide much solace.

"In every race you always make a mistake or two or you have a moment on a pit stop but today I didn't put one wheel wrong and my crew's pit stops were flawless ... it was a perfect race," continued Jourdain, who led 48 of the 90 laps around the concrete jungle.

"I don't know if it was the clutch or what, but it just wouldn't go into gear. I couldn't believe it."

Leto congratulated his team for a job well done while trying to assesses the culprit.

"Even when the car hesitated, I thought, no problem, we'll push it and everything will be fine," said Leto, whose team frantically tried bump-starting Jourdain to no avail. "But it's something in the driveline, we think. We lost connection between the engine and the wheels.

	Jourdain's victory hopes disappeared on pit road.

"I can't remember the last time we had a mechanical failure and it's a shame because Michel drove his heart out. What's amazing is that we didn't make a single change on the car for two days.

"It was a perfect weekend. Almost."

Bobby Rahal, who put his arm around Jourdain after he climbed out of the car, didn't know what to say. "These are the kinds of days when you shake your head and say: 'Why me?" stated the three-time CART champion, who's never won here as a driver or car owner.

"I just so proud of how Michel is driving and I know he's hurting right now but it's only a matter of time until he gets that first win."

Michel Jourdain Sr., who competed in CART in the early '80s, gave his son a few minutes to collect his thoughts before offering his sympathy.

"You know racing isn't very fair some times and today was a good example of that," said the father. "Michel drove like I know he can and he deserved to be in victory lane.

"We know there will be other days but this one is tough to take."

Jourdain Jr. tried to be positive.

"I know we'll have a good car all season and I know I'll have more days like this," he said. "But I'm probably going to think about this race for a long time.

"I waited for 123 races to have a day like this and it's just terrible when you've got such a perfect car and you don't win."

Mario to the rescue

	Andretti

It appears CART's recently canceled race at Elkhart Lake, Wis. in early August is back on and road racing fans can thank themselves and Mario Andretti.

A dispute about sanction fees (Road America reportedly hadn't made its final 2002 payment) forced CART CEO Chris Pook to announce the Aug. 3 race had been dropped. Both sides proceeded to file lawsuits.

But losing the best true road course on its schedule sent CART fans and Mr. Andretti into a rage. The legendary racer said that if CART lost Road America and the rival Indy Racing League picked it up, he'd start following the IRL (which he openly disdains).

That pronouncement, plus a flood of complaints from CART fans, sent shock waves through the CART office so a deal was made: CART would shell out the money if Mario would try and put things back together.

"I can't see any reason it won't happen but nothing can be signed and announced until everything is dismissed so it might be able to happen by the first of the week," said Andretti, whose passion for CART is so strong he's been at odds with his son, Michael, who know races in the IRL.

"I was concerned, no question, but I think the fans were responsible because a lot of them voiced their displeasure when Road America was taken off the schedule.

"CART needs to stay diversified and Elkhart Lake is part of our heritage."