Regardless of what happens...

[rabbit]

...on Wednesday or beyond, I am just glad to have been a part of one of the greatest eras in racing history. I have many, many great memories and stories to tell my kids and grandkids about. (Hopefully, truth and justice will prevail and my kids and grandkids will get to experience it firsthand.) I jotted down a few of my favorite CART memories. It's an incomplete list. Feel free to chime in with your own. (BTW - This is not an obit. We're just getting ready to catch our second wind. :) )

"These cars have heavy steering."
Zanardi, Herta, Laguna, 'nuff said.
Greg Moore outside pass of Zanardi at Rio.
Gordon and Villenueve playing chicken at Cleveland
"Who's the boss, applesauce."
Zanardi's final 13 laps
Ashley Judd leaning over the Mid-Ohio pit wall in tight jeans
Zanardi's donuts
"There is no I in team, but there sure is one in Chip."
"----king Hiro!"
Patreek's backflip at Laguna
"Who needs milk?"
Pruett and Unser, MIS 1995
Montoya and Andretti, MIS 2000
Turn one at Cleveland, pick a year
Zanardi charges from the back of the pack, pick a race
"I got Hiroed."

Add your own

[Chief]

- Danny Sullivan and Emmo banging together for the win at Toronto in 1987
- Mansell, Tracy and Emmo at Louden, NH 1993 (one of the best races ever)
- From 1993, crewmembers dragging Mansell from car after winning Michigan while Mario Andretti was fresh as a daisy (finished 2nd)
- Mikey Andretti holding off Helio at Gateway 1999
- Bourdais, Domingez and Michel at Lausitz 2003
- John Andretti's remarkable win in Austraila 1991
- Blundell, Boesel and DeFerran in the rain at Portland, photo finish (awesome!) 1997

This is bringing me to tears...it is the greatest series ever. And people wonder why we are such dedicated fans....

[Ankf00]

early 90's milwaukee and mid ohio... geez that was great.

[cart7]

I'll remember a Mikey 3 wide outside pass in 4 at Phoenix for the lead. I'll remember the tire launched out of the same track bouncing down into the wine and cheese set hospitality area and watching them scramble as a part of the race came at them at 100 mph. Zanardi's pass on Herta at LB in T4, Zanardi's squeeze through pass on Andretti at Toronto. 5 - 6 wide heading into T1 at Cleveland. Greg Moore. Rahal winning Indy for J. Trueman. :thumbup: Most of all, I'll remember Indy when it meant something.

[WickerBill]

"It was a reeesky maneuver." deFerran, ever the diplomat, after Tracy completely walled him in Portland.

[nrc]

Montoya banging walls and throwing sparks to take the pole in Detroit.
Portland's three wide photo finish.
DeFerran scoring his first win in Cleveland and holding his baby in winner's circle.
DeFerran crying in the car after winning his championship.
Gordon sideways with two wheels in the dirt through the kink at Road America.
Herta holding off Zanardi at MidOhio until his Goodyears finally said "uncle".
Moore backwards in Rio.
Jimmy's fastest 500 (and perhaps the last real 500 ever).
Jemmee and Alex.

[cartcanuck]

>Carpentier's win in Michigan with Tag playing decoy.
>Greg Moore giving Montoya the finger (Michigan again?).
>Greg Moore's run at Homestead when Vasser won (year?).
>Tag's domination of the 2001 Vancouver Moslon Indy before his car broke...2 qualifying sessions and most of the race. (then Carpentier driving into the pits after the race with Tag on the sidepods...right in front of our seats...the crowd went nuts for them both....especially when Carpentier jumped out of the car and went after Kenny Brack for stupid driving).
>Paul Tracy's hard charging early years. Some dumb mistakes, but some incredible racing. Watching Tracy run hard, holding my breath waiting for him to hit something :)
>Villeneuve's INdy 500 win
>Tracy's Indy 500 win
>Tag's big spin and burnout in Rio smoking out the whole track.
>Zanardi, Zanardi, Zanardi.....from Laguna to the best donuts to Germany's 13 laps. Some of the greatest racing moments I've ever experienced in CART.
>The way the racing community came together after Greg Moore's death....anyone who wasn't a fan of most of these drivers before the accident, HAD to be afterwards after seeing how close of a community this is and how close these drivers are. The Greg Moore book and video showed this so well.
>Pupo - Roberto Moreno for showing that staying power, subbing for so many years can pay off, even for an old guy....and being there for his win in Vancouver. Along with guys like Zanardi, showing that good guys can win races and fans. You don't have to have a personality like Mikey Andretti's, you can be fan friendly.
>Montoya - raw talent in an awesome car. There was no where he couldn't put his car.
>Emmo drinking orange juice in the winners circle at Indy! :thumbup:
>PT wearing Moore's helmet design in Toronto in 2000.
>Pt winning Toronto in 2003, and then the championship. Seeing the big guy as an emotional wreck finally winning his championship. That's what it's all about.
>Vasser's 1996 season.
>Chris Pook standing up to the IRL. After years of playing kissie kissie with the IRL it was about time someone at CART flipped the IRL the bird and followed our own path. For the first time I felt confidence in the racing style that I have come to love and admire. And then OWRS and PG stepping to the plate to save the day :thumbup:


The biggest and the best of CART.........hearing my first champcar in person, experiencing my first burnouts out of the pits, and hearing (and feeling) a champcar blast past at 180mph. Whatever happens this week, I'll never get over this feeling and this memory, and I can't wait to see it again!!!!

[JoeBob]

Here's some of mine, in no particular order:

The first time I saw the Penske cars and transporters in the paddock at the Meadowlands

Watching the Radar Gun at Thunder Alley in Toronto.

Sitting above Turn 5 at Road America and watching Paul Tracy pass car after car as went from worst to first, and then got out of the car and took a bow on his cooldown lap.

Standing at the entrance to the paddock from the track at Belle Isle, and having the PacWest car in the lead coast in and stop 6 feet away. Watching Big Mo, climb out and walk away with his head down, then moments later feeling the shock double as his teammate suffers the same fate allowing the guy I was pulling for, Greg Moore to charge on for the win.

Getting to the track in Nazareth hoping to see a race, and instead finding a snow storm.

Watching my father, 6 weeks after major abdominal surgery (and still very depressed about it) go up to Paul Tracy, who had days earlier broken his foot karting, and was in obvious pain, in Toronto and tell him, "I had major surgery 6 weeks ago, you can do it." My father still talks about the strength he got from seeing PT go out there and drive in so much pain.

Seeing the joy in my wife's eyes after Alex Zanardi took 2 minutes to stop, sign an autograph, and take a picture - seconds before the engines fired up on pit lane to start Friday practice. (We had no idea he was that late!)

[racer2c]

Mario
Mears
Unser Jr
Johanson
Gordon
Ribero
Arrivederci Mario
Mansell
Villenueve
Mikey
Nazareth
Australia
Corkscrew
Herta
Zanardi
Rain
Michigan
Road America
Milwaukee
Juan
Memo
Bruno
Sebastian
Portland
Paul Tracy
Canada
:thumbup:
Good times with more to come!!!

[Warlock!]

On the way home from M-O a few years back Anal Ventor and I were bulls****ting about the weekend, but also lamenting the fact that we didn't even have a beer for the road on that hot, nasty day. In the stop-n-go traffic on Steam Corners Rd, I was talking more than driving. When I looked up I noticed the car in front of me stopped and I was closing in at an alarming 5 mph. I slammed on the brakes.

Two cold beers (well, Busch Lights anyhow) rolled out from under the seat onto Ventor's heels. No idea where they came from.


That was awesome... :) ChampCar rules!

Winter Warlock!

[racer2c]

On the way home from M-O a few years back Anal Ventor and I were bulls****ting about the weekend, but also lamenting the fact that we didn't even have a beer for the road on that hot, nasty day. In the stop-n-go traffic on Steam Corners Rd, I was talking more than driving. When I looked up I noticed the car in front of me stopped and I was closing in at an alarming 5 mph. I slammed on the brakes.

Two cold beers (well, Busch Lights anyhow) rolled out from under the seat onto Ventor's heels. No idea where they came from.


That was awesome... :) ChampCar rules!

Winter Warlock!

You SOB! You got me all misty-eyed.

[Joe in LA]

Tracy and Emmo dominating Phoenix only for Paul to stuff it and Emmo to wreck on his debris, leading to Mario's last win.
Unser Jr.'s domination of Long Beach.
Danny Sullivan's spin and win.
Unser Sr. and Jr. battling for the championship.
Zanardi hunting down Herta at Long Beach.
Jimmy, Alex and Greg battling to the finish at Fontana for $1 Million.

[devilmaster]

Greg Moore's win at Detroit when both PacWest cars ran out of fuel on the last lap. Lost my voice on that one.

One of my first memories of Champ/Indycar - Kevin Cogan wiping out a third of the field at the start of Indy.

Strolling down paddock lane at Detroit and seeing Jackie Stewart just strolling the other way.

Alex Zanardi climbing the flagstand at Toronto to a standing ovation.

Carpentier's first win at Michigan and me losing my voice for screaming for the last 2 laps. Damn near came to tears when some guy around our seats said 'this one was for Greg'.

Looking through my photos at the end of one season and realizing I had a nice paddock shot of Jeff Krosnoff on his scooter. :(

There is more, for later.
Steve

[JT265]

D: All of the above.

Well, except for Warlock's chick-flick style tear-jerker of course. :D

[nz_climber]

The biggest and the best of CART.........hearing my first champcar in person, experiencing my first burnouts out of the pits, and hearing (and feeling) a champcar blast past at 180mph. Whatever happens this week, I'll never get over this feeling and this memory, and I can't wait to see it again!!!!

Well I havn't been a fan aslong as you guys (in fact i havn't even been alive as long as most of you have been fans ;) )

But that moment when on the Gold Coast when i heard champcars in the flesh and blood - I fell in love
:thumbup:

Thanks rusty for taking me and showing me :)

[sadams]

Mansell and Emmo side by side lap after lap at Cleveland
Mansell and Tracy at NH.
Montoya any where.

[Sean O'Gorman]

-Walking on the track after Teo Fabi won Mid-Ohio back in '89. Of course, being only six at the time, I was impressed hell by every little piece of debris I found in the grass and on course.

-Cleveland GP 1992. It was my first time going there, I remember almost being mad because all these years our family went to Cape Cod during that week so I never got to see the race before!

-Cleveland GP 1995. Best race I've ever watched, without question. :cool:

-US 500 1996, my first oval race

-Mid-Ohio 2000, the first time I had pit passes. They got boring after 10 minutes, but still, it was a cool feeling to be that close.

-Mid-Ohio, Road America 2002. Thats when I met the majority of the people I've known from CART forums, there was something pretty cool about finally being around a group of people who were as enthusiastic about CART as I am! :thumbup:

-Cleveland 2003, boring race, but an unbelievable experience seeing the cars at night! It was the first time I was able to get a large group of my friends to come out and check a race, its just a shame that none of them ended up being very interested. :(

-Mid-Ohio 2003. I had alot of thoughts about this one. I remember coming into the weekend pretty depressed and pissed off. I was (and still am) pissed about Mid-Ohio being dropped in '04, I almost didn't want to go to the race. It was sad seeing how small the crowd was on Saturday, and most of Sunday morning, I didn't want it to end like that and I knew that with such few people there, it probably wouldn't. But I ended up seeing the best CART race ever at the track, and it changed my opinion completely. I was able to leave knowing that even if it was the last time I ever saw Champ Cars in person, at least it was one hell of a race.

Even though I have a large range of racing interests (from NASCAR to SCCA), CART has always been something special to me, I hope it doesn't go away.

[pfc_m_drake]

This is a great thread :thumbup:

Some of mine:

Being at Fontana when de Ferran cut a 241.428

Being at Nazareth for Penske's 100th win.

The snowstorm at Nazareth.

Mid-Ohio 1999 during the qualifying rain-out impromptu autograph session.

Any year at Cleveland (Cleveland rocks!)

MIS the year Papis ran out of fuel with 1/2 a lap to go.

[Kahauna Dreamer]

Jimmy sticking it to "Honda's Whore" Andretti at the end of Fontana 2002.
That was so beautiful on so many levels... ;)

[pchall]

Just one personal favorite:

Guge all over Mansell at Mid-Ohio in 94 looking for a way by. Awesome stuff for the five or six laps until his brakes faded.

A few days later I was told that Chip Ganassi was not paying for the same top line Brembo stuff for the Hollywood car that he was putting on Mikey's...

[Hot Rod Otis]

:thumbup:

My 1st CART race @ MIS in 1993, went to see Mansell, got to see Mario set a World Closed course speed record, AND Red 5 win the race.

Pruett and Unser Jr's epic battle in 95

The 1st US 500

Seeing Zanardi win @ MIS in 97, and my guy (at the time), Blundell finish 2nd.

Seeing Moore win the 98 US 500.

The snowstorm @ Nazareth, and DeFerran winning a month and a half later.

Going to Mid-Ohio for the 1st time in 2001, and realizing what a mistake I had made in not going there 10 years earlier. I met and talked to more knowlegable and enthusiastic CART fans @ Mid-Ohio on FRIDAY than I ever did at MIS or Nazareth in an ENTIRE weekend. I left there so pumped up about CART, and it all just fell apart after that. No matter what happens in the future, and its my feeling that American open-wheel racing's future is rather bleak, I'll always have Mid-Ohio, 2001 to remember.

And oh yeah, Paul Tracy's 2002 Indy 500 win.

[RichK]

Listening to the 2000 Indy 500 on my truck radio because I had to be driving somewhere for the last 100 laps. I just about put the truck in a ditch after Juan smoked the field in his John Deere.

[Chief]

- 1994, the year I was in awe of Penske's dominance, evidenced in person by the 3 wide victory lap of Al Jr., Emmo and Tracy at New Hapshire.
- 1994, the year I started hating Penske
- Cleveland 2000, "Pupo" winning and crying like a baby in victory lane! (what a great supporter of CART over the years too!)
- Paul Tracy calling Kneifel a "circus clown" at Laguna Seca
- Doughnuts, Zanardi style
- Tracy and Barry Green fist-i-cuffing at Houston after Mr. Judd and Paul wrecked
- Memo Gidley's charge at Cleveland 2001
- Carl Haas "poking" Chip Ganassi in the eye with his cigar at Motegi after Mikey whined about rookie Juan Montoya chopping him (while Juan was just a baby rookie) in 1999.
- Mario destroying Roberto Guerreo's Alfa-Romeo on Thunder Alley in Toronto ('88?)
- (we took our lumps too) The start of the 1996 US 500
- (AND MORE...) the ill-fated Hawaiian Super Prix


But best of all...we stuck through it all, TOGETHER. I wouldn't do it any other way, in any lifetime.

[cartcanuck]

I've seen sooo many things listed here that I had forgotten. And they all make me feel one thing...........this HAS to continue. CART has brought us all of these moments and so many more. In fact, contrary to TG's bloodline, I have more fond memories and have seen what I consider to be more historical racing in the past 10-15 years in CART than I have in the history of his little track. Sure some of my memories involve his track, but it's CART.....it's all CART.....it'll always be CART.

Bring on the 2004 CART season..........and another decade of great memories!! :thumbup:

[RTKar]

This thread is what should be sent to Judge Otte.

[Lizzerd]

It's hard to come up with any more than those already mentioned, and I've probably been going to races longer than many of you. Here are a few I can think of though, that are not race related.

> Getting absolutely crazy on Georgetown Avenue the night before the 500 in the late '70's to the late '80's. You wouldn't believe some of my old pictures.

> Sliding in the mud in the Snake Pit.

> Michigan, 1988. Getting video of some guy getting a BJ from his buddy's girlfriend. Then, the buddy comes along and pees on him when he passed out in his car. Later, the dude leaves and comes back and beats the crap out of the boyfriend.

> Sneaking into IMS the night before the 500 (when it was a 500).

> Michigan again, when it was a real infield party. They used to let U-Haul trucks and the like in there. One year (late '80's) there were two of them back to back about 20-30 feet from each other. In between them was a bar band, complete with sound board and lights. Rocked all night.

> Watching Rick Mears catch Gordon Johncock by a half second a lap only to be nipped at the finish line.

> Michigan and trucks again. The group that had patio furniture complete with huge umbrella on the roof. They also had a TV and a water slide into a wading pool on the ground.

> Indy 1982 (?). A buddy of mine had an old piece of junk Mercury Cougar. It was white, and we painted the body with black checkers. Another buddy who is an iron worker chopped the top off and removed the front and rear windows. He welded a platform that we mounted in lieu of a roof. It had antlers on the hood and a propeller sticking out of the keyhole for the trunk. Another buddy worked at a plastics factory and brought home a couple motorcycle windshields for it. A racoon tail was hung to the antenna. Since we did everything at my house out in the country, I got to drive. I wore a welders hat that looked like an old leather helmet, wore goggles, and had a long red scarf. We were quite a site.

> The most recent memories I will have forever, though, is meeting so many people at the tracks (Indy, M-O, RA, Cleveland) that I met on 7G, here, and CW. I've made a lot of great friends on the internet. You know who you are...

[Chief]

Thanks to OWRS we're gonna get to do it some more. Thanks OWRS, we can't wait to start new traditions with the legacy of the old forever in our heads. Long live CART, and LET's GO RACING!!! :thumbup: :)

[cart7]

[QUOTE=Lizzerd]
> Indy 1982 (?). A buddy of mine had an old piece of junk Mercury Cougar. It was white, and we painted the body with black checkers. Another buddy who is an iron worker chopped the top off and removed the front and rear windows. He welded a platform that we mounted in lieu of a roof. It had antlers on the hood and a propeller sticking out of the keyhole for the trunk. Another buddy worked at a plastics factory and brought home a couple motorcycle windshields for it. A racoon tail was hung to the antenna. Since we did everything at my house out in the country, I got to drive. I wore a welders hat that looked like an old leather helmet, wore goggles, and had a long red scarf. We were quite a site.

QUOTE]

I'd swear that's a description of one of the cars I helped roll over and set fire that year! :laugh: Who can remember anyway? A few of those early years spent in the infield are nothing but a A/B brew induced haze. :D

[Chaos]

I've seen sooo many things listed here that I had forgotten. And they all make me feel one thing...........this HAS to continue. CART has brought us all of these moments and so many more. In fact, contrary to TG's bloodline, I have more fond memories and have seen what I consider to be more historical racing in the past 10-15 years in CART than I have in the history of his little track. Sure some of my memories involve his track, but it's CART.....it's all CART.....it'll always be CART.

Bring on the 2004 CART season..........and another decade of great memories!! :thumbup:

sure beats all the crap we've had to endure the past few years.