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Friday, August 10
CART officials busy working on next year
Associated Press

LEXINGTON, Ohio -- CART officials still are putting together a television contract for next year and are hoping the telecasts will be longer.

CART's president and chief executive officer, Joseph Heitzler, wasn't on hand for Friday's opening round of practice for the Miller Lite 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course because an aide said he was talking to network executives about next year's television schedule for the series.

"We want to make sure we have a television package that will enable us to properly cover all aspects of our races," Rena Shanaman, CART's vice president for promoter relations, told about 300 people who filled an infield tent for a spectator question-and-answer session.

She said CART officials hoped to extend coverage of all races by at least 30 minutes to allow more pre- and post-race activity to be shown.

"Stay tuned and we'll hopefully have something definite in the next couple of weeks," she said.

Street circuits wanted
Shanaman also said CART has been unsuccessful to date in its search for additional urban sites for temporary street courses.

"We are expressly committed to expanding the series to more street racing, but we have yet to find an acceptable venue that's raceworthy, in addition to the ones we have," she said.

The American Le Mans Series for sports cars recently announced plans for a race next year in the streets of Washington. CART is adding a street race next year in Denver and already races on street courses in Long Beach, Toronto, Vancouver, Houston and Detroit.

Shanaman said CART hasn't given up on the possibility of returning to Michigan International Speedway next season, although this was the last scheduled year for the Michigan 500. She said Heitzler and MIS officials met last Friday to look at whether CART might maintain a presence at the speedway.

Fisher to CART?
Derrick Walker, owner of the Walker Racing team, held out the possibility that Ohio native Sarah Fisher, who drives for him in the Indy Racing League, could switch to CART at some point.

"Once she conquers the IRL, if there's any interest on her part, we'd love to bring her to CART," Walker said. "She's taking it one step at a time."

Walker said team owners would be meeting Saturday to discuss possible changes in next year's rules concerning items such as the number of pit stops required and the amount of fuel allowed in tanks at the beginning of a race.

Engine trouble
A committee of owners, engineers and manufacturers is continuing to discuss a change in engine specifications for the series for 2003 and beyond.

Bobby Rahal, owner of Team Rahal, said preliminary discussions he had with engine suppliers last year when he was interim CART president indicate the problems involved with trying to find a formula to satisfy everyone.

"Last year, two suppliers came in back-to-back to see me and their objectives were 180 degrees different from one another. Can you ever create a solution when there are such divergent views?" he said.

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