Check out a short list of favorites for Sunday's Grand Prix of Long Beach in California.

	Andretti

Michael Andretti
The Team Motorola driver would like to avoid the outcome of last year's race at Long Beach when a mechanical failure after just three laps sidelined him, "Last year was truly a disappointment," he said. "We had really high expectations and it was disappointing to complete only three laps." Won at Long Beach in 1986 while driving for Kraco Racing; also started from the pole in 1991, 1992 and 1995; got off to a reasonable good start this year with a 12th place finish after starting 16th in Mexico last month; leads all active drivers with 41 wins and 32 poles.

Townsend Bell
The Visteon/Patrick Racing will be seeking his second consecutive victory on the streets of Long Beach; last year he won the Dayton Indy Lights race en route to the championship; the 26-year-old San Francisco native will be seeking another similar performance on the challenging Long Beach circuit; this will be his fourth Champ Car start; made his CART debut last yearatthe oval Eurospeedway in Germany (13th) and earned his first series point a week later at Rockingham, England; had one of the most dominating seasons in the 16-year history of the Indy Lights series, winning six of 12 races and tying a season-high eight pole positions.

Kenny Brack
Followed up his 2000 Rookie of the Year campaign with a solid runner-up finish in the CART championship; led the series with four victories -- Japan, Milwaukee, Chicago and Germany, six poles and led 621 laps; was the dominant driver on ovals with six podium finishes and 581 laps led; his 163 points were the most points for a Team Rahal driver since owner Bobby Rahal scored 196 en route to the 1992 championship; Brack has moved to Target Chip Ganassi Racing with Brazilian Bruno Junqueira as teammate.

Christian Fittipaldi
The Newman/Haas driver hopes to carry the momentum built by not only his teammate Cristiano da Matta (winner in Mexico), but also from his third place finish in last month's season opener; a win by either of the two drivers would bring their team a fourth consecutive win for the first time in their 20 year history in CART; this will be his seventh race in Long Beach where he has not been very lucky; in 2001, an installation mistake caused him to finish 24th; ran second in 2000 before an exhaust failure caused his car to ignite in flames thus ending his race; in 1999, he finished 5th and the year before was out after contact with Paul Tracy.

Dario Franchitti
"It's definitely time for me to win this race," said the personable Scotsman who finished second at Long Beach twice. "There's no reason to believe that we don't have a good chance here at Long Beach." Franchitti started the season with a runner-up finish at Monterrey, Mexico and is second in the standings with 16 points; last year he started sixth and also finished sixth at the demanding circuit where he earned points in four of five appearances.

Cristiano da Matta
Already has proven he has diverse talent with victories on all four types of tracks in the series; that includes a win in front of a record crowd 110,187 at the last street race the series competed in -- the Honda Indy 300 in October 2001 in Australia; finished second in the 2001 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach and plans to move up one spot on the podium this weekend: "I think it's fun to go to a place that it's not only a big race, but it's a big event also," said the 28-year-old; this will be his fourth race at Long Beach in the Champ Car series and sixth overall; he is going for his fourth consecutive win after becoming the first driver since Juan Montoya (1999) to win three straight dating to back year; started the CART season with win in Mexico.

Paul Tracy
A two-time winner at Long Beach in 1993 and 2000, looks to add a third trophy to his collection from the challenging ocean-side course; finished fourth last year after starting 12th; "It feels good to be heading back into Long Beach," he said. "Physically I'm in peak condition and I'm thinking that the car will be too. Team KOOL Green prepared a great ride for me in Mexico." He finished eight after starting back in 19th; eighth is also the position he occupies in the standings; made his CART debut at Long Beach in 1991 and in addition to his two wins also has a pole in 1994.

	Vasser

Jimmy Vasser
Owns seven top-10 finishes in 10 career starts at Long Beach including victory in 1996 and third in 2000; last year he was fifth for one of his only six top-five finishes of the season.