FONTANA, Calif. -- A week following the Disgrace Down Under, Championship Auto Racing Teams had a chance to be California cool and do the right thing late in its final race of 2002 in the United States.

When Dario Franchitti's engine expired and caught fire on lap 245 of the 250-lap Toyota 500, CART officials faced two options:

1. Scramble to clean up the mess and try to squeeze in one more lap of racing but take a chance on another finish under caution.

2. Throw the red flag like NASCAR often does and insure the fastest 500-mile race in open wheel history would hit the checkered flag at full throttle.

Much to the delight of the estimated crowd of 50,000, much to the chagrin of Michael Andretti and much to the surprise of some people who have followed CART's missteps lately, the call went out to stop the show, setting up a two-lap shootout to the finish.

And, just like that, CART managed to regain some much-needed credibility with its fans and teams.

"We had to do that because the fans love it and we've got to think more about the show," said CART CEO Chris Pook, who proudly watched Jimmy Vasser win a duke out with Andretti at 226 mph.

Unlike the previous weekend in Australia, where a "winner" was declared that never passed a car and a race ended under total anger and confusion, this was a winner from start to finish.

"For me, this was the best superspeedway race I ever raced in because it was hard racing and it made sense," said Cristiano da Matta, the 2002 CART champion whose engine expired while he was leading on lap 236 and stalking his record-tying eighth win of the year.

"Usually I hate this race but today I had fun and this was a proper oval race because whoever was fastest was going to win."

CART can also take a bow for the rules that helped make this event racier, as da Matta addressed.

	Both Vasser, left, and Andretti approved of Sunday's race action.

The Handford Device, an aerodynamic helper bolted to the rear wing to make slipstreaming/drafting/passing more prevalent on superspeedways back in 1998, was modified this season by CART tech chief Lee Dykstra to reduce the turbulence. And the mandatory pit stops for fuel, introduced this year, forced drivers to run hard instead of conserving fuel like 2001. There were 44 lead changes here Sunday afternoon, compared to 73 a year ago, but almost to a man the drivers gave rave reviews.

"The wing package made it better because you didn't have everybody all bunched up," said Andretti, who led 37 laps and displayed the oval savvy he's developed over the past 20 years. "And the pit window worked because it allowed us to run flat out and not save fuel.

"You actually wanted to lead the race, which was a nice thing. The last few years you didn't want to lead so this made it a lot better for racing and more of a driver's type thing."

Vasser, the only other American left on the CART circuit besides Andretti, flexed his muscles early and often in leading 148 laps and notching his first win of 2002.

"You could actually drive away if you had a good car and I liked the package we had a little better than last year," said the '96 CART champion. "I thought it's definitely a much better solution than what was in the past.

"The best thing is that the fans came to see a race to the finish and they got it."

Andretti, who leaves CART next year for the Indy Racing League with 42 victories and a remarkable career, probably was the best gauge for this race. Driven to win and usually miserable with second place, the 40-year-old veteran summed up his final American appearance as a CART regular:

"I think everybody did a great job out there today. Nobody was chopping each other, nobody taking away each other's air and everyone driving heads-up. I've got to say I was proud of the whole group.

"It was a tough fast race and I think it probably ended up the way it should have."

On the hammer to the checkered flag -- with the fastest car in victory lane.