MILWAUKEE -- The temperature had dropped to a Green Bay Packer-like 46 degrees by kickoff time, only Brett Favre wasn't in the house. Eight of the 19 starters were rookies with one oval start under their belt. Cold weather, cold tires and green drivers -- all the planets were aligned for a disaster here Saturday night

But the first-ever night race staged by Championship Auto Racing Teams managed to be more of a success than a failure as 30,000 of the heartiest souls anywhere in this country showed up to watch a pretty decent display of driving.

Sure, three cars were eliminated in a first-lap accident and half of the rookie crop wound up in the wall, but thanks to a new aerodynamic package at least some good racing returned to this old oval.

Michel Jourdain did dominate by leading 234 of 250 laps on his way to his initial Champ Car victory, yet the racing behind him was the best it's been here since the '90s.

Paul Tracy spent the whole evening running wheel-to-wheel with Oriol Servia, Darren Manning and teammate Patrick Carpentier.

"We all know Paul is brave and we had two grooves out there tonight," said Servia, who scored a career best second place. "I would get under him going into Turn 1 and he'd come right back around me on the outside.

"We got pretty close a couple of times but it was clean, hard racing and I'm really glad we went back to these road course wings on ovals."

Manning, wheeling a year-old Reynard and starting 11th, made a splendid debut at the Milwaukee Mile with a strong fourth place.

"I really liked racing at night," said the 27-year-old Brit. "The tires got so cold and I screwed up coming out of the pits when I got off in the grass and that cost us a couple spots.

"But we were able to run the car lower and get more downforce and I reckon we had as good a car as anybody out there."

Of course the real heroes of this frigid evening were the paying customers -- who could see their breath in the 25-30 mph winds and they probably hadn't heard of three-fourths of the starting lineup.

"I was ecstatic with the crowd and so were the promoters," said CART CEO Chris Pook afterwards. "It seemed like the fans loved the show and the lights and this bodes well for our next night race in Cleveland (July 5).

"I think we proved we could provide temporary lighting on a high speed circuit and make it work. And I'd like to salute Lee Dykstra (CART's technical chief) because he's responsible for giving us the perfect aero package on ovals."

But back in the '60s and '70s, Indy cars used to race twice here -- one the week after Indianapolis and again in August during the Wisconsin State Fair when the temperatures were usually in the 90s.

CART recently announced it had re-upped with Milwaukee through 2006 and wanted to keep this date. But when asked about a possible move to a warmer date, Pook replied: "We're not locked into any date. We'll do whatever is in the best interests of our fans and promoter."

All in the family
There was quite a bit of open-wheel history on display Saturday afternoon during the Toyota Atlantic race.

Mari Hulman George, chairman of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, showed up to watch her grandson, Kyle Krisiloff, compete in the 70-lap Atlantic race.

Standing on top of the grandstand doing the spotting for Kyle was his father, Steve Krisiloff, a former Indy-car driver from 1969-83 who competed several times at the Milwaukee Mile.

And they both had plenty to smile about after Kyle finished second in his oval-track debut and first start with Dorricott Racing. He started fourth, jumped into second on the opening lap and chased winner Ryan Dalziel to the checkered flag.

The 17-year-old Indianapolis native broke the track record on Lap 54 with a speed of 150.749 mph and fell two car lengths shy of a victory. But, considering how his Atlantic career had gone up until Saturday, it was a fantastic result.

"I knew after our first test at Portland a couple weeks ago that we were going to be competitive but I didn't expect it to be this good," said Krisiloff, who had struggled in 2002 and in the opening two races of 2003 before changing teams.

"The Dorricott team gave me a great car and it was an awesome day."

Mrs. George, whose son Tony runs the rival Indy Racing League as well as the Speedway, funds Kyle's Atlantic effort (his car carried the U.S. Grand Prix logo) and she was busy snapping photos of her grandson as he climbed the podium.

"I'm so proud of Kyle. He drove so well and he's only 17," she said.

Cosworth in IRL, too?
The hot rumor making the rounds is that General Motors wants to contract Cosworth to try and save its IRL engine. Immediately.

Ford, one of CART's presenting sponsors this year and the only engine in Champ Car, owns Cosworth but is in the business of building race engines. Dan Davis, director of Ford Racing Technology, said Saturday it was Cosworth's call while Ian Bisco, vice president of Cosworth Racing, admitted it could be a possibility down the road.

Chevrolet, the IRL's champion manufacturer since 1997, is being totally out-classed by Toyota and Honda this season. Two-time IRL champ Sam Hornish Jr. has yet to lead a lap in 2003 and reportedly told some friends he would have a Cosworth Chevy by the Kansas City race (July 5).

"We don't have a Chevrolet engine in our possession, I can definitely tell you that," said Bisco.