Andretti

Hello!

This is my first "diary" installment for the 2002 season. ESPN.com made it easy on me for this first one because it's about Long Beach and I think the Long Beach Grand Prix is one of the highlights of the CART FedEx Championship season and the event is one of the biggest in the world. The city really gets behind the Grand Prix and the fans are so excited, it's just awesome.

Everyone in the CART paddock looks forward to the Long Beach Grand Prix because it's such a happening. It's always good racing, too. The track is a really good street circuit, running right along the shoreline in the heart of Long Beach. The way the track is laid out you have the long straightaway that allows you to setup for passing, which is good for the drivers and makes it pretty exciting for the fans. The Long Beach configuration changes pretty frequently, but the current layout is good and I really enjoy racing this circuit.

In addition to being an awesome event, Long Beach will always have a very special place in my heart because it is where I got my very first win in Champ Cars in 1986. What made the '86 victory so special is that I had to really work hard for it. Al Unser Jr. gave me a run for the checkered flag, for the last 20 laps we went at it hard and he made me work for that win.

CART has instituted new qualifying rules for 2002 and they definitely made it interesting in Monterrey. With the new rules -- all of the cars are on track together and there is a 15-lap maximum per driver per qualifying session -- it will all depend on how you want to do your runs and how Team Motorola wants to play our strategy.

	Andretti finished third in points in 2001.

It's possible to do two long runs or break it up into three shorter runs, it just depends on how the tires come in so we won't really know until we get to Long Beach. I can say I think the last 10 minutes of Long Beach qualifying are going to be crazy. There are going to be a million cars on the track and I think it will boil down to the luck of the draw on who gets a clear lap. If you're lucky enough to get a clear lap you'll be pretty far up on the starting grid, but if you get caught up in traffic, it could be ugly.

The race will definitely be different this year. There have been some races in the past where the only strategy to win the race was fuel conservation. For 2002, CART also made changes to the pit stop requirements to try and eliminate fuel runs. They set a certain "window" that all teams must pit before, and to be an official pit stop you have to change all four tires. The changes CART has made in the pit stop strategy are definitely going to change the race and you're not going to see fuel conservation runs.

It's going to be flat out from the green flag on and I think that's good. People come to see drivers driving as fast as they can, they don't come to see us save fuel, so I think the changes are going to be good and make it even more exciting for the fans. I think you'll see a lot of passing on the front straightaway and there are definitely other areas where you can pass, but you have to create room and make the move.

Like going into the hairpin, there have been passes done there, but you are definitely taking more chances and putting yourself at risk then you would if you made the pass on the straightaway. With everyone going flat out and racing the whole time, it's going to be an even better event than in the past.

Overall, I think Team Motorola is in good shape going into the Long Beach race. We didn't do as well as we should have at our season-opener in Monterrey, but we had a good test after Monterrey and I think we know what needs to be done for a good result in Long Beach. To get Team Motorola on the podium in Long Beach it is just a matter of getting a good qualifying run, a good pit stop strategy and maybe a little luck.

Well, now it's off to Long Beach, but be sure to check back in a few weeks and I'll have my next installment which will be about the Twin Ring Motegi track in Japan. It will definitely be interesting!

Michael Andretti, the driver of the No. 39 Motorola for Team Green, will be providing a diary to ESPN.com throughout the CART season.