IN SIGHT Rookie hazing? FOCUS: MICHAEL SCHUMACHER Yes, he's been our focus driver one other time this season. We admit that. But when you win six Formula One titles, including the last four straight, you've earned a second look. Michael Schumacher, who has been able to win titles for two F1 race teams in his career, called this one his most challenging to date. After Schumi's runaway 2002 victory, rules were changed for points and qualifying -- in hindsight, those rules did what they were intended to do: Level the playing field. Schumacher won six times, Kimi Raikkonen won once, yet two points separated them in the end. Also of note, Michelin had a better dry and damp tire this season, while Bridgestone's only clear edge came in very wet conditions. Schumacher and Ferrari won't say it, because they're loyal and have done quite well with Bridgestone, but this season's effort was more challenging because of Michelin's advances in the tire war. Still, that's racing. Rules are rules, equipment is equipment. Schumacher wouldn't have blown away the field in 2002 if his Ferrari wasn't far superior. He certainly can't complain, and didn't. In every interview this season, Schumi said the gap was closer because the competition was better. He also said he and his team would fight on. Which they did. And Suzuka was, in a nutshell, why Michael and his team are so good. What you saw, if you stayed up all night to view it, was a certain relentlessness only a champion has. Schumacher (as well as Trulli and Ralf) got a raw deal from mother nature in qualifying, forcing them to start way back in the pack. But while Ferrari teammate Rubens Barrichello did his part to hold off Raikkonen, Schumi didn't sit back in P-14 and wait for the champagne to flow. He fought. He crashed. He blocked his brother with a wild swerving maneuver. He locked up his tires. Every time the camera showed what Schumi was up to, it was mayhem. Now, you can say that's poor driving if you must. But that wouldn't be accurate: It's desperate racing, pure and simple. Schumi wouldn't rest until he was in the points on his own. If Raikkonen had fought past Barrichello, Schumi still was in the clear. Because he fought for the title. Potential future F1 champs, including Raikkonen, Fernando Alonso, Mark Webber and of course Juan Pablo Montoya, will need that same ferocity if they want to be crowned next. PIT PASS Scheckter One Target Dog had a good weekend, but he was pretty much the only one. Scott Dixon wrapped up the '03 IndyCar championship on Sunday, but his Target teammates didn't fare nearly as well. Tomas Scheckter made contact with Kenny Brack at Texas, which led to Brack's horrifying wreck. The race was Scheckter's last with Chip Ganassi's operation. "At the end, I don't know what happened," said Scheckter, who will take Sam Hornish Jr.'s Panther ride next year. "All of a sudden I was going backward. I hope that Kenny's (Brack) going to be alright. He took a massive hit and my thoughts are with him." On the Winston Cup side of the racing world, Casey Mears' engine failed at Charlotte, relegating the rookie to a 42nd-place finish. "It was one of the better motors that I've had all year as far as power-wise. It was running really good and what happened I'm not quite sure," said Mears. "We had just a little bit of bad luck again." Mears also ran the Busch race at Charlotte and finished 19th in the first leg of a double duty Saturday. Mears' non-Target teammates Jamie McMurray and Sterling Marlin finished seventh and 15th respectively in Saturday's Cup race. It was the late Pulitzer-prize winning sportswriter Jim Murray who coined the phrase, "Gentlemen, start your coffins!" A better line in the history of auto racing commentary may be hard to find. Murray wrote that for the Los Angeles Times in 1966. My, how little things have changed. The only good news from Sunday's IRL finale at Texas Motor Speedway was that Kenny Brack is still alive. His list of broken bones is extensive -- back, sternum, thigh, both ankles. Racing open wheel cars on ovals is risky business, we all know it. Don't believe it? Check out what Robin Miller has to say on the subject. It's worth your time. What's harder to comprehend is whether or not we need this kind of adrenaline rush. And the answer may be, sadly, that we do. Or part of us does. That part we don't want to admit to, the part that hasn't yet gone away. It's the same part that awakens every time a promising heavyweight title bout is on. You can say you're keeping track of points, but honestly, you're waiting for the blood to spill. When the U.S. goes to war in the satellite imaging age, we flip on the cable and watch. At least for the first few nights. What are we watching for? Not news -- explosions. Fireworks. Buildings or bunkers crashing down. Let's be honest -- it's insanity. And we're all guilty, except maybe for that left-coast hippie who not only speaks of hating SUVs but also backs it up by living in a tree. Maybe they're off the hook here. The rest of us, we're all to blame. Race car drivers tempt death, yes. And they have chosen their profession. This may be problematic to some, poetic to others. But what is more troubling about Brack's crash this past weekend is that some of the conditions that made it ripe to happen could be eliminated. Cars do not have to be made to go roughly the same speed on a 1.5-mile banked oval. They don't. Is what happened Sunday really a good show, as even the drivers themselves say it is for the fans? Maybe it is. Maybe it isn't. Or maybe it is but it shouldn't be. We've gotten e-mail here from viewers angry at the network for not showing the wreck often enough -- suggesting they waited the whole IRL season to see this, and now it's their right to view the ghoulishness because, after all, it's real. We're not denying the reality here. Just waving a caution flag. Because maybe something needs to change. EXHAUST FUMES Let me check my palm pilot: This past weekend, race fans had plenty to choose from on the weekend racing platter. In fact, with seasons ending and championships being decided in Texas, Japan and Dallas -- not to mention Winston Cup hitting one of its more popular tracks for an always groovy night race (an aside: there should be more night racing in NASCAR. Lots more) -- it wasn't even clear which event was the main course. Add in a wildly popular (not to mention key in the title race) CART event in Mexico City, a Busch race and a Truck race ... well, all those courses and all that excitement could have race fans reaching for Mylanta on Monday. So can we look forward to an encore this weekend? Not exactly. As far as the big leagues go, there's Winston Cup and CTS at Martinsville and the Busch guys at Memphis. And, as many loyal readers have pointed out to us, the Petit Le Mans is running this weekend at Road Atlanta. The ALMS season finale endurance race expects to draw some 60,000 fans. Aside from those options, you're not left with much. Can't the racing gods take a minute to plan things out? Aside from the periodic IRL-CTS weekend combo or an obvious tradition like the Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600 being run on the same day, most racing series pay little heed to what their counterparts are doing. A prime example of this was the United States Grand Prix being run on the same day as Winston Cup's second trip to Talladega. Now, Formula One certainly doesn't care what anyone else does. But aside from CART and the IRL sparring, these series aren't really competing against each other. Or at least, they shouldn't be. No, not all stock car fans will be interested in watching open wheelers or dragsters. But they are more likely to watch other forms of racing when NASCAR isn't running and they are more likely to watch than your run of the mill sports fan who doesn't care much for racing. There's plenty of racing to go around. It wouldn't hurt anyone to spread it around a little. In fact, with the sometimes exception of CART-IRL, what's beneficial to one might be beneficial to all. MAILBAG

Regarding Ryan Newman's fuel mileage wins: The '92 Winston Cup championship was won on fuel mileage. If Alan Kulwicki hadn't stayed out on the track and picked up the five bonus points for leading the most laps at the '92 Atlanta race before coming in to get fuel, then he wouldn't have won the championship. Oh, by the way, what was Alan's major in college?! Barry Bloxom Honolulu We think the question was rhetorical, but just in case ... Kulwicki did indeed have a mechanical engineering degree. As for fuel mileage races, it's not that fuel mileage isn't important. It can mean the difference between winning and needing to pit with two laps remaining for a gas and go (hey, that's sort of catchy...). And as Barry points out, it can also make the difference in a championship hunt. But watching a vast majority of races earlier this season be decided by fuel mileage alone and not by whichever team had the best car, driver and strategy got a bit tedious. Nobody is saying that the best car should win every race, but it should at least win some of them -- shouldn't it? Got your own questions about what's happening in the pits? Ask away, and we'll answer a question or two in the next Gas&Go. Name: E-mail address: City, state: Your comment: OVERHEARD (AND THENSOME) Mario Dominguez After finishing third at Mexico City. "Being able to finish third here is the best thing that has happened to me in my life." Scott Dixon On IRL racing at Texas. "It's (bad) for the drivers but great for the fans." ...and those twins. BONUS pic of the week. We're not in Kansas anymore. But, man, we wish we were (click pic).

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