St. Petersburg's Inaugeral Race Weekend Was a Dog Fight
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| Race winner Paul Tracy leads teammate Patrick Carpentier in the early going of the St. Petersburg Grand Prix. (Photo: Autostock) |
Last weekend the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida, a picturesque ocean city trying desperately to shed its retirement home image, were filled with enthusiastic motorsport fans. A full array of enthusiastic CART drivers joined them, together once again after the most tumultuous 'silly season' in CART history.
It wasn't only the first race of the year but the first for this new street course. What's more the cars are now powered by a new spec engine, hence the line "Powered by Ford" in the title sponsorship. The turbocharged engine is slightly down on horsepower due to only producing around 12,000 rpm compared to the 16,000 in last year's multi-manufacturer mills, but its up on tire chewing torque. The Florida race was also the first without traction control, abolished as part of CART's quest to reduce costs and attract new teams to the tourney.
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| The 2003 CART drivers assemble for a group photo prior to practice for the St. Petersburg Grand Prix. (Photo: Autostock) |
And that it did. Not only were familiar names like Paul Tracy, Patrick Carpentier, Alex Tagliani, Bruno Junqueira, Jimmy Vasser, Oriol Servia, Adrian Fernandez, Michel Jourdain Jr., Mario Domingues and grandpa of them all Roberto Moreno back in the game, but a whole slew of rookies starting with Sebastien Bourdais, Joel Camathias, Roberto Gonzalez, Tiago Monteiro, Mario Haberfeld, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Rodolfo Lavin, Patrick Lemarie and Brit Darren Manning who faired well in a one time shot on the Rockingham oval last year.