Tracy Learns From His Mistakes

Paul Tracy learned an important lesson in last year’s Marlboro 500 at California Speedway: He does not want to be leading going into the last lap Sunday, unless it’s by a huge margin.

“If you’re leading, and it’s close, you’re going to get gobbled up by the guys behind you,” he said, recalling his fate while leading in the late stages of last year’s race. “The Handford wing [designed to reduce speeds on high-speed tracks] has made our races like NASCAR, lots of drafting.

“It’s kind of a lottery. You work all day to get to the front, but right at the end you don’t want to lead. It makes for some difficult decisions.”

Tracy appeared to have the dominant car last year, leading 38 laps and holding a two- or three-second lead over Greg Moore when a caution flag came out late in the race.

“We had four laps to go when the race went green,” he said. “I was in front for the restart and I wanted to make a quick getaway and made a mistake. The tires spun, I locked it up and lost it. It just drove around on me.”

The crowd sat stunned as the green No. 26 crashed into the wall with the checkered flag only eight miles away.

Tracy doubts he could have won even if he hadn’t spun out.

“I would have been a sitting duck,” he said. “Probably finished third or fourth. You saw what happened to Greg [Moore]. He didn’t have a chance when Jimmy Vasser decided to slingshot by him going into the last lap.”

Vasser won, Moore was second and Tracy wound up 14th.

“If you’re smart, you learn something every time you go on the track, and I definitely learned how not to restart at Fontana last year,” he said.

Tracy began the 1999 season under a cloud, having been handed a one-race suspension by CART Chief Steward Wally Dallenbach for “blocking, [taking an] unjustifiable risk and unsportsmanlike conduct,” in a collision with Michael Andretti last year in Australia.

So Tracy missed the opener at Homestead, Fla., but came back strong, winning on the mile oval at Milwaukee and on the streets of Houston. He finished in the top three seven times and is third in PPG Cup standings, behind only Team Green teammate Dario Franchitti and rookie sensation Juan Montoya.

Franchitti, the Scotsman of Italian heritage, took the lead away from Montoya when he won the Honda Indy 500 two weeks ago in Australia. He has a nine-point lead, with a maximum of 22 points available Sunday.

Tracy and Franchitti have finished 1-2 in three of the last nine CART races. Franchitti won at Toronto and Detroit and was second to Tracy at Houston.

“I’m learning all the time, making less mistakes and being more consistent,” said Tracy. “Most of my career I’ve been too hit or miss.”

Although he has won 15 CART races--eight for Roger Penske in 1993 and 1994, two for Newman-Haas in 1995, three for Penske in 1997 and two for Barry Green this year--the 30-year-old Canadian has always been considered a bit of a loose cannon since coming out of the Indy Lights program in 1991.

“I’ve made some mistakes on the track, and I’ve paid for them, but I think it’s because I’m an aggressive driver trying to win races,” he said. “I’m as disappointed as anyone that I haven’t won more races or won a championship but I’m looking forward to a year when everything falls in place.

“It’s been close this year. I’ve scratched and fought to get up to third place after missing that first race. If I can maintain this level, next year might be the one for a championship run. Barry [Green] has us on the right program.”

A year ago, the prospect of having his drivers battling for a win was cause for concern to Green.

On wet, slippery streets at Houston in ‘98, Tracy tried to pass Franchitti and in bumping his teammate, knocked his own car out of the race. After walking back to his pit, Tracy got into a shouting and shoving match with Green that resulted in a $5,000 fine.

Tracy remembered it this year when he received a gold cowboy boot as part of the loot for winning the Texaco Grand Prix in Houston.

“It’s nice to have the golden boot in my hands,” he said in victory circle. “I definitely stuck it in my rear end last year.”

After another incident this season at Gateway Raceway, near St. Louis, where Tracy and Franchitti tangled, knocking Tracy out of the race, Green laid down the law.

“After St. Louis, Barry set rules down,” Tracy said. “The guy ahead in the championship gets the right of way. This is a team, and I get paid the big bucks to be a good teammate. I don’t have a problem accepting it.”

Despite the shoving and shouting at Houston and the suspension, incidents that normally might cost a driver his job, Green stuck with the volatile Tracy, who now makes his home in Las Vegas.

“Paul’s made some errors and done some things that make it easy for people to criticize him, but I know one thing, he’s still a hell of a race driver,” said Green, who won the CART championship in 1995 with another Canadian, Jacques Villeneuve. He also had a hand in the 1990 championship with Al Unser Jr. as team manager for Galles-Kraco.

Tracy has won on short ovals, street courses and road courses, but never in a 500-mile race on a superspeedway. His best finishes have been a second in 1992 at Michigan and a third in the U.S. 500 this year at Michigan.

“I like the big tracks,” he said. “I haven’t finished so well most of the time, but the way I ran last year at Fontana, I expect to do well this time.

“No one is going to drive away at Fontana. The series has become too competitive for that. There’s going to be a lot of traffic, so you’ve got to be careful you don’t get caught up in something. The key is keeping out of trouble, not letting the leader get away from you and being ready to go all out the last 40 or 50 laps.

“That sounds like it should be easy, but there will probably be 10 or 11 guys running for the lead toward the end. That’s when you’ll see some really serious racing.”

Like many race car drivers, Tracy began his quest for speed on a motorcycle.

“I raced as a kid, but my dad thought it was too dangerous so he bought me a go-kart,” Tracy said. “I never lost that love I had for motorcycles, though, and they’re still my main hobby.

“I like to build them, then sell them. I ride one for four or five months, then I sell it and roll the money over and buy myself a new one.”

Tracy also participates in motorcycle charity rides when he can. He annually rides his custom Harley to “Bike Week” at Daytona Beach, Fla., in the spring, and the annual Harley-Davidson rally in Sturgis, S.D., in the summer.