The rookie driver from France didn’t know what to expect from American oval racing.
Part of Target Chip Ganassi Racing’s 2001 changeover from Juan Pablo Montoya and Jimmy Vasser, Nic Minassian had mastered road racing during his pursuit of a Formula 1 career. But when it came to lapping at more than 230mph at Texas Motor Speedway when CART made its inaugural visit to the 1.5-mile oval, Minassian was a neophyte. It made TCGR’s brave and aggressive new hope the perfect foil for all that would take place during one of CART’s most notorious failures.
Stunned by all he encountered on his oval debut, Minassian lacked the experience to know he’d been thrown into a most unusual mechanical tornado. As cars whipped around at blood-draining speeds, most drivers fought the effects of spinning in the world’s fastest washing machine. One driver, overcome by the relentless cornering and gravity’s extreme pull, was briefly lulled to sleep, waking with an urgent need to turn left at 235mph.
“You felt like your face was being pulled out of your helmet in the corners,” Minassian says.
By the time the chapter was closed 20 years ago on the ill-fated Firestone Firehawk 600, law suits had been filed, lifelong grudges were formed, and an indelible stain was left on the sport.
In a three-part series, RACER looks back at what happened when the world’s fastest open-wheel cars went to the wrong track, as told by 12 people who were there.
Ready for action in 1997, Texas Motor Speedway launched its inaugural season by playing host to a NASCAR event in April and the brand-new Indy Racing League in June. Massive grandstands packed with fans affirmed the decision by parent company Speedway Motorsports Incorporated to plant its flag in Texas with a big, fast bullring featuring significant banking in the corners. NASCAR and the IRL would become the main attractions at TMS through 2000.
Inside CART’s 2001 Texas debacle: The invisible monster
In Part 2 of RACER’s 3-part Inside CART’s 2001 Texas Debacle series, we pick up after the opening day of practice at Texas Motor Speedway concluded with Mauricio Gugelmin’s “three-quarter-miler” crash and drivers privately confiding within each other on the forces that were affecting their bodies [click here to read Part 1].
Down to 25 cars after Gugelmin’s withdrawal, activities resumed Saturday morning as teams went into the third and final practice to prepare for qualifying in the afternoon, and get in the last bits of running in race configuration to ready themselves for Sunday’s Firestone Firehawk 600.
Speeds continued to increase as Team Green’s Paul Tracy moved Friday’s best of 233.539mph to a new height of 236.678mph. It was nearly identical to the all-time qualifying record at the Indianapolis 500 of 236.986mph, set on the giant 2.5-mile oval where the long straights allow for more acceleration before reaching Turns 1 and 3.
By hitting the same 236mph average at TMS while missing a full mile of Indy’s length to rocket into the turns, Tracy reinforced just how much speed was being made in the four Texan corners.
In the conclusion of RACER’s 3-part Inside CART’s 2001 Texas Debacle series, we rejoin just after the drivers’ G-related secret was revealed to CART’s doctor, and the panic button’s been hit after confirming the cars were too fast for the human mind and body to endure Texas Motor Speedway in their existing technical specification.
The Firestone Firehawk 600 was grinding to a halt as Saturday afternoon transitioned to dusk. The fans who’d just watched qualifying take place didn’t know, and most of the assembled media were unaware. But behind the scenes, in various tents and conference rooms, track and series officials, engine manufacturers, and teams were buckling in for a late night of constant meetings, brainstorming sessions, and something approximating a mass intervention with the 25 remaining drivers.
Mike Zizzo: I should have known there was going to be an issue at the race. The week started with us getting a bunch of media and industry types to kick off the week by watching the premiere of “Driven” at a local Dallas-Fort Worth movie theater. What a ****show.
I still think that "Driven" was the worst thing the CART management allowed to happen, and was a major factor in it going down the drain. You can't even say it was a movie for ten-year-olds without apologizing to the kids, and nobody with an average IQ would have wanted to be associated with it, and thus with the sport it purported to portray. Just a major, major fuckup.
2023 'Guess The Pole' Points & Accuracy Champion
If you don't vote now against fascism, you may never have that chance again...
You mean Champ Cars don't just start instantly and drive around the streets of Chicago, and that cars aren't powered by emotion, where it suddenly finds an extra 80bhp because you've felt angry?
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MonteCristo wrote: ↑2 years agoVettel: Not a fan at all on track. But off track, good guy.
I loved the bit about the coins thrown out of the cocpit during a test drive (on a non-permanent circuit, mind you - Toronto, iirc!). Even a ten-year-old cannot really believe that there is any point - any! - in retrieving those coins with your tyres, however difficult that may appear to be. I mean, that's just one of those really dumbass ideas the script came up with. Really, an insult to ten-year-olds to say that this was a movie made specifically for them. Retarded eight-year-olds, more like.
2023 'Guess The Pole' Points & Accuracy Champion
If you don't vote now against fascism, you may never have that chance again...
Watched a special about the cancellation of this race on Youtube a few nights ago
very interesting watch inc driver interviews and explanations of unforeseen G-forces on the drivers