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Franchitti wins Cleveland Grand Prix
CLEVELAND (AP) -- At the finish line, Dario Franchitti's fuel gauge and rearview mirrors flashed red. Running on fumes, Franchitti held off Memo Gidley to win Sunday's Marconi Grand Prix of Cleveland by less than a second for his first CART win in 29 races. Franchitti, who started 14th and briefly went into the grass off turn one at the start, took the lead for good on the 91st of 100 laps when Gidley pitted. Franchitti won by 0.305 seconds with just a splash of fuel left. "I was kind of shocked when I crossed the finish line, nothing went wrong, and we won," said Franchitti, whose career had stalled since 1999. "[Sunday], everything went right and we had some luck. In the final lap, I kept thinking, 'Save fuel.' I think we had less than a gallon left. We were close." Bryan Herta was third -- 7.9 seconds behind Franchitti's Reynard-Honda -- and Gil de Ferran was fourth. Series leader Kenny Brack finished sixth and has 84 points this season, 14 more than Indy 500 champ Helio Castroneves. Franchitti is third with 65 after picking up 20 with the victory.
Defending champion Roberto Moreno was eighth. He was among the top four drivers until lap 89, when he hit bumped a tire barrier while trying to avoid Herta, who began to spin when his left wheels caught grass in a chicane. "I had nowhere to go," Moreno said. Franchitti's victory was the seventh of his CART career and his first since Australia in 1999. He finished second June 17 in Detroit, but ran sixth a week ago in Portland, Ore. He was winless in 20 starts last season, ending the year 13th in the standings after losing the championship to Juan Montoya on a tiebreaker in 1999. "Hopefully, we can build on this and can do what we did [Sunday] from now on," Franchitti said. He appeared to be headed for another disappointing afternoon when he was one of four drivers in the infield grass after the first turn of lap 1. But the bumpy start ended up helping Franchitti. He quickly made a pit stop and stalled, but he also took on some additional fuel -- perhaps just enough to save him at the end. "I don't know what the result would have been, but it did help our strategy," he said. "When everybody else pitted, we went for it." Gidley was making just his second start this season after being hired by team owner Chip Ganassi before the race in Portland. Gidley led for 59 laps Sunday, but had to pit on lap 90 and didn't have enough speed on the final straight to catch Franchitti. "I could see him coming like a rocket," Franchitti said. Gidley had been driving his pickup truck to CART stops until recently, hoping to land a spot with a team, and he said there were moments when he had to pinch himself. "I was pushing hard all the time and I really thought it was going to be my race," he said. "For a while, every corner, I thought, 'My God, I'm going to finish second.' And then I thought, 'Hey, I can get first.' It was overwhelming." Gidley said Ganassi has already promised him a ride in Toronto in two weeks. "Chip said, 'Well, it looks like we'll go to the next one,'" Gidley said. "He and I have a vocabulary of about 25 words." Gidley's charge was slowed on the 95th lap, when he had to brake hard while trying to pass a slower Michael Andretti, Franchitti's teammate. "I don't really blame anything on Michael," Gidley said. "I've been there with people saying, 'Get Gidley out of the way'. I came up on him pretty hard." Following some morning showers, the bumpy, slippery runway track at Burke Lakefront Airport was dry and, following two days of spins in practice and qualifying, the race was very clean with 97 laps run under a green flag. "It's one of the more enjoyable races I've been in," said Herta, whose best previous finish this season was 10th in Long Beach, Calif. Cleveland wasn't as kind to Moreno, who got his first career CART victory and pole a year ago here. He started 25th and briefly took the lead late before his run-in with Herta. "It's a shame," Moreno said. "We had a good chance, but that's the way it goes sometimes." Once again, the course's notorious turn 1 hairpin ended the day for a few drivers before they could make their first hard right. Four cars, including Franchitti, went off the course into the grass as the field went five wide trying to get through the logjam. The chain-reaction accident knocked out Michael Jourdain Jr. and Patrick Carpentier, who had to be towed back to the garage area. A pileup at turn 1 at the start of last year's race finished off four cars. Pole sitter Mauricio Gugelmin finished 10th.
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