TBK-Light.com

They just had Kenny Brack do a test didn't they?

Complain all you want about Team Rahal not doing the test properly but Brack was the fittest driver around at the time. He was one of the few that wasn't effected at all by the speeds that weekend.

I don't think he meant that the decision was embarrassing but the situation, which it was for having to cancel a race and send the fans back home.

The wiki entry (in my post above) says something slightly different.

haha I'd rather take the word of someone man enough to write in a book AJ Foyt considered all non-Americans gay and Bobby Rahal was incompetent than Wiki

The CART FedEx Championship Series' first-ever visit to Texas Motor Speedway ended in controversy when the excessive G-forces caused officials to call off the Firestone Firehawk 600, only two hours before it was supposed to start.

The first suggestions of potential strife came soon after interim CART President Bobby Rahal announced in July 2000 that the Champ Cars would make a maiden visit to Bruton Smith's magnificently equipped superspeedway. CART officials played down initial concerns about the extra-steep 24-degree banking and the bullet-like performance of the latest breed of Champ Cars, however, and fears were allayed partially when a brief test in February produced modest average speeds in the 223-mph range.

But warmer temperatures and continued engine development resulted in significantly higher lap speeds when the entire field took to the majestic facility for Friday morning's practice. Lap times continued to tumble as the weekend progressed. Kenny Bräck emerged quickest on Friday, with a lap of 22.821 seconds at 233.785 mph, which was a full second faster than Franchitti's best lap in testing. On Saturday morning, Franchitti's teammate, Paul Tracy, upped the ante to 22.542 seconds (236.678 mph).

Speeds were slightly slower during the traditional one-at-a-time qualifying session, due to the absence of a draft, but later, in the mandatory drivers' meeting, it became apparent that several competitors had experienced dizziness, light-headedness or signs of visual impairment after running long stints. Indeed, Dr. Steve Olvey, CART's director of medical affairs, discovered that all but four drivers had suffered some form of disorientation due to excessive G-loadings.

"I felt very, very concerned," said Dr. Olvey. "We really could not send drivers out in a situation that is totally unknown with the risk of having the driver becoming disoriented, confused, sick or actually becoming unconscious in the car trying to compete in the race."

Several methods of slowing the cars (including a reduction in turbo boost and an additional flap on the rear wing) were discussed during a series of emergency meetings on Saturday evening, but eventually it was decided that none would provide an effective cure and ensure the drivers' safety.

Finally, at 12 noon on Sunday, CART President and CEO Joe Heitzler made the following announcement: "It is disappointing, but yet necessary for me to announce that CART, along with its teams, its drivers, its manufacturers and sponsors have determined that we must postpone today's race. We have examined every conceivable alternative and have come to the conclusion that the situation we are faced with leads to this decision: that we cannot comfortably race today.

"On behalf of CART and all of its constituencies, we offer our sincerest apologies to the fans, to Texas Motor Speedway and to all of our sponsors who have entrusted us with this environment."

The first oval-track event of the new season, held in warm sunshine, saw the qualifying order determined not by practice speeds, as in the past, with the fastest driver running last, but by championship points, the series leader, Cristiano da Matta, taking the final run.

First to make an impression was Patrick Carpentier aboard Gerry Forsythe's Player's/Indeck Ford/Reynard. The Canadian was the second driver to make a qualifying attempt, after Alex Zanardi, and his best lap 22.864 seconds (233.345 mph) set a benchmark that would be tough to beat.

"The car was loose, but loose was good on this track for qualifying," declared Carpentier. "Team Player's removed all the downforce they could. We had a good strategy for the day and they gave me the car I was looking for."

In fact, only Team Rahal's Kenny Bräck was able to improve on Carpentier's effort, with his first lap at 22.854 seconds (233.447 mph). Bräck relied not only on his previous experience of the track, having clinched his IRL championship at TMS with a third-place finish in 1998, but also a well-balanced Shell Ford/Lola.

"I got all I could out of the car," he said, after snaring another championship point for his second pole in three races. "It felt good."

Ford Cosworth XF engines displayed a clear advantage, with Oriol Servia (Sigma Autosport Ford/Lola) and Bryan Herta (Zakspeed/Forsythe Ford/Reynard claiming third and fourth-fastest times. Servia's time was set on his first flying lap, which was just as well, because the engine let go as he sped into Turn One to begin lap two.

Shinji Nakano provided a surprise by posting a career-best fifth-fastest time in Fernandez Racing's Avex/Alpine Reynard. Nakano was also the fastest of the Honda contingent, followed by Zanardi (Pioneer/WorldCom Reynard) and Gil de Ferran (Marlboro Reynard). Christian Fittipaldi's Kmart Lola was the best-placed Toyota, in ninth.

Roberto Moreno mentions that he could feel his organs and blood move to one side.

But yes, the problem were the vertical Gs not the lateral Gs. The lateral Gs were actually slightly lower at Texas than Nazareth.

Watching those cars drive around that track must have been a sight.

Yes and no, just thought I'd clarify this properly. Lateral Gs would've been the primary reason for the excessive stress. 230mph creates a huge centrifugal forces that pushes your body in towards the apex of the corner (high school physics), but the severity of the angle of the banking introduced an additional centrifugal force "out of plane" (fancy engineer talk for not horizontal). Vector notation (aka adding vertical and horizontal) meant you were increasing the force. You're right, but the way some people might read that is that the lateral G's did nothing. They most likely did most of the damage.

So I guess you guys are pretty stoked about the tumors, then