The Fans Speak Out - letters - Brief Article

Kudos to AUTO RACING DIGEST for finally recognizing that CART--and not NASCAR--is the most exciting racing series in the land ["Pace Lap," March 2001]. My friends all call themselves huge race fans, but they sneer when I dare raise the possibility that there's anything better than good old NASCAR. I showed them your article, and after seeing it actually written in print, they finally conceded that perhaps there is more than one racing circuit. Now getting them to actually sit and watch a CART race--much less attend one--is a whole other ball of wax, but with your magazine's continuing excellent coverage, perhaps I can convert them yet.

Dan Harvey Sheboygan, Wis.

Let me get this straight, because maybe I'm a bit confused. You are saying that the CART circuit is more exciting than NASCAR ["Pace Lap," March 2001]? How can flint be when so many more people watch and attended NASCAR races. And this year alone there will be 10 or so drivers that could conceivably win the NASCAR Winston Cup title. Could the same be said for CART?

Richard Lightenberg Dacula, Geo.

Well, attendance and popularity don't always translate into excitement or quality. And regardless of how many racers will contend for the crowns in this year's CART and NASCAR title chases, the editorial in question stated that in 2000 CART was the more exciting series, with five different drivers still in title contention entering the final race.

Shoo!

CART's Gil de Ferran, and not Michael Schumacher, should have been named Driver of the Year. Unlike Formula One, where the championship boils down to a predictable, boring slugfest between the two titans, McLaren and Ferrari, CART had a dozen or so top racers in a riveting title race. AUTO RACING DIGEST acknowledged that CART is destined to be "the premier form of racing" ["Pace Lap." March 2001], so why shouldn't the premier driver come from its series?

Joseph Daudish Westchester, III.

I must take issue with your choice of Driver of the Year, Michael Schumacher. True, Schumacher is a skilled and dominant performer, but due to the current nature of Formula One racing, he has very little competition. Only McLaren with Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard have the resources to compete with Schumacher, who is the favored driver at Ferrari. Wouldn't Bobby Labonte or Gil de Ferran--or even Jeff Green--have been a better selection?

Michael Anderson Bristol, Tenn.

Hoo-Rahal

I'm not exactly sure what makes Bobby Rahal think that he is qualified to make the leap to Formula One, but I wish him luck. Rahal has overcome the odds all of his career--as a driver, a team owner, even as CART's interim president--and has always succeeded. Here's hoping he proves his critics wrong once again.

Robert Lavoie Cleveland

AUTO RACING DIGEST welcomes letters from readers. Name, city, and state must be included. Mail to: The Fans Speak Out, AUTO RACING DIGEST, 990 Grove Street, Evanston, Illinois 60201-4370. E-mail to: ard@centurysports.net