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© St. Petersburg Times, published October 1, 2002
Ferrari teammates Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello are turning Formula One, regarded as the world's premier racing series, into their personal playground.
And it's no fun.
Schumacher, who won at Austria in May when team officials ordered Barrichello to surrender the lead, returned the favor Sunday in the United States Grand Prix. After dominating weekend events at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Schumacher slowed in the final two laps to allow Barrichello to win.
"Today was a payback and I'm completely happy with the situation," said Barrichello, drenched in champagne. "If people want to think I won Austria and he won Indy, that's it."
Nice try.
Remember the old saying, two wrongs do not make a right? By settling the score, Schumacher showed disrespect for the series he dominates. His act was not noble, it was arrogant.
"People want to see real competition fought to the last ounce," said Eddie Jordan, boss of the Jordan team. "People are not going to turn on an F1 race when they know the end is going to be decided other than by true racing."
The problem is no one in F1 is close enough to the leaders to force Ferrari's drivers to race to the finish. Schumacher clinched his record fifth championship in July. He has 10 wins, Barrichello three.
IMS officials went to great pains last week to assure fans the race would be competitive because pride was at stake. Are people supposed to buy tickets to next year's U.S. Grand Prix to see which of Ferrari's drivers will give up the lead?
OH, WELL: Mark Martin was right.
Had the 43-year-old allowed himself to get giddy about leading the Winston Cup standings the past two weeks, he would have been devastated by Sunday's blown engine 17 laps from the finish at Kansas Speedway. He would have been crushed to surrender the points lead.
But, by maintaining his glass-half-empty outlook, Martin -- the Eeyore of NASCAR -- can look at his 25th-place finish as just another bad day.
"We were looking at a real sweet finish there, but we couldn't make it all the way," said Martin, who slipped to second, 11 points behind rookie Jimmie Johnson. "It's not because we abused any of our stuff. We babied that thing all weekend."
Of Roush's four teams, only seventh-place Matt Kenseth avoided engine trouble. Jeff Burton, who spent much of the race in the top 10, blew up and finished 29th. Kurt Busch spent several laps in the garage and was 31st.
JUST WONDERING: Now that Dale Earnhardt Jr. has embarrassed NASCAR officials into establishing a policy requiring drivers with head injuries to be cleared by a doctor, just how loopy is too loopy? Will the same standard apply to Jeff Gordon as, say, Brett Bodine?
The points system rewards consistency. Missing one race, as Kevin Harvick can attest, eliminates a driver from championship contention no matter how well he runs the other 35.
Had Junior not satisfied doctors the week after his hard crash at California in April, when he was ninth in the standings, would NASCAR officials have been brave enough to park the sport's popular star?
MORE HORSES: Increased horsepower was evident in Hendrick Motorsports cars at Kansas, where all four drivers finished in the top 12: Gordon first, Joe Nemechek a season-best fourth, new points leader Johnson 10th and Terry Labonte 12th.
The Hendrick engine department, led by Randy Dorton, has been working to increase horsepower without sacrificing durability. Looks like the work paid off.
FULL PLATE: Taking advantage of his team's new association with General Motors, owner Cal Wells signed an agreement with Richard Childress Racing for restrictor plate engines. PPI Motorsports will switch from Ford to Pontiac in 2003.
THE LAST WORD: "Even at 80 percent, I'm still better than a lot of the other guys out there." -- Earnhardt, who drove several races this season with the lingering effects of a concussion.