THE TACH REPORT; Boesel Jumps Ship...CART to IRL, Indy Lights Has Full Season Ahead, VW Bug Big Hit In Motown. .
7 January 1998
Usually it's the other way around in professional open wheel auto racing re changing teams. The aspiring chauffeur gets some training in the Indy Racing League and then, if he/she is lucky you catch on with a big bucks CART team and receive big time TV exposure. Brazilian driver Raul Boesel, a driver who has had flashes of brilliance decided he would leave the Brahma /CART/FED EX team and switch over to the McCormick racing group in the rival Indy Racing League...fewer races but maybe more money. Boesel has been in Indy car racing since 1989 and that makes him a real pioneer along with Little Al Unser, Jr. His real name is Raul de Mesquita Boesel and he speaks English, French, Italian, Spanish and Portugese. He started his career racing Karts in 1980, then F--2 in Brazil and then went to Formula One with Ligier and March. In CART he has five runnerup finishes, two poles and helped Jaguar win the Worlds Sports Car Crown in 1987. His career earnings with CART total $6,509,137. The Dayton (Tire) Indy Lights series for 1998 expands to 14 races which includes a pair of superspeedway events and a return to the Cleveland Lakefront airport course. According to series Prexy Roger Bailey 13 of the 14 races will partner with the Fed Ex/PPG series at road courses, street circuits, short and long ovals. The superspeedway races will take place at Michigan International speedway, July 26 and California Speedway, October 31. The full schedule March 5 Metro Dade Homestead, Florida April 5 Long Beach April 26 Nazareth, Pa May 23 Gateway, St. Louis May 31 Milwaukee June 7 Detroit June 21 Portland July 12, Cleveland July 19, Toronto July 25, Michigan Speedway August 2 Quebec Sept 6 Vancouver BC Sept. 13 Laguna Seca Oct 31 Fontana, Ca According to our TACH live coverage plus the amount of newspaper space devoted to the unveiling the new Volkswagen Bug is the hit of the Detroit Auto Show. Whilst the original Beetle cost two grand thirty years ago the new model with air, power goodies and a front mounted engine has a suggested list of $15,200. But it IS cute and the German auto maker is going to build 50,000 units this year. All in all over 21.3 million Beetles have been made and sold since its inception. Other auto show news...Detroit and L.A. centers around emissions again as Ford and Chrysler announce their upcoming minivans and sport utes will have 40% less smog polluting than the 1998 models. While a race aficionado would never compare Indy Lights, CART's training ground for the "big show" with IRLs FF2000 series...their training ground for IRL racing both operations have announced their 1998 schedule simultaneously. 1998 U.S. FF2000 Schedule January 22 Walt Disney World, Florida March 20 Phoenix May 1 Homestead, Fla May 29 Watkins Glen, NY June 12 Mid Ohio June 27 Minneapolis July 23 Charlotte. NC Aug 7 Mid Ohio August 27 Atlanta Bill Maloney The Auto Channel