CART NOTEBOOK From Cleveland

Giving his opinion: Mario Andretti thinks CART can one day get back up to speed. As usual, the always outspoken Andretti has some pointed views on the troubled racing series, which has lost sponsors, teams and fans in the past few years. Last month, CART, a publicly traded company, hired Wall Street investment firm Bear Stearns to help with its restructuring while exploring the possibility of selling the series. Andretti, one of racing's best ambassadors, is confident CART will survive, and he can foresee a day when it will merge with IRL. "I feel damn good about it," he said where CART is headed. "There are a lot of things that are happening. I'm hearing good things about the series -- a title sponsor, things like that. I'm still bullish about it, and I don't think I'm wrong." Andretti, who will step down from CART's board of directors in two weeks to become the series' spokesperson, feels the best way to get open-wheel racing to catch up with NASCAR's popularity is for CART and IRL to work out their differences. "I haven't given up the idea of bringing the two series together," he said. "I might make enough noise that they'll start talking. Both series have assets and we need to bring them together." CART's steady decline and the sagging state of open-wheel racing in the U.S. has Andretti concerned. But he remains convinced better days are ahead. "It's been totally undervalued, and I don't like that," he said. "We need to bring it back to where it used to be."
More Mario: Andretti had one of those 1960s flashbacks. After sliding into the front seat and behind the steering wheel of a new Ford GT-40 on Saturday, one of the greatest drivers in history had his mind race back to Le Mans in 1966. "I couldn't help it," he said. "It brought back many positive recollections." Thirty-seven years ago in France, Andretti was part of an American racing team that went 1-2-3 at the 24 Hours of Le Mans while driving the track-hugging Ford GTs. The sweep stunned the racing world. "We were not given a chance to go there and steamroll the competition," Andretti said. "And that's what we did with a stock-block engine." The motor company has honored that feat by building three prototype 2005 Ford GTs, designed with the same sexy lines as the original with some modern upgrades. Andretti got into one for the first time before Saturday's Cleveland Grand Prix and drove it as the pace car around the temporary Burke Lakefront Airport track. "The chief engineer is going to go along so I don't abuse it," Andretti joked.
Holiday traffic: Cleveland's first night race yielded many firsts, including a night time news conference, which unfortunately cut into some of the driver's holiday plans. As the top three finishers -- Sebastien Bourdais, Paul Tracy and Patrick Carpentier -- were being interviewed following Friday night's qualifying in the airport's control center, the city's monstrous fireworks display erupted just outside the windows off a barge on Lake Erie. "Hey, you're making us miss the Fourth of July," piped up Tracy, who was quickly reminded by several reporters that he's a Canadian. With that, Carpentier, another Canadian, got up from his seat at the podium and pulled back the curtains so everyone could see the spectacular explosions of color overhead. Bourdais, a rookie who seems to be as quick witted as he is fast, didn't bother looking. "We have until July 14th," said the smiling Frenchman. "Bastille Day," Tracy said.
Cleveland rocks: Helped by discounted tickets and the additional lure of Friday's fireworks, organizers estimated 30,000 fans attended qualifying. The three-day event is expected to draw more than the 110,000 that came last year.