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MONTEREY, Calif. -- If Bryan Herta knew why he has mastered
Laguna Seca Raceway, he wouldn't let the secret out.
"I'm not telling," Herta said Sunday after leading every lap
on the way to his second straight victory in the Shell 300. "If
there is a reason, I don't know what it is and I don't care. 'm
just happy to enjoy the kind of success I've had here and hope it
continues."
In the midst of the happy celebration, Herta took a moment to
remember Gonzalo Rodriguez.
|  | | Herta leads the way Sunday, with Michael Andretti following in second place during the Shell 300 at Laguna Seca. |
Rodriguez, a 27-year-old driver from Uruguay, was killed
Saturday in a crash during practice.
On Sunday, his fellow drivers stood together during a prerace
moment of silence for Rodriguez and then went out to battle each
other on the 2.238-mile, 11-turn road course.
"We are race drivers and we have to have a blocking system in
our minds to our job," Roberto Moreno said after finishing second. "We just go out and drive every corner until the checkered flag.
"But you don't forget what happened. It's my best result, but
when I think about it, it's always going to be in my mind a sad
day."
Herta, fighting to keep his ride with Bobby Rahal's team,
started from the pole and led all the way, beating Moreno to the
finish line by 1.826-seconds -- about 10 car-lengths.
"I'm really happy for today, but our hearts and thoughts and
prayers are still with Gonzalo and his family," Herta said. "This
is a bittersweet day for CART."
But the lingering sadness over the death of Rodriguez could not
take all of the joy out of Herta's second career victory.
"I want to thank everybody on the team," the 29-year-old Herta
said, explaining that they helped turn the season into something he
can be proud of.
Since his victory here last year, Herta had come up with only
one top-five finish in 20 races -- a third place in April in Long
Beach, Calif.
But he made it look easy Sunday.
"If that's easy, I don't know what's hard," he said. "I was
pushing 100 percent all day long."
There was an early challenge from Tony Kanaan, but that ended
when the Brazilian retired on lap 44 with a broken gearbox.
Team Rahal teammate Max Papis inherited second place and tried
hard to catch Herta, but never was able to apply much pressure,
particularly after stalling his engine briefly during his final pit
stop and giving up second to Michael Andretti.
Moreno, filling in for injured Christian Fittipaldi, took the
second spot on a restart on lap 62, moving past Papis and teammate
Andretti, who later went out in a crash with Jimmy Vasser.
"That's when I nearly threw it all away," Herta said.
The leader, knowing the aggressive Andretti was getting ready to
launch an attack on the restart, went too deep into the final turn
under the yellow, locked up his brakes and nearly started a
chain-reaction crash.
But, while the drivers behind him scrambled, Herta regained
control of his Reynard-Ford and pulled away.
"From then on, I said, 'No mistakes, no mistakes. Just keep your focus.' "
Papis wound up third, followed by Paul Tracy, Adrian Fernandez,
Gil de Ferran, Scott Pruett and Juan Montoya.
Because of the fatal crash in the morning practice on Saturday,
the final round of qualifying was canceled. That left Montoya and
Dario Franchitti, the drivers battling for the PPG Cup
championship, far off the pace on a track where passing is
extremely difficult.
Montoya, the 23-year-old Colombian rookie, started 16th, and
Franchitti was 12th in the 25-car field.
Franchitti, who began the day 23 points behind Montoya, was
battling Greg Moore for seventh when the two came together in turn
2 on lap 32. That ended the race for both.
"I went in there real hard and he didn't give me any room,"
Franchitti said.. "Of course it hurts, but there was nothing we
could have done. With no qualifying yesterday, we started so far
back that we had to pass people on the track. We had no choice."
Montoya, who leads the series with seven victories and had three
straight coming in, showed surprising restraint. He drove a
conservative race, used attrition to move through the field, wound
up eighth and added five points to his lead over Franchitti..
With only three races and 66 total points remaining, Montoya
could clinch the title in the next race, in Houston on Sept. 26.
Herta, led all but two laps last year, when he held off two-time
series champion Alex Zanardi for his first CART victory. He had a
little more time to appreciate this one before stepping out of the
car.
"Last year, I didn't get a chance to enjoy that last lap
because Alex as all over me," Herta said. "This time, I got to
savor the last lap. That's what makes it sweeter."
Herta nearly won the race in 1996, losing it on the final lap
when Zanardi made an unforgettable pass in the famed Corkscrew turn
-- a blind, downhill left-hander considered one of the toughest
turns in American road racing.
He also has started from the front row four straight years, and
had three poles in a row.
"Bryan's definitely got the number of this race track," Rahal
said.
The winner averaged 101.924 mph in the race slowed by four
full-course caution flags for a total of 10 laps.
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AUDIO/VIDEO
 Bryan Herta takes the checkered flag at Laguna Seca Raceway.
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RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
 Herta says his thoughts and prayers are with the Rodriguez family.
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RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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