2001 Lehigh Valley Grand Prix: Scott Dixon Wins at Nazareth

The 2001 Lehigh Valley Grand Prix gave Scott Dixon his first CART win, and it did so at a track that was hosting its last series race. Dixon won the 225-lap event by 0.366 seconds from Kenny Brack, and at 20 years old he became the youngest winner in the series' history. The race was held on 6 May 2001 at Nazareth Speedway in Pennsylvania.

The weekend was also remembered for its absences and its politics. The series had decided that Nazareth would not return, and a driver's personal loss shaped the field, which was missing one of its most consistent competitors.

What was the Lehigh Valley Grand Prix?

The Lehigh Valley Grand Prix was a CART race held on 6 May 2001 at Nazareth Speedway in Nazareth, Pennsylvania. It was the fourth of 21 open-wheel races on the 2001 FedEx Championship Series schedule, and the 15th running of an event that had been held every year since 1987. It was run over 225 laps, a distance of 342.55 km (212.85 miles).

The track is a four-turn tri-oval of 1.522 km (0.946 miles). Firestone supplied seven sets of tyres per car for the weekend, and the USAC Silver Bullet Series and the Atlantic Championship held support races at the same meeting.

A rookie pole, a Nazareth farewell and a 20-year-old winner in his third CART start made the 2001 Lehigh Valley Grand Prix a memorable last visit.

Why was this the last CART race at Nazareth?

The track's contract with CART expired in May 2001, and the series' board of directors chose not to renew it. Track president and general manager Craig Rust had confirmed the end of the arrangement in November 2000. With Nazareth removed from the schedule, CART had no presence in the Northeastern United States, after earlier races in the Meadowlands, Pocono and New Hampshire.

Roger Penske, who had owned Nazareth Speedway from 1987 to 1999, described the track as CART's East Coast anchor. He wanted the series to settle on a consistent race date in May, before the Indianapolis 500. CART president Joseph Heitzler said on race day that the series would review its options after the race in Japan, and that it needed a more formal process for deciding where to race.

The weekend was also overshadowed by the previous round, the Firestone Firehawk 600 at Texas Motor Speedway. That race had been postponed because the g-forces drivers faced were judged too excessive and unsafe, and Texas Motor Speedway later confirmed that it had been cancelled altogether.

What was the championship situation before the race?

Cristiano da Matta held the Drivers' Championship lead with 37 points, seven ahead of de Ferran and ten ahead of Castroneves. Paul Tracy had 26 points and Jimmy Vasser 18.

Reynard topped the Constructors' Cup on 39 points, with Lola one behind. In the manufacturers' table Honda had 38, Toyota 37 and Ford-Cosworth 15.

What technical changes did CART make for the race?

Drivers had complained that the aerodynamic package used on ovals the year before caused too much turbulence and reduced passing. Teams ran a low-downforce Hanford device that replaced the high-downforce setup of the previous year. The aim was to slow the cars in the corners enough to encourage passing.

The configuration debuted at Nazareth, and every team was also required to use a single-point refuelling system to fuel its cars.

Who was missing from the field?

Of the 26 full-time drivers in the series, only Mauricio Gugelmin did not compete. He withdrew after the death of his six-year-old son, Giuliano, who died from respiratory complications on 3 May. Gugelmin had not skipped a series race since first appearing at Mid-Ohio in 1993, and his streak of 130 consecutive races was the longest of any active driver in the series.

PacWest did not bring in a replacement and withdrew the No. 17 car. Dixon's car carried Nextel, the sponsor that had been on Gugelmin's.

How did practice go?

Three practice sessions came before the Sunday race: two on Friday and one on Saturday. The opening session ran for 120 minutes. Bruno Junqueira was quickest in it with a 20.485-second lap, with Helio Castroneves second and Kenny Brack third.

Max Papis led the second session at 20.653 seconds, and many drivers set their fastest times of the day in it, as the high temperatures on Friday afternoon were expected to reduce speeds. For the Saturday morning session, the 25 drivers were split into two groups based on their championship position. Brack led at 19.926 seconds, and rain ended the session early. Papis caused the only stoppage when he spun while exiting turn four.

Who took pole position?

Qualifying was held on Saturday afternoon, and each driver had up to four warm-up laps before two timed laps. The start was delayed eight minutes so that track marshals could dry the surface after the rain. Bruno Junqueira claimed his first pole, in only his third CART start, at 19.700 seconds.

He was the first rookie to take a pole since Alex Tagliani at the 2000 Rio 200. It was also Chip Ganassi Racing's third pole in a row at Nazareth. Kenny Brack qualified second, 0.038 seconds slower, which continued his streak of front-row efforts. Michel Jourdain Jr. took third, the best qualifying result of his career, and Oriol Servia completed a top-four sweep for Lola.

Castroneves, Adrian Fernandez, Bryan Herta, Tracy, Cristiano da Matta and Tony Kanaan completed the top ten. Jimmy Vasser struggled with understeer and qualified 11th.

Nicolas Minassian was the only driver who did not finish a qualifying run. He hit the outside wall in the second turn, an oil line ruptured, and the car caught fire. He was unhurt, but he had to start from the last place, 25th, in a backup car.

How did the race unfold?

The race began at 1:05 pm after a rolling start. Brack got in front of Junqueira at the first turn and led, and Oriol Servia moved past Jourdain for third. Shortly afterwards, Bryan Herta spun on the inside of the track, bringing out the first caution. Castroneves spun in the third turn on the restart, and a second caution followed.

Green-flag racing resumed, and Brack built a five-second lead over Servia by the 30th lap. Carpentier's engine failed on lap 29, and he retired. Brack's advantage dwindled as he struggled to get past Dixon, who was himself stuck behind Alex Zanardi, and it took Brack 20 laps to lap Zanardi.

On lap 73, Jourdain spun from fourth on the front stretch and fell a lap down, and all the leaders pitted under that caution. Brack and Servia kept the top two positions, while Cristiano da Matta moved up to third. Papis retired with a gearbox malfunction, and Tagliani and Gil de Ferran collided in turn three on lap 121. The caution was extended so that safety crews could extract Tagliani from his car.

The leaders at the head of the race, Brack, Servia, da Matta and Fernandez, stopped during that caution, and Franchitti was the first of three leaders to pit on lap 141, which dropped him to 16th. Kanaan led the field back up to speed on the restart, and Brack began climbing back through the order from ninth.

Dixon took the lead on lap 190 after Kanaan pitted for fuel and handed it over. Brack struggled to gain speed out of the corners, and Dixon opened a gap of 0.9 seconds over him in the closing stages.

How did Dixon hold on to win?

On lap 215 Jourdain lost control in turn four and nearly collected Fittipaldi, bringing out the sixth caution of the race. With no drivers choosing to pit, the race restarted three laps later with Dixon leading Brack, Tracy, Vasser and Fittipaldi. Dixon held the lead for the last seven laps and won by 0.366 seconds.

Dixon said afterwards that the car was very good exiting the corners and that the team had radioed back and forth about whether he could go the distance on fuel. He saved fuel early in the run, ran full rich at the end and built a cushion. The win was also the first for PacWest Racing in CART since the 1997 Marlboro 500 at California Speedway.

Who finished where?

Dixon was first, Brack second and Tracy third. Vasser, Fittipaldi, Andretti, Junqueira, Franchitti, Servia, da Matta, Castroneves and Moreno scored the rest of the points. Junqueira's seventh place was the best finish of his career at that point.

What did the result mean for the championship?

Da Matta and Tracy tied at the top of the Drivers' Championship with 40 points each. Vasser and de Ferran shared third on 30 points, and Castroneves rounded out the top five one point behind them.

Reynard kept the Constructors' Cup lead with 58 points, although Lola was only one point behind. Toyota took the manufacturers' lead with 58 points, while Honda trailed by six points and Ford-Cosworth was 26 points back, with 17 races left in the season.

For PacWest Racing, the win was its fifth and last, as the team shut down in May 2002. Dixon later won 58 more races in the Indy Racing League, which ranks him second on the all-time wins list.

How did the drivers react?

Brack was disappointed with second place. He said he had done a good job all race and that he could not understand how he had got into the position he was in, adding that he wanted to win at least one race. He later said he could not reel Dixon in because the leader had made no mistake.

Tracy, third, said he had got a little angry on the third restart and had got by a couple of cars. Jourdain was less pleased with his 13th place, blaming Herta for the spin that dropped him a lap down. Tagliani explained that he had given de Ferran room but had needed to make the turn, while de Ferran believed Tagliani had closed the door on him.

How did ABC cover the race?

ABC broadcast the race in the United States, with Paul Page as play-by-play commentator and former CART driver Parker Johnstone providing driver analysis. Jon Beekhuis and Gary Gerould reported from pit road. The race drew a 1.3 overnight figure and finished with a 1.1 national rating and a 4 share. ESPN2's tape-delayed qualifying show scored 0.1.