Bold Move by Rutledge Results in Victory

Canadian David Rutledge and Brazilian Hoover Orsi provided a tasty appetizer Saturday to today’s Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

Pole sitter Rutledge won a 32-lap race over the 1.968-mile street course for open wheel Toyota Atlantic cars but only after regaining a lost first-lap lead, then holding off a relentless Orsi until a gutsy move late in the race gave him a three-second cushion.

Unable to shake Orsi on his own, Rutledge passed the Santa Barbara Mazzotta brothers, Hawk and Zac, on the 28th lap, putting their lapped cars between his and Orsi’s, surviving a wheel bump by Hawk Mazzotta in the process.

“I don’t know if he saw me on the inside like that,” Rutledge said of the tap.

Early on, Rutledge had to make up lost ground. Timing the starter’s green flag perfectly in the season opener, Rutledge got a nice jump but then was passed on the long front straightaway by both rookie Joey Hand of Sacramento and Orsi, then had to ride third through a four-lap caution period.

Orsi quickly passed Hand for the lead when racing resumed, then yielded it to Rutledge, who ducked under him going into Turn 1 on Lap 13 and held on for the victory, his second in the series.

“David made a very good move in the first corner to pass me,” Orsi said, Rutledge nodding in agreement.

Rutledge averaged 81.026 mph as Orsi and Hand followed him home.

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Scott Pruett, a longtime CART driver who switched to Winston Cup stock cars last season, then lost his ride this year, was much too good for a field of wannabe drivers and easily won the 25th anniversary pro-celebrity race.

Starting 30 seconds behind the celebs, as did the other pro drivers, Pruett knifed through the field in the 10-lap race--the drivers all in similarly prepared Toyota Celicas--and was about to make the finish interesting when the victory fell into his lap.

Pruett started the ninth lap pressuring Olympic gold-medal swimmer Dara Torres and Toyota dealer Tom Rudnai, who had been running 1-2 from the start. Torres had been the first female pole sitter in the race and was looking to become the first woman driver to win it.

Instead, both she and Rudnai went into broadslides coming out of Turn 8, making things easy for the charging Pruett. He shot past them and so did actor Josh Brolin, last year’s winner, who moved out of the celebrity class and into the pros this time around.

Pruett’s winning speed was 63.452 mph, slower than he is used to running here but he was content.

“I’m amazed how competitive this race is,” he said. “Josh is a fantastic talent. . . . At the end, it just came down to split-second decisions and I was able to take it. This is just a whole lot of fun.”

Brolin finished second, and Rudnai got straightened out before Torres, beating her out for third.

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With rain falling intermittently during the second round of qualifying, PacWest driver Mario Dominguez of Mexico sat on Friday’s top speed and will start on the pole today in the Dayton Indy Lights 38-lap race.

Dominguez qualified Friday at 93.260 mph and made no attempt to better it, going out late in the Saturday session just in case someone else would surprise with a quick lap. No one did.

Rookies Jon Fogarty of Portola Valley, Calif., and Dan Wheldon of England qualified second and third.

Two-time series champion Paul Gentilozzi of Lansing, Mich., took the pole for today’s Johnson Controls Trans-Am sedan race at 85.579 mph in a Jaguar, beating out Boris Said of Carlsbad, who did 85.414 in a Ford Mustang.

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Toyota’s announcement last week that it will build normally aspirated stock-block engines for the Indy Racing League series in 2003 made no mention of the company’s plans for continued participation in CART racing beyond next season. CART cars are powered by turbocharged racing engines.

“CART is supposed to change its engine formula after 2002 and we’re waiting for them to announce it,” Toyota’s John Procida said. “Right now, we’re planning to continue in CART.”

CART was to have announced its new formula March 1 but has delayed the announcement indefinitely. Speculation is that CART will be going to normally aspirated engines, similar to those used in the IRL, so CART teams can more economically race in the IRL-sanctioned Indianapolis 500. As it is now, CART teams competing in the 500 must build cars to IRL specifications as well as the cars they run in CART.