No rain, but wet stops practice

A damp track surface limited the Champ Car field to about a dozen laps at low speed behind the Pace Car.

The problem was a familiar one to longtime Indianapolis 500 viewers: An accumulation of moisture under the race track causes small amounts of water to seep to the surface. Around 15 years ago at Indianapolis, where race day rain delays are an almost-annual tradition, the term Œweeper' was coined to describe the frustrating phenomenon.

"Over the last 72 hours we've had very heavy rain, and the clay under the surface has soaked that up," said Rockingham spokesman Stephen Slater. "As an added problem, it's pretty darn cold and the water hasn't been able to evaporate in the sunshine.

"Tonight we're going to sink a couple of shafts in Turn 2 that will form a well," Slater added. "It's been done successfully earlier in the development of the track here on the start/finish straight where we had the same problem. We'll put steel rods inside of it, cap it off with some concrete, and then seal it all up with a small patch about a foot in diameter. Any rainwater that remains in the ground will soak into that and those weepers will dry up."

Slater noted that the procedure being used at Rockingham is exactly the same method that was developed at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in its efforts to eliminate weepers. But track moisture retention has not been an issue at Indianapolis since the track was resurfaced in 1996 over a redesigned drainage base. CART officials privately fear that Rockingham will require extensive engineering work for the moisture retention problem to be completely solved.

"The work should be completed before midnight and then we'll be ready to run tomorrow," Slater said. "Of course all the calls on this are safety-led, and all the calls are made by CART."

CART's all-time leading winner Michael Andretti said that the sanctioning body was correct to call off today's activities.

"It's the same weeper problem we used to have at Indianapolis, and you can't stop them," said Andretti, who lies third in the 2001 CART championship standings. "CART thought it was a lot better to just call it a day and get rid of the problem so it doesn't repeat itself tomorrow.

"There's no way you could run at speed right now," Andretti continued. "The real problem is you couldn't see the weepers from the cockpit. But when you went out there, they were there. At speed, you could have gotten in pretty big trouble, so they made the right call."

Andretti said that Thursday's cancellation shouldn't have too much of an effect on Saturday's race.

"We need to have a little bit of practice," he said. "If we can get an hour in, even on Saturday morning, I think we could all make due."

For the drivers' reactions to Rockingham circuit, click here.