Today, as feared, cold, rainy and damp weather forced CART - Toyota/Atlantic officials to reschedule the 2001 running of the Milwaukee Mile for tomorrow morning, 9am local time. However, a break in the bad weather early this morning gave Atlantic drivers the opportunity to run a 15-minute warm-up session.
Good news for Gormley, Ontario's Jonathan Macri, who desperately needed some track time to test his NTN Bearings Swift. Incidentally, the car had to be re-built after incurring extensive damage as a result of yesterday's crash, one in which Jonathan, through no fault of his own, was a part of.
"Thanks to the crew who stayed up all night repairing the car, I was able to run some laps during this morning's warm-up," Jonathan said. It felt good being back on the track, but I was feeling the pain from my injury. The medical staff told me I broke a fibula, a bone located in the outer part of my lower left leg. They packed it with gel-pack foam, but I could still feel it, especially when I pressed the clutch to get out of first gear. Unfortunately, doctors tell me it will get worse tomorrow."
The warm-up session stopped a couple of minutes shy of its scheduled 15-minute time frame, but it was enough time for Jonathan to gain a feel for his re-vamped NTN car.
"I was comfortable with the car," Jonathan said. "We went in with a conservative set-up, but the car didn't handle as well as I would have hoped, so we made a few changes. We released some pressure from our new tires to bring down the temperature, changed the wing set-up a few degrees, and made a ten-pound adjustment across the front-end of the car."
Jonathan ran 8th quickest during the morning session and is hoping that tomorrow's early-morning warm-up will be enough to test the car and perhaps make a few more slight, but nonetheless, significant adjustments to its set-up. "I'm looking forward to tomorrow. Yesterday's accident set us back. We weren't expecting to start at the back, but hopefully we'll be able to get the set-up right and put in a good showing," Jonathan said.
On the downside, Jonathan will be racing with the discomfort of an injury that may well get worse. On the upside, however, he is in great spirits, and the race's postponement will give him another chance to test his car once again, and his crew the opportunity to make any requisite adjustments to the car for tomorrow's early-morning running of the Milwaukee Mile.
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