Added: 5 years ago
From: champcar4ever
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  • I've raced here in rFactor and it's amazing how accurate the model for the track is. Even the little bumps in the chicane is in the game. This was a cool clip!

  • IRL may have purchased Champ car/CART and won that battle, but I believe Champ Car/CART ultimately has won the war. Consider the changes: IRL name replaced by Indycar, road courses and street circuits outnumber ovals, increasing international drivers and circuits, multiple engine suppliers and while only one chassis constructor, multiple aero kit designers. Hmm looks nothing like IRL!

  • /watch?v=Ie_R1H9L4eI goes with the final lap.

  • @LessThanSte Why did Tony George have to kill IndyCar??? He'll never be forgiven for that! Just hope that Dallara did a decent job with the car this year. Cannot believe it's still a freaking spec series! What was it like to watch true IndyCar racing back in the day? Cause I was only 3 years old when this happened

  • He cut the damn corner. That isn't a pass.

  • Awesome overtake!!! I love the corkscrew and i never saw a bad ass overtake like this in such a hard corner like the corkscrew

  • I've done that lots of times in gran turismo, and yeah, it doesn't usually work

  • I woder what would happen if NASCAR went to 'Seca

  • @KeselowskiTheMan Youd see a much better race than Sonoma, thats for sure.

  • CART was simple great. Great racing on very cool racetracks. I loved it and despite having the better drivers F1 wasn't as exciting very often back then.

  • I was at this race, standing by the bridge next to I think turn 2 or 3. Saw Herta shoot by, turn left & head up the hill & figured well lets head for the parking lot, this is over. Then all of a sudden the announcer said Alex won the race & me & my buddy were like WTF?

  • I was there and could not believe my eyes. Alex has some brass ones!

  • still watching in 2011 :) great Alex !!

  • The funny thing is that a similar move, 13 years later (an attempt to pass through the kerbs), dashed any hopes of witnessing history...

  • Wish the IRL would come back to Laguna Seca. . .The hell with Sonoma. . .

  • 5 people are Bryan Herta

  • 15 years ago, CART has a vertical fin leading from the engine air intake to the rear wing. 2011 LeMans Prototypes introduce the same technology. Formula 1 Also incorporates the same fin in their 2011 series.

    CART, The future of all motor sports technology.

  • I am glad that Herta got to win this a couple of times after this.

  • I remember that. What a great era for CART, about 1980-2000. I miss personalities like Zanardi, Herta, Andretti, De Ferran, etc.

    I lived in Pittsburgh at the time and my father worked for PPG when it was then called the PPG cup in terms of the championship trophy. Very cool.

  • Yes he cut the corner, but cutting THAT corner actually means that you will be damn slow when you''ll het back on track so... Italian pilots must like that corner anyway...

  • i remember is was sitting infront the tv .. and scrfeeemsed so that evryone in germany wakes up o think.. but it was worth it

  • that was a real corner cutting but before 15 years wasnt so important I think

  • Alex , tutti si ricordano quel sorpasso .. sei un grande,un esempio adesso

  • this is why italians make the best cars

  • a pass doesn't take 5minutes and 39 seconds : )

  • MAN! If anyone can talk about do-or-die-attack, can you find a better place than the Corkscrew at Laguna Seca? This tops overtaking at Eau Rouge, Spa.

    BRING C.A.R.T. BACK!

    Regards from Europe.

  • as soon as they stopped racing in Vancouver the american open-wheel seen has just gone to shit

  • I loved CART as well in those days. However, it did say something about the relative qualities of the series that after Vasser won in 1996, the next 3 championships were flat-out dominated by Zanardi (a poor-to-mediocre F1 driver) and Montoya (a good but not great F1 driver). When someone like Zanardi, who was terrible in two separate F1 shots, can come over and dominate CART, it's not a good sign for American open-wheel racing.

  • @samuelSrobinson F1 is the world, Cart was just America. Statistically, a good f1 driver is likely to be better than any or at least most cart or indycar drivers. So it doesn't really mean American open wheel racing is by any means poor. :)

  • Indycar is shit compared to CART

  • The very italian style!!!!!

  • CART was so big, and the racing so great, that Autocar used to produce a CART annual, much the same as they did for F1 and WRC. The racing was mega, the cars were mega and the drivers were mega too. It is a damn shame what has happened since the split, and Tony George needs to be flogged! Now Indycar is rated less highly than F2, and is the place where people that cant make it in NASCAR race. After Senna died, I would rather watch CART than F1 and didn't even give NASCAR a second look.

  • Videos like this make me really miss Champ Car.

  • I wasn't even there but just from watching, it got my adrenaline pumping... =)

  • How the hell did he make that car stick through the corckscrew when he hit dirt?????AMAZING!!!!!

  • INITIALLLLLL D!!

  • that is just insane ballsy as fuck but fun to watch damn...

  • if that was gran turismo then he would of got a 5 second shortcut penalty

  • will cart series ever come back? to me it was the best series usa had to offer.

  • C.A.R.T. was such an awesome, talented series, it's a shame the indycar "won" the battle. openwheel racing in america is just a shell of what it used to be

  • @bobertbrown I tried to give indycars a chance, but the racing is just terrible. They are lucky is they go 10 laps without a yellow flag.

  • @bobertbrown : Hopefully with the new chassis design and return to turbo-charged engines next year things will start to get back to the way they were.

  • @bobertbrown This is Indycar, then they split the series in to IRL and CART. Cart loosing the right to the name as they did'nt run in Indianapolis as Indy Racing League did. Now it's back to one series called Indycar again. Same shit, different name, as it were....

  • @bobertbrown every time i see a video like this, i hate the IRL a little bit more!

  • @CrossingTheLine360 Errr...just a thought, but maybe it's because it was a bitter-sweet victory. He didn't win the championship, he won the race, and it was insignificant in the final standings anyway.

  • Rules are not for pussies! Rules are for safety. look what happend to the cheater.. If Herta didn't gave space for this idiot, they would both have spun out..

  • @bb3xhrhj

    "this idiot" ?

    hey kiddo, that idiot is the greatest indycar driver ...

  • @slick2000tiscali if you're gonna insult people at least get your facts straight, zanardi never drove in the indycar series, and although he was a great driver, he's not even close to being the greatest c.a.r.t. driver

  • @bb3xhrhj

    As Ayrton Senna once said:

    'By being a racing driver you are under risk all the time. By being a racing driver means you are racing with other people. And if you no longer go for a gap that exists, you are no longer a racing driver because we are competing, competing to win. And the main motivation is to compete for victory, it's not to come 3rd, 4th, 5th or 6th'

  • @soupmotto you are missing the point.

    Leaving the track is dangerous. It could cause an accident.

  • People still crapping about penalty in this amazing move. you guys must be used to fia's bullshits or nowdays irl that you cant even make a move to protect your position. Zanardi took him at the first leg, head all the way thru that huge curb until almost hits the wall after going to some the dirty, if Herta had just a little more agressiveness that zanardi was he would've put him an easy crossover move, but no, he just decided to keep behind Zanardi. No penalty at all.

  • balls of steel!!!! and legs too...

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  • Thumbs up to Herta salvaging 2nd and dodging this idiotic move that should have wrecked them both

  • This pass will always bring a smile to my face !!

    Bravo, belissimo !!!

  • winning is winning. rules that limit creativity and bravery are for pussies. racing was born on the idea of who has the faster car and who has the bigger balls! Zanardi may not have legs any more, but he DEFINITELY has the bigger balls!

  • I remember watching the race. When I saw Zinardi pull that off, I about flipped the couch in amazement. The move that defined his career, and probably one of the best passes in the history of auto racing

  • all 4 dislikes are Bryan Herta

  • 25 second post-race penalty for not respecting track limits

  • Wow

  • I don't understand how Champ Car went bankrupt if so many people attended, mainly the Grand Prix of Long Beach.

  • No way would that be considered a "completed pass" according today's racing rules, but this was 15 years ago... Damn, that was brilliant.

  • @linuxuser29448 I think I'm still the only person who thinks that was BS :) he put Bryan in a position to crash or get out of the way... he did that a lot (to Bryan in particular) and many other drivers while in CART... fun to watch I suppose but as a racer it pisses me off. That said, I've met Alex before and he is a class guy! I'm just not a fan of his race tactics

  • 4:40, pretty much what I do in Gran Turismo.

  • basically, 4:35

  • He drives like me in Gran Turismo!

  • iny cars are nothing comepared to F1 cars

  • that was not even a fair complete pass. 4 wheels off the track!

  • @Scope951

    Are you kidding me?

    He bombs him in the corner, passes fair with NO wheels off the track, then due to speed over shoots the second corner of the hill. Not an illegal pass or move. He passed him while he was on the track, not when he was off it, so it's all legal.

  • @LowAophone you must be kidding...

    Zanardi was too fast to get the chicane in the RIGHT way. He definitely shortcutted the track. Good you're right that he doesn't do it while overtaking, BUT after this he shortcutted, because of to much speed, and that gave him the advantage to stay in front...

  • Look at how hot Zanardi goes into T1 on the last lap, you can see the gutsy move coming up right there already!

  • To Quote Joey Lawrence, Alyson & Amanda Michalka, Black Rob, and Mya, That pass on the Corkscrew was like WHOA.

    That's why Alex Zanardi was one of the best Open-Wheel Drivers ever to race in The United States. Period. End of Story.

  • Zanardi has to be glad that the FIA doesn't host CART races. They would´ve given him a penalty for cutting the track/dangerous driving/making the race exiting or something...

  • @hjjubnh Well, they would have penalized him for having all 4 tyres off the track, that's for sure.

  • @mezzer99 I thought the same thing, but if you watch closely, Zanardi had already completed the pass before he went off track. I'm guessing that's why he didn't get penalized.

  • @rodentcafeteria I hear what you're saying but bottom line is that CART is a lot more lax on the rules than, say, F1. Its all about the spectacle and making those benjamins!

  • Why can't the CART series be anything like it once was?

  • @PennStylez maybe because it doesn't exist anymore?

  • chip called the pass right at the beginning of the vid he knew it was coming HE KNEW IT

  • this is a ALL IN move.....

  • Herta was never the same after this pass

  • That was a stupid overtake. Sure he had the balls to do that, but the only reason he was able to overtake was because he took so much extra speed through that section and just ended up cutting the corner.

    It was unfair to say the least.

  • @turtlehater2 who cares it was fuckin awesome

  • This is an awesome overtake.Is a cult stuff. Is part of the motorsport heaven of priceless moments, it doesn't mater your opinion you like it or not, you agree or whatever.

    These moments leave echo through time and become immortal.

  • Damn these cars were nasty... No suprize this series wasn't popular in the US... Why do americans hate good racing so much????

  • @arena2101 hey, easy, i live for this shit.

  • Would never get away with that in F1. Out breaks himself and cuts the track.

  • @turkeyBHA Well, let's talk shit that has been gotten away with in F1. There were much better passes in CART. They did pass a rule that you cannot do that. It made for dramatic television and that's fine. But that's about it.

  • Bryan Herta checks under his bed at night for Alex Zanardi...

  • That was like what Valentino Rossi did 2008 with Casey Stoner on the MotoGP-Bikes...great stuff!

  • He cut the track. He should of had to give the place back. Bullshit pass!

  • And if you think this was the best overtake ever, you should really watch some f1

  • @adrianse567 I don't see many overtakes in F1 these years...

  • Amazing overtake?? More like cheating

  • Heart is pumping again!!!- I saw this live and jumped out of my sofa like a rocket while the pass...the last secons of this race i watched the race 30 cm in front of the screen....what a awesome finish!!!!! Thanx alex

  • wow...the thing that really amazes me is the fact that Jimmy Vasser beat everybody and won the championship...

  • What a fantastic pass, Alex Zanardi was always up there in Open Wheel.

  • There are situations and situations. Depending on how agressive you have to be in order to overtake, you might endep up going outside the track... Outstanding drivers like Mansell, Senna and others had to enter the danger zone in order to make a pass.

    Unfortunately, some people are being misled by the current nanny-state concept in F1 regarding overtaking in a race. I like the idea of safety, but races without boldness and agressiveness are bullshit... F1 will ended up understanding it.

  • @enietto i miss the senna and mansell f1 days. it's not the same by far. but what's happened with the champ cars? was my favorite american racing event

  • How is that even allowed? I thought that if you pass, all 4 wheel have to be on the track

  • The pass is impresive, but what's often overlooked it the work it took for Zanardi to actually make the pass, he made up a ton of space to get around Herta. The pass was amazing, but he definitely worked for it. Nice bit of driving all the way around ...

  • in F1, zanardi would've gotten like, a 30 second penalty for that overtake.

  • @PJ2436 maybe one of the thinks that make so boring the F1!

  • @MrBokras f1 has no hope of becoming exciting!

  • @drofrockology I just heard they are going back to the turbocharged engines in 2013.

  • @tracetx133

    Yup. with the four-bangers, and a large list of other engineering feats. =)

  • Did the media, fans and rule-makers during 1996 see this as corner-cutting at the time? Because that's the crucial aspect to the debate happening in the comments here. These days, fans, even hardcore purists, have been brainwashed into this nanny-state concept that any bending of a rule is evil, as opposed to being pragmatic, and embracing skilled, heat-of-the-moment driving. So you need to rewind 14 years, and decide whether you loved this pass or not LIVE, don't let hindsight fog your opinions

  • now i know where rossi got that crazy idea from

  • Laguna needs to see more races F1, Nascar, and WTCC

  • this is one of those things that once you've seen it you can't forget it

  • give this a thumbs up if you guys, THE PEOPLE who WATCH racing, would love to see "IndyCar" return to a modern version of this! bring back the good ol days!

  • Brian Herta you were OWNED!!!!!!

  • Good Times.

    God Damm Lausitz Ring.

  • One of the best overtakes ever!

  • passing someone at the corkscrew is pure insanity

  • Did that pass a few times on Playstation, - but to see it live back then, boy,+ balls of tarmac...

  • nice pass but he cut the track there...

  • @quandore Yup he cut the track but the fact remains that to even attempt that pass is insanity or just pure ballzack bravery. And the skill to not let it go out of control is unbelievable.

  • @quandore: It's part of the kerbs, so he didn't cut, but it sure was close.

  • @PhilipTheBigOne obviously he did cut. Kerbs are not the parts of the track. It's allowed to drive on them but only with 2 wheels. If u cross them with 4 wheels that means u went off track. So quandore is 100% right.

  • @cieslus1988: That's your opinion, AND I RESPECT IT! I do believe it wasn't a shortcut, but it's your story and seems you're sticking to it.

  • @PhilipTheBigOne F1 IS A TRASH

  • @8188ify: To start with, I DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING ABOUT F1! I agree that IRL and CART are better than F1 (even NASCAR is better) and I am from Greece (Europe). But I grew up with F1 (started watching in 2000) and back then it was very good. Because it had so many personalities (Schumacher, Hakkinen, Barrichello, Herbert, Hill, Frentzen etc.). Now it's just boring.

    PS: Please Helio, give me an Indycar trophy is 2011! PRETTY PLEASE???!!!???

  • @PhilipTheBigOne Hey Philiip, you is younger? So see more about the 80/90's drivers. Era of Mansell, Prost, SENNA! This really was F1, now is a game for amount of money...

  • @GKOBE: First, I'm 18. And I agree, that was the s*it!!! Driving at 190 mph knowing that if you crash, you may lose your life! Those drivers (Senna, Mansell, Prost, Piquet) were MONSTERS!!! The '90's were good as well (Schumacher, Senna before he died, Hill, Hakkinen, Coulthard etc.). And to inform you , I started watching Formula 1 in 2000.

  • @quandore Yup I agree ballsy move , but all 4 wheels over the curb there ..its a cut

  • @quandore There was nothing wrong or illegal in what Zanardi did... it was simply one of the best and cleanest overtakings I´ve ever seen...

  • @enietto Well, the track is marked by white lines, and you have to stay on track. If not, you are not allowed to earn anything of driving off the track, and he did so. However, it seems like common sense rules are a bit unimportant in USA:

  • @enietto Well, clean it sure wasn't, but it's damn ballsy!

  • Zanardi is a legend!

  • If that would happen in F1 today, they would black flag zanardi for dangerous driving and cutting the track, that's how gay F1 is...

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  • @nikosf3n That's because he DID cut the course and if he did that turn like it should be done he would have lost the place right back...

  • Damn!! i got goosebumps watching that.

  • Fuck me listen to those engines scream. That whine of the turbocharger, the beauty of those lola chassis.

    Im not a big Michael Andretti fan but I wish he could have won the title this year. I hate Ganassi racing.

  • these cars were such beasts when they ran at indy....

  • ugly passing...

  • I miss watching CART. If CART could've had the Indy 500 the series would no doubt still be around.

  • Epic pass indeed.

    And if I didn't read the comments, I wouldn't have know about Tony George's stupidity. CART/Champ Car vs IRL, sheesh. CART was what brought me the chance to see a REAL RACE up close at the San Jose Grand Prix, not IRL. Shame the San Jose Grand Prix is no more :( (all that's left of it is the hairpin with the yellow racing curb still in place)

  • FTG

  • Tony George is a horses ass!

  • didnt he cut the corner?

  • @spypengyn yes he did. but since you will not get any grip on that bit of track (or should i say off) it balances out.

  • Laguna Seca is not suitable for F1. For several reasons.

  • The Pass is at 4:37

  • pretty remarkable to be the one who will always be remembered as the man who has done "THE PASS". i mean, every driver overtakes other drivers in his career, but he has made "THE PASS".

  • "The Pass" is the incident that caused racing series to impose penalties for shortcutting the course.

  • @Fekmann wasnt there penalties before?

  • These were the years I liked...Damn IRL...

  • @dbpacho LOL

  • I do not want to compare but It's amazing how CART was nice and how the old Indy cars can make better and more exciting races than F1 (well when it rains F1 can make nice races, but without rain the races are too boring). ^^

  • F1 in Laguna Seca

  • should have given the place back!! he cut the track in the process!

  • american sports commentators really are so utterly vacuous and banal. really, they're on a whole different level of inane drivel to the rest of the english speaking world's commentators.

    as the recently clogless harry carpenter once said, 'the art of television commentary is to say as little as possible, and when you do speak, be as helpful as you can'. jonathan legard should take note as well.

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  • @pjsmoulder All eloquent and proper use of the Queen's English placed to one's side ever so convenaiantly and orderly into the hemisherical glass jar used for the storage of the foul fecies involuntarly discharged from the anal cavity of Bovidae species specifically of the male-bull variety; deep down you cry at night because you know that the fact of the matter is, coffee is better than tea. USA!

  • It's a legal pass as for the rules of 1996. You had to have at least two wheels on track and the run off begins just with the gravel trap. So technically, he stayed on the track (according to said rule), making it perfectly legal. It was redefined after this race, though.

  • I applaud the attempted move, but seriously if everyone could skip across the track and drag sand all over it with desperate moves like that, there wouldn't be any need for rules. Should have been DQ'd. Not a win IMO.

  • Although I agree with you somewhat, he did pass before he went off the course. Still very desperate though.

  • @Dube230

    It's not really a pass if you can't stay on the track. Clearly he went in too deep, and if it weren't for the apex he never would have made it back on the track. If he made that same move at Portland International it would have been flagged for cutting the course. Herta should have rammed his ass when he got back on the track. I would have.

  • @FuelSniffer idk, in my opinion, if you have the balls to try something like that, and are able to pull it off, then you deserve to win. dangerous? perhaps, but then again, so is racing in general. i applaud zanardi's guts and talent here, but thats just me.

  • From watching again, it looks like he could have made it stick if he just slowed down and took the corner, though risk of being overtaken again would be higher.

  • Rossi vs Stoner look alike...

  • CART was the shit back in the 90's. Though that pass is clearly illegal. He came in way to fast and instead of slowing down to make the corner and get passed again, he just cut across the runoff and held the pass.

  • Agree totally, no way was that pass legal, Unfortunate. lol, if he had slid it straight into the exit wall, now that would have been epic....

  • i miss CART! :(

  • I miss this the final few years of good open wheel! Toney george is as dumb as the nascar ceo France he does not have race fans in mind its all about who women think is hot and family oriented fun. Remember when it was about racing?? Its been awhile. This new delta wing idea is just another way to keep penske on top. They should just call it Penske George racing league . Racing is dyeing and so is my passion every time I hear the names Earnhardt Jr, Danica patrick, And IRL

  • what an unfair pass, zanardi missed his braking point completely and sinply cut a part there

  • that pass was unbelievable. im very surprised that neither driver was taken out there

  • this is THE pass

  • Seeing laguna seca in real life is much different than tv. The speed is incredible. These cars are seem glued to the track.

  • man, i miss this......

  • I dont see any awesome pass like these in 96 f1 season! Really, nice cart times

  • i miss this soo much. stupid asshole tony george

  • No, CART is much more tolerant in terms of pasing then F1. I can remember watching this life. It was great. I even redone the move in "newman/hass racing" for the PSone^^

  • not in cart

  • isn't it considered as cut track at 4:42 when alex is trying to pass at the corkscrew