Rain Doesn't Deter Borkowski

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Rain Doesn't Deter Borkowski

AUTO RACING

June 04, 1999|By DAVID HEUSCHKEL; Courant Staff Writer

Mike Borkowski,an ambitious person with an unsinkable attitude and an English degree from Cornell, is not your average driver, --at least not from this area--. He doesn't double as a working stiff from 9 to 5.

Borkowski, 26, from Middlebury, failed in his first attempt to qualify for the Indy 500 last week. Actually, he never made a qualifying attempt because his car never got up to speed during practice.

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But at the last minute on Bubble Day, Borkowski brokered a deal that would put him in one of Tony Stewart's backup cars.

``We pulled the car out to pit lane, I've got my helmet in my hand, I'm 10 feet away from the car and it started raining,'' Borkowski said. ``I didn't even feel it. I saw one or two drops on my helmet visor.''

Minutes later, it was pouring. Rain washed out the final three hours of qualifying.

``As frustrated as I am,'' Borkowski said, ``on the positive side, I got up the next morning and it was time to rip off the rearview mirror and just look forward.

``Three months ago, I never thought I'd be driving an Indy car. I never thought I'd be circling the speedway. I did. I got a bunch of seat time, got some experience and made some new contacts.''

Borkowski drove for Bobby Rahal last year in Indy Lights and the previous year in the SCCA Trans-Am Series. With Rahal's impending retirement, it appeared Borkowski was being groomed to replace his boss in CART Indycar. But when Rahal hired Max Papis and pulled the plug on his Indy Lights team, Borkowski was out of a job.

``In the end, what it came down to is for me as a team owner, I thought we had to focus on our primary effort, which was CART,'' Rahal said. ``I guess I just felt that [Indy Lights] was a diversion that we didn't need at this point in time.''

But Borkowski hustled sponsorship and was hired by PDM Racing for Indy.

``As of December, I haven't had a paycheck,'' Borkowski said. ``You're flying around the country on your own nickel pursuing sponsors. I do what I have to do. Want to know the truth the way I've been living right now? Whenever I have chances or when I'm at home, I've been trading options in the stock market. Not because I have a lot of money to do it.''

Park Not Yet On Top

Some folks in these parts -- and they know who they are -- were calling Steve Park the next Jeff Gordon. Looking back, those local prognosticators must feel mighty foolish.

Granted, Park missed 15 races last season as a rookie in Winston Cup with injuries sustained in a crash while practicing. But he has yet to record a top- 10 finish in 29 races driving for Dale Earnhardt.

Park, formerly of Ellington, finally showed some potential Sunday in the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway. He started fifth and led 84 laps, then crashed midway through the race and finished 42nd.

``You dream of leading a race like we did last Sunday at Charlotte,'' Park said. ``It was like time stood still. I'd look in the rearview mirror and that second-place car seemed to be getting further and further away, and I was thinking this is really cool.''

Park should have kept his eyes on the cars in front of him. He acknowledged the accident was his fault.

``I woke up the next day and felt a little better about the whole thing,'' he said. ``We are taking baby steps. We've learned to lead. Now it's time to learn to win.''

Time may be running out. In 12 races this year, Park has finished in the top 20 twice and is 34th in the point standings.

Paul Andrews was recently hired as Park's crew chief,replacingPhilippe Lopez,who resigned. With 10 victories and a Winston Cup championship, Andrews is a proven winner. Eventually, Park must prove he too belongs in Winston Cup.

ABC: Selective Memory?

Shame on ABC.

While narrating a historical piece before the Indy 500, Al Michaels said the 1990s brought ``considerable change'' to Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He mentioned the track now has a Winston Cup race and is the future home to a Formula One event.

But Michaels said nothing -- nothing -- about the continuing feud between CART and the IRL that many believe has tainted the race.

Common sense says Michaels, was told by his producer not to bring it up because ABC doesn't want to risk alienating any more of its shrinking audience after recently signing a $14 million a year deal to televise the race through 2004.

That might make sense from a business perspective. But from a journalistic perspective, it stinks.

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