WEST ALLIS, Wis. — One of the biggest benefits derived from the unification of the two American open-wheel series is bigger fields.

Nobody expected a traffic jam.

Turns out that more cars also cause new problems, not the least of which is finding enough room for all of them on pit road and on the race track today in the ABC Supply A.J. Foyt 225.

Twenty-seven cars were on hand Saturday for practice and qualifying on the Milwaukee Mile. That's nine more than raced here a year ago, before the IRL's IndyCar Series absorbed its former rival, the Champ Car World Series. And it's just one fewer than the record, when Champ Car — then known as CART — brought 28 to the track in 1996, the first year of the schism.

A crash in practice on Saturday forced Marty Roth to withdraw his entry and cut the race field by one. But it remained one of the biggest in the long history of the suburban Milwaukee track.

"I think the race is going to be a problem," said Indianapolis 500 winner Scott Dixon before Roth's crash. "With 18 cars, or however many we had last year, it was almost impossible to get around the track without incidents. So, with 27, it's going to be interesting for everybody."

Tony Kanaan wasn't racing in CART in 1996, but he was here in 1998 when there were 27 cars in the lineup.

Asked what it was like on the wide, flat, one-mile oval in that race, the two-time defending race winner shook his head and said, "Crazy, crazy, totally crazy. Traffic jam. New York traffic jam.

"I think it's exciting for the fans because it's not about who has the faster car anymore," the Brazilian added. "It's going to be the driver who has his car set up for traffic and has the best skills to go through traffic. Not that this track needs any more difficulties, but I think it's great. It's a good problem to have."

The former IndyCar Series champion said a driver needs a different mind-set with all those cars on a short track like the Milwaukee oval.

"You know you're going to be passed and you're going to pass people so, basically, that's how you approach it," Kanaan said. "You try to start as far up (front) as possible because, once you get in the mix, it's easy to get a lap down at this place.

"You're just going to have to be patient and wait to see
what's going to happen. It's only 225 miles on a mile oval, it's a long race and a lot of things are going to happen."

Another factor that will likely come into play is that most of the nine drivers making the transition from Champ Car have limited oval racing experience.

"I can't believe what it's going to be like with 27 cars, because with 11 cars (in Thursday's one-hour practice for rookies and series newcomers) it was already busy on track," said 19-year-old Graham Rahal, racing on an oval for only the fourth time.

At least the track is wide enough to accommodate cars running side-by-side. The narrow pit lane could be where the biggest problems occur.

"We're feeling it," Kanaan noted after Saturday's opening practice. "We've got to squeeze our cars into the pits, which is going to be tough, not just for the mechanics to refuel the car but dangerous for us to take care of people, not to hit each other. It's as tight as I've ever seen."

Even in last Sunday's Indy 500, where the track is 21/2 miles long and a 33-car field starts every race, traffic on the track and on pit lane was a problem.

Fan favorite Danica Patrick got taken out of the race when she was hit on pit road by Ryan Briscoe, and that was just one of several collisions in the pits that day.

On track, Kanaan looked like the driver to beat, but wound up bouncing off the wall after narrowly avoiding a crash with Andretti Green Racing teammate Marco Andretti.

"You're going to have to play a smart race," she said. "You're going to have to make sure you keep your car underneath you for the duration of the (fuel) stints. ... A lot goes on at these short ovals. We race pretty close."




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