THE MAN IN THE BACKGROUND; David Clare is CART's [Championship Auto Racing Team's] quiet No. 2 man.(Interview)

Byline: BILL McGUIRE

As CART's CEO and designated savior, Chris Pook serves as both spark plug and lightning rod for the struggling series. If with a provocative public statement he can diffuse a troublesome issue, or create a diversionary one, he's not afraid to make it all about him. Much of the hope for CART's future has rested solely on the power of his personality. The secret of magic is misdirection, and Pook, a gifted natural salesman, was made for the job.

But Pied Piper for CART Inc. is more than a full-time position, so over the winter Pook found a chief operating officer to handle the daily chores of running the sanctioning body. While Pook stands front and center, taking both the bows and the blows, David Clare is back minding the store. And that's just the way the quiet man likes it. "I don't particularly want to be out there in front of the media,'' says Clare. "That's not my role.''

Clare, 48, and like Pook, a native Brit, was trained in finance and accounting, and originally had no thoughts of a career in racing. "I worked for a national newspaper in the U.K., and discovered part of my job was to promote the Race of Champions at Brands Hatch. I was interested in cars but I wasn't really into motorsport. I stood at Druids and listened to the Brabham BT 48 with the Alfa V12 going past and thought well, this is interesting. At that point I thought I would get a job in motorsports somehow and try it for a year. That was in 1978.''

Circulating his resume, Clare landed a position with the Toleman Formula Two team, then highly successful, but when the operation moved up the ladder to Formula One it was suddenly less so. "In 1981 we went into Formula One as a very underprepared team, which was a great learning experience as we didn't qualify for 10 races. It was an interesting period for me,'' says Clare. From 1984 to 1986, Clare worked as accountant- administrator for Carl Haas' unsuccessful Beatrice F1 project. "When the team folded up Mr. Ecclestone acquired some of the assets, and asked would I like to come work for him.''

That led to nine years as "a direct deputy of Bernie Eccle-stone with the Formula One Constructors Association,'' according to the press release announcing his appointment as CART's chief operating officer. Does that mean something like a second in command to the F1 boss? "That was never my title. I had the office next ...