TRACY TRIUMPHS AT VANCOUVER; a Confusing race, a decisive result.

Byline: BILL McGUIRE

Paul Tracy ruled the Champ Car happening in Vancouver, on the track and all around town. First the popular Canadian commandeered the local media bandwidth for the weekend, running his smack game to great effect against both the competition and CART management. Then on Sunday he backed up the trash talk, dominating the whole race. The win is Tracy's second in a row and fifth this year, and signals that with consistency and a little luck, he could have his way with the rest of the 2003 season.

Controversy had already found Tracy (if that is how it happens) by Friday afternoon, when in first-round qualifying he posted the quickest lap to nail down the provisional pole. However, both Newman-Haas Racing and Rocketsports Racing immediately protested, claiming Tracy had deliberately balked their drivers, Bruno Junqueira and Alex Tagliani respectively, in the final moments of the session, spoiling their flying laps. It did appear Tracy slowed considerably in front of them. A few hours later CART officials agreed, taking away Tracy's best lap and awarding the Friday pole, and the seeded front-row starting position and one championship point that goes with it, to Junqueira, who was second-fastest. Later that evening at a nightclub, the dispute spilled over into an awkward confrontation between Tracy and CART CEO Chris Pook. Local media were happy to describe it as "physical.'' It wasn't, according to all parties involved. "There was no pushing. We were having a talk. I wouldn't say it was friendly, but it wasn't unfriendly, either,'' said Tracy, who has had several run-ins with Pook in recent weeks.

The next day Tracy responded to the protests by donning a surgical mask in pit lane, saying he didn't wish to contract "whiner-itis'' from his fellow drivers. He then went out early in the final session and took back the pole at 1m 0.926 seconds (105.236 mph). Though street courses like Vancouver usually improve two- to three-tenths of a second toward the end of a session as rubber is laid down, no one was able to best Tracy's time-or claim he had blocked their best laps in the final minutes, either. Junqueira qualified second, while 2001 Vancouver winner Roberto Moreno posted the third-quickest time, his best showing this year by far. With overtaking so difficult on the tiny, 1.78-mile, 12-turn layout, qualifying at Vancouver can be the whole game.

At the post-qualifying press conference, Tracy lashed out bitterly at CART for the penalty the night before. "I feel that I've supported CART when CART had nobody to support them. The things that have happened and the inconsistencies in the rules that have been going on for years and years are very frustrating to me and very troubling. My emotions are probably not much different from those of Tony George or Honda or Toyota, Marlboro Team Penske or Michael Andretti,'' said Tracy, suddenly aligning himself with the former CART players who now make up the ...