The Non-Race Report.(Brief Article)

Brave or stupid? Faced with a potential driver revolt, CART CEO Joe Heitzler canceled CART's race at Texas Motor Speedway. But give CART an F for allowing things to get to that point in the first place.

Heitzler alienated a new market in order to accede to his drivers' wishes for self preservation: Two hours before the scheduled start, he pulled the plug on CART's first visit to a high-banked oval since the early 1980s, because of safety concerns.

Those concerns for CART at Texas Motor Speedway go back at least five years, which is why some see it as outrageous that CART couldn't react sooner. When the track was ready to open in 1996, CART vice president

of competition Kirk Russell and then-acting chief steward Wally Dallenbach paid a visit and declared the track

unsafe for CART machinery. TMS has since been modified, and the surface improved. Last July (certainly enough time to test in all conditions), under interim CART CEO Bobby Rahal, CART struck a three-year deal to race at TMS.

Upon arrival this past weekend, drivers immediately expressed concerns about speeds reached on the high-banked, 1.5-mile oval. Earlier this spring, after a test that included Kenny Brack (the only driver to have raced at TMS while in the IRL) and Dario Franchitti, the CART drivers asked for several changes, including modifications to the inside walls. The changes were made.

``Texas Motor Speedway met and exceeded our demands regarding known safety issues,'' said Heitzler. ``I re-emphasize that this problem was previously unknown.''