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It was 2 p.m. on Tuesday, and before Paul Tracy could complete his answer to the first question during a telephone interview, his cell phone began to cut out. At the same point during a second call a couple of minutes later, there was another setback.
"I've got a furniture guy at the gate and I have to go sign for this. I'll call you back," Tracy said.
Just another distraction for the 33-year old CART series driver this season.
There was the controversial finish to the Indianapolis 500 in May. Tracy still feels he passed Helio Castroneves before the caution flag and caution lights were activated on the penultimate lap of the race. After a lengthy appeal process, Indy Racing League president Tony George ruled Castroneves - an IRL series regular - the winner, leaving Tracy and CART loyalists seething.
In June, Tracy's car owner Barry Green decided to abandon the long-used Reynard chassis in favor of the more-compact Lola model four weeks into the season. Last month Green sold the majority of his race team, which also includes the cars of Dario Franchitti and CART all-time wins leader Michael Andretti, to Andretti and his brother Kim Green.
And Tracy is without a contract for next season, too.
"There's been a lot going on. We've definitely been in the headlines a lot this year," Tracy said.
The second-leading driver in career wins (19) in the open-wheel series, Tracy has found victory...