Fort Worth Star-Telegram from Fort Worth, Texas • 13

A Monday April 30 2lX)1 1 3A NATIONAL FROM PAGE alA Message boards getting nastier more explicit BY REED ABELSON The New York Times The talk was about a woman a former senior manager in the Minneapolis office of PricewaterhouseCoopers who had won a $1625 million sex discrimination case "A man who complains about things being unfair gets nothing" someone said "A woman or minority who complains about things being unfair gets what a well-deserved $1 million and free ride to partner?" He named one female partner as "a what is said and will delete offensive material In the case of the PricewaterhouseCoopers partner Vault which bills itself as an electronic water cooler has deleted some of the messages about the partner according to users of the board Vault says it does monitor its boards but may not catch every offensive message Asked about the rest of the offending messages PricewaterhouseCoopers said it would contact the Web site about removing them prime candidate" "You guys are a bunch of idiots" came one angry reply "Anyone have any example of the stellar work she has done that earned her the position?" another asked sarcastically referring to the female partner "She wouldn't know how to fill out a corporate or partnership tax return if her life depended on it" This conversation was not conducted sotto voce around the water cooler or over a lunch far from the office It happened recently in a far they are also used by schools professional groups and other interest groups All raise troubling questions about how to permit free and often useful exchanges that tend to be intertwined with vicious gossip and hateful comments And for companies some of which are not even aware that the discussions are taking place these electronic dialogues represent a whole new challenge and area of potential liability Yahoo relies on the users of its boards to complain about messages Others monitor more public place: an Internet message board a kind of email bulletin board Thousands of message boards for individual companies have emerged over the past few years creating a window on what some employees feel but never say publicly Often the view through this window is rather ugly On message boards for particular companies on third-party Web sites such as Yahoo and Vault some employees are anonymously expressing thoughts that they would not dare say out loud They are freely showing their prejudices or denouncing other employees by name sometimes accusing them of incompetence or misconduct or recounting salacious nimors about their sex lives All this makes for enormous challenges in the new electronic communities It can be useful for managers to find out what their employees really think of them but also devastating when hurtful and hateful gossip is laid out for all to see Although message boards are popular with companies 11' ONOLOG OF CA 'AC: 111: IIi Here are the events that led to the postponement of the CART Firestone Fire-hawk 600 which was scheduled for Sun- day at Texas Motor Speedway: speeds 9 pm: Rumors began circulating through the paddock that Sunday's race had been postponed 10:20 pm: CART public relations manager Mike Zizzo said the race will be run Sunday with possible modifications to the cars SATURDAY Around 11 am: CART teams begin to take cars back to the paddock and break down the pit area 11:15 am: Gossage said he received a phone call from a CART official that the race had been postponed 12:08 pm: CART news conference begins to announce postponement of the first CART race at Texas Motor Speedway 1 pm: Gossage addresses the media about the race postponement 1 pm: Frontstretch grandstands begin to empty letin announcing proposed changes to the cars for Sunday's scheduled race Included in those was a 15-inch rear wicker or piece of aluminum on the back of the wing and a reduction of boost pressure from 37 to 36 inches 10 am: Final CART warm-up scheduled to begin 10:30 am: Drivers meeting ends after lasting more than hour longer than usual Between 10:30 am and 11:15 pm: Several drivers and team owners enter Victory Theater and exit 11 am: Practice session scheduled to end but no cars run on the track 4 pm: Dr Steve Olvey CART's director of medical affairs attends drivers meeting to discuss the gravitational forces the drivers are facing 8 pm: Joseph Heitz ler CART chairman and CEO and other top CART officials including vice president of competition Kirk Russell and chief steward Chris Kneifel meet to discuss slowing the speeds 8:15 pm: Heitz ler contacts TMS executive vice president and general manager Eddie Gossage and Speedway Motor-sports Inc Chairman and Chief Operating Officer Bruton Smith about possible changes that would be made to slow 11 pm: Heitz ler contacts Gossage to update him on the situation 10:47 am: Cristiano da Matta hits Turn 3 wall and slides to a stop at bottom of Turn 4 Da Matta is uninjured and is forced to use a backup car 11:12 am: Paul Tracy runs the fastest unofficial lap in TMS history at 235678 mph 1:30 pm-3 pm: CART qualifying Kenny Brack sets track one-lap record with speed of 233467 mph SUNDAY 9 am: Drivers meeting convenes in Victory Theater in the Infield Media Center 9 am: CART releases a competition bul Compiled by Len Hayward RACE From Page IA I I 4 wAsilING10N manager Eddie Gossage criticized thoroughly tested its cars on the turbulence of another car affecting the race car as the car was being unloaded mechanically as it came off the banking" Neither driver lost consciousness in his accident but Gugelmin president of the safety-oriented Championship Drivers Association opted to withdraw before qualifying on Saturday Andretti an outspoken critic of the decision to race on the high-banked track here praised the decision to postpone "I must say that in my 20- some years of auto racing I never experienced what I was experiencing out there this weekend" said Andretti who qualified his Newman-Haas Honda-powered Reynard 18th at 229817 mph "The G-forces that were put on our body were way beyond what I could even imagine "This has nothing to do with any other safety issue The Texas racetrack did everything they could to make this track as safe as they could and they did a great job in a short period of time But that's not the issue The issue is in the area we've never been before physically Drivers having the potential of passing out this is something we cannot have "I think we all want to say we're truly sorry to the fans They're the reason why we're here and we're so sorry that we're not able to perform for them today" Bryan Herta who qualified his ZapspeedForsythe Racing FordReynard fourth at 232663 mph said he was stunned to learn that so many of his peers were experiencing the symptoms "But I was proud of the job everybody did in trying to figure out how can we put this thing together for today" Herta said "From my perspective every possible scenario was run through Nobody could come up with a tenable solution and this was a great decision" at 226 mph in another test The increased speeds were accompanied by an attendant increase in the amount of gravitational force both lateral and vertical experienced by the drivers in the cockpit of the single-seat open-cockpit cars On the 15-mile layout drivers sustained loads of up to 55 G's for the 22 or 23 seconds it took them to complete a single lap A range of from 3 G's to 5 G's is generally considered to be as much as drivers can endure on most race tracks Olvey said vertical G-loading was prevalent through the banked turns the steepest on the CART circuit "You just feel very compressed when you get down into the corner" said Michael Andretti CART's winningest driver with 40 victories "Everything is compressing in your body It was a new feeling for me" Olvey said that the information was presented to the drivers during a meeting on Saturday afternoon "We found out that all but four of them had experienced symptoms in either one of these situations" Olvey said "The four drivers that did not experience this had never taken runs of more than a few laps at a time The lowest was 10 laps the average was between 25 and 40 laps where drivers began to experience this I felt very very concerned because this is uncharted territory" Only two CART drivers crashed during practice this weekend but Russell said the single-car incidents involving Mauricio Gugelmin on Friday and points-leader Cristiano da Matta on Saturday were similar "From the best knowledge that we have there had been no mechanical problem found with either race car" Russell said "The components of the race cars have been examined by CART and the teams There is a theory that the incidents occurred because of the heavy G-loading in the turn and coming out through the transition onto the backstretch with the be tested during two warm-up sessions Sunday morning Although a number of teams started the engines in their cars as they sat along pit road no laps were turned "Since the situation was identified we thoroughly examined every possible known way to remove performance from our race cars without introducing additional unknown factors" Russell said "It became apparent Sunday morning that there is no short-term solution" Olvey said he first became aware of the problem on Friday afternoon The drivers were allotted three hours and 45 minutes of practice time Former Indianapolis 500 champion Kenny Brack topped the speed chart at 233785 mph Led by Brack's pole-winning speed of 233447 mph 17 of the 25 starters qualified at 230 mph or better on Saturday Those staggering speeds the fastest in the five-year history of TMS were accompanied by gravitational forces never experienced in the FedEx Champi- onship Series "A situation developed on Friday afternoon that in my 25 years of working in motor-sports I had never experienced" Olvey said "Two drivers pulled off the racetrack after long stints at over 230 mph They pulled in because they were dizzy and disoriented and felt that they could no longer control the race car "On Saturday a driver who came into the CART Mobile Medical Facility for another reason said he couldn't walk for up to five minutes after getting out of his car This led me to think that we were possibly having a problem with too high G-loading with our drivers" Saturday morning's fastest practice speed was recorded by Paul Tracy of Team Kool Green at 236678 mph That was approximately 20 mph faster than speeds posted by Brack during a CART-sanctioned test at TMS in December In February Helio Castroneves of Marlboro Team Penske posted a lap of medical affairs said that excessive G-forces affect the inner ear causing dizziness or lightheadedness to the point of disorientation The blood supply to the brain is also affected beginning with the eyes The forces affect the retina Olvey said and a driver can begin to experience tunnel vision then lose color vision experience a "greyout" and eventually become unconscious "It's disappointing but yet necessary for me to announce that CART along with its teams its drivers its manufacturers and sponsors have determined that we must postpone today's race" Heitz ler said during a standing-roomonly news conference in the track's Victory Theater "We have examined every conceivable alternative and have come to the conclusion that the situation we are faced with leads to this decision" Eddie Gossage the speedway's executive vice president and general manager said he was "frustrated" by the decision which he said cost the track millions of dollars and left an expected crowd of 65000 hanging until the last moment "Let me make clear that neither the speedway nor its fans would ever want an event to be held in which the competitors were placed in a position of unnecessary risk" Gossage said during a news conference shortly after the CART announcement "Over the last two years our sport has dealt with enough tragedy We don't need to do anything to add to that" Four NASCAR drivers have been killed in on-track crashes during the past II months including Craftsman Truck Series driver Tony Roper at TMS in October Seven-time Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt was killed at the Daytona International Speed Texas Motor Speedway general CART on Sunday for not having track's high-banked turns way in February "The bottom-line point is CART should have known" said Gossage who signed a three-year sanctioning agreement with the series in July "I don't have a problem with any of the drivers The point is it shouldn't have been unsafe because it should have been sufficiently tested months and months and months ago That's the point "We're frustrated and a victim I don't know what other word to use and I hate that" Gossage said he had yet to meet with Heitz ler about attempting to reschedule the event Gossage said his contract with CART provides for an oval-track race and that he would not switch the event to the speedway's infield road course Gossage said the last installment on the seven-figure sanctioning fee required by CART was paid a month ago A lawsuit against the sanctioning body is "an option" Gossage said "But I don't know if we're ever going to get to that point" he added "I think Joe Heitz ler is a stand-up guy We're going to work real close with him because I think he's working hard to make this thing right" However Gossage said it will be difficult to clear a weekend date for CART during 2001 And beyond that he said this incident has created another issue "There's a credibility issue" rdiaige said "There's a cretii issue between CART and Texas Motor Speedway and between CART and the fans" CART's technical staff attempted to fix the situation via aerodynamics Kirk Russell CART's vice president of competition consulted team members and engineers early Saturday evening "We exhausted every possible situation to reduce downloading to reduce speed to reduce the power in the engines and reduce some of the turbulence that was noticed during the exit of Turn 2 onto the backstraight" said Russell who joined Heitz ler and Olvey at the CART news conference CART officials decided Sat urday night to reduce manifold boost pressure on the cars' turbocharged V-8 engines from 37 to 36 inches in an attempt to drop horsepower and speed They also raised the mandatory rear wicker height on the upper trailing edge of the Handford Device attached to the cars' rear wings by 15 inches to create more drag and down-force Gossage and Bruton Smith the owner of Texas Motor Speedway were informed of the changes by Heitz ler during a meeting at 8 pm Saturday The changes were scheduled to John Sturbin (817) 390-7408 sturb(j)star-telegramcom FANS From Page IA WHAT IT MEANS TO YOU Fans should hold their Firestone Firehawk 600 ticket stubs until a decision has been made to reschedule or cancel the race at Texas Motor Speedway It rescheduled: The ticket stubs will be valid for the race It canceled: The ticket stubs will be necessary for a refund For more Information: Go to wwwtexasmotorspeedwaycom or call the TMS ticket office at (817) 215-8500 better" Some fans didn't mind the lost expenses because the possibility of an accident had been averted Steve Levinson who flew in from Los Angeles for the race attended the CART race in California two years ago when driver Greg Moore was killed "I absolutely believe it was the right decision to cancel the mce" Levinson said "The possibility of having an accident and starting a chain reaction I think that possibility was very strong I was at Fontana when Greg Moore was killed That feeling and the ominous air hanging over this place I'm just relieved I'm quite comfortable with spending the $500 or whatever it was and come here to see this" input in the discussions understands why fans are upset He said he hopes fans don't blame TMS for the postponement "They paid good money and they should have seen a show" Gossage said "We're the victim We're with them We gave CAR'r a huge check a long time ago" The public doesn't understand the dynamics of how a race occurs My fear is that the fans blame us when in fact we're right them with them and we've got money out of pocket" Still Gossage didn't make the drive from Mexico City for the race like Guillermo Castaneda did "rm turned off on CART and coming up here" said Castaneda who made the trip with five other people and paid $150 for his ticket "Everyone spould have known The postponement was announced just after noon Sunday about two hours before the scheduled start of the race over the speedway's public address system and was televised in the suites and concession stands The announcement was also displayed on road condition sips on the highways Still some didn't get the word "We thought they were cleaning up and getting ready for the race" said Austin resident Tony Palacios who was in the pits area when he heard about the postponement "I'm going to start making some phone calls I want to make sure the money spent here can be used whenever they reschedule the race" Whether the race will be rescheduled is still undecided and the decision will affect whether or not refunds are issued said Eddie Gossage TMS executive vice president and general manager Gossage said he has to talk with CART officials to determine if the race can be rescheduled Gossage did not know when the meeting would take place "It would be hard to clear a date here in the balance of 2001" Gossage said "There's a multitude of issues we have to struggle with We've got to meet with CART and figure out where we go from here" Gossage said fans should hold their ticket stubs until the race is rescheduled or canceled Ile also said they should check the track's Web site at wwwtexasmotorspeedwaycom or call the ticket office at (817) 215-8500 for more information have been out there testing to know this considering this time expense money and everything else" Talcott's sentiment was shared by many fans who were also upset with the timing of the decision "I think if they CART officials were going to make a sion they should have done it Saturday" said Sanger resident Rick Goldstein "These guys qualified then Now they turn around a couple of hours before the race and say they're not going to run the race They should have realized that when they realized 1:3 how fast they were going" 4 The phone lines open at 9 am today Gossage said no one should go to the ticket office because nothing can be done there Gossage who said he didn't get news of the postponement until 1115 a4o Sunday and had no Anthony Andro (817) 548-5532 aandrotsIstar-41e1Tamcom tza 3.