After winning the CART championship for the past two
years, Alex Zanardi confirmed yesterday that he will drive a
Formula One car next year for Frank Williams, according to
Dan Proudfoot of the TORONTO SUN. Zanardi will fulfill his
contract for the rest of this year with CART's Target/Chip
Ganassi team (TORONTO SUN, 9/23). Terms of the three-year
deal were not announced, but European sources reported
Zanardi would receive $6.7M (Mult., 9/23).
SPONSOR TEST: On SPEEDNET, Bill Koenig offers his
corporate winners and losers for the NASCAR, CART and IRL
series. Winners include: Target Stores (for backing
Zanardi); Rachel's Potato Chips (for backing Eddie Cheever's
winning car at the Indy 500); Firestone, Honda, and Ford
Motor. Losers include Budweiser and Miller Brewing, as both
sponsors' racing teams have not had successful seasons on
the circuits (SPEEDNET, 9/23)....Four British tobacco
companies have gone to court "to fight the European Union
decisions banning tobacco advertising and sponsorship, a
major issue for Formula One (AP, 9/23).
