One of New Zealand motorsport's enduring rivalries seems certain to fizzle out this season for want of some dollars.
The Tranzam championship, one of the feature events of the summer motor-racing calendar, may have been short on numbers but was enlivened by the war between the teams run by Aucklanders Alan Ferguson and Mark Petch.
Shane Drake kept the title in the Petch camp until last season when Baird finally got the upper hand.
Drake has moved on but Petch has recruited the very talented Ashley Stichbury to replace him. Ferguson was keen to rejoin the battle with Queensland-based Kiwi Baird at the wheel.
But yesterday Ferguson pulled the plug on his campaign, lacking the money to contest the remaining rounds.
He had missed the first round at Teretonga this month because his car was still being shipped back from the United States, where Baird managed a second placing against top opposition during a brief visit.
"Those Americans had huge resources and mega budgets. We did it the Kiwi way using what they would rate as second-hand junk.
"That was the experience of a lifetime but with the sinking dollar it was very expensive," he said. "Craig was keen to come over here again for the summer series but we've passed my D-Day with no money in sight."
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New Zealand Grand Prix winner Andy Booth has completed a successful Indy Lights test in the United States and is now working hard to try to line up the sponsorship to allow him to compete.
The 25-year-old from Hamilton tested for Brian Stewart Racing on the Spring Mountain track in Nevada.
His best lap was only fractionally off the track record set by Casey Mears, an Indy Lights winner who was fourth in the last Champ Car race of the season.
Stewart was keen for him to join the team - if he could line up the necessary sponsorship. Ironically that puts him in the same position as his Grand Prix team-mate, Matt Halliday, who also tested for Stewart.
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"Unless I'm very much mistaken," he said. And Murray Walker very often has been during his 50 years of motor-racing commentary.
But that only endeared him to his thousands of fans round the world. It also helped him fit perfectly, in the past couple of years, into Television New Zealand's stable of commentators.
Now he has announced that 2001 will be his last Formula One season. Herewith a selection of the best of Muddly Talker:
"And now excuse me while I interrupt myself."
"Either the car is stationary or it's on the move."
"Tambay's hopes, which were previously nil, are now absolutely zero."
"That was exactly the same place where Senna overtook Nannini that he didn't overtake Alain Prost."
"Martin Schanche's car is absolutely unique except for the one behind, which is identical."
"Two laps to go, then the action will begin. Unless this is the action, which it is."
"There's only a second between them. One. That's how long a second is."
"The young Ralf Schumacher has been upstaged by the teenager, Jenson Button, who is 20."
"It's a sad ending albeit a happy one here at Montreal for today's Grand Prix."
"The first four cars are both on the same tyres."
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It is a fair indication of the differing motorsport preferences between Australia (and probably New Zealand) and the rest of the world, that Jason Bright abandoned a promising career in single-seater racing to take the seat vacated by Craig Lowndes in the V8 Supercars.
Bright has signed with the Holden Racing Team to race alongside Mark Skaife in the cars which have dominated the Shell Championship in recent years.
The Queenslander had been competing with credit behind Scott Dixon in the Indy Lights championship in the United States and just a few weeks ago had driven a Champ Car for the first time in the race at Surfers.
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Formula One has taken an enormous gamble by granting a licence for Finn Kimi Raikkonen to race for Sauber in next year's championship.
The 21-year-old has driven only 23 car races in minor categories and has skipped proving grounds such as Formula Three and Formula 3000.
The authorities have apparently been encouraged by the success of Jenson Button, who made the jump from Formula Three to the Williams team with no real problems.
Raikkonen was spotted by Sauber dominating the British Formula Renault class and had two successful testing sessions in a Formula One car.
But sceptics point out that testing and racing are very different disciplines and, while Button was younger than Raikkonen, he had much more racing experience.
Motorsport: Tranzam duel over as contender pulls plug
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