He's got drive

By RYAN PYETTE -- Calgary Sun Against all odds, Patrick Carpentier passed four cars on the final lap to win the Molson Indy Vancouver yesterday.
Well, OK, maybe he was only playing the yet-to-be-released CART Fed/Ex game for the brand new Sega Dreamcast system in the Sun's executive boardroom, so some people obsessed with details might not count the victory.
But a win's a win, eh, Patrick?
Tell that to Gerry Forsythe.
The Toronto Sun reported earlier this month that the Player's/Forsythe Racing Team owner said he was "disappointed with Patrick. He can be as fast or faster than anyone, but he has to become more consistent. He has until the end of the year to prove that (he can)."
That's not what you want to hear if you're looking for job security and a new contract.
But the 28-year-old driver, who passed through town en route to Vancouver for the real Indy this weekend, wasn't too uptight about the situation.
"Gerry's a pretty straight-forward guy. If he has something to say, he just says it," said the Lasalle, Que., native who now calls Indianapolis home. "I didn't see the story, but I talked to him in Chicago, and he asked if I wanted to stay.
"My contract's up after this year, and I had talked to a few teams, so we're kinda playing 'the negotiating game'.
"But I think right now, one podium, that's all we'll need. One podium, and everything will be totally different.
"Everyone will relax a little bit."
Right now, everyone's a little jittery around the Player's camp after Carpentier's teammate, Maple Ridge, B.C. driver Greg Moore, decided to defect to Team Penske next year.
"I was disappointed, that was kinda good, kinda bad for me," said Carpentier. "Good, because if I stay with Player's, I'll be kinda 'The Man'. But bad because Greg and I were communicating a lot better than last year (Patrick's first with Player's).
"But I understand why Greg did it. He's been with Player's four years, and wanted a change. That's part of racing."
So are crashes. And Carpentier suffered the worst of his career earlier this month in Detroit, when Mauricio Gugelmin's car rolled over the Canadian's No. 33 car.
The right wheel pinned Carpentier in the cockpit. He suffered a compression fracture in his T-3 vertebrae, located in the upper back.
He still has pain in the sternum area, but he feels pretty lucky.
It could've been much worse.
"I was fine after it, but then 30 seconds after I was out of the car, my hands went numb, and I couldn't move them," said Carpentier. "That was scary, but the numbness stopped soon after, and I could move them again. It was kind of mini-paralysis.
"I only spent one day in the hospital, but I missed the Mid-Ohio race. The doctors didn't think it would be a good idea."
But he's back now with a lot to prove. He's 14th in the driver standings, trying to move up to 12th because the top dozen drivers go for the huge bucks at the new featured Hawaii stop at season's end.
If his pre-Vancouver video game play's any indication, Carpentier's in good shape.
It was a rocky start. Carpentier, not knowing how to work the complex joystick, crashed on the first turn of the first lap. Right by B.C. Place.
"Just like last year," Carpentier quipped. He crashed and burned at the real race one year ago.
But once he got going, "I know the turns pretty well," he understated, Carpentier started passing everyone, sometimes a laughable six cars in one turn.
He saw teammate Moore, gave Greg a little extra bump, knocking him out of the race.
Carpentier laughed.
"I'm looking forward to Vancouver," he said, concentrating on the TV screen in his march to virtual victory. "We've been qualifying top 10. We've been fast, but I've been penalized six times, sometimes questionable calls.
"We could've won a of couple races. We've had problems, sometimes driver, sometimes the team. Gerry's right. We've been inconsistent."
Carpentier knows it's time for him to win. For real.
Otherwise, it could soon be 'Game Over'.

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