Vasser: Win is perfect end to great weekend.

Jimmy Vasser's victorious - and record-breaking - domination of the California 500, in which he led 148 of the 250 laps en route to a tenth career win, capped a highly successful weekend for both the native Californian and his #8 Shell Team Rahal crew.

While the 1996 CART champion collected his third podium result of the 2002 season and became the first two-time winner of the California 500, following an earlier success in 1998, his service team retained the prestigious Craftsman Truck Pit Crew challenge to earn themselves a cool $50,000 after leading the competition all year.

"This is the perfect end to a great weekend for Team Rahal," the veteran admitted, "The crew guys really worked hard this week and gave me a great car which, considering we came back from Australia with three cars that were piles of junk after the accidents, is truly amazing.

"It's a great win for me and the Shell team - you don't want to go the entire season without a win - but all the credit goes to the guys on the team. They busted their butts to get the car put back together after Australia. They won the pit stop competition on Friday and had great stops today."

The win was the third 500-mile triumph in Vasser's eleven-year CART career, adding to his earlier win at Fontana and the 1996 US 500 at Michigan International Speedway, but provided first win for almost two seasons, following on from a street race victory in Houston shortly before leaving the Target Ganassi operation in 2000.

"You run these races to win and it has been a couple of years for me since I won a race," he confirmed, "The car was fantastic and Ford-Cosworth proved again that they are tough to beat on the super speedways. After all the hard work these guys put in this week, I am just glad I could pay them back with a victory."

With an average speed of 197.995mph, Sunday's race was the fastest 500mile open wheel event in history - and quite possibly the fastest 500mile race in all motorsports - breaking the record of 189.727mph Al Unser Jr set at the CART FedEx Championship Series Michigan 500 in 1990. In addition, Vasser's 148 laps in the lead was also a record, surpassing the previous mark of 114 laps led by Andre Ribeiro in 1997.

The race also marked the first one-two finish by American drivers since the roles where reversed earlier this year when Michael Andretti out-duelled Vasser to the chequered flag in round two at Long Beach. With just a handful of laps to go, however, it appeared that all the Rahal driver's hard work may have been for nothing, as Andretti used a restart after Cristiano da Matta's retirement to jump into the lead. Then Dario Franchitti's entry came to a fiery stop and the fortunes were reversed, with a red-flag stoppage allowing Vasser to regain top spot at the final restart.

"The red flag was the right call to make - it's all about the fans, giving them a green flag finish," Vasser said, explaining the second use of a rule introduced for 2002, " Had it not been for Dario causing the red flag, though, it would have been difficult to catch Michael under race conditions. He drove a great race - he knew how to take away my air and just drove a great race.

"At the end, though, he was in a tough position. The guy leading in that situation is like a sitting duck out there. I think Cristiano had a little left in his hip pocket too, because he really started playing with me at the end. He was going to be tough to beat [before his engine went]."

The win was the first of the season for Team Rahal and continued the team's streak of winning a Champcar race every season since 1998. The win was the 14th in the team's history, but the first in a 500mile race despite the previous dominance of Max Papis and Kenny Brack at Fontana. Both had secured the most laps led in the previous three races, but had not been in front when the chequer fell.

"Jimmy was the class of the field today," said team owner Bobby Rahal, "We have been so close in these races both here and at Michigan, so it feels great to finally get a win. Once again, Ford gave us a great engine for the speedways. The Ford has a lot of horsepower and they have always been fast on the high speed tracks like here and Michigan."

However, the champion-turned-team boss saved the last word for the man he may be forced to release at the end of the year.

"I raced against Jimmy and he is pretty savvy driver. He has won here before and he knew where he needed to be on that last lap," Rahal admitted.