EVENTS GIVE RACER PAUSE AT A FAR-OFF TRACK, THOUGHTS TURN TO HOME.

Byline: Tim Haddock Staff Writer

Bryan Herta has traveled all over the world competing as a driver on the Championship Auto Racing Teams series. He has been to Australia, Japan, Brazil, Canada, Mexico and throughout the United States.

When the World Trade Center and Pentagon were attacked by terrorist airline hijackers on Sept. 11, Herta, a Hart High graduate and Valencia resident, was in Dresden, Germany, for the first CART FedEx Championship Series race ever on the European continent.

Thousands of miles away from the attacks and even farther away from his two children, Herta spent nearly two weeks in Germany and England racing while his home country prepared for war and retaliation.

Herta and his wife, Jeanette, returned home to Valencia last Sunday, but the two weeks prior were seemingly endless. The Hertas were more or less trapped in Europe, in part because of racing commitments and in part because air travel to the United States was completely grounded in the days following the attacks.

They first heard of the attacks when they received a phone call while they were at a cafe in Dresden with some members of another race team. They went up to their hotel room to watch CNN for updates.

``That's when we saw the second plane hit,'' Herta said. ``My initial reaction was that it must have been just an accident. I couldn't think someone would possibly do this on purpose.''

It was about 2 p.m. in Germany when the two airliners crashed into the twin towers in New York City. A short while later, a third plane had crashed into the Pentagon. Being so far away from their kids, the Hertas called home.

``I called my mom immediately,'' Herta said. ``She was watching our two children. It was hard; I felt disconnected.''

The Tuesday the attacks happened was supposed to be a free day for Herta and his wife. He had no race practice scheduled. They actually arrived on Monday so they could enjoy some time together before the big race weekend at EuroSpeedway in Lausitz. But that all changed. Racing didn't seem such a big deal after the attacks.

``I didn't think we'd have the race, and my main concern was if we could get home or not,'' Herta said. ``We didn't know if or when we'd be able to make it back home. All day Tuesday and Wednesday, nobody was thinking about the race. Nobody even wanted to talk about it.''

But the race did go on. Most of the series drivers were in Germany when the attacks occurred. Only Michael Andretti was still in the States and hadn't been able to catch a flight overseas. Andretti eventually arrived the Friday before the Saturday race.

The German 500 was renamed the American Memorial. The event became a tribute to the United States. Heightened security, from armed personnel inside the track to police officers and guards at the teams' hotels, was also prevalent. The CART teams in Germany turned out to be the largest American contingency outside the United States and there was concern, Herta said, that they would be terrorist targets.

But the German government made sure the teams, their drivers and personnel and families were as safe as possible.

``We drove into the track and German police officers with automatic weapons were checking passes,'' Herta said. ``I've only seen that one other time at a race. That was in Brazil. They weren't fluffing it away by any means. I wanted to see that security.''

But no amount of protection could prevent what happened on the racetrack for the American Memorial. Two-time CART series champion Alex Zanardi lost both his legs in a 200 mph collision with driver Alex Tagliani late in the race. The crash was so horrific that Herta said he feared the worst when he saw it happen.

``My initial reaction was that I thought he was going to die,'' Herta said. ``I thought it was not a survivable accident.''

Zanardi spent the next two weeks in a German hospital as doctors worked to save his life. They induced a coma and performed several surgeries on his legs. Even though he lost both of them, Zanardi survived the crash and the surgeries that followed. Herta and the other CART drivers were told before the series' next race, the following Saturday at Corby, England, that Zanardi was going to live. It was the first encouraging news, albeit still melancholy, Herta had in days.

``By that time, I felt empty. I felt numb,'' Herta said. ``I didn't feel like I had any emotions left. Then we heard Zanardi was going to make it. It was the first time I started to feel like a human being again.''

After the England race, the teams were finally able to fly home. Herta and his wife took a flight straight from Heathrow to Los Angeles International Airport. They arrived Sept. 23 and drove directly home to Valencia to see their children and their families. But their reunion was delayed by about a half-hour. Their kids were at a friend's birthday party and weren't home when Herta and his wife arrived.

``The best feeling about the trip was getting on the plane to go home,'' Herta said. ``In Dresden, we had a $1,000 phone bill just calling home, calling family. We were calling the kids a couple times a day.''

Herta's kids won't be nearly as far away from him for the next series race, the Houston Grand Prix on Oct. 7. Herta said he is bringing them along with him. He and his family fly to Houston on Tuesday.

``I think flying's safer now than it was before the terrorist attacks,'' said Herta, who has flown to Frankfurt, Paris and Denver, in addition to England and Los Angeles since Sept. 11. ``But getting ready to leave for Houston, it kind of makes you think.''

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- Brian Herta, Hart High graduate and Valencia resident