REAR VIEW: Mansell Mania

Fernando Alonso skipping Monaco to run the 101st Indianapolis 500 is surprising, it's big news and a cool story that will reverberate across the globe - much like what happened in 1993.

That's when world champion Nigel Mansell turned his back on Formula 1 and came to America to drive for Paul Newman and Carl Haas in the CART series. It was the best-kept secret since the turbine, it sent shock waves through F1, and it gave Bernie Ecclestone indigestion for the next two years.

After clinching the F1 title for Frank Williams in 1992, Mansell was livid upon learning that Alain Prost had been hired as his teammate. Haas, looking for a big name to replace Michael Andretti (who was leaving for F1 in '93), began courting Nige and signed him (for a rumored $5 million a year) during the Mid-Ohio weekend in September of 1992.

The 39-year-old Brit was wildly popular in the U.K. but nobody in the USA truly understood his international clout until January of '93. That was his first test day in the Kmart/Texaco-sponsored Lola/Cosworth, and it was held in the rather remote and unglamorous setting of Phoenix International Raceway.

But it was a media madhouse as 90 writers and photographers from Canada, Mexico, England, Australia, Japan, Spain, Germany, France and the United States descended on PIR to cover Mansell's first laps in an Indy car.

"We had no idea he would be so big over here," said Jim McGee, the team manager for Newman/Haas, which also had a fairly well-known guy named Mario on the team. "I mean, we unloaded and here are all these cameras and journalists - and it's just a test day.

"He'd never been on an oval and he was running close to the track record by the end of the day, so he gave them something to write about immediately."

Michael Knight, who handled public relations for Newman/Haas at the time, issued special media credentials and tried to maintain order before the photographers called for a shot with Mansell and the two owners as it was getting dark. "Carl whispered to me: Ahhhh... this might be bigger than we thought," recalled Knight.

Mansell captured his debut win at Surfer's Paradise, and that's when McGee figured out Mansell Mania. "I mean, the fans were going wild, waving Union Jacks and that's when we knew he was a really big deal. And he knew how to play the press and the fans."

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway had to add on to the pressroom to accommodate the horde that showed up in May, and IndyCar has never received the national and international coverage it did that season. And the crowds were over-flowing at Road America, Mid-Ohio, Laguna Seca, Portland and Cleveland and packed everywhere else.

Nige won five races (four on ovals) to pull off the astounding double of F1 and CART championships back-to-back.

"It was an amazing time," said McGee, the co-crew chief for Andretti's lone Indy win in 1969. "I'm not sure we'll ever see anybody with that kind of popularity come around again."