Congrats to Will and Farewell Champ Car

Before you continue reading this, I am going to make a promise to you. There will be no cheesy play on the word “power” in this blog post.

It seems fitting that the final chapter of the CCWS ends with a win for Kevin Kalkhoven and his team. Will made an aggressive move in the initial seconds of the race and dominated the rest of the race. Both team and driver executed without error, and officially closed the books on the open wheel split era.

I watched the race with mixed feelings. There is much to be happy about right now as an open wheel fan. It was time for this thing to end. But at the same time much will be lost. Good drivers have lost rides, good teams will disappear or move elsewhere, and a unique form of racing is gone forever.

I have always felt that CCWS was a series devoted to innovation and measurement of skill while the IRL has always eyed sponsorship and entertainment. Some may disagree with my perspective, that’s just how I view it. And I think all of those things are important to running a successful series. My hope is that all parties have learned a lesson and that the new series can incorporate the great things from both sides, and finally give the sport the credibility that it truly deserves.

Thanks for the great years of racing CART/CCWS. It has been a great ride.

Paul Tracy Turns the Page

This weekend, Paul Tracy and Gerry Forsythe will dance together one more time, on the streets of Long Beach. Will it be civil? I haven't heard any promises from either side. Anything is possible, especially when PT gets in front of the cameras. And will GF bother to dust of the old DP01 before sending his favorite driver off into the sunset? Who knows..

So what is next for PT? There is every possibility that Vision may pick him up for the remainder of the year. If that doesn't happen, there is discussion about who Penske might throw in the third Indy 500 entry. Rumor is he could be competing with Sam Hornish for the ride. If that is the case, he may be out of luck. He doesn't bring a sponsor to the table at the moment, and that doesn't help his situation either.

PT has past ties with Penske, Newman/Haas, and AGR (from his Team Green days). As a veteran driver who is no longer under contract, we should see someone pick him up very quickly after this weekend. If we don't, then it may be a sign that he has burned one to many bridges. Or the IRL may just be afraid of the French. Its anyones guess.


UPDATE: After qualifying today, PT himself expressed some concern about his future in open wheel racing. He believes that one year out of a car could end his career should something not work out for him soon.

Da Matta Confirmed for Laguna Seca

Cristiano da Matta will take the final step in his amazing recovery this May by returning to auto racing less then two years after a life threatening crash at Road America. Da Matta will partner with Jimmy Vasser, his former ChampCar teammate, in a Grand-Am Rolex sports car race taking place at Laguna Seca. He has already begun testing for GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing and feels that all of his old skills are back. “Even driving a new car for the first time, that was something that I was able to quickly do, to figure out how it worked, what I need to do.”

In August of 2006, da Matta was testing at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin when he hit a deer crossing the track just after turn 5. He sustained major head injuries in the crash and had to be airlifted to a nearby hospital. There, da Matta spent more than a month slowly making progress towards an eventual full recovery. Doctors finally cleared him to return to auto racing earlier this year.

Welcome back, Cristiano!

ChampCar Champs Sitting Out (For Now)

Former ChampCar team Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, winner of that series' last four championships, has decided to sit out the first test of their new IRL-provided cars. The reason cited for not participating was lack of spare parts. While several other ex-ChampCar teams have hit the Sebring track this week, NHL will have to wait for the Miami test to get some seat time in a Dallara-Honda IndyCar. That's only a few days before the season opens under lights at Homestead Speedway. One has to wonder, if the former top team in ChampCar is struggling to get IndyCar parts how are the other teams getting by?

Enrique Bernoldi Joins Conquest

Conquest Racing announced today that Enrique Bernoldi will be driving the teams second car this year. With this announcement Enrique is now the 26th driver listed on IndyCar.com.

Forsythe Back In?

Looks like Forsythe and Conquest will be forming a "technical" partnership this year within the IndyCar Series. Conquest has already announced its intention to participate with rookie Franck Perera in one of two cars. Forsythe will be providing engineering and technical expertise.

And one has to wonder if that second car might belong to Paul Tracy....

Road America Announces Replacement For ChampCar

On Monday, officials at Road America announced that the SCCA SPEED World Challenge has signed on to replace the canceled August 10th ChampCar event. In addition, they have confirmed that the American Lemans Series 4-hour endurance race will be held as scheduled on Saturday, August 9th. Further bolstering the weekend action, a second Atlantic Championship race has been added. With Star Mazda, Formula BMW and Skip Barber National Series also on the program, Midwest race fans are in for quite a treat later this summer. We hope to see you there!

Reality Hits Hard For Another ex-ChampCar Team

Walker Racing will not participate in the 2008 IRL season due to lack of sponsorship funds. Long time CART veteran Derrick Walker has decided to shutter the doors of his racing operation just weeks before the season begins. “I’ve been keeping this thing going for the last four months because I thought we could work things out, but I finally ran out of time and money.” It seems the costs of converting his team to a new series and a new chassis were just too great.

Ironically, Walker was one of the strongest voices pushing for the unification of American Open Wheel Racing. He was planning to bring both of his drivers, Will Power and Simon Pagenaud, to the IRL in hopes of contesting the championship. But his partner, Craig Gore, has apparently pulled the rug out from under him. Gore, who allegedly owes millions of dollars to Walker, looks to be moving to KV racing – the team owned by former ChampCar principle Kevin Kalkhoven. Walker does not have the resources to fund the operation on his own.

At this point, there is no word on what will happen to Walker's drivers. With fewer and fewer ChampCar teams deciding to transition to the IRL, there may not be enough seats to go around. Rumor has Will Power joining KV Racing and Simon Pagenaud returning to Europe to drive sports cars. The intrigue continues...

UPDATE: More on this story from Crash.net

Take Your Partner By The Hand

In true square dance fashion, IRL officials have decided to pair up former ChampCar teams joining the League with established IndyCar teams. No, they won't be doing any ‘Dosey-Does’ but they will be helping their partners get up to speed on the chassis/engine combination used in the IRL. It really is a great example of camaraderie in the competitive world of motorsport.

IndyCar-ChampCar Team Pairings:

Andretti Green Racing - Dale Coyne Racing
Target Chip Ganassi Racing - KV Racing
Rahal Letterman Racing - Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing
Vision Racing - Conquest Racing
A.J. Foyt Racing - Pacific Coast Motorsports
Team Penske - Walker Racing
Roth Racing - Team Minardi

Given the Indiana corn country roots of the IRL and ChampCar, I imagine these pairings might look a little something like this:

Grand Prix of Houston Canceled

In the wake of the American Open Wheel Racing "merger", officials in charge of the 2008 Grand Prix of Houston have decided to cancel this year’s combined ALMS/CCWS event. While thought was given to running the race with ALMS as the main attraction, the costs involved could not be justified.

It seems the consolidation of AOWR has claimed its first non-OW victim. This action reduces the number of races on the ALMS schedule to 11 unless another race can be picked up later in the season. However, the likelihood of that happening is very remote.

One has to wonder if another ALMS/CCWS event might also be on the chopping block. The Long Beach Grand Prix is confirmed to take place this year by IRL officials but what about Road America? Could the same fate of Houston befall this year’s event at the historic road course in Elkhart Lake, WI? As always, we'll keep you updated.

Bourdais No Likey

Four time Champ Car Champion Sébastien Bourdais does not approve of the way consolidation in the world of American Open Wheel racing has been handled. In an interview with autosport.com, Bourdais gives his opinion of the situation: "It's not a merger, it's the death of Champ Car and the IRL taking over - the schedules, cars, everything.".

He goes on to say that combining the two series only weeks before the season opener is a "disaster" for the former Champ Car teams.
"What are the Champ Car teams going to be able to do? Nothing."

Way to be a wet blanket, Sébastien. Don't you know this is the greatest thing ever for AOWR? I guess he must have forgotten to drink the Kool-Aid. Silly Frenchman!