Well, the IRL put out their schedule this week and wouldn’t you know it, no Montreal or Quebec City. No Canada at all. Not to mention to real West coast races either. Either way you look at it, its not a healthy schedule, no matter how you try to spin it. 14 races down from 17 and more importantly, only 11 ovals for an all-oval based series. It doesn’t bode well with the fans, that’s for sure. At least not the internet fans on the forums. I have seldom seen them be so negative towards their beloved series. Hopefully (for their sake) someone at the IRL is listening, but I doubt it. Why start now?

What does this mean for the Champ Car World Series? Well, it shows that the 3 amigos are tough cookies to deal with and that one better think and plan before attempting to take them to town. When you stare down Norman Legault and Ecclestone and THEY balk, you know you’re dealing with a powerful man. The ‘retraction’ from Legault was bizarre at best, but it was nonetheless positive for the Champ Car World Series. I still think that Champ Car should reconsider after 2006, but that’s just me. Now, let’s get that Philly race set! I visited Philly during the last race at Nazareth. Philly is a Champ Car kind of town. The two agree with one another.
Read David Phillips article on Speedtv.com about Champ Car’s silly season. Its interesting.

Las Vegas

I spent a month there one night.

In my short career with the Champ Car World Series, I’ve had the privilege to be in Las Vegas quite a few times thanks to the old Players guys all residing in Sin City. They live there because of the steady climate and the tax breaks. Yeah, I know.
We toured Pat, Paul and Alex’s homes and did some features for Canadian television. In my early days at Players, there was a contest where the winners got to spend a week in Vegas and we were fortunate enough to be there for filming purposes. I will never forget it because it was my first time with the team and the first event for the winners was a driving lesson at the Derek Daly racing Academy. Well, there were three of us ‘working’ and two people needed to be working that day, one holding the camera and the other person hosting. Since it was my first time, I made no fuss about having to work the camera and saw my partner get to spend the day learning how to drive a formula car. Damn! I passed up the opportunity because I had to film all the people having the time of their lives. But it wasn’t meant to be, though I will never forget it because, well I passed up the opportunity!

I also spent a birthday in Vegas once. And I was there once during Paul Tracy’s birthday. Needless to say, our parties were quite different from one another. His was a big, private, everything on the house, celebrity guests bash at the Rum Jungle. Mine? I remember playing black jack at 4am alone and losing all my money as the numerous drinks were starting to take their toll. Still not sure who had the better party.
As far as night racing is concerned, I am a huge fan. It brings a unique perspective to the event and I think night racing is as important as having ovals in terms of what makes the Champ Car World Series so diverse. We already have one set for next year in Houston, which will be SO interesting. But we have plenty of time to discuss that one in time. This upcoming race will be interesting and my early instincts tell me that Servia may pull out another one and intensify the battle for the championship. At one point, team orders must come into play, despite any denial from the Newman/Haas squad. Servia is a veteran of the series and is the closest he’s ever been and maybe the closest he’ll ever be at the Vanderbilt Cup. Bourdais is the veteran of the team, the driver the team pinned all their hopes on once Junquiera was out of the picture. Servia wants a job next year, so he must play nice, but the burning desire of all drivers is to win that Championship at all cost. Plus, winning a championship pretty much guarantees a ride next year, right? even if its not with your current employers. Ahh, the thrill of racing.

Wow, all these rumors surrounding Montreal in 2006! Busch, trucks and the IRL replacing the Champ Cars because of a ‘breach of contract’ by Champ Car. Pathetic. This is the ugly side of racing, and not surprisingly its rumored to involve Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone possibly throwing a bone to George after the fiasco at Indy this year (though I maintain it was still a great race, it was great to see Shumacher get his first win of 05 and to see Tiago on the podium). This is all politics, a game that F1 and Legault are very good at, a game that George is terrible at (but here he has good allies) and a game where Kalkoven…well I guess we’ll find out about Kevin’s ability in this arena. But truth be told, that’s like stepping to the line against a 500-pound lineman in front of you. You may know nothing about him and his game, but right off the bat you suspect you may have a tough time getting by him.

If you read this column you know I am not a huge fan of the Montreal event, but I don’t want to lose it like this. Does the IRL really think that Legault and the city of Montreal want an IRL event instead of a Champ Car event? Do they really think that? This isn’t even an insult towards that league, but I am wondering if this supposed deal would even be on the table if it didn’t involve a NASCAR formula joining them. I doubt it would. I doubt Legault would trade Champ Cars for the IRL without NASCAR being part of the deal, even if its just the trucks. Bottom line is that the whole thing reaks of politics and demonstrates the ugly side of our sport, which is one reason that I don’t know if I want Champ Car to fight it all the way to the courts. I’d like to think that ChampCar could take the high road and offer an alternate race next year instead of returning to a host ensemble that really doesn’t want them there. There are too many places that do and there are too many fans elsewhere. There’s no secret that the writing was on the wall this year in Montreal, so this ‘news’ should come as little surprise. It’s just too bad, because it really is ugly. Like, stepsister ugly.

The chase is set and I must admit, it’s a pretty good group. It’s a fun group (Edwards, Mayfield), a talented group (Busch, Johnson) and a veteran field (Wallace, Martin). I thought that NASCAR would suffer without its two biggest drivers (Dale and Jeff) in the chase, but I think that with this group, they can pull it off. Stewart has to be the early favorite, but Busch has been very strong as of late and I think that Kenseth could surprise. I’m very happy to see Kenseth in the chase, because, let’s face it, they created the Chase after he won the title in 2003. It must be bizarre to win the championship and then have the organization you participate in tell you and the world that they are overhauling the system that’s been in place for X number of years and dramatically changing the entire classification. It seems like a small slap in the face. Nobody doubts Kenseth’s talent. He’s a model of consistency (at least in 03) and won the championship that way. But that’s not NASCAR drama, and for better or worse, they created the Chase. It does bring drama. I stayed home on Saturday night to catch the Chevy Rock ‘n’ Roll 400 instead of going to numerous parties. Okay, maybe not numerous, but…well whatever, I stayed in Saturday night to watch it because of the intrigue it presented. Now, someone tell me why it was on TNT and not on NBC?? Its Saturday night, what the heck else is NBC running these days that night? Oh right, nothing. The final ten races should be very entertaining.

Trying to decide which team I prefer, the Fox NASCAR team or the NBC NASCAR team. For presentation purposes, FOX takes it hands down. But the broadcast team on NBC has grown on me and I think, maybe, I am leaning their way. Its still up in the air and there are certain things with the Fox team that spell NASCAR, but Wally’s world?? Come on! That’s just plain fun. Except for the Wayne’s World theme ripped off. That’s a little cheese.

I like this A1 GP series thing. I’m intrigued by it and I like the concept of countries battling it out. I think they have chosen cool tracks and I think that the formula looks good. Of course, the reason I think the formula looks good is because I have seen it before….its what Champ Car does, day in, day out. Same chassis, tire and engine. And a ‘push to pass’ button that gives them an extra 30 horses for overtaking purposes. Seem familiar? Nevertheless, I like the ideas of this, an Olympic-type racing series. I like that you can switch drivers, as long as they are countrymen and I like the relative compact schedule (on a weekend that is, not the entire schedule which will be between September and April). It would be fun to see a couple of our boys (and possibly girls) over there. It’ll be impossible for the first few races of the season, but down the road.
Justin Wilson said he has been signed for 2006 for a while now, which is great news for him and Rusport. He’s still in the chase (sorry, it’s the word of the day) and, like he said after Montreal, it was nice to see his machine overtake the Newman/Haas machines during the race, even if it didn’t end that way entirely.