the house the mouse built!

What a busy couple of days in the world of Champ car, but I guess that’s what silly season is all about. How refreshing is it to be a champ car fan these days. I’ll admit I was as surprised as anyone about the deal that Champ Car signed with ABC/ESPN. I can’t think of anything negative on this deal. I mean, ESPN is king, let’s not kid ourselves and for us to be back on that network just goes to show you how intelligent and diligent the three amigos are at making this series as successful as possible. Getting back on ESPN is huge. Now the series needs to work on eventually getting at the top of their priority list. Naturally, it will be lower at the beginning. Races on ESPN 2 are to be expected, and we cannot expect to be the lead story on Sportscenter, just because we’re on their network. There is still a lot of work to do in terms of growth, but arguably this is as good as it can possibly get right now. My favorite part of this deal is the fact that they are showing or going to show some Atlantic races. To me, this shows commitment on their part in this deal. I always liked the Atlantics on Speed, I think it’s the perfect home for them, so if the Atlantics find themselves on both channels, all the better for them. But, bottom line for the champ cars is that being on ONE channel consistently is very important for reaching casual viewers. Of course, now we are also going to battle the IRL In the ratings game and in advertising dollars because we are literally sharing a spot. I know not too many races go literally head to head, but we’re on the same network now, part of the (yikes) same family. What a move though, almost blindsiding everybody with this huge announcement! Hopefully the series can be featured in the Mag and everywhere else in the many ABC outlets.

Alex Tagliani is out of a ride at Team Australia according to reports, but he appears to be the front runner to return to Rocket Sports and has had discussions with PKV. This is what silly season is all about. While I feel bad for Alex for being dropped by Team Australia, you can’t blame them for wanting two Aussie drivers. Of course, what happens with Pagenaud now? I’m going to make a prediction that is totally based on nothing. This theory I am about to lie out for you has no professional basis, but I am going to say it anyway (isn’t that what Robin usually does anyway?). I think you’ll have Nelson Philippe, Simon Pagenaud team up with Legge at PKV racing in 2007. I suspect that Newman/Haas will stick with Bourdais and Rahal and that Forsythe will go with Tracy and Buddy. Pagenaud holds a lot of cards with that 2 mil and therefore I think a three car PKV team will be in existence. Or is it just KV racing now? As for Alex? He’ll land back at Rocketsports.

I am not worried for Oriol Servia. Why? Because this seems to happen to the poor guy every year!! 7 years and 7 different teams. I feel bad for the guy because he’s never really had job security. On the other hand, he’s managed to stick around for 7 years. He’ll be somewhere in 2007. The other big name is Bruno Junquiera and, frankly, I am more worried for his future than Oriol’s despite the difference in their professional record. Unless Newman/Haas goes to a three-car team or Stoddart signs him in what is this supposed 4-car team with HVM, then I don’t think we’ll see Junky on the grid in 2007. I hope I’m wrong. He should be in the series, that’s a no-brainer.

After Mexico

While I missed a little of the race yesterday, mainly in the middle because of work, I was able to watch the start and the ending, and gathered enough of a perspective to share them with you. First of, I thought the broadcast was top notch. Again, I didn’t see or hear the entire thing, but I thought Derek and Rick were on their game, I thought TV azteca or whoever did the broadcast did a great job at following the action on the track. I don’t mind watching an 8th place car if they are in a close battle for seventh. Heck, I’ll take any battles on the field. If the car in first is more than 2 or 3 seconds ahead, don’t constantly show me that car. Go back to it every once in a while to talk about the car’s development in terms of when they will pit, tire ware and such, but then go back to the battles and yesterday was great. I also really enjoyed them going back to the pits during the great last few lap battles. Watching the emotions of Bourdais’ dad, the tension at both camps was riveting. It was compelling. It was great television plain and simple. I’ve only seen three broadcasts this year, but this was by far my favorite. From a person who has been involved in Champ Car his whole professional life and a graduate of broadcasting school with an eye on television production, this was almost as good as it gets. Sure, the graphics are still way too busy and eat up most of the screen, but that was the only flaw I saw yesterday.

If you read my blog a few post back, you read how good Newman/Haas are, and how fun they are to root against. Well, yesterday was one of the finest examples of the best team doing what they do best and frustrating the fans along the way. The fuel stop was brilliant and worthy of a ‘strategy of the year’ candidate. Seabass drove the heck out of that car during the last few laps to catch up to J-Wil, and then bump him on the pass. How much fun was that to watch! And yes, Bourdais does have a rabbit’s ear hidden in that car somewhere because every time he bumps another car, his car is fine. Either he’s VERY lucky or has figured out how to bump with minimal damage to his. And, the topper of all was Hampson’s interview with 5 laps left. I’m paraphrasing; “we’ll probably settle for 2nd, give Justin a lot of credit”. How wonderful was that??? Not showing your cards by false modesty. It was a great Champ Car moment. You wonder why you love to hate Newman/Haas. You got your answer yesterday.

Yesterday was a great finale, plain and simple. The whole season was great and I’ll continue to write about it throughout the off-season. It’s going to be fun and next year will be great. The Lola has been fantastic and it was sent off in a great way yesterday. Now all I have to do is try and stay with Champ Car in some capacity next season. My desire to be with the series is higher than ever.

driver quotes

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Race Quotes



Sebastien Bourdais #1 McDonald’s Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone – “it wasn't a matter of leading the most laps; it was a matter of leading the last one. No, it was just an incredible race, a great battle with Justin the whole time. We both drove the wheels off these cars. That was pretty exciting, I think, at the very end when we decided to stay on the same set of tires, Bridgestone wet tires, it made the whole difference. I was pretty sure the tires were worn out and the track was only damp. I was pretty sure that was the right call. Then kept pushing, pushing, pushing, pushing. I didn't know if Justin had changed the tires or not, but I guess that makes the difference. Now I understand why. If it had been only three or four laps to go, new tires would have been a big help. But with that amount of amount of water, just completely deteriorated too quickly. It was just a great opportunity for us. I really want to thank all the McDonald's team. They've done awesome the last three years, and even before that. You know, I really wanted this win real bad for them because I think they deserve it. Two pit crew guys who were throwing up before the race. That was the least I could do. I think it's just a great way to finish that era of Champ Car with the last victory.”



Justin Wilson #9 CDW Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone – “It was quite an eventful race, a lot happening. I managed to get a good start initially. On the restart, I just was a sitting duck, once you get onto the long straight. Fortunately, about six or seven laps later, I managed to repay the compliment to Sebastien, get the lead back. The car and the CDW team has done a fantastic job all weekend. I'm very grateful for their efforts. You know, just working towards next season now. We finished third last year, second this year. We want to continue that trend.”



Will Power #5 Aussie Vineyards Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone – “Wow what can I say what an incredible end and a way to end the season on a high. We struggled in the first stint and lost some time, but in the wet we really came on strong. The last 14 laps were really relaxing and I was able to have fun. I have to say thanks to all of Team Australia . This was an awesome result for them and they all deserve it.”



Bruno Junqueira #2 Hole in the Wall Ford-Cosworth/Bridgestone/Lola/Bridgestone – “It wasn’t the race I was expecting after having been fast all weekend and setting the fastest time this morning. Since the second lap my car was understeering really bad. I had some big moments. Since the beginning of the race I knew I couldn’t keep up with Sebastien and Justin and I knew I couldn’t hold Will Power off for third. I’m very happy to finish the season fifth overall after such a bad start to the season. We started off qualifying well but we taken out of some races early on and it was a struggle so a fifth place standing is good. I’m frustrated not to win this year especially since I have won all the other years I have been in Champ Car. I’m already looking forward to next season when I can be in a position to fight for the championship again. Experience is going to be valuable when developing the new race car and I am looking forward to the challenge.”



Alex Tagliani #15 Aussie Vineyards Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone – “I just want to start by thanking Team Australia . We hit some rough spots and had a bit of misfortune during the season, but we came out on a positive note. The Aussie Vineyards car was great this weekend. We definitely had a competitive car and it’s fantastic that the team was able to finish in the top five.”



Oriol Servia #6 Gulfstream Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone – “Today’s race went pretty much the way the whole season has gone for the Gulfstream – PKV Racing team. We had a lot of things go against us. I don’t want to call it bad luck, but things just seemed to happen to us. At the start of the race I had a good tow behind Ryan Briscoe. Just as I was pulling out to go along side to pass the yellow flag came out. He went off the throttle right away and I touched my front wing with his right rear tire damaging my wing. We had to stop to change the wing, which dropped us to 15th. I think we had a podium car today, but still we managed to finish sixth, thanks in part to a good strategy.”



Nelson Philippe #4 CTE Racing HVM Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone – “Obviously, I have mixed emotions today. On one hand, I’m a bit disappointed with seventh place, but that’s an improvement from our tenth place start. The car was really difficult to drive in the rain. The weather really affected our performance today. On the other hand, I’m very happy with fourth place in the driver’s championship. It’s been a long, hard season, and it’s a bit disappointing that it has to end now. But I’m happy with fourth in the championship. I’d like to thank every single member of my CTE Racing HVM team. The crew of the No. 4 car, the No. 14 car crew, the crew at the shop, and everyone involved with this team. These guys are the bomb, and without them, I wouldn’t be here.”



Andrew Ranger #27 Wal-Mart/Tide Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone – “We finished tenth in the standings but we lost ninth by one point so it’s a little frustrating right now. If I hadn’t been blocked by Andreas Wirth I might have gained an extra position but overall I’m happy with the outcome of the race. We had a hard time coming into the weekend but finishing eighth is pretty satisfying considering we started 16th. I want to thank the team and especially Eric Bachelart for putting me in the car this season. I was only suppose to do four races and I did them all.”



Charles Zwolsman #34 Mi-Jack Conquest Racing Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone – “We were a bit unlucky at the start of the race. We had a good start and I think I had moved up to tenth but then somehow I picked up a puncture. These things happen sometimes and it’s a very unlucky end to the season. That put us in the back of the field but we were able to move up and finish eleventh. That’s the good thing we can take away from this race. Most importantly though, I want to thank the team for working hard this season. We done a lot with the car and we improved it a lot. It was a good year, especially the second part of the season.”



Antonio Pizzonia #18 Lexington Energy Services Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone – “It was a tough race. We struggled all weekend with balance on the #18 Lexington Energy Services car, but then when we started the race, the balance was completely opposite from before. It was very strange, because we did not make many changes on the car for it to be that different. This whole weekend was a disappointment. The Rocketsports team expected to finish this season on a good note, but that just did not happen for us, and it is a shame because they and our sponsor Lexington Energy Services deserved better.”



Jan Heylen #11 The Meurmans Car Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone – “We had our set up worked out for the dry, but when it rained it was really hard to keep up with everyone. We made up some ground in the beginning on the red tires. We were fairly quick when we first put the wet tires on, but then the car went away from me. It was a bit of a gamble with the weather and we did the best we could with the circumstance.”



Andreas Wirth #19 Sonny’s Bar-B-Q Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone – “It was a very tough and challenging race. On the first pit stop I was leaving the pits as the Team Australia car was coming in, we touched and after that my shoulder bothered me for the rest of the race. It is not where I wanted to finish, but hopefully I will have a chance to return to the Champ Car series next year.”



Katherine Legge #20 Bell Micro Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone – “My race came down the opening lap incident with Mario Dominguez. I cannot exactly be sure what happened until I have a chance to review the video tape, but from where I was sitting I moved ahead of him at the start of the race. Then I got hit from behind, which drove my car into the barrier shredding the front wing. That, of course, forced us to pit for repairs and ended any chance of a decent finish. I feel especially bad for the Bell Micro – PKV Racing crew because they worked very had and gave me a very good race car. It was especially good in the rain. It is an unfortunate way to end the season, but overall, other then the middle part of the schedule I think I had a pretty good year. I certainly learned a lot this year and I am really looking forward to competing next year in Champ Cars and building on that foundation.”



Mario Dominguez #8 Pemex/GICSA/Del Valle Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone – “It is very unfortunate what happened today to us. We worked very hard all weekend to have a good race, and it was a shame that all that effort was lost at the start of the race. All I know is that Katherine Legge went on the outside, then I felt a hit, and my suspension was damaged. At first I thought my race was over, but my Rocketsports crew did a great job repairing the damage so that I could get back out there and run for my fans and my sponsors. It really is disappointing, but maybe it was just my destiny this season. I put a lot of heart and money into this, with the hopes to run well in Mexico . I am just sad that I couldn’t have had a better result for Mexico , Pemex, GICSA, Del Valle, Banca Mitel, and my personal sponsors Telmex and Bridgestone.”



Dan Clarke #14 CTE Racing HVM Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone - “Thanks to the hard work we put in for the races in Denver, Montreal and Road America, we were breaking records trying to gain points on Will Power, and at Road America, we really put some pressure on him. But, if someone had told me at that point that we wouldn’t even finish the next two races, I wouldn’t have believed it. But that’s what happened. Will ended his season in the best way possible, and I ended my season in the worst way possible. It would be easy to fall into the dark side and question what went wrong, and say that car failures that were outside my control cost me races. But I won’t do that. I think we have a great team, and this isn’t just a loss for me…it’s a loss for the crew, as well. They do a professional job, and you can’t knock them. Sometimes, bad stuff just happens and you have to deal with it. I want to work positively toward next year with this team, who have helped me out more times than I can count. I want to thank the entire CTE Racing HVM team. I also want to thank my sponsors, Ticketmaster, The Australian Pink Floyd Show and the Imagine charity, as well as my Chas Cole, my manager, who has stuck with me since 2002.”