top 10

let's take a quick look at the Champ Car top 10 standings after three races:

1. Bourdais 73
2. Power 70
3. Doornbos 61
4. Tag 57
5. Junky 53
6. Servia 51
7. Rahal 46
8. Wilson 41
9. Gommendy 39
10. Pagenaud 38


What are the surprises?
I suppose it's not surprise that Bourdais finds himself at the top of the grid, given his 2 wins.. But, despite two dominant performances, he remains just 3 points ahead of Will Power. The pressure is on Will Power to remain consistent, because unless Bourdais is taken out of the race, you know he's going to be fast, no matter what. I was a little surprised that it was only 3 points separating the two, which means that a lot of credit needs to be given to Will and Team Australia for their ability to match wits with Newman/Haas/Lanigan.
Doornbos is the driver of the year thus far, but he too suffered a finish outside a top 10, otherwise he could very well be the points leader (he finished 13th in LB). Is Doornbos the real deal? is Minardi USA? You likely just read Stoddarts article, saying he got the drivers he wanted (http://www.crash.net/news_View~cid~3~id~148262.htm) and while Clarke has been a disappointment thus far (15, 12, 17), Doornbos has picked up where CTE left off in 2006. Hopefully for the series, he can continue to drive strong consistent races and challenge for both the Vanderbilt and ROY. It remains to be seen how the Minardi cars will go on natural courses, but they have figured our the street courses very quickly.
Alex Tagliani is a product of consistent driving. He's a product of a veteran skills, the ability to stay out of trouble. He told Norris Macdonald in a recent pod-cast that he is exactly where he wanted to be at this point. That the team had reached its goals for the first three races. I wager to bet that they have exceeded their goals and Mr. Tagliani has to be very happy with being in 4th place(two top 5 and a 9th thus far).
I think a lot of people didn't expect Junquiera to be in the top 5 in the standings after three races, but that is a credit to him and especially Dale Coyne, who seem to have figured out this car a lot faster than other teams. As I noticed his place in the standings, it occurred to me that Dale Coyne might have finally reached the respect of other teams as a team. Not the man naturally, as we all know how dedicated he and his wife are to Champ Car. But as a team and its competitiveness. In the past couple of years, he has seen the likes of DaMatta, Junquiera, Dominguez and Servia drive for him. Those are very good drivers who brought solid results to the team. The excuse of driving for Dale Coyne no longer applies, as the drivers I just mentioned got the results. They weren't wins, but consistent results, which is exactly what Junky is doing right now(three top 10's for him thus far).
Oriol Servia being 6th in the standings does demonstrate that it is very early in the season, since he missed a race and nonetheless is in 6th. His 2nd place finish in LB was huge for him (lead to him signing with Forsythe) and had it not been for a mistake in the pits in Houston, he would have likely bumped Doornbos from that final spot on the podium. Servia is a driver that seems to excel under pressure, seems to strive when things are on the line. He is driving a very very good car, so you expect him to have similar results. Servia is the prototypical driver that every kid should model themselves after, in my opinion. He's a big picture guy and those are often the championship contenders.
I like Graham Rahal in 7th and iI like his podium in Houston. He's showing that, despite the tender age of 18, he's the real deal and ready to compete for wins right off the bat. While he did look a little lost in Vegas, its safe to say the entire team did. He's been fast in the number 2 car and NHL's 1-2 in Houston is pretty good momentum going into Portland. he loves the road courses, so he may fair even better on them.

I suppose to every race fan, the biggest disappointment thus far comes from Justin Wilson. From the press and the forums, he hasn't found his speed, his team is a disaster and the merge with Rocketsports has been nothing but detrimental to his career. I suppose the results do speak for themselves. A 14th in Vegas, a 4th in LB and a 10th in Houston. But I think those are a little deceptive, because aside from Vegas (and I think NHL proved that the first race with a new car will give a lot of teams trouble), his 4th place in LB was solid and if not for a bad pit strategy in Houston, he could have finished top 5. Sure, these aren't championship results and we may never know the real situation behind Rusport and the defection of Carl Russo, but the bottom line is that if Alex Tagliani can produce consistent results, then so should Wilson. And since Wilson has the skills, he should soon be able to compete (like he did in Houston) with NHL and Team Australia. He is too good of a driver not too.

In 9th thus far is...Tristan Gommendy???? And he's lead two out of the three Champ Car races he's competed in? And he's outpacing his teammate who has vast F1 experience? And he recently declared his love of Champ Car and his hope to stick around for many years? I hope that PKV has found the right set up with the new car, cause this team has been supposed to compete for a long time now and it hasn't happened. Aside from their one win (in Portland by the way) this team has underachieved. Maybe it takes an unknown like Gommendy to kick this team into high gear. A young, eager driver who lets the engineer do the work while he learns the tracks. It could work.

And, rounding out the top 10 is Simon Pagenaud. You know who Simon reminds me of? Will Power from 2006. Fast. very fast. Yet rookie mistakes are costing him podium finishes. So far Simon has qualified very well for a rookie and by all accounts should be higher in the standings. But rookie mistakes and rookie misfortunes have cost him thus far. Unlike Will Power last year, it appears the rookie crop this season is stronger and thus a RYO is anything but guaranteed for the 2006 Atlantic champion.

there you have a it, a quick look at the current top 10 in the Champ Car World series. By the way, they hired my good friend and very talented Tom Michael's to be this year's track announcing. To those who have gone to Cleveland for many years and Houston the last two will be familiar with his work. He also used to work for CART radio, so he has vast CC experience. He's a great person and a great announcer. I congratulate him and look forward to sneaking up in the booth with him and chatting away.