18 car field confirmed for 2004

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From Cart.com: http://www.cart.com/News/Article.asp?ID=7620

INDIANAPOLIS (April 8, 2004) – Fulfilling the promises made throughout the 2004 preseason by Champ Car World Series co-owners Paul Gentilozzi, Kevin Kalkhoven and Gerald Forsythe, the Bridgestone Presents The Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford announced Wednesday that it had a full field of 18 cars slated for a full season of competition in 2004.

Veteran Champ Car team owner Derrick Walker announced Thursday that he would be fielding a Ford-Cosworth/Reynard/Bridgestone for the full 2004 Champ Car World Series season, bringing the number of confirmed cars to 18. Walker will be running Champ Cars for the 14th season with the team coming back after a strong 2003 campaign that was its best year since 1999.

“We have always maintained that we would have a full field for 2004 and men like Derrick Walker, Carl Haas, Eric Bachelart, Dale Coyne, Carl Russo and the entire Herdez ownership group have demonstrated their commitment to building the best open-wheel racing series possible,” said Gentilozzi. “The entire Champ Car community has done an incredible amount of work in getting to this point and we’re confident that the 2004 season will be a tremendous success.”

The additional car for Walker – whose driver and sponsor lineup will be announced shortly – strengthens an already talented driver lineup in 2004. The current driver roster includes two former Champ Car titlewinners, three FIA International F3000 champions, two Toyota Atlantic champions and eight drivers that have won Champ Car races. Eight of the last year’s top 10 in the Champ Car standings are returning, accounting for 90 percent of the race laps led a season ago. To date, the 2004 driver lineup has accounted for 53 Champ Car victories, 49 poles and 150 podium finishes.

“Our fans will be rewarded for their unwavering support with a driver lineup that will be far stronger than anyone has anticipated,” Kalkhoven said. “Not only do we have proven stars like Paul Tracy, Jimmy Vasser and Bruno Junqueira, but the younger drivers have proven themselves in Formula 1, F3000 and Toyota Atlantics. Justin Wilson, A.J. Allmendinger and Sebastien Bourdais are the next crop of Champ Car superstars and fans will enjoy watching them establish their own legacies in our series.”

“We are very pleased to have put a full field of cars together for 2004,” said Forsythe. “There have been so many entities that have been instrumental in getting us to this point. Our corporate partners, sponsors, teams, promoters, the Champ Car staff and the fans have worked very hard and we will give them a series to be proud of in 2004 and beyond.”

The 2004 season will open April 18 with the 30th anniversary of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. Champ Car fans can follow all the action on Spike TV and HDNet, and can keep up to date with all of the happenings surrounding the Long Beach event by visiting www.champcarworldseries.com.