Autoweek Article

[The Snout]

Feel good article from Autoweek. Some factual errors but Autoweek seem to have changed their tune on our outlook.


http://www.autoweek.com/cat_content...._code=06982757



Midseason Update - Champ Car
Early Days: The Miracle that is Champ Car has put on some good shows


By J.P. VETTRAINO


(Photo by LAT Photographic)

As it was the last few seasons under CART, the Champ Car World Series’ 2004 schedule is biased toward the second half of the calendar year. Champ Car had completed only a third of its races by Independence Day, and the championship battle was just starting to take shape. On one hand, there isn’t a lot to tell about what has happened on the track. On the other, what’s happened is probably a good indicator of what we can expect for the balance of the season.

As usual, the racing is only half the story anyway. Indeed, Champ Car 2004 probably qualifies as a minor miracle. When the group previously known as OWRS (now Champ Car LLC) acquired the bankrupt CART’s assets following a bidding war with IRL president Tony George, there were barely two months before the season was scheduled to begin. In the interim, OWRS partners Gerald Forsythe, Paul Gentilozzi and Kevin Kalkhoven did several things many considered unlikely, if not impossible. They assembled a grid with 18 largely self-supporting cars, put together a schedule with at least 13 races and managed to find a television deal with two distribution outlets.

Things are holding together. While TV ratings remain abysmal compared to CART in the rip-roarin’ ’90s, few realistically expected otherwise, and Champ Car’s ratings are no more abysmal than those for the average IRL race. Long Beach and Monterrey drew their usual teeming throng of fans. Cleveland was solid; Milwaukee and Portland—two of the domestic venues where attendance had fallen the last few years—were actually up compared to ’03.

Yet like the racing itself, even this qualified success story has been subjugated by other developments. Word that Champ Car principals have met veteran team owner Roger Penske, acting as mediator in peace talks with George, has raised hope that the debilitating nine-year open-wheel split might be resolved. The reasoning here might better be described as wishful thinking, but anticipation has nonetheless gripped many on both sides of the fence.

Through six rounds including Toronto, Champ Car produced three race winners. Sebastien Bourdais won in Monterrey, Portland, Cleveland and Toronto; reigning champ Paul Tracy won in Long Beach, while second-year driver Ryan Hunter-Reay took Milwaukee.

Hunter-Reay’s flag-to-flag win at the only oval race this season left everyone else scrapping for second, but it was an anomaly. Tracy, Bour-dais and Bruno Junqueira, Bourdais’ teammate at Newman-Haas Racing, have established themselves as Champ Car’s elite, if there had been any doubts. One of the three has been quickest in 75 percent of the track sessions, be it practice, qualifying or race, and often this trio has comprised the top three. These drivers race for Champ Car’s most experienced and successful teams, so there is little reason to think things will change dramatically.

With two poles and five top-three starts before Toronto, Bourdais is clearly a good qualifier. Yet this 25-year-old native of Le Mans, France, is at his best leading a race—dealing with lapped traffic, managing in- and out-laps and going only as fast as he must to maintain a margin. His 66 percent winning rate in the first six races has him leading the championship coming out of Toronto.

Tracy was impressive winning the opener in Long Beach, but he had only one other podium finish before Toronto and sits fourth in the standings. That said, he was a factor everywhere but Monterrey. Crashes took him out in Milwaukee and Cleveland (one was someone else’s fault), and unless he lets frustration get the better of him, he will be in the hunt for the duration.

Michel Jourdain Jr. fell from championship favorite to long shot even before the season began. Last year Jourdain finally found a comfortable, productive home at Team Rahal, and depending on your politics, his decision to stay in Champ Car when Rahal bolted for the IRL could be either admirable or silly. Regardless, Jourdain has struggled more than he has achieved at the start-up RuSport team. He was out-qualified by rookie teammate A.J. Allmendinger at four of the first five races, and Jourdain will likely see more low spots with RuSport before he finds consistent high ground.

Allmendinger has done nothing to dissuade those who predicted big things for him. His qualifying has improved with each race, as have his results. While he has made plenty of mistakes, he hasn’t let any of them ruin his races, and his approach and demeanor are enough to restore the most cynical hack’s enthusiasm.

Justin Wilson has been one of Champ Car’s pleasant surprises this season. After a season in F1, Wilson is showing that an F1 field filler is more than a marginally talented paying driver. Though he found his first oval track a handful, Wilson has shown consistently excellent form in Champ Car with a midgrade team, and few paddock regulars will be surprised if he wins one before the season ends. Wilson’s battle with Allmendinger for rookie of the year will likely be one of this season’s highlights.

Hunter-Reay’s dominance in Milwaukee might have been an anomaly, but it was no fluke. With managing director Keith Wiggins at the helm, Herdez Competition has built the talent and methodology of a first-tier team. Moreover, driver Mario Dominguez hasn’t wilted under the competition for first seat with Hunter-Reay. As the drivers improve with experience, Herdez will become a consistent force.

In Tracy’s big shadow at Forsythe Racing, Patrick Carpentier remains capable of winning any given weekend. He has also been more consistent than his teammate, and he is third in the championship behind the Newman-Haas drivers.

In its second Champ Car season, Rocketsports Racing has slid backward a bit from its first-year form. Veteran Alex Tagliani is approaching the point where he must win or get off the pot. Third place in Cleveland may improve Tagliani’s and his team’s confidence.

If you were a CART fan, you should pat Champ Car’s new owners on the back. They’ve made mistakes, certainly, but they’ve put the series on better footing than it was in either of the two previous seasons. The Spike-based TV package, maligned in some circles, actually presents opportunity for growth, and it’s not likely a slot on one of the big four broadcast networks would do much for ratings. Champ Car’s owners more or less concede they’ll lose money this year, but insiders peg the losses at 15 or 20 percent of those generated the previous two seasons.

And if the new owners have demonstrated an interest in peace, they are proceeding on the basis that the open-wheel split will continue. Those who expect the war to end with the quick disappearance of one side had better rethink. By all indications, Forsythe, Gentilozzi and Kalkhoven are committed, and they claim they’ll be making money with Champ Car in the not-too-distant future. Regardless, they have the resources to subsidize the series for years if they are inclined, as George has done with the IRL.

At this point there are no peace talks, only an indication from both sides (the IRL represent-ed by Penske) that talks might be worthwhile because one series would be better than two. Truth is, reconciliation has been closer several times in the past. It hasn’t occurred, and there’s no sign either side is ready to give up.

So don’t get ahead of things. Just settle back and enjoy the racing, because there’s a lot more to come.

[Kicking-back]

[Dov]

Yeah, I read that article earlier and I'm surprised how positive it is in regards to Champ Car. Usually Autoweek is biased toward the CCWS, but is it possible they now realize that OWRS has something good going here?!