The champion

luke · 7 Nov 2004, 22:48 (Ref:1147041)

Well done Bourdais!!

7 wins out of 14 races.

race winner and season champion, great doughnuts as well!!

Kicking-back · 7 Nov 2004, 22:55 (Ref:1147047)

Well done.

Great drives this year - soured only by what he did at Le Mans, but I'm sure he's learned from that.

A well deserving champion.

luke · 7 Nov 2004, 22:57 (Ref:1147051)

Also well done to AJ as the Rokkie Champ.

Silk Cut Jaguar · 7 Nov 2004, 23:06 (Ref:1147062)

I know who Frank Williams should be calling first thing Monday morning...

What a great way to win the championship, an absolute masterclass in how to drive a Champcar.

MLM · 7 Nov 2004, 23:15 (Ref:1147067)

When and where is the Awards Banquet?

esorniloc · 7 Nov 2004, 23:16 (Ref:1147070)

Quote:

Originally posted by Silk Cut Jaguar
I know who Frank Williams should be calling first thing Monday morning...

Hopefully Bruno!

jondownunder · 7 Nov 2004, 23:41 (Ref:1147086)

Congrats to Bourdais, a truly deserving champion.

Kicking-back · 7 Nov 2004, 23:43 (Ref:1147088)

Quote:

Originally posted by MLM
When and where is the Awards Banquet?

Tonight, in Mexico City.

StickShift · 8 Nov 2004, 00:28 (Ref:1147104)

Way to go Bourdais! Easily the best driver this season. It'll only be a year or two until he breaks into F1.

Omega99 · 8 Nov 2004, 02:23 (Ref:1147140)

I know I wasn't the only person on this forum who, during preseason testing last year, called him to win the championship this year... but I just thought I'd give myself a hearty pat on the back anyways.

Here are the numbers on his career so far:

Starts: 32
Poles: 13
Podiums: 17
Wins: 10

To put things in perspective, here's Jacques Villeneuve's numbers: (who also won the championship in his sophmore season)

Starts: 32
Poles: 6
Podiums: 10
Wins: 5

I know there was a different level of competition back then, but you have to admit, that's pretty impressive!

Congrats to Bourdais, and good luck to him next year!

Emfa · 8 Nov 2004, 03:47 (Ref:1147152)

Indeed - quite an impressive year.

Congratulations to Sebastien.

Congratulations also to the entire Newman Haas organization - they really had it all together this year.

enemy-ace · 8 Nov 2004, 11:56 (Ref:1147394)

Congrats to Bourdais.

A stellar year and underlined that fact by thoroughly dominating his team-mate.

Brilliant work.

BootsOntheSide · 8 Nov 2004, 12:41 (Ref:1147421)

A great seasson from Bourdais, showing amazing speed and consistancy throughout, and thoroughly deserving the title. Considering that the Williams drive is likely to just be for one year, he might not be the ideal man to fill it, but I hope he gets some kind of F1 chance.

Although he's faced a weaker field than JV, and is undoubtedly in a better team (relative to the opposition), remember that he is younger than JV was, and went into the series without knowledge of any of the tracks.

macdaddy · 8 Nov 2004, 20:01 (Ref:1147864)

It's also the first time in ChampCar history that somebody named "Bourdais" has won the championship.

- Just some interesting trivia.

Snrub · 8 Nov 2004, 20:47 (Ref:1147915)

Quote:

Originally posted by BootsOntheSide
Although he's faced a weaker field than JV, and is undoubtedly in a better team (relative to the opposition), remember that he is younger than JV was, and went into the series without knowledge of any of the tracks.

I strongly disagree on the field, but I do agree on the team.

Kicking-back · 8 Nov 2004, 20:52 (Ref:1147923)

There's no way you could say the 2004 ChampCar field was stronger than the 1995 IndyCar World Series field, in my opinion.

macdaddy · 8 Nov 2004, 20:56 (Ref:1147930)

Agree or disagree, let it not detract from the phenomenal performance that Bourdais turned in this year.

Kicking-back · 8 Nov 2004, 20:56 (Ref:1147931)

Indeed. Bourdais was head and shoulders above the other drivers this year.

luke · 8 Nov 2004, 21:13 (Ref:1147953)

The bottom line is Bourdais is the champion and deserved it entirely.

What anoys me is when people compare Montoya's rookie season against Mansell's, stating he didn't have as may wins in a season as Montoya.

Well for a start Montoya entered 20 races and won 7.
Mansell entered 15 and won 5.

Mansell also won on his debut and was consistant and fast.

I didn't mean to go a tad of topic but I just wanted to try and prove you can't compare talent from 10 years ago to the modern days.

BSchneiderFan · 9 Nov 2004, 11:50 (Ref:1148426)

Bad news for Junqueira, though - he really doesn't have any excuses for being beaten.

luke · 9 Nov 2004, 16:15 (Ref:1148647)

Quite, he has had three big chances and failed to capitalize on them, but I do feel a bit sorry for him.

macdaddy · 10 Nov 2004, 19:24 (Ref:1149760)

I must extend my congratulations to:
Sebastien Bourdais, for a well-deserved championship.
Bruno Junqueira, for a fine season.
Patrick Carpentier, for beating PT and being "best of the rest".
AJ Allmendinger, for a fantastic rookie season.
Dale Coyne and Oriol Servia, for the team's 1st-ever top-ten.
And the Tres Hombres, for even having a season to begin with!

Snrub · 10 Nov 2004, 21:07 (Ref:1149825)

Quote:

Originally posted by Kicking-back
There's no way you could say the 2004 ChampCar field was stronger than the 1995 IndyCar World Series field, in my opinion.

I'm not necessarly saying 2004 was stronger, but if you're going to say something like that I think you should make a case for why you think '95 lineup was stronger than the 2004.

macdaddy · 10 Nov 2004, 21:38 (Ref:1149843)

Comparing 1995 and 2004 is not fair.

It's like if CART were the parent, we were the children. The family runs upon hard times and has to file bankruptcy. Even have to sell the house and move into a much smaller one. Instead of saying "This house ain't as nice as the old one" we should be saying, "Wow! Thank's for keeping a roof over our heads, and someplace to call home!"

Things are only getting better. By the time OWRS runs that 2008 Toronto race, there'll be no looking back!

Pass me those shades.

Snrub · 10 Nov 2004, 23:13 (Ref:1149917)

I see what you mean macdaddy, but one can still objectively compare the two.

The big difference is that I can see how someone might say the "highs" Andretti, Unser, JV were higher in '95. These guys are household names. The point is they were household names because they won! Guys like Emmo and Rahal were still good, but they weren't at the height of their careers. While JV put in a good performance in '95, I don't think it would be fair to characterize his raw ability in the '95 season as head a sholders above someone like PT. I think there were ~4 drivers who were capable of putting in a season like JV did.

Guys like Gordon, Pruett, Fabi were good drivers, but they weren't of quiet notch (Fabi's career was near its end). Drivers like De Faren, Fernandez, Herta and to a lesser extent PT were still developing. Cheever and Sullivan were racing their swan song.

Looking at the 2004 vs 1995 season, I don't think it's unfair to say Bourdais put in a JV-like performance, Junky was like a Rahal (except younger), PT like a Al Jr., Dominguez like a PT, AJ like a Vasser, Pat like Gordon, etc, etc.

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