http://sports.yahoo.com/cart/news;_...A--?slug=ap-champ-penalties&prov=ap&type=lgns Defending series champion Paul Tracy, Bruno Junqueira and Alex Tagliani were penalized Friday for actions at last Sunday's Champ Car World Series race in Portland, Ore. Tracy and Junqueira were each fined $10,000 for publicly criticizing series officials and Tracy was docked an additional $5,000 for making an obscene gesture toward the officials. Champ Car said it is also holding 10 championship points in abeyance for each driver pending their behavior the rest of the season. Tagliani was penalized two points for failing to follow the instructions of officials during the race. The deduction from 63 to 61 points still leaves Tagliani eighth in the standings going into the race July 3 in Cleveland.
Penske's going to try and get IRL and Cart merged http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/news/story?id=1829622 That's only a short bit of the article, but I feel even if the two merged in future years, most anti-IRL people would still hate the new series, because Tony George would most likely be in charge or have some position of great importance.
Tony George is an evil wanker. If Paul Tracy and Jimmy Vasser run this combined series, I will watch. I will still hate TG and all of the lemmings.
http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/champcar/11916/ Champcar will race in Vegas !! Champ Car announced Wednesday that it has reached agreement with Las Vegas Motor Speedway to run a round of Bridgestone Presents The Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford at the 1.5-mile superspeedway under the lights on Sept. 25. The two-day event will pair the Champ Cars with the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, with both series racing on Saturday night. The Champ Cars will close the show Saturday night with the Champ Car Las Vegas 400, tentatively scheduled to begin at 9 p.m. Pacific. “The addition of a Champ Car World Series event is great news not only for Las Vegas Motor Speedway but also for Las Vegas as a whole,” said LVMS general manager Chris Powell. “The Champ Car World Series offers some of the fastest and most technologically advanced race cars in the world and the fans attending the Las Vegas 350 NASCAR Craftsman Truck race now will be treated to an additional adrenaline rush. We're excited to offer such a great night of racing to the fans of Las Vegas as well as to those who are drawn from outside the community.” The LVMS trioval will be the first superspeedway race for Champ Car since last season’s visit to EuroSpeedway Lausitz, where Sebastien Bourdais bested Mario Dominguez and Michel Jourdain Jr. in an exciting race that saw the top-three drivers covered by a scant 0.245 seconds at the finish. “We have been interested in holding a Champ Car race in Las Vegas and the opportunity to partner with Speedway Motorsports Inc., made it attractive to us,” said Champ Car President Dick Eidswick. “Television ratings in Las Vegas have consistently been strong for Champ Car races in the last few years and we have a strong fan base in that region.”
Las Vegas will be a good track for Champ Cars. They really need to add some ovals now, because IRL is probably adding Sonoma and Watkins Glen for next year. Plus there's going to be a big fight between Champ Car and IRL over Long Beach in a few years. I suspect Champ Car will win out and remain there, but with Toyota the primary sponosor I wouldn't be surprised if Long Beach became an IRL race.
Wow, that was one of the worst races I've ever watched and I only watched the last few minutes. Half of the guys racing shouldn't be in Toyota Atlantics let alone, Champ Cars. Paul Tracey proved what kind of goon he really is. Bruno made a terrible mistake at the start and paid for it.
Wasn;t able to watch this race today The street races are usuaully slug fests, but Toronto has traditionally been a better one. How did the crowd look? Congrats to Newman/Haas once again....
Of course the crowd was great, they wanted to see their beloved Canadian heroes. Champ Cars should have more events in Canada, besides Calgary, I heard Edmonton and a few other Canadian cities. I think there were at least 7 full course cautions, causing it to be a timed race and not a lap event. Like I said before some of these drivers don't deserve to be driving Champ Cars. The only Newman/Haas entry I support is Bruno . Next year will be interesting to see if it's just Newman in Champ Car and Haas in IRL.
http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/champcar/11971/ "It's expected that Molson, which sponsors all three Champ Car races in Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto, and Champ Car will announce contract extensions in Toronto and Vancouver -- with a possibility of adding a fourth date in Calgary. Montreal has two years remaining on its current contract. "Molson's support of the Indy is unwavering and they've been behind this race in Toronto for 19 years," said Bob Singleton, vice president and general manager of the Molson Indy. "Let's put it this way. I'm not going to stand up Sunday and say: 'This is our last race.' We don't have a contract yet for next year but we're talking." Canada is the lifeblood of Champ Car, thanks to the passionate fans who turn out in big numbers to support Paul Tracy, Patrick Carpentier and Alex Tagliani. There were nearly 50,000 paying customers here Saturday to watch practice and qualifying, with the usual 65,000 expected Sunday. Vancouver usually packs 'em in to the tune of 175,000 for three days while in its only two years, Montreal has drawn 160,000 on the track that's always hosted Formula One. People used to joke that CART could stage a series in Canada but it's not too far from being a fact and Calgary, Winnipeg and Edmonton have all been mentioned recently as potential sights for races. Behind Toronto, Calgary has the most corporate headquarters in Canada."
He was his usual jerk self, running Jourdain off the road (an into the wall) and punting Wilson. He was penalized both times for agressive driving.
I hate him so much, you wouldn't believe it. I just heard from Robin Miller (I know not the best source, but I figured I'd post it still). Newman/Haas will have 2 cars in IRL and 2 cars in Champ Car next season. In Champ Cars will be Bourdais and Da Matta (assuming Toyota kicks him to the curb) and the IRL will be Bruno and a driver TBA. If it were up to Haas he'd completely leave Champ Cars and join IRL because Honda's giving him a bunch of money, but of course Newman like most people hate Tony George.
http://www.indystar.com/articles/6/162939-2076-102.html Unification of championship open-wheel racing is not on the horizon despite a recent push by veteran team owner Roger Penske. So says the Indy Racing League. So say the owners of the Champ Car World Series. The two sanctioning bodies issued a joint statement today confirming separate paths for the future. In short, they thanked Penske for his efforts but said "no thanks." "Both parties believe that each has a better understanding of where common ground exists," the statement said. "(But) no more meetings are planned and both series are moving forward with their future plans."
http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/champcar/12520/ After two years of indifferent reviews, the Centrix Financial Grand Prix of Denver came of age last weekend. Not only was the event well attended, it had the look and feel of a race that is only going to get bigger and better in the future. Attendance was strong all three days, and while official numbers were not released, one official called estimates of 105,000 for the three days “conservative.” Another said Saturday’s attendance was greater than last year’s race day crowd.
http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/champcar/12661/ McDonald's Becomes "Official Fast Food Restaurant of Champ Car World Series" In a press conference Friday prior to the opening of this weekend’s Molson Indy Montreal, the Champ Car World Series and fast-food chain McDonald’s announced a partnership that will see the restaurant chain serve as the “Official Fast Food Restaurant of Champ Car” through the 2006 season. McDonald’s joined the Newman/Haas Racing team last season, and expanded this year with the fast-food giant becoming the full-season primary sponsor for the No. 2 McDonald’s Ford-Cosworth/Lola for points leader Sebastien Bourdais. The agreement between McDonald’s and Champ Car will run concurrently with the Newman/Haas team’s Champ Car sponsorship through the end of the 2006 season. Paul Newman also laughed off rumors that he would split with longtime partner Carl Haas over its anticipated IRL program. “That’s why we’re sitting so far apart,” he grinned. “No, we are together forever.”
Bruno! Bruno! Bruno! While he didn't do anything spectactular, he was very consistent and did well to win the race. Newman-Haas staying in Champ Car would be great, but it looks like they maybe losing Patrick Carpentier to IRL. That would be a huge blow since he is one of the more popular drivers. I think those doughnuts he did at the end of the race were a sort of good-bye to all the Canadian fans.
Montreal is such a fantastic track, no matter who races there. http://www.speedtv.com/commentary/12697/ First and foremost, McDonald's plans to help market Champ Car with television commercials -- something title sponsor FedEx never did during its five years with CART. "It's our desire to use the assets of Champ Car in our commercials," said John Lewicki, director of Alliances for McDonald's USA. "Our commercials will be centered around the imagery of the car, Sebastien and maybe Paul. "And we'll also take Champ Car along with it." What wasn't announced was that AOL/Time Warner is likely going to be Champ Car's title sponsor and it will have an in-store promotion with McDonald's. "There are some really big things on the horizon," said Newman.