Champ Car Memories

Including the Indy 500 and all junior series leading up to IndyCar
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JCollins28
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#151

Post by JCollins28 »

Bottom post of the previous page:

Dan wrote:Yeah, might not be an announcement today...
Merger Talks Update for Thursday Night

Story posted - Feb 22 2008 2:51 AM

The IRL sent the following information at 11:15pm (ET)

The following statement was issued tonight jointly by the Indy Racing League and the Champ Car World Series:

"The ongoing talks between the Indy Racing League and Champ Car World Series will continue into at least Friday in regards to the unification of open-wheel racing. Any confirmation of unification will be made once an agreement is in place. There are no plans for a news conference at this time. Much progress has been made toward unifying the sport."
Still some sticky points on Long Beach. Nothing that is going to be a deal breaker though. With the weekend to iron out the finer details announcement should come out on Monday.
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#152

Post by Dan »

Thats almost what I'm starting to think too. I can't see why they'd want to throw a conference together at the last minute just to say its done today. Even though it is a bit last minute with the season starting at the end of next month, I'd like to see them do this somewhat right.
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#153

Post by JCollins28 »

Dan wrote:Thats almost what I'm starting to think too. I can't see why they'd want to throw a conference together at the last minute just to say its done today. Even though it is a bit last minute with the season starting at the end of next month, I'd like to see them do this somewhat right.
Lot going on behind the scenes and Long Beach is really pressing the issue of having a open wheel race being the headline race.
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#154

Post by Dan »

With good reason, I suppose- but I'm not that much of an insider or even a spectator to the sport to know. My line of work only touches on IRL/CC stuff from time to time.
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#155

Post by Da Sausage »

http://www.indycar.com/news/story.php?story_id=10557

Friday, February 22, 2008

George, series owners sign unification agreement
By Dave Lewandowski
indycar.com

Indy Racing League founder and CEO Tony George and owners of the Champ Car World Series have completed an agreement in principle that will unify the sport for 2008.

Gerald Forsythe, co-owner of Champ Car, signed an agreement in principle Feb. 22 in Chicago, joining his partner, Kevin Kalkhoven. George signed the agreement Feb. 21.

Details of a news conference about the agreement will be forthcoming. When scheduled, the news conference will be shown live on indycar.com.

The Indy Racing League, sanctioning body of the IndyCar Series and Indy Pro Series, will conduct its first Open Test of 2008 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Feb. 27-28. The test (4-10 p.m. ET both days) is open to the public free of charge, with viewing from the fourth level of the main grandstand. Timing and Scoring will be available on indycar.com. An Open Test on the Sebring International Raceway road course for the IndyCar Series is scheduled for March 3-6.

There have been two open-wheel racing series in North America since 1996, when the Indy Racing League conducted its first event at Walt Disney World Speedway. On March 11, 1994, George announced plans for an open-wheel racing series -- with the Indianapolis 500 as its cornerstone -- as an alternative to Championship Auto Racing Teams. That series went bankrupt in 2003 and emerged as the Champ Car World Series in 2004.

Confirmed now. :smiley:
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#156

Post by goose »

Best news in motorsport in ages. Fantastic that they plan to have this in place for this year as well. No farewell tours or any nonsense like that, just two championships integrated into one, which means more cars, more events, more talent etc etc. Also makes the scene easier to follow. Can't wait to see the cars at Surfers this year, it'll be a throwback to the big grids of 10-15 years ago and that can only bode well for the racing, especially on the road/street circuits.
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#157

Post by WilliamsF1 »

Agreed.

I might actually attend the race at Surfers Paradise because of this. I had no interest in going because it felt like a B-Grade series & this news means that all the talented drivers, managers, engineers etc, will be in the one series = better racing.

Might be time to book tickets for that I think.... :thumbsup:

;-)
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#158

Post by PTRACER »

I suppose this is the end of this thread then :wave:
Power wins Champ Car finale

KV Racing's Will Power earned a comfortable victory in the last ever Champ Car race at Long Beach - taking the lead from fourth on the grid at the start and then controlling the entire race.

Franck Montagny took second for Forsythe Pettit Racing in his first American open wheel outing, with Mario Dominguez securing Pacific Coast's first podium finish in third.

Power made an exceptional getaway at the standing start, coming from the outside of row two to dive inside pole-sitter Justin Wilson (Newman Haas Lanigan) into the first corner.

Wilson stayed on Power's tail and had a look at reclaiming the lead on an early restart after Mario Moraes crashed his Dale Coyne Panoz at Turn 1 and prompted a full course yellow.

But that proved to be Wilson's only chance to challenge Power, as the British driver retired on lap 12 with what he suspected was an engine failure.

"I noticed a couple of laps before that the engine note had changed and it felt like it had dropped a couple of cylinders, so I think it blew up," Wilson said. "We were just sat there waiting to pass Will in the pit stops."

Walker Racing's Alex Tagliani stepped up to challenge Power after Wilson's retirement, and pushed the KV Racing driver hard in the middle of the race. Tagliani's best opportunity to claim the lead came when the duo pitted as one for their first stops, but KV were able to get Power out ahead again.

Power then accelerated away from the field in the second stint, extending his lead to as much as six seconds.

In a bid to close the gap at the end of the race, Tagliani switched back to the softer Bridgestone tyres in his final stop. But instead of closing in on Power, the Canadian fell dramatically off the pace, suffering from both fading tyres and a lack of push-to-pass time.

Montagny, who had briefly got ahead of Tagliani in the final pitstop sequence only to lose the place again on his out-lap, repassed the Canadian for second on lap 69 and then set off in pursuit of Power.

Seven laps later Tagliani lost the final podium place to the charging Dominguez, and by the end of the race the Walker Racing car had fallen right back to seventh position.

"We decided to go on Bridgestone reds and they were grippier for one or two laps but the degradation was pretty horrible," he said. "We were sliding off everywhere and it was difficult to keep up the pace with the guys running on black tyres."

Power ultimately won by five seconds from Montagny, as the former Super Aguri Formula One driver made an exceptional US racing debut in what could be a one-off appearance.

"I think it's not too bad for my first race in Champ Car, my first time here, and as a rookie," Montagny said. "The team did a fantastic job and gave me a very good car during the race. I think America suits me."

Power said he appreciated the significance of winning the final race to be run under the Champ Car banner and rules package.

"It means a lot - we were looking to win this championship this year and then suddenly the series changed," he said. "This is a great way to finish off Champ Car."

Behind the delighted Dominguez, Enrique Bernoldi finished fourth for Conquest Racing, and Oriol Servia recovered superbly to take fifth in the second KV car despite stalling at the start.

Bernoldi's teammate Franck Perera ran third early on but fell back at both pitstops and then lost places to both Bernoldi and Servia in the closing laps, coming home sixth ahead of Tagliani.

Forsythe Pettit's David Martinez and HVM driver EJ Viso drove quiet races to eighth and ninth, with Jimmy Vasser taking 10th on his one-off return for KV Racing.

Paul Tracy's hopes of victory ended early on when his Forsythe car suffered a right rear puncture on only the third lap. He fell to the tail of the field and could only recover to 11th.

St Petersburg winner Graham Rahal also had a difficult afternoon. A spin while racing Montagny for third dropped him to 12th, but he got back up to seventh before crashing on the final lap.

Code: Select all

Pos  Driver            Team                 Time
 1.  Will Power        KV Racing            83 laps
 2.  Franck Montagny   Forsythe Pettit      +   5.094
 3.  Mario Dominguez   Pacific Coast        +  15.516
 4.  Enrique Bernoldi  Conquest             +  25.677
 5.  Oriol Servia      KV Racing            +  26.276
 6.  Franck Perera     Conquest             +  28.067
 7.  Alex Tagliani     Walker Racing        +  36.518
 8.  David Martinez    Forsythe Pettit      +  37.127
 9.  EJ Viso           HVM                  +  44.944
10.  Jimmy Vasser      KV Racing            +  48.635
11.  Paul Tracy        Forsythe Pettit      +  55.956
12.  Bruno Junqueira   Dale Coyne Racing    +1:07.553
13.  Graham Rahal      Newman Haas Lanigan  +   1 lap
14.  Alex Figge        Pacific Coast        +   1 lap
15.  Nelson Philippe   Minardi HVM          +  3 laps
16.  Antonio Pizzonia  Rocketsports         +  3 laps

Retirements:

     Driver            Team                 Laps
     Roberto Moreno    Minardi HVM          63
     Juho Annala       Rocketsports         42
     Justin Wilson     Newman Haas Lanigan  12
     Mario Moraes      Dale Coyne Racing    5
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#159

Post by PTRACER »

I'm surprised there haven't been any comments on the Long Beach race.

I haven't seen it yet, although I will do when I download it from here:
http://www.the-fastlane.co.uk/phpBB2/vi ... php?t=8721
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#160

Post by HC »

The topic or post you requested does not exist

Anyway, it was run to IRL points so I guess it was an IndyCar race, still don't get how both points will count towards the championship and I haven't seen the race and won't bother to watch it coz I'm pretty sure it must have been boring. Bring on Kansas. :wave:
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#161

Post by Dan »

I will say that in watching the highlights from that race, it made me realize how great that old Champ Car looked and how much more I wish IRL would adapt it somehow. But we all know that pretty much won't happen :sorrow:
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#162

Post by HC »

The car was brand new, only used in 2007. :haha:
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