2007 ChampCar Commentaries.........

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After what seemed like an unrelenting spate of bad news coming from the offices of the Champ Car World Series, at last their 2008 schedule comes out......and already the criticisms are beginning to flow. So, what's wrong with the calendar for next year:

(1)NO OVALS!!!!!! For the second year in a row, the series will host no oval-track races, never mind the fact, the stone-cold fact that, contrary to popular opinion, the DP01 is oval-track capable, according to the FIA. One of the hallmarks of American open-wheel racing was the diversity of its' schedule, going from a street race to a bullring-style oval to the 500 and then to another bullring, then off to a road course....is it any wonder the IRL had such an increase in fans over last year?

(2)Where are they? From early September to late October, the series will essentially vanish from the sports-world; like last year, don't expect lots of coverage from the mainstream press or the auto-racing press.....after all, this is the series that yanked the hardcards of its' four top OW scribes(although Speed's Robin Miller has said on-air that, barring any problems crossing the border, he will be in Mexico City for the season finale.....)

(3)Why the European intrigue? This year ChampCar returned to the Old World for two races at Zolder, Belgium and at Assen, Holland; next year, the series returns there and adds a third venue, the Jerez circuit in Spain. Suggestion to the powers that be........try rebuilding what's left of your American fanbase FIRST, then you can start building it elsewhere......

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When legendary ChampCar grand marshal Jim Swintal waves the checkered flag at Hermanos Rodriguez to close out the 2007 season, it will also mark the farewell of one of ChampCar's great drivers, NHL's Sebastien Bourdais. In the past decade Bourdais, along with Juan Pablo Montoya and Alex Zanardi, set the benchmarks in ChampCar for dominance by any driver.....
~~From 1996-1998, Zanardi won back-to-back Vanderbilt Cups[97-98], led 1447 of 8813 laps and won 15 races in that period
~~From 1999-2000, Montoya won one championship[1999], led 1774 of 5559 laps[not including the 167 he led in stomping the field at Indy in the 500..... ] and won 25% of the races he ran in(10 of 40)
~~From 2003-2007, Bourdais has won 30 races[with one to go], led 2112 of 7153 laps and, from 2004-present, won each year's Vanderbilt Cup

As the man we all love to call "SeaBass" signs off on a very impressive career in ChampCar, there are always going to be those intriguing questions we heah' scribes like to ask, such as.....
~~How would he have fared against drivers like Rick Mears, Bobby Rahal, Johnny Rutherford, Emerson Fittipaldi, Mario Andretti, A.J. Foyt and Nigel Mansell?

Who knows; every era has its' own foibles and faults.......technology and tracks can change radically from period to period, so its' entirely possible that question could remain forever academic.....

One thing's certain.......thanks to the efforts of men like race engineer Craig Hampson, chief mechanic Pedro Campuzano and the men of Bourdais' "over-the-wall" gang, its' become commonplace to hear La Marseillaise" more than the Stars n' Stripes the past four years(though A.J. Allmendinger last year did give Bourdais his IMO most serious challenge during the past few years..... )

Now, it's easy to say......Well, they know more about the Lola the past few years than anyone else......... True....and not so true; this year's the best measure in my mind of SeaBass' dominance in the series as evidenced by the fact that there is a new car in town, the Panoz DP01, which every team had to learn......and still he dominated. To be fair, though, the split has weakened the grid(can you just imagine what the races would like w/Dixon, Franchitti, Kanaan, Hornish, Patrick, Castroneves and Wheldon in the mix..... ) and one can only put the whoop-*** stick to PT, Graham Rahal, Justin Wilson and Bobby D on so many times......

So, as we prepare to say au revoir to SeaBass, all I can say is that there are going to be a lot of memories.......just think of all the times he and Paul Tracy got at it on and off the track(remember the shoving match at Denver last year?) but also the times when SeaBass'd get up on the wheel and drive the absolute "stones" off the car....one thing's certain; the lanky kid that first arrived in North America back in late 2002 to test for Newman-Haas has grown into a champion and for what it is worth, I hope he gives the big dogs of the Scuderia and the Silver Arrows a run for the money next year in F1.

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With the 2007 ChampCar season now in the taillights, it is awards time; so, who won what?

~~Driver of the Year..........Sebastien Bourdais, NHL Racing. For the fourth year in a row, the Frenchman put on a whoop-*** exhibition that held off all comers, from lanky-Brit Justin Wilson to Dutchman Bobby D, a/k/a Robert Doornbos who really got under SeaBass's skin this year(remember Mt. Tremblant..... ). In all seriousness, though, this award was the easiest to give out; 31 wins and 4 Vanderbilt Cups' have cemented Bourdais' place in NA motorsports' history; all I and other NA motorsports scribes can hope for is that he gives' the big dogs of F1 hell in 2008.......

~~Rookie of the Year.........Robert Doornbos, Minardi Team USA. In the past five years, only two drivers have managed to get under the skin of Sebastien Bourdais........ChampCar's resident curmudgeon, Paul Tracy and Robert Doornbos, a/k/a Bobby D. Following former Minardi F1 team owner Paul Stoddart to ChampCar, Doornbos became the first rookie since Bourdais to win with two victories this year and briefly led the points standings.....

~~Team of the Year............Team Australia. For years, Derrick Walker's teams have struggled from either a lack of sponsorship or from a lack of driver talent; this year the team turned the corner as veteran Will Power really came of age behind the wheel this year and 2006 Atlantic series champion Simon Pagenaud played the able wingman to Power, moving Team Oz to the sharp end of the spear in 2007. The irony in Team Oz's season wasn't that they had the talent to challenge NHL, Forsythe, RuSport or Minardi...........it was that they did as much as they could......without one backup DP01 to their name

~~Disappointment of the year........there were several this year(in no particular order)........
--the television package was an abysmal joke(seriously, guys.......both European races on ESPN Classic! )
--watching Pacific Coast Motorsports gas Ryan Dalziel for Mario Dominguez(read my commentary The Mexican Screw-Job about the particulars..... )
--not seeing Gerry Forsythe at the races this year after Houston(boy, I'd hate to be Neil Micklewright this year....... )
--all the early problems with the DP01 chassis...........
--the fact that ride-buying is still endemic to ChampCar

~~Surprise of the Year............the fact that the Panoz DP01 chassis, for once, brought a lot of parity to the series........cases in point include Robert Doornbos' 2 wins for Minardi and Bruno Junquiera's three straight podiums for Dale Coyne Racing

~~My One Wish for Champ Car in 2008........Driver continuity; at Mexico City, I joked to Speed's Robin Miller that it was a shame Gerry Forsythe wasn't in Mexico City to which the sport's resident journalist/curmudegon replied, "It would be fun watching him figure out who was driving what, wouldn't it?" In all seriousness, though.....it was frankly pathetic to watch the revolving chairs in ChampCar, especially when veteran Oriol Servia and rookie Ryan Dalziel were gassed by FCR and PCM to fulfill the Mexico City contract(the one which stipulated that there had to be two Mexican drivers on the grid....... ) I just hope the powers-that-be in the series can keep the same drivers in the same seats for the 2008 season; even the IRL and NASCAR recognize this........who Kalkhoven and Co. doesn't is beyond me.........maybe KK needs to visit his penguins again.