RALEIGH

Thanks all of you who have written emails to me to ask how I am doing. I have not gotten back to all of them yet, but thanks just the same.

Last night, Diane and I sat down to watch the DVD of "Elizabeth - The Golden Age." In it, Queen Elizabeth listens intently to Sir Walter Raleigh describe what it feels like to sail across an ocean without knowing what's on the other side.

Raleigh:

"Can you imagine? Can you feel? What it is to cross an ocean?
For weeks you see nothing but the horizon. All round you.
Perfect, and empty. Your ship is small - tiny - a speck in such
immensity.  

"You live with fear. In the grip of fear - fear of storms, fear
of sickness, fear of the immensity. What if you never escape?
How can you escape? There's nowhere to go!

"So you must drive your fear down... deep into your belly...
and study your charts, and watch your compass, and pray
for a fair wind and - hope. 

"Pure, naked, fragile hope.

"When all your senses scream at you, 'Lost!'                      

"...Lost!"

"Imagine it. Day after day, staring west, the rising sun on
your back,the setting sun in your eyes, hoping...
hoping...  

"At first, it's no more than a haze on the horizon, the
ghost of a haze, the pure line corrupted. But clouds
do that, and storms. So you watch. You watch.

"Then it's a smudge. a shadow on the far water. For a day,
for another day, the stain slowly spreads along the horizon,
and takes form - until on the third day you let yourself believe.
You dare to whisper the word - 

"Land."

"Land. Life. Resurrection. The true adventure. Coming out of the
vast unknown, out of the immensity, into safe harbour at last.

"That - THAT - is the New World."

THE NEW WORLD ORDER

“Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.” – Closing Time by Semisonic

Hello Everyone:

As you all should certainly know by now, Champ Car has ceased operations as of Friday and our teams will be “amalgamated” into the Indy Racing League. Overall and in the big picture, this is a very good thing, and I have tried hard during the whole waiting process to remember that.

Because of the generosity and business sense of the IRL, who has offered assistance to our Champ Car teams, as many as 26 cars may answer the bell for the opener at Homestead.

As for what’s next, I could indulge in speculation – but I’ll leave that to those who get paid for such things. I specifically remained quiet during this three week period, as I did not want any of the rumours floating around to come from me and the way I might have been perceiving things as they progressed. For details you should check the websites of the Indianapolis Star, the IRL and Speed TV.

What I’ll address here is what I know for sure. There will be a press conference on Wednesday where the IRL “regulars” will be conducting their Spring testing. I expect that we will get more details on the 2008 schedule at that time.

NEXT STOP LONG BEACH

There will be a Long Beach Grand Prix that bears some resemblance to the LBGP we all were planning on before this came down. It will be the 25th running of the event with Champ Car chassis, but will be sanctioned by the IRL. I will be in my usual spot in race control and Tony Cotman will run race control for the weekend. A skeleton crew of Champ Car World Series officials will run the proceedings on the ground. The Champ Car Medical unit will be there. At least 17 Panoz DP01s will be on the starting grid for what is now the “traditional” standing start.

There are a handful of Champ Car employees left in the office, mostly from the operations department. I had a long conversation on Friday with Scot Elkins, our Technical Director, who along with Tony Cotman, is organizing the efforts for Long Beach.

An announcement will be coming shortly as well about the Atlantic series, which will continue. They will test in Laguna Seca during the second week of March as scheduled and they will open their schedule at Long Beach. They will run as many events as they can that remain on their schedule and also their two stand-alone events in Trois-Rivieres and Salt Lake City.

Beyond that, there’s very little that I know for sure. I’m not speculating on my involvement beyond Long Beach as it has not been discussed.

This “New World Order,” as one scribe has titled it, has my full support and attention, and I hope yours too. I will be watching the first two events at Homestead and St. Pete with thankfulness and renewed vigor. I am spending a lot of thought in imagining the potentials that a 26 car field running a 20-ish number of road and oval races, including the Indianapolis 500, can provide!

On behalf of the entire Champ Car family I want to thank and congratulate all of you that have helped us put on any of our events since 1979. There are a countless number of you and we are grateful for all the blood, sweat and tears you have shed and the sacrifices you have made to uphold your committment to this series.

Hope to see as many of you as possible in Long Beach.

Let’s hit it!

JHS

INDY STAR ARTICLE

This in today from the Indianapolis Star. The previous blog entry in this space was replaced by this as it's more up to date. Let the last line of the story be our watchword on this.

Senior Indy Racing League officials, including series founder and chairman Tony George, are scheduled to fly to Japan on Saturday to resolve what could be a key component to a reconciliation of the divided open-wheel series.George is hoping to encourage officials at the Twin Ring Motegi circuit to move the April 19 race to another weekend in order to include the Long Beach (Calif.) Grand Prix in the IRL's 2008 schedule.

The Long Beach race, which has been held annually by the Champ Car World Series since 1984, has a contract with the city to stage a race that weekend.If Motegi officials agree to move their race, the dominoes to a reconciliation could fall quickly. IRL officials are in discussions with other tracks on its schedule about adjusting their dates to accommodate a handful of Champ Car events.

Both sanctioning bodies are based in Indianapolis, but the IRL would be the leader of a unified series.

But George, who will be accompanied on the Japan trip by IRL presidents Terry Angstadt and Brian Barnhart, said today that he doesn't want to get too optimistic that a deal could be reached.
"Because it seems that every time we've been close, some new obstacle seems to get in the way," he said.

Champ Car co-owner Kevin Kalkhoven stressed that no offer has been made from either series and, therefore, no deal has been agreed to, as has been reported on the Internet.

"I sent Tony a text (message) last night to find out what is going on," he said.

George said he would like to accommodate the Champ Car events that make sense, both from a calendar and a financial standpoint. But he compared this situation to discussions that occurred in 2002 when the assets of Champ Car's parent company (CART) went to bankruptcy court."That was in January, and it was too late in the year to make all these (schedule) changes," he said. "You just can't go changing all the dates around when you have contracts."
International Speedway Corp., which owns several tracks that host races on the IRL's schedule, recently refused a request to move the April 27 race at Kansas Speedway in order for the Japan race to take that date.

The latest round of talks began last fall when Champ Car officials met with George about making the switch to the IRL. George offered to assist Champ Car's teams in acquiring cars and engines if they could prove viability to operate them.

Kalkhoven wants everyone not involved in the discussions to get out of the way.

"Once again, as has happened previously in the past four years, somebody has leaked a story to the press, and the press has turned it into a tornado," he said. "Now it has everyone running around in a circle. It's almost malicious, and it disappoints and infuriates me.

"We were very close to a deal a couple of years ago and everything got leaked. Then instead of the key people working it out, everybody gets involved in the discussion.

"If people are trying to help unification, silence is the best thing."


Indy Star

BUCKING THE ODDS

A Nicely done assessment of where we stand...


MIKE HARRIS
Associated Press
February 6, 2008 at 12:12 PM EST

Paul Tracy smiled as he looked up and down the surprisingly busy pit road during last week's Champ Car World Series preseason test at Sebring International Raceway.

"Looks pretty good, doesn't it?" the series' elder statesman said. "We're already ahead of where we were last year."

Fourteen car-and-driver combinations were on hand for the first test of the season and optimism filled the hot, heavy Florida air.

Against all odds, Champ Car is getting ready for another far-flung season as an American-based series visiting Canada, Mexico, Europe and Australia.

Sponsorship dollars remain in short supply, the series owners continue to cut the budget for TV and marketing, and none of the drivers — except perhaps the 39-year-old Tracy, causes a stir in America's national consciousness.

Almost anyone with knowledge of the situation will quickly volunteer the belief that the only way to save Champ Car would be for the circuit formally known as CART to merge with or sell out to its open-wheel rival, the Indy Racing League and its IndyCar Series.

Numerous negotiations between the two entities over the years have all broken down, mostly over who would control the merged series.

IndyCar has its own troubles — particularly losing stars such as Dario Franchitti and Sam Hornish Jr. to NASCAR. But it also has the popular Indianapolis 500 as part of its schedule — a fact not lost on sponsors and drivers.

But don't tell Champ Car president Steve Johnson it's time for the series to fade away quietly.
"We're sitting in a better position now than we were a year ago," Johnson said during the Sebring test. "Overall, I'm optimistic with the future.

"Last year here we might have had eight or 10 cars and not a (sponsor) decal on any of them," Johnson added. "This year, we have cars and more sponsors and there are a lot of good things happening that I can't talk about yet."

The 14-race Champ Car schedule begins April 20 in Long Beach, Calif., and Johnson said he expects to have at least 17 cars in the lineup.

The driver lineup is expected to include Tracy, a Canadian, 19-year-old American Graham Rahal, the son of longtime racing star Bobby Rahal, and a United Nations of returning stars such as Will Power of Australia, Justin Wilson of England, Robert Doornbos of The Netherlands, Bruno Junqueira of Brazil, Oriol Servia of Spain and Simon Pagenaud of France.

"Look at our driver lineup," Johnson said. "Up and down the paddock, it's the strongest they've seen in a long time."

Gone, though, is Sebastien Bourdais, the Frenchman who dominated the series by winning the last four championships before choosing to take his shot at Formula One in 2008.
But Johnson even found hope in that big loss.

"Everybody out there wants Sebastien's championship," he said. "It's a different intensity out there. You can see it in their eyes."

Even Tracy, whose title came in 2003, Bourdais' rookie season, is hoping he can be a factor in the championship after a disappointing 2007.

Tracy, who drives for Gerald Forsythe, was unhappy last year, complaining openly that he wasn't being given the tools to win.

All that changed the day after Christmas when he met with Forsythe and other team officials and a new plan of action was set out, including replacing all of the team's engineers and most of its mechanics.

"For us, right now, it's a big learning experience," Tracy said. "I'm pretty happy with what we've done over the winter. They've hired the best people they could find out there and we're all on the same page now."

As for the future of the series, Tracy has been through all the ups and down since making his CART debut in 1991, and he prefers to ignore all the rumors about the future and concentrate on the present.

"Everybody's talking about merger, no merger," he said. "I don't know what's going to happen. All I'm concentrating on is this. ... Just look around at all these cars for this first test. I'm looking forward to this year."

AND THE ATLANTICS

The Champ Car Atlantic Championship kicked off its 35th season with two days of testing at Sebring. Here are the happy combined totals:

(pos., driver name, team, best lap time, mph, total laps):

1. James Hinchcliffe, #3 Forsythe Championship Racing, 57.366 sec., 104.738 mph, 151 laps.
2. David Garza, #7 Forsythe Championship Racing, 57.413 sec., 104.652 mph, 201 laps.
3. Jonathan Bomarito, #6 Sierra Sierra Enterprises, 57.542 sec., 104.418 mph, 196 laps.
4. J.R. Hildebrand, #17 Genoa Racing, 57.712 sec., 104.110 mph, 204 laps.
5. Markus Niemela (R), #8 Brooks Associates Racing, 57.762 sec., 104.020 mph, 207 laps.
6. Simona De Silvestro, #34 Newman Wachs Racing, 57.948 sec., 103.686 mph, 219 laps.
7. Jonathan Summerton (R), #36X Newman Wachs Racing, 57.971 sec., 103.645 mph, 90 laps.
8. Kevin Lacroix, #25 Walker Racing, 58.004 sec., 103.586 mph, 255 laps.
9. Daniel Morad (R), #70 Eurointernational, 58.013 sec., 103.570 mph, 228 mph.
10. Sebastien Chardonnet (R), #18 Conquest Racing, 58.062 sec., 103.482 mph, 165 laps.
11. Carl Skerlong, #28 Pacific Coast Motorsports, 58.116 sec., 103.386 mph, 179 laps.
12. Alan Sciuto, #26 Mathiasen Motorsports, 58.167 sec., 103.296 mph, 217 laps.
13. Dane Cameron (R), #9 Sierra Sierra Enterprises, 58.273 sec., 103.108 mph, 231 laps.
14. Greg Mansell (R), #5 Walker Racing, 58.303 sec., 103.055 mph, 219 laps.
15. Juho Annala (R), #21 Conquest Racing, 58.446 sec., 102.803 mph, 193 laps.
16. Mike Forest, #32 PR1 Motorsports, 58.540 sec., 102.638 mph, 242 laps.
17. Adrian Herberts, #45 Paladin Motorsports, 58.594 sec., 102.543 mph, 228 laps.
18. Frankie Muniz,#29 Pacific Coast Motorsports, 58.711 sec., 102.339 mph, 215 laps.
19. Filip Salaquarda (R), #10 Brooks Associates Racing, 58.714 sec., 102.333 mph, 144 laps.
20. John Edwards, #36 Newman Wachs Racing, 58.787 sec., 102.206 mph, 107 laps.
21. Leo Mansell (R), #15 Walker Racing, 58.881 sec., 102.043 mph, 204 laps.
22. Tim Macrow (R), #2X Jensen MotorSport, 58.924 sec., 101.969 mph, 102 laps.
23. Larry Connor (R), #27 Genoa Racing, 59.042 sec., 101.765 mph, 173 laps.
24. Brett Van Blankers (R), #13 Jensen MotorSport, 59.047 sec., 101.756 mph, 172 laps.
25. Imran Husain, #37 Genoa Racing, 1:00.800, 98.790 mph, 104 laps.

DIDN'T I TELL YOU LAST TIME?

Here are the final aggregate times from the three days down in Sebring. Franck Perera of Conquest Racing comes out on top!

Pos Car Driver Hometown Team Best Time

1 24 Franck Perera (R) Montpellier, France Conquest Racing 49.8062
2 Graham Rahal Hilliard, Ohio Newman Haas Lanigan Racing 49.950
3 21 Alex Tagliani Las Vegas, Nevada PKV Racing 50.173
4 22 Oriol Servia Miami, Florida PKV Racing 50.178
5 1 Justin Wilson Denver, Colorado Newman Haas Lanigan Racing 50.207
6 7 Franck Montagny (R) Grand Vaux, Switzerland Forsythe Pettit Racing 50.209
7 19 Bruno Junqueira Miami, Florida Dale Coyne Racing 50.507
8 29 Alex Figge Denver, Colorado Pacific Coast Motorsports 50.521
9 34 Simon Pagenaud Indianapolis, Indiana Conquest Racing 50.702
10 8 Enrique Bernoldi (R) Curitiba, Brazil Rocketsports Racing 50.714
11 3 Paul Tracy Las Vegas, Nevada Forsythe Pettit Racing 50.732
12 28 David Martinez (R) Monterrey, Mexico Pacific Coast Motorsports 50.736
13 4 Ernesto Viso (R) Caracas, Venezuela Minardi Team USA 50.800
14 11 Mario Moraes (R) Sao Paolo, Brazil Dale Coyne Racing 50.930

Notice that all 14 cars are within 1.1 seconds. Harumph!! Please have a look at the Champ Car website for all the latest news on the Sebring test! Spring Training at Laguna Seca is up next!

HIT IT!

JHS

FLEET FRANCK FLIES IN FLA

Times from Day 2 of Sebring open test (pos., driver name, team, lap time, mph, total laps for the two days):

1- Franck Montagny, #7 Forsythe/Pettit Racing, 50.209 seconds, 119.668 mph, 183 laps
2- Justin Wilson, #1 Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, 50.448 seconds, 119.101 mph, 200 laps
3- Graham Rahal, #2 Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, 50.474 seconds, 119.040 mph, 179 laps
4- Franck Perera, #24 Conquest Racing, 50.495 seconds, 118.990 mph, 150 laps
5- Oriol Servia, #22 PKV Racing, 50.505 seconds, 118.966 mph, 212 laps
6- Alex Taglianii, #21 PKV Racing, 50.594 seconds, 118.757 mph, 214 laps
7- Alex Figge, #29 Pacific Coast Motorsports, 50.707 seconds, 118.493 mph, 176 laps
8- Simon Pagenaud, #34 Conquest Racing, 50.792 seconds, 118.294 mph, 139 laps
9- Paul Tracy, #3 Forsythe/Pettit Racing, 50.892 seconds, 118.062 mph, 127 laps
10- Bruno Junqueira, #19 Dale Coyne Racing, 51.122 seconds, 117.531 mph, 171 laps
11- Ernesto Viso, #4 Minardi Team USA, 51.295 seconds, 117.134 mph, 143 laps
12- Enrique Bernoldi, #8 Rocketsports Racing, 51.313 seconds, 117.093 mph, 197 laps
13- Mario Moraes, #11 Dale Coyne Racing, 51.346 seconds, 117.018 mph, 180 laps
14- David Martinez, #28 Pacific Coast Motorsports, 51.432 seconds, 116.822 mph, 203 laps

I don't mean to downgrade the abilities of Messr's Bourdais or Montagny, but maybe the fastest man in the paddock these last years has been Kenny Sieweck... Montangny went one half second faster on Sunday than any car last year at the same test.

In other news, Pat Caporali returms to the series as Champ Car's new PR director, coming over from the Ganassi Grand Am program. Pat did the PR for Forsythe back in the Greg Moore/Patrick Carpentier days.
Another half day of testing on Monday in Sebring.

JHS

A CALL FOR MARSHALS

I am relaying this to you all from Bryan Gregory, our new F&C Chief of Houston:

Greetings fellow F&C Workers and Happy New Year,

On behalf of the F&C leadership team for the 2008 Grand Prix of Houston, it is my pleasure to invite you to participate in what promises to be a fun and exciting experience. We have been hard at work planning this year's race event, and I believe that some key changes that have been made for the benefit of all F&C workers will make this race one of the most desireable to attend as a worker. Key changes for this year include:

• A split shift schedule for Friday and Saturday which will shorten work (on station) time to 7 hours.
• A worker party on Saturday evening with a hot meal provided.
• Coffee, muffins, and donuts will be provided and available prior to the first corner worker meeting each morning.
• An official Grand Prix of Houston event patch will be provided to all F&C workers.
• Corner assignments will be published in advance of the event and captains will be encouraged to communicate via e-mail with team members.
• Free hotel rooms will be provided to travelers of 50 miles or more, but will be assigned double occupancy and allocated on a first-come first serve basis. Space will be limited.
  

The key to success of our event this year will be YOUR participation. We Need YOU! Please read the attached call to workers letter and worker application form. I want to recognize Sydney Davis for doing such a fantastic job of editing the letter and creating the application form. This year's event will afford you more flexibility and options than you have probably seen in the past. You have the choice to work during the ChampCar and supporting race groups, or the ALMS and supporting race groups, or both (if you want to work 14 hour days on Friday and Saturday which I do not recommend). You may also choose to work the ALMS events on Friday and Saturday and join the same corner team on Sunday for the ChampCar race groups, or work ALMS on Friday and Saturday only and do what you wish on Sunday. The free grand stand ticket for all three days that will be provided to you again this year can be used by you when you are 'off duty' or it can be given away to someone else.

You may register online if you wish at: http://www.dlbracing.com/clubs/champcar/workers.aspx?EventID=3117

Please be specific about your shift preference on page one of the application form by checking off your preference and providing written comments on the line provided. I need as many qualified/experienced captains and communicators as possible in order to adequately staff two shifts.

Finally, I want to make sure that everyone understands the experience prerequisite which is required to work F&C at the Grand Prix of Houston. A minimum race experience of two SCCA and/or PCA race weekends within the last calendar year is required. I am looking forward to this year's Grand Prix of Houston and to seeing all of you there! If you have any questions, please call me at (281) 415-6478.

Bryan Gregory
2008 GP of Houston Flag Chief

CARS ON COURSE!!!

Hi all:

Times from day 1 of Sebring open test (pos., driver name, team, lap time, mph):

1- Franck Montagny, Forsythe Pettit Racing, 50.788 seconds, 118.304 mph
2- Oriol Servia, PKV Racing, 50.856 seconds, 118.145 mph
3- Justin Wilson, Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, 50.927 seconds, 117.981 mph
4- Franck Perera, Conquest Racing, 50.986 seconds, 117.844 mph
5- Alex Figge, Pacific Coast Motorsports, 51.097 seconds, 117.588 mph
6- Graham Rahal, Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, 51.104 seconds, 117.572
7- Alex Tagliani, PKV Racing, 51.228 seconds, 117.287 mph
8- Bruno Junqueira, Dale Coyne Racing, 51.228 seconds, 117.287 mph
9- Mario Moraes, Dale Coyne Racing, 51.346 seconds, 117.018 mph
10- Paul Tracy, Forsythe Pettit Racing, 51.347 seconds, 117.016 mph
11- David Martinez, Pacific Coast Motorsports, 51.950 seconds, 115.657 mph
12- Ernesto Viso, Minardi Team USA, 51.973 seconds, 115.606 mph
13- Enrique Bernoldi, Rocketsports Racing, 52.019 seconds, 115.504 mph
14- Simon Pagenaud, Conquest Racing, 52.118 seconds, 115.285 mph

Snippets:

Well, 14 cars on track yesterday on the hot sunny Sebring Circuit. All teams are represented except Walker/Team Australia, which is still negotiating sponsorship. Only one Minardi Car here, but look for Robert Doornbos to re-sign soon to fill the other seat. If Walker can produce two cars we will be back to 17, and maybe we might see a third car from either PKV or Forsythe/Pettit.

Both Newman Haas Lanigan cars are in McDonald’s livery at this test.

One member of the press at the circuit feels: “Without a doubt the Champ Car series is in better shape this year than at the same time last year here at Sebring. There are more car/driver combinations that appear to be ready to go versus last year, the bugs are worked out of the Panoz now whereas last year at this time there were a number of issues that had to be resolved.”

Alex Figge came out strong and had the fastest time of the morning session.

Franck Montagny is a very talented ex-F1 and test driver who says he’s “tired of testing” and like many come over from EUR before him is impressed with the car and the atmosphere. Put him down as a solid winner this year as the Forsythe Team is ramping up their game this season, having also hired Team manager Kenny Sieweck away from Newman/Haas/Lanigan.

Conquest looks to be set to announce a sponsor for the season and will be running two cars for ATL runner up Perera (who is a pretty tough customer) and the 2006 ATL Champ Pagenaud. They will be running another young Frenchman in the ATL series with the interesting moniker of Sebastien Chardonnet. (Will he “wine” as well as his namesake? – Sorry, couldn’t help it!!)

Mario Moraes is a Brazilian who competed (finished 14^th) in British F3 last season.

Ernesto Viso, a Venezuelan, is not confirmed as yet for a full season at Minardi, but finished 6^th in the 2006 GP2 Series. Also did some F1 testing. Have a look at how his race went at Magny Cours last year here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkSr1rQ0W1g He looks ready to me to run with us over here!

Enrique Bernoldi drove for Arrows in F1 in 2001 and 2002, has a full season ride with Rocketsports this season with a solid sponsor, Sangari. More about that deal here:

http://www.champcarworldseries.com/News/Article.asp?ID=12503

More news as I get it. No word on a new Race director, but down at Sebring, Johnny Unser and Gary Barnard are in Race Control with Scot Elkins and Ziggy Harcus in the pitlane.

Away we go for 08… HIT IT!

JHS

HIT IT (...Tony, we hardly knew ye)

Very difficult and disappointing to accept in light of my last blog entry, but I got a call from Tony Cotman on Thursday telling me he was resigning his position as Race Director and Executive VP Operations at Champ Car.

I received this email from Steve Johnson, our President and CEO the next day:

To: All Champ Car Stakeholders

From: Steve Johnson

Re: Tony Cotman

I’m disappointed to inform you that Executive VP & Race Director Tony Cotman will be leaving Champ Car. He just informed me, the Board and Senior Management that he would not be with us this season, noting that soon after he returned from the winter break, after much introspection, he decided that it was time for him to move on to something new.

Certainly, we will miss Tony, as he has been a stellar Race Director and an important member of our management team. He has agreed to remain in his position for the time being to work on the transition and help us identify a replacement who will carry on the tradition of Champ Car racing that puts driver safety and fan entertainment first.

Tony has played a big role in enhancing our racing program, including helping us to successfully launch a new car in both the Champ Car World Series and Champ Car Atlantic Championship after he joined Champ Car in 2005. It’s clear to our sponsors and fans that Champ Car always puts racing first, as that’s the essence of our series and something that we certainly will maintain this season and beyond.

Tony truly has been a committed and passionate member of the Champ Car community for the past three seasons. No “goodbyes” just yet, however, as Tony will continue to work with us for the foreseeable future, but we wanted to let you know as soon as possible. We also will let you know soon who will be stepping in as Race Director to maintain our unique version of Grand Prix open-wheel racing, and how we will handle his management responsibilities.

Tony related to me some of his reasons, which are personal and private, and what Steve says above is certainly very accurate. Tony was also very adamant to tell me that based on what he knows (which is a hell of a lot more than you or I) and because of the strength of the product on the race track and the commitment of our owners, the Champ Car World Series will continue. Amen, and plenty of hard work ahead for all of us.

Paul "Ziggy" Harcus, TC's right hand man and fellow Kiwi will continue to carry the ball for us in our operations department. Ziggy knows all of the practices and procedures Tony has set up as they have worked very closely over the past three seasons. Right now, we do not have an experienced Race Director in RC, as Beaux Barfield was succeeded a few weeks ago by Johnny Unser as our Atlantic Race Director for 2008. As stated in Steve's email, Tony and our owners are working on a replacement.

Three quotes come to mind here.

The first is from Ralph Waldo Emerson:

"Our life is an apprenticeship to the truth, that around every circle another can be drawn; that there is no end in nature, but every end is a beginning; that there is always another dawn risen on mid-noon and under every deep a lower deep opens."

The second from the famous positive thinking philanthropist W. Clement Stone (who is Chris Kneifel's grandfather:)

"From every adversity comes the opportunity for a greater benefit."

And third:

Elwood : "It's 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses."
Jake: "Hit it."

Please join me for the 2008 Champ Car World Series where we will indeed be hitting it.

JHS

HOLIDAY GREETINGS FROM TC

Hello everyone,

Although I missed the traditional Thanksgiving posting, Champ Car World Series Race Director Tony "Big Daddy TC" Cotman has asked that I post his Holiday and Season-Ending message to all of you.

(Don't bother sending him one as he's gonna spend a looooong time in the Carribean during the Holidays - he's been working haaaaaaard.)

As for me, my Pre-Chirstmas art production rush was finally over as of the 21st. Since getting home from Mexico City on the Tuesday after the race, I did a pit stop piece for CDW that they presented to the RuSPORT team, The Champ Car and Atlantic combined Holiday Card, print versions of that Champ Car art shipped out to all of our promoters world-wide (copies are available on my website www.jimswintal.com of course,) and a Holiday card for Pacific Coast Motorsports (which I guess is now my "home" Champ Car team as thay are located just up the coast form here in Oxnard.

I have a few more things queued up for the first part of January, trying to stave off the bleak midwinter work-wise. However, as of the Solstice on the 22nd, days are getting longer again by several seconds a day and soon to be minutes a day. Some people say that the nights are longer around now so we have more time to dream about our futures. God bless us All, Every One.

Lets get on to 2008!

Here's from TC:

To all our loyal supporters:

Another year goes by and way too quickly it seems. This year we witnessed some of the best racing we’ve seen in years. A large part of that reason was due to the inception of the new DP 01 chassis. We had rookies winning races, smaller teams often in the thick of things, some new venues but most of all exciting racing throughout the season. Ultimately Sebastien Bourdais came out on top once again, a testament to his talent, dedication and a great team. We wish him all the best in Formula One.

I’m sure you all have a favorite race but mine was Cleveland. Drivers who come from the back to win, whether through hard charging, brilliant strategy or some good luck, that’s what makes Champ Car racing so awesome. You may often be down but never out – race to the end!

We look forward to introducing some small changes for the 2008 season which will enhance our product for the fans. I hope each and every one of you enjoyed the race events this season whether you were able to attend or not. We at Champ Car once again thank you for continued support, dedication and loyalty to our series. As I’ve said many times before, without you all we could not continue to put on a show at such a high level. And how about a big “shout” out to the Clerk of the Course - Jim Swintal - for his leadership throughout the season.

I hope you enjoy the holiday season, your families and have an extra beer for me! I look forward to continued growth of the series and seeing you all again real soon.

Happy Holidays,

TC

Where's Jimmy?

Yes, I know it has been quite a while and also quite a season. Several people have really gotten on me for not updating like I promised I would. This is not an excuse, but this season, especially the 9 races in 13 weeks has been a real grind for me.

All of you out there have made it easier nonetheless, and I have a few entertaining stories to tell and people to thank from Portland to Assen. My summer art rush is quite over but I am working hard securing holiday orders. I spent most of my evenings in my hotel rooms in Cleveland, Mt. Tremblant, Toronto and Edmonton trying to get my latest litho "Lights Out" to market by San Jose.

Those of you interested can find it at http://www.jimswintal.com/ and it features our first standing start earlier this year at Portland. (When I get to it, that will be my first essay recounting the summer.) My website will not allow coupons, but for all of you reading, if you type "Lights Out" in the "comments" box on the payment page, I can REFUND $5.00 back to you off the $25 purchas price... a deal for the holidays?

After the cancellation of PHX (which in the long run should be a good thing due to the circumstances we were up against,) CCWS finds itself in another gloom and doom period. Yes, been there and done that, quite understandably. But I will tell you that Tony Cotman is an extremely creative and resourceful guy and I will give him one off-season period to "reboot" the way our office does things. He has shared with me plenty of thoughts and ideas for the 2009 let alone 2008 seasons and I can say that most of them are astounding... so let the doom and gloomers "blow" as my Mother used to say...

Eric Gagnon and I shall be doing an other installment of the "Overheard at the Track " podcast next week where we will be discussing some of these things. If you have not been listening thruought the season, shame on you! But you should be able to find them all here: http://www.overheardatthetrack.mypodcast.com/

Have a listen sometime if you have not heard them and re-live all the controversy and Bulls**t of the colorful 2007 season.

TTFN...

jhs

Nick Fornoro 1920-2007

Hello all:

My predecessor on the start stand, Nick Fornoro, passed away yesterday. I want to share with you my thoughts about Nick as I related to his daughter-in-law Anne in an email I sent to her earlier today:


Hi Anne, and please let me say I that I am really saddened for this huge loss to your family.

Please feel free to share this with them. I am sure you will be getting many emails, so please toss it on the pile, as Nick has so many people that love him.

I am attaching a scan of an item I just came across a few days ago in my storage files, and I'll fill you in on the story.

Several years after Nicky left the stand, we found ourselves down in Surfers Paradise in the middle of a long and rainy Friday morning practice session. Tom Michaels and Jim Murphy of the Champ Car Radio Network felt things were a little slow and that they had to needle me a little. Their broadcast booth was very close to the track and about halfway through the session, this sign as well as a few others calling for my ouster showed up in their window and we all had a good laugh over it.

I don't know when Nicky lapsed into his coma, but I happened across this sign sometime while he was in it. It is amazing timing that I would find it now after so many years, maybe about ten, since I had seen it last.

I find that every significant person in my life that has passed away somehow leaves me some sort of "message" or sign that they are just fine where they currently are, usually in some sort of amusing way. I also believe everyone who leaves this world does, and continues to do so, just so long as you look carefully and leave yourself open to the beauty of the possibility. So please share with your family that this was Nicky's way with me and I am so pleased that he did. They in turn should all look for something from him in some way as well.

I realize Nicky was still here when I found this, but it just points out how large and how powerful a soul he possessed. He could do amazing things, and this is just one more. Frankly, if he felt he had to leave signs for all that cared about him, then he needed to get going on it early, as it would be a huge task!

I can assure you that though he had been away from the series for a while, we still bring him up and talk about him, whenever something reminded us about something he did, or the type of person he was. Just last race in Holland, someone asked about the start stand, and I spent a few minutes recounting what it was like to do a race with Nick, and all the interesting and entertaining phrases and mannerisms he used to get through a race. He was a master storyteller and observer of human nature. He took needling and happily gave it back. Those of us in the series that knew him and worked alongside him learned quite a bit about how to get along with each other and our own selves.

Thank you and God Bless you and your family for sharing him with us. In the few brief times I met you all, you demonstrated you are obviously a family that loves, cares, and looks after each other. To live on in the way Nicky demonstrated for all of us will be his greatest legacy.

Please take care,

Jim Swintal

OVERHEARD IN PORTLAND

The second podcast of the season with Eric Gagnon is up on his site. You can find us at:

http://www.overheardatthetrack.mypodcast.com/

Hope to write down some more Portland thoughts later this week!

JHS

BACK TO WORK

I guess the only way I can make time nowadays to contribute to this thing is to make some treat out of it. So I am sitting on my front porch (straining a little bit to see the screen, but that’s like a day in race control) with a cold bottle of Steinlager beer, trying to keep in mind how much I love what I do and those I do it with.

I’ve had a bit more to do on my drawing board this year than normal, which is great, but it keeps me away from checking in regularly. Enough said, you all can relate.

I want to heavily thank all that contributed to our first three-in-a-row to get this season underway. It’s certainly a little to easier to do 3 on the trot at the start of the season when you aren’t already worn thin, but it’s a little like jumping into the deep end of an ice-cold pool. Our volunteer marshals were a nice, steady dependable constant in a whirling array of new venues and materials, some not so new. Five people: Bob Bidmead, Bob Griffith, Nancy Digh-Carbini, Rod Kramer and Dutchman Maurice Pijpers completed the hat trick by working all 3 events! Our hats are off to you, your families and your jobs for allowing y’all to come thru for us!

I also want to thank our Chiefs and organizers: Mike Jennings, Ian Cook, John Proctor & Keith Rude from Vegas: Ceci Smith, Linda Haneline, Bil Baldwin and Monte Lawler from The Beach: and most decidedly Gentleman Jim Lowe and Bryan Gregory from the Republic of Houston, who had an absurd schedule to deal with. Linda and Bryan will be succeeding their forebears next season and I am confident they shall come through, thanks to all of you good people out there!!

Thank you also for the good comments regarding the podcast posted in the last blog. There is a lot in there that I now don’t really need to write all out anymore, and look for another to be put up right after Memorial Day.

VEGAS - ONE THOUSAND YEARS EXPERIENCE?

I also want to make mention of the amazing amount of talent that showed up in these first three, and with it came a very generous number of Brits and Europeans. I will have to say that on the numbers alone, the Las Vegas event should be the most experienced we have ever assembled for a Champ Car race, and all the flexibility and “ambassadoring” you had to do really was a godsend. We made a list to give to the TV commentators regarding how many different countries were represented. At the first three races we had USA, Canada, England, Holland, Germany and Mexico, and I think at Vegas, we also had 7 different event flag chiefs on board!

MONKEY NOW A WALLFLOWER

As an unfortunate result of the absurdly-messy Atlantic race in Las Vegas, which featured both a six and a seven-car pile-up for overdriving the flags, the stewards and Race Directors have asked us to suspend our “Monkey-Dance” (waving all the flags) for both series. With good reason, they can see that we are just asking for trouble, and you won’t blame them once you get an opportunity to see the Atlantic boys (and girl) do their stuff. The average age of the field is 23 point something, and when you lop off the three 40-somethings who are doing partial seasons, the average drops to under 21. They are a caring, understanding and conscientious group outside the car, but get them behind the wheel and you will run to get your kids off the streets!

LGB

With a new complicated event in Las Vegas and a terrible schedule in Houston, Long beach actually seemed quite restful!!! Paul Tracy took a wallop when his car DROPPED off a retaining wall after contact, but as of now he will be back in the 3 car at PDX, alongside the man who filled in during his absence, Oriol Servia.

HOUSTON

Houston, God bless ‘em had 615AM marshal briefings and the cars were on course until 915PM, 945 PM and 4PM on the three days. Yeah, do the math. Last year we had 83 marshals and this year we had 53, as many of the out of region marshals attended the first two races. The region will have its work cut out for it getting even 33 for next year if it accepts another schedule like this and understandably, Houston Region felt like they would be looked upon as the “Bad Guys” had they refused to staff the event on grounds of too long on duty. I can tell you all from CCWS Race Director Tony Cotman that they will not be, and will have the total support of CCWS Operations and our front office if they stand up to the promoter on this issue next season, so we will see! I want to thank all that bore up decidedly well under the strain, and we all got through well in what proved to be a difficult race.

I don’t often launch into war stories, but I must take this point to honor what in my mind was the move of the season so far, as the end of the Houston Race wound down. Our “Pit In” comm, Jim Livings, had the hapless Tristan Gommendy of the PKV team stop just upstream of his post, out of fuel, while leading. Naturally, TG was quite distraught and wandered on foot down the track past the Pit In post, looking for a gap in the wall to exit. As we all watched with intensity from Race Control as to just where TG might stumble to, he appeared to veer again toward the center of the track and the racing line. Enter Jim, who does a huge stretch out over the wall to give Tristan the quick “exit stage left” hook around the shoulder which had Tristan scamper over the wall and off the track like a scalded Frenchman. I’m not one to ever advocate touching a driver in most circumstances (especially when they are pissed!) but this really did the trick this time. Race Control erupted with roars of approval and laughter, and Replay Steward Gary Barnard was so impressed that he later presented Jim with a DVD burned on the spot from the race coverage!

Well, three down and 12 or 13 to go, depending on who you talk to. Such is our series, such is our season. Standing starts should be upon us next time out, as of this writing. Have a look for another two podcasts before I sit down again. Another Steinlager, please.

See you at the track!!!

JHS

DID I SAY THAT OUT LOUD???

Hey y'all:

Champ Car web guy Eric Gagnon has invited me to co-host a podcast with him featuring our thoughts and conversations about the CCWS. You can find it at:

http://overheardatthetrack.mypodcast.com/index.html

Please have a listen, I think you may like it! It goes about a half hour. We plan to put one up on the Thursday or Friday night before each race.

Sitting in the Champ Car radio trailer right now on Saturday night in Houston while the ALMS race is going on. It's 7 PM and only three more hours 'til the beer party... but we got here for the meeting at six AM!!!

More about this race, it's lousy schedule and the other two races will be coming soon. After three on, I have SIX weeks off!!!

See you at the track,

JHS

ALMOST THERE

Hello everyone.

Yes, I know it’s been a while - and I hoped to be updating more often in 2007, but I don’t even have my taxes done yet either!!! I am coming off the busiest winter season art-wise that I have had in a long time, and I’ve spent the last 45 days chasing deadlines that I could not turn down! I had intended to give you a full update right after the Laguna test, but I just couldn’t get to it, so now I have a little time right before we hit our new downtown venue in Las Vegas.

TESTING

First of all, thanks to the good people at USARM, who staff the posts very professionally day in and day out at Laguna Seca. Most of these folks work there just about every day and know the joint like the backs of their hands! It really shows in the quality of the communication and the easy way they work together on most incidents as standing around all day looking at monster 3.5 hour sessions while working absolutely alone is really difficult!!

We had two days of testing for the 25 or so Atlantics and two more for the 15 Champ cars that made it out there. After so many years going to that beautiful track, it was great to be back there, I really do miss the place and especially the surroundings! With Mazda making the announcement that they are now the official vehicle of CCWS and their plan to phase in their SUV vehicles as our Safety team trucks, it could be that “MAZDA Raceway Laguna Seca could show up on our schedule again someday should something befall our San Jose date. But I wouldn’t count on them ever happening together!

The new Panoz chassis looks and sounds great, and it was a real thrill to see more than just one at a time! The #3 Forsythe entry of Paul Tracy is the nicest looking paint scheme I have seen on a Champ Car in many a season. When I was a kid, race cars had racing stripes, and this one has a nice blue one running down the top of the chassis, very reminiscent of the old Roberto Guerrero Bignotti-Cotter March from the early Eighties. Yes, I date myself with that comment!

If you have keeping up with the news out of the CCWS website, you have heard that we delayed our debut of the standing start until around Portland for now. This was a decision based on the results of the standing start practice that was carried out during the last hours of practice on the Champ Car days. They just aren’t there yet in making the procedure easy enough as to not stall the engines during these starts. On Friday, We set up the start lights on the bridge and the cars came up either individually or in pairs and one of us in RC would activate the lights for the start sequence (Tony Cotman let me run ‘em on Saturday and it felt like owning a real life slot car track.) The success rate was about 60% on Friday and closer to 85% on Saturday after Cosworth made some adjustments, but that ain’t good enough yet, so they’ll keep working. But man, it’s a great spectacle and the aroma of burning rubber will make you swoon. Portland will be a great place to air it all out.

2007

We hit the track on Friday morning in Las Vegas. The marshal crew looks like a stellar cast with a lot of people coming in from England and Holland and we should have over 100 strong for the first two events. Unfortunately, three-in-a-row being difficult, Houston’s numbers are well down for this year, maybe under 50 marshals. So if you are sitting on the fence, get a hold of Jim Lowe at jtlowe@swbell.net My suggestion to Mexico City chief Fritz Herrmann to drive up about a dozen people in the trunk of his car to re-create the agonizing bus rides they had to endure up to Monterrey has fallen on deaf ears.

As far as car count, expect 17 or 18 Champ Cars, 24-28 Atlantics, and our biggest race group in LV will be the Historic GP cars. I honestly asked Tony Cotman while he sat alongside me for four days in Laguna if we should be very concerned about the low Champ Car turnout and he unequivocally said no. Again, despite some of the gloom coming out of public opinion these days about our health, many plans are in the works to grow sponsor, team and general interest in our series, especially internationally. Some of them I know about, some of them I don’t. Just be assured that we aren’t standing around and I’m counting on all of you to continue to do your best with the series that we fortunately have!

THE FIELD

There will be a second Forsythe car this year and a probable third for a Chinese driver at Zhuhai. According to the rumour mill, Team Australia may run a third car at LV which would bring us to 18. And all of the seats are set except for Conquest’s car and Dale Coyne’s second car, which we will know about in a few short days… We will keep up our Champ Car tradition by soon having an ass for every seat! Wait, did I say that out loud?

Expect the following:

Newman/Haas/Lanigan... Bourdais and Graham Rahal

Team Australia... Power and Pagenaud and TBD?

RSPORTS... Tagliani and Wilson

Forsythe... Tracy and Dominguez (1st three races)

PKV... Neel Jani and Tristan Gommendy

Coyne... Legge and TBD

Minardi (ex CTE)... Robert Doornbos and Clarke

Conquest ...TBD

Pacific Coast... Figge and Dalziel

TTFN. Looking forward to blow the rust off my game and the doors off Downtown Las Vegas. Catch the race on NBC Sunday!

See you at the track!!!!

JHS

TEXAS TEST TIMES

Both the Atlantic and Champ Car teams went testing last week at the MSR Houston track. In case you missed the times:

ATLANTICS:

1. James Hinchcliffe, Sierra Sierra Enterprises – 1:18.785/108.752 mph
2. Raphael Matos, Sierra Sierra Enterprises – 1:19.169/108.224 mph
3. Robert Wickens (R), Red Bull Team Forsythe – 1:19.360/107.964 mph
4. David Garza (R), US RaceTronics – 1:19.390/107.923 mph
5. Jonathan Bomarito, PR1 Motorsports – 1:19.500/107.774 mph
6. Giacomo Ricci (R), Conquest Racing – 1:19.553/107.702 mph
7. Carl Skerlong (R), US RaceTronics – 1:19.589/107.653 mph
8. Daniel Herrington (R), Newman Wachs Racing – 1:19.768/107.411 mph
9. Matt Lee (R), Conquest Racing – 1:19.780/107.395 mph
10. John Edwards (R), Red Bull Team Forsythe – 1:19.784/107.390 mph
11. J.R. Hildebrand (R), Newman Wachs Racing – 1:19.831/107.327 mph
12. Junior Strous (R), Condor Motorsports – 1:19.977/107.131 mph
13. Simona De Silvestro (R), Walker Racing – 1:20.075/107.000 mph
14. Ryan Lewis, Walker Racing – 1:20.391/106.579 mph
15. Adrian Carrio (R), Genoa Racing – 1:20.408/106.557 mph
16. Alan Sciuto, Gelles Racing – 1:20.508/106.424 mph
17. Gavin Cronje (R), Gelles Racing – 1:20.885/105.928 mph
18. Justin Sofio, Mathiasen Motorsports – 1:20.924/105.877 mph
19. Mike Forest (R), PR1 Motorsports – 1:21.149/105.584 mph
20. Tom Sutherland (R), Jensen MotorSport – 1:21.153/105.578 mph
21. Dominick Muermans (R), Jensen MotorSport – 1:21.239/105.467 mph
22. Tonis Kasemets, Polestar Racing Group – 1:21.569/105.040 mph
23. Frankie Muniz (R), Jensen MotorSport – 1:21.739/104.821 mph
24. Adrien Herberts (R), Paladin Motorsports – 1:21.928/104.580 mph
25. Richard Heistand (R), Gelles Racing – 1:23.929/102.086 mph


CHAMP CARS:

1. Power – Team Australia 1:10.040
2. Rahal - Newman/Haas 1:10:079
3. Jani - Red Bull PKV 1:10:160
4. Bourdais - Newman/Haas 1:10:333
5. Junqueira - Coyne 1:10.560
6. Pagenaud - Team Australia 1:10:776
7. Philippe - Conquest 1:11:035
8. Wilson - RuSPORT 1:11:179
9. Doornbos - Minardi 1:11:216
10. Servia - RuSPORT 1:11:257
11. Tracy - Forsythe 1:11:591
12. Legge - Coyne 1:11:607
13. Dalziel - Pacific Coast 1:11:658
14. Tagliani - Rocketsports 1:12:161
15. Figge - Pacific Coast Motorsports 1:13:567

Those are the headlines, now the RUMOURS behind them...

The Drivers in bold above are confirmed with those teams for the 2007 season. Notice how the new Panoz Chassis has made times extremely close - at least for now!! The empty CCWS seats and the drivers RUMORED to be possible for them are…

Newman Haas (1 seat) – Graham Rahal

Minardi USA – (2 or 3 seats) Robert Doornbos, Nelson Philippe, Dan Clarke

Forsythe (1) – Nelson Philippe, Tiago Montiero

Coyne (2) – Bruno Junquiera, Katherine Legge, Andreas Wirth

Conquest (1) - Jan Heylen, Andrew Ranger, Charles Zwolsman, Alex Premat

PKV (1) – Oriol Servia (fastest at Sebring test,) Scott Speed

Rocketsports (1?) – Oriol Servia, Nicky Pastorelli

RuSPORT (1) Mario Dominguez, Oriol Servia

So doing the math and depending upon how things shake out we may have as many as 20 cars or as few as 18.

And BTW, Champ Car has confirmed that we will be employing the first-ever Champ car standing start in Las Vegas on beautiful Easter Sunday. God Bless us all!!! I would also expect a few more big announcements about the series between now and then.

JHS

CARS ON COURSE!!!

Hello everyone!

There are 75 days ‘til the season opener in Las Vegas and today marks the first official day of three days of team testing for the Panoz DP01 Chassis down in Sebring, Florida.

Here is a list of the cars and drivers in attendance at today’s test. We will know just who is testing where at the end of today, and not all drivers who are testing have been officially signed on to drive in 2007.

Newman Haas Racing, car 1 - Sebastien Bourdais
Newman Haas Racing, car 2 - Graham Rahal

Forsythe Racing, car 3 - Paul Tracy

Minardi Team USA, car 4 - Robert Doornbos

Team Australia, car 5 - Simon Pagenaud

Rocketsports Racing, car 8 - Alex Tagliani

RuSPORT, car 9 - Justin Wilson
RuSPORT, car 10 - Mario Dominguez

Dale Coyne Racing, car 11 - TBA
Dale Coyne Racing, car 19 - Katherine Legge

PKV Racing, car 12 - Jimmy Vasser
PKV Racing, car 21 - Neel Jani

Pacific Coast Motorsports, car 28 - Ryan Dalziel
Pacific Coast Motorsports, car 29 - Alex Figge

I’m sure if you look into the CCWS website later today there will be times posted. And you can click on a link that will let you watch live timing as well. You can also read Robin Miller’s ideas and speculations as to who else may be driving a Champ Car come the opener on Easter Sunday. You can also learn a little about what the teams have and will expect to encounter as the new chassis gets worked in this week:

http://www.champcarworldseries.com/News/Article.asp?ID=11199

This week is the first test, and the Champ Cars will also visit MSR Houston Feb 12 & 13, with our final “Spring Preview” along with the Atlantic Series at Laguna Seca March 7-10. The last day, Saturday, at Laguna Seca will also be open to the public. I am told that both the MSR Houston Test and the Laguna Seca test will feature… brace yourselves… steady… practice standing starts for the Champ Cars! Could be our season starts off in Vegas with a bang, as the front straight there will be plenty wide – we shall see.


FIA FLAGGING

A few weeks ago there was an article on the Champ Car website that quoted Race Director Tony Cotman announcing some changes in our flagging procedures, namely, moving closer to FIA standards. I understand it created a few waves of interest among our volunteer Marshals, but in reality the immediate impact will be very slight. Tony and Champ Car are leading the charge in the US to move closer toward our foreign brethren in the way we do things, as most of our drivers were obviously brought up that way, and we may see more overseas events on our schedule in the future.

Tony will soon be attending an FIA meeting of Worldwide Race Directors, including those from ALMS, Grand Am, IRL and representatives from the SCCA. I can say that we will move towards FIA flagging in stages, rather than all at once, as the verdict is actually still out on full-course yellows vs. Safety Car Boards and the like. For now, we shall keep our current yellow flag standards intact, i.e., standing yellow, waved yellow and double yellows for full course. When you look back our series’ operational history, Champ Car/CART have always been at the forefront in innovation in the US, and we have been gradually moving toward the standard we now have (which is very close to FIA, except for the yellows) In fact, I can just about name every significant change and either the incident or driver who brought it about since I started with the series (Roberto Guerrero first suggested the double yellow so he could tell immediately without being radioed that the whole course was yellow.) Our effort right now is to get our other US-based sanctioning bodies to go along with us as well.

What we will be doing differently this year is: 1) the blue flag will be the solid color blue, as used outside the US. Champ Car will supply these new blue flags for all events that do not have them; 2) during the race, the blue flags from the corners will still be regarded as advice, but all blue flags from the start stand will be COMMANDS, replacing the double blue we have recently used. This puts more onus on you blue flaggers out there to be sharp!!!; 3) the white flag will no longer be waved from the start stand to signify one lap remaining, a carryover from our oval days. So the white flag will mean a slow vehicle ahead, no matter where it appears (no truth to the rumor that JD Wilbur will be using a foam #1finger to show one more lap. Well, maybe, but only on his last day, which is whenever he decides to do it!) So essentially, that’s it for now. We have actually given the starter’s signals more weight by reducing the number of signals he gives, and the rest is riding on you all. In my mind, that speaks volumes for what Tony Cotman trusts you can easily handle!

If you have any further questions, please drop me a line at jhs@champcar.ws and I’ll do my best to answer them. I am working on a 2007 version of our Flagging, Communication & Intervention Standards, and I hope to post them here before the season starts!



NEW SERIES LOGO

The long-threatened new series logo was unveiled today and you can have a look at it here:

http://www.champcarworldseries.com/News/Article.asp?ID=11207

Yes, and I am working hard on a deal to make patches available to all our Marshals, so this is what the wait was all about!!


DENVER

Some folks have asked so I will only share with you what is out among the other news websites about the Denver Race. This from AutoRacing1 and the Denver Post:

In addition to lacking a local promoter and title sponsor, the annual street race on the Pepsi Center grounds has been bumped from its 2008 August weekend because the arena will be preparing for the Democratic National Convention.

“We have some challenges that we have to solve for the event, and there are a number of challenges - from the promoter, to the sponsor, to even the event date," Johnson said. "We are in contact with a number of people to see if we can pull this off."

Pepsi Center spokesman Brian Kitts confirmed that the arena has revoked Champ Car's 2008 race date.

"It doesn't give us much flexibility from a date standpoint," Johnson said. "Dealing with the folks at the Pepsi Center, with all the things they have going on, you have to be flexible."
Champ Car's European expansion races that were added Sept. 2 and Sept. 9 could have a negative impact on saving the Denver race, which has been held in mid-August the past three years.

Champ Car's 2007 schedule features back-to-back races in Elkhart Lake, Wis. (Aug. 12), and Denver (Aug. 19), then the series heads to Europe. With the DNC conflict in 2008, the race likely would have to be moved to June or July.

Kitts said the Pepsi Center is willing to work with Champ Car to find a 2008 date, but it won't be easy.

"The Grand Prix is the biggest event that we ever have done," Kitts said. "It has so many moving parts, it will always be the biggest thing that we do. So it would be difficult to just slide it in and out.

# # #

So that is all for now. Watch those practice times and we will see what happens next!

JHS

EL FINAL DEL CAMINO

So here we stand at the last blog of the year and the last recounting our busy 2006 season which will only get busier and better in 2007.

2006 will be the last time in the foreseeable future we will be working twice a year with our Mexican compadres, O.P.M., out on our posts, ending a 5-year run in which this very enthusiastic flagging group did 10 races for us. I want to extend yet another heartfelt Muchas Gracias to OPM chiefs Fritz Herrmann (who has become one of my very good friends,) Hector Gomez, and all of their assistants, observadores and banderaleros!

They had their hands very full this year, setting up and learning their way through the new changes to the course. We excluded the run through the baseball stadium, resulting in a new, very tight little chicane at the entry to the 180 degree Peraltada corner, which also contained a very tricky-to-observe pit entry. With the chicane shortcuts, the late pit entry calls and the watching of the front stretch “foul line” at its exit, this part of the track is one of the most complicated and labor-intensive to operate anywhere! Carumba!!!


MUY FAMOSA

On Friday afternoon, Hector Gomez had a suggestion that led me to visit our flagging crew at the exit of the last corner, Puesto 17. It turned out the crew were all female, and had gotten full wind of the Katherine Legge “Warriors in Pink” campaign that Ford sponsored in Elkhart Lake. Their captain even went so far as to embroider up her own very well done and accurate copies of the Warriors in Pink patch, which she applied to her gear.

So naturally these young ladies all idolize Ms. Legge, and Hector suggested a meeting be arranged. I did the groundwork the next morning – meeting Katherine and her father, formally, for the first time (he had sent me an email about 10 hours after my Elkhart blog was posted,) and Katherine agreed, hanging around for an extra half hour after the driver’s meeting. It was well worth the idea and the effort as even with the help of Laura Malvaez our recorder/"interpreter," several of the crew were almost too excited to speak! Katherine held up her end as always, and even though she balked at being introduced as the “Muy Famosa Katherine Legge,” we all know better. Thank you Katherine for a wonderful gesture that brightened this corner crew’s entire season, and thank you Hector for such a brilliant idea.


Katherine and the brave crew of 17.


EL CARRERA LOCO

The race got off to a really tightly packed and then rocky start, with contact on the front straight before the line resulting in the aforementioned Ms. Legge clouting the pit wall after a nudge by Mr. Dominguez. Then it became one of those situations where a lot was happening around the track as the yellows flew and I got caught focusing ALL of my attention on the wrong spot.

It turns out Mario shaved his scoring transponder off in the melee, leaving it laying on the front straight before the start line, alongside Katherine’s car. Mario limped away, but scoring data showed two cars left behind. So as I rolled through a series of questions trying to verify how many cars were at the scene, I was notified by Fritz that Ryan Briscoe was taking the short course link from turn 4 to turn 8 and he had some tire damage. No matter, I figured, he was involved in the shunt and will be stopping anyway, and I went back to figuring out what happened back at the start line…

However, it was such a damned big shortcut, he managed to move into the lead as the second pace car we had installed just beyond turn four (it was the second race this year where we employed two pace cars to get the field collected on a big circuit) had captured everyone else, and Ryan came into the pits well before the field and pace car finished the lap. His crew then speedily changed the tire and got him out before the pace car came ‘round and there he goes all the way around to catch the rear of the field, having assumed the lead illegally. Ouch!

Since he had come in to a closed pit, Timing and Scoring docked him a lap, as the penalty for such is taking the restart at the back of the field. That fixed that, but the rest of RC couldn’t quite figure out how the H he had gotten there, as I managed to then forget all about the shortcut. Ouch #2. (Go back and re-read all of that if you are lost.)

Gary Barnard figured it all out several laps later after reviewing our video feeds. Embarrassingly, my light bulb went on and I had to admit that I had been sitting on the answer all along. I still have those moments – or even days – where just a little too much happens at once and I happen to focus on the wrong thing, missing something else in the process. Part of my task is filtering the info that comes off the land line, and shortcuts by damaged cars is something that is normally a non-issue. I didn’t put the whole sequence together as I was too wound up in finding out where Mario went! It could have been the language, but I think it was just my confusion… lesson learned – I hope!!


ON THE WALL

Mexico City is the track where we first did the old school “Checkered flag on the race track” back in 2003, my first year in RC as Clerk. Remember, that was during the regime of Chris Kneifel, and after getting an eyeful of it last year, Tony Cotman deemed it was not worth the risk, thinking of the damage to the image of our series if something went wrong. I saw his point and we compromised that we could do it this year, one last time (as this won’t be the last race of the season next year,) from the top of the wall. And hey, when it began raining halfway through the race, SO IT WAS A GOOD DAY TO STAY ON THE WALL!! How did Tony know?

I watched the final laps from the island between the pit lane and the track, as the the circuit had put together a small platform stairway at the line. As Wilson and Bourdais flashed by under JD’s white flag, I thought that it was going to make a hell of a great picture to have two cars coming down battling for the win (another good reason not to be on the track, I might add.) But it was not to be, as the two banged wheels at turn six, Sebastien got around in the process and came around well ahead. Yet another tough call by Tony, deeming it a racing incident on the last lap (remember Tracy/Bourdais at Denver, please) and being consistent by letting the result stand. They never seem to get easier.

Sebastien remembered where the flag was and duly came WAY over to the inside for the checker, spraying myself and the photographers assembled to capture the shot. A ton of paper also flew up into the air from an advertising decal that was sucked off the wall at the same time and I was really impressed until I remembered that it was leftovers from the first lap shunt!
The resulting photo was something a little different from years past because of the location of the flag, so at least we can say we aren’t stuck doing the same thing year after year.


End of the Trail 

IN CLOSING…

So as you read this there are only a few scant hours left in 2006, or 2007 is freshly upon us with all its challenges and promises. All our teams have at least one new Panoz DP01 they are busily setting up for the first test at the end of the month in Sebring. I have plenty to do from now until the season opener in Vegas, plenty of art to assemble on my drawing board, and also a website (cha-ching) to maintain and update. Next month I should be able to bring you up to speed on any changes or developments (like no yellow stripe in the blue flag next year) to our series.

From ALL of us in the Champ Car World Series family, thank you once again for being a part of this great undertaking, a series you and I and we have all come to love with all of our hearts. God Bless you all during the New Year and our best wishes for a prosperous and happy Two Thousand Seven.

See you at the track!!!

JHS