Hey everyone!
Time for some March ramblings. Plenty has been going on, and a half bottle of Columbia Crest Grand Estates Chardonnay has persuaded me to share some of the excitement. Not the least of which is Champ Car's selection of a Race Director for 2006. It's gonna be Tony Cotman again, and hopefully 'til kingdom come. I didn't ask for any details as I don't wanna know any details, but I know it's great news for the paddock, for me and you. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
OK... Also of note, we have had the new Swift Atlantic chassis unveiled, a big news Champ Car driver signing, plenty of silly season rumors, and some fresh talk about reunification with the IRL.
NEW ATLANTIC CHASSIS DEBUTS
The new Swift 0.16.a Mazda Cosworth Atlantic
The unveiling took place at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. A well-kept secret was that Mazda North America has signed on to be a marketing partner of the series and will power the car with its Mazda MZR engine, to be serviced by Cosworth Engineering. You can read more about it here:
http://www.champcarworldseries.com/News/Article.asp?ID=9959
Also on hand that evening, Kevin Kalkhoven announced that 2005 three-time Atlantic winner Katherine Legge has been signed to drive a PKV Champ car for 2006:
http://www.champcarworldseries.com/News/Article.asp?ID=9958
Performance-wise, the new Swift 0.16.a will be 10mph faster at the top end, has a 3" longer wheelbase, will have 60 more horsepower and even more cupholders than the previous model Swift 0.14.a. It has already undergone testing at Firebird Raceway with two-time champ Jon Fogarty behind the wheel. Over 30-car field averages are expected, based on the number of cars that have been ordered, and beginning at Cleveland, the series will return to standing starts whenever track conditions allow. Smell a little change in the air?
CHAMP CAR SILLY SEASON RAMPANT
Yeah sure, five weeks before the Long Beach opener and team lineups are far from set. Par for the course in this economy. I'm sure the last shoe will drop on the morning of the first practice as it did last season. Here's the current rumor update about who might drive for whom - and I underline rumor!
(confirmed drivers in bold)
AUSTRALIA – Tagliani, Will Power
COYNE - Ricardo Sperafico, TBD
FORSYTHE – Tracy & Dominguez
CTE/hvm – Philippe, Bremer, Jan Heylen
MiJack-CONQUEST –Ranger, Heylen
Newman/Haas – Bourdais & Junquiera
PKV – Legge, Servia, also Vasser will drive selected races
ROCKETSPORTS - Franck Montagny, Antonio Pizzonia, Enrique Bernoldi
RuSPORT – Allmendinger & Wilson
That is where we stand now, but remember, with 2006 being the last year for the Lola chassis, it’s gonna be another tough year, car-wise and sponsor-wise. But I had an odd dream last month that we had 32 cars for the final at Mexico City...hmmm. Once the new Panoz comes on line for 2007, then we will see how far we have come…
HOLD YOUR BREATH…
Two weeks ago, Autoweek ran a news story that Kevin Kalkhoven and Tony George had met several times in the last months to attempt to work out an agreement to combine both series. Have a look at these:
http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060221/FREE/60221006/1001
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060221/SPORTS01/60221031
http://www.speedtv.com/articles/autoindustry/auto/22207/
The most telling quote of all is Kevin Kalkhoven, who says: "If people truly care about open wheel racing in America, then please go away and leave Tony and I alone."
And I think that’s great advice for all of us, big and small alike. With so much to be worked out, it is liable to take a long time, and I won’t hold my breath, but if anyone can make things happen, it’s certainly KK. Our last two seasons are a sure testament.
Meanwhile, we have plenty of breathing ahead of us as the season opener bears down, 5 weeks away. The very first turn of the season has been widened at the apex this year- the City of Long Beach announced improvements to the intersection of Shoreline and Aquarium that should ease the annual a##es-and-elbows bottleneck into turn one for all the races.
Hope to see all of your a##es at the race track too!!!
JHS
