“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
