Champ Car is history and Danica Patrick made some over the weekend - SPEED’s Robin Miller takes a look at what we saw, what we know and what we hope for the future of open-wheel racing…
Danica's win came fair and square, Miller says. (LAT Photo)
Champ Car is history and Danica Patrick made some over the weekend so let's take a look at what we saw, what we know and what we hope for the future of open-wheel racing.
• Between Graham Rahal's and Patrick's recent victories, Indy-car racing finally has some storylines to rival NASCAR. If Marco Andretti, Rahal and Patrick remain in the IRL, win races and contend for championships, open wheel can get back on this country's sports pages with the mainstream media.
• In case you hadn't noticed, Will Power is a bad ass on street circuits. airports and road courses. When he figures out ovals, look out.
• The true tragedy of Sunday's final Champ Car race is that we won't see those good-looking Panoz chassis or hear that sweet whine of the turbocharged Cosworth anymore. Now it's two more years of those ugly, noisy IRL cars. Hopefully, Tony Cotman can convince Tony George to let him have a major say in the 2010 design.
• Derrick Walker and Alex Tagliani deserved a better fate than seventh place after putting on such a great show all weekend. Second quick in qualifying and second for much of the LBGP, Tags drove splendidly until the handling went south. Very sad to think Walker's gang won't be competing any more this season.
• Is it fitting or ironic that the two guys who spent all that money keeping Champ Car alive (Kevin Kalkhoven and Gerry Forsythe) finished 1-2 in the CC finale?
• I don't want to hear the anti-Danica faction moaning that she won a fuel mileage race. Ryan Newman did it about eight times a few years back, Jimmie Johnson a couple weeks ago and Tony Kanaan a year ago at Motegi,
• Really sad that Honda of Japan played hardball and wouldn't change its date so everybody could have been at Long Beach. The full-page ad could have said: Honda sweeps the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.
• Young Rahal's attempted outside pass of Franck Montagny for third place was Gilles Villenueve-like until the ex-Formula 1 shoe speared the kid in the left rear and spun him out.
• Paul Tracy: "I hope this wasn't the last ride of this year or my career." Amen to that. Somebody must give the unofficial 2002 Indy 500 winner a ride in May and he's got to be in Edmonton. A race in Canada without Tracy?
