02/22: Champ Car World Series Merges with the Indy Racing League
NCRL-
Its a done deal...  The Champ Car World Series will become part of the Indy Racing League as a deal has been struck between the two series. 

In what was a signing last night and completed this afternoon American open-wheel racing will be under one banner.  This has been a long dream for many race fans, as the IRL and Champ Cars have split their allegiance.

In a very bitter split in 1996 when Tony George started his own race league breaking away from then CART and taking the Indy 500 with him open-wheel racing has been in two camps.  Many purists feel that George did more damage than good to the open-wheel racing  with his move. 

George developed the league because of the increasing costs.  He also wanted to run all ovals and have more American drivers.  In the beginning that was just what they did.  But, a limited fan base never got him what he was looking for. 

On a number of occasions George and the IRL tried to buy, merge or anything to take over Champ Car.  Including an attempt to buy the league after CART went bankrupt.  But he could get the deal done as Gerald Forsythe, and Kevin Kalkhoven bought the assets and started Champ Car. 

Champ Car like the IRL never really made it back to it glory days of the really 90's and has been losing money every year. 

With the merger done the new question is does anyone really care?  There are a number of open-wheel fans out there and it will be time to see if this merger will work. 
________________________________________________________________

01/24: Two Key Players Leave Champ Car
The Champ Car World Series suffered a painful one-two punch recently when executive vice president and race director Tony Cotman quit his job and 2007 Atlantic Series champion Raphael Matos--who earned $2 million to put toward a 2008 Champ Car ride--walked away from the series and the money.

Cotman's departure means that both Champ Car and the Atlantic Series will have a new race director this year. Johnny Unser, nephew of Al and Bobby Unser and son of Jerry Unser, was hired to replace former Atlantic race director Beaux Barfield. (AutoWeek.com)
__________________________________________________________

01/19: CCWS TV Schedule More Than Meets the Eye
INDIANAPOLIS (Jan. 17, 2008)--Television coverage for the Champ Car World Series will have a number of features that aren't immediately apparent in the 2008 schedule.

After a number of years in which Champ Car races were aired on different networks during the same season, officials with the organization see the move to ESPN/ABC as a plus. In its new agreement with ESPN/ABC, Champ Car will be able to take advantage of numerous opportunities offered by ESPN as well as the opportunity to return to ABC for a number of races.

"Our arrangement with ESPN will allow us to be more fully integrated into the ESPN global network of properties," said Steve Johnson, Champ Car President & CEO. "This will not simply be television broadcasts of our races. We will also be in ESPN's digital media, radio, mobile, magazines and events, to name a few. (ChampCar.com)
______________________________________________

11/10: Grand Prix of Cleveland to Continue Through 2012
The Grand Prix of Cleveland will continue to race at Cleveland's Burke Lakefront Airport through 2012.

Mayor Frank Jackson, Cleveland City Council President Martin Sweeney, Champ Car President Steve Johnson, and Michael T. Lanigan, CEO of the Grand Prix of Cleveland, said at a news conference this morning that they had entered into an agreement to extend the race for five years, pending City Council approval. Next year's race will be held on June 22, according to the Champ Car World Series schedule announced on Tuesday. (blog.cleveland.com)
__________________________________________________

11/08: Champ Car race in Vegas not Happening in 2008
LAS VEGAS, Nev. - The Vegas Grand Prix will not return in 2008.

Race officials said they were unable to find a new promoter to replace Phoenix-based DDB Ventures, which hosted the inaugural Las Vegas race last Easter weekend but canceled a December race in Phoenix and chose not to return next year. (concordmonitor.com)
____________________________________________________________

09/21: Bourdais Wins, Clinching Champ Car Title
SURFERS PARADISE, Australia (AP) — As usual, Sebastien Bourdais outdid himself. Needing only to finish in 12th place or better, the Formula One-bound Frenchman won Sunday's Lexmark Indy 300 to clinch his fourth straight Champ Car drivers' title.

Bourdais, who took the lead for good with 20 minutes left in the 1 hour, 45-minute timed race, became the first driver to win the race twice in its 17-year history. Bourdais, who has clinched the driver' championship in Australia the last three years, also won the Surfers race in 2005.

"I can't be any happier," Bourdais said. "I pushed really, really hard to get there."

The pushing saw him set a race lap record time of 1 minute, 31.145 seconds on his 58th lap, breaking the previous mark of 1:32.063 set by Cristiano da Matta in 2001.

The 28-year-old Bourdais, who will drive for the Toro Rosso team in F1 next year, held a 58-point lead over second-place Justin Wilson going into Sunday's race. There is one event left in the Champ Car season — Nov. 11 in Mexico City. (AP.com)
_______________________________________________________________

09/11: Champ Car World Series to Race at Historic Laguna Seca in 2008
The Champ Car World Series announced today that its 2008 race in northern California will move from the streets of San Jose to the road course at historic Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey.

"We're pleased that Champ Car will be able to maintain a strong event in northern California," said Steve Johnson, Champ Car President & CEO. "While it's always tough to leave one city for another, in this case, it makes sense strategically for us and works for San Jose given the on-going developments of their downtown. We enjoyed three great years in San Jose, and certainly anticipate that the fans there will head south to enjoy Champ Car racing at the beautiful Monterey Peninsula's Mazda Raceway circuit."

Considered one of the finest permanent road courses in North America, the 2.238-mile Monterey Peninsula's Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca will host its 23rd Champ Car World Series event next year at a date to be announced later. The first Champ Car event was held at Laguna in 1983, and though its long run of races ended the past three years, Champ Car returned there this year to conduct its pre-season testing. The testing also served as the official kick-off for the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca's 50th Golden Anniversary season this year. (ChampCar.com)
____________________________________________________

07/27: Yates and Newman Haas to Form Partnership
Indianapolis, IN (Sports Network) - NASCAR's Robert Yates Racing has entered into an agreement to partner with Champ Car's most successful current team - Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing.

Both RYR and NHLR have had close ties with Ford which helped get them together. Yates has used Ford power for the last 20 years and won the 1999 Nextel Cup championship with Dale Jarrett Fifty-five of Newman/Haas/Lanigan's 101 wins have also been with Ford. The team has also won the last three Champ Car titles with driver Sebastien Bourdais. (seattlepi.nwsource.com)
_____________________________________________________

06/21: Champ Car Teams Wrap up Testing at Road America
ELKHART LAKE -- Testing finished up at Elkhart Lake’s Road America today with Sebastien Bourdais (#1 McDonald’s Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone) fastest on the track. The three time series champion flew straight from the podium at the 24 Hours of Le Mans to the top of the time sheets at Road America on the final day of testing.

Bourdais lapped the 4.048-mile track in 102.60 seconds nearly half a second quicker than his teammate Graham Rahal (#2 Medi|Zone Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone) who was second fastest at 103.00 seconds.

“I’ve been awake for 24 hours after racing a 24 hour race so I’m a little tired,” said the Frenchman Bourdais. “Today was just okay, we didn’t get all the laps in we wanted to, so we still have some miles to test with later. We went through the main things we wanted and the baseline setup on the car was good. We made a small change and put up a pretty quick lap right before the break. In the afternoon the conditions changed so we weren’t able to improve much, but I think we learned some things.” (whowon.com)
___________________________________________________________

06/01: FIA Turns Down Champ Car's China Request
Champ Car's off-again, on-again attempts to stage a race in China are apparently off-again.

According to Speedtv.com, FIA has rejected Champ Car's request to hold the race this fall after plans to stage the race in May fell through. (TSN.ca)
_______________________________________________________

05/17: Frankie Muniz, TV's Malcolm, Says he's Focused on Racing Over Acting
TORONTO — After rising to fame as the title character in the long-running TV comedy "Malcolm in the Middle," Frankie Muniz claims to be semi-retired from acting.

These days, Muniz is devoting his energy to racing and is set to take part in the Steelback Grand Prix of Toronto on July 8.

"This is only my 15th month, which is pretty crazy," he said Wednesday of his quick rise on the circuit. "I'm having fun." (canada.com)
__________________________________________________________

05/01: Positive Energy Continues to Fuel the Champ Car World Series
Anticipation may be the best word to describe the lead up to the 2007 Champ Car World Series season, bringing in a new car; new television partners; and new events. With the first three races now in the books, the word has turned to exhilaration as Champ Car has shown marked growth through the early parts of the 2007 season.

Television ratings have increased greatly over last year, with more than 2.5 million viewers tuning in to watch the Inaugural Vegas Grand Prix, Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach and the Grand Prix of Houston. The season-opening race from Las Vegas drew a .83 rating on NBC, with nearly 1.4 million homes watching on Easter Sunday. That number alone topped the total number of viewers who watched the first three races of 2006 combined, one on NBC and two on SPEED. The rating for the Las Vegas race was the highest for an opening event in the last five years and was a 40 percent increase over the 2006 Long Beach season-opening event.

This year's Long Beach race on NBC and the Houston race on ESPN combined to pull in 1.1 million viewers, resulting in an overall 119 percent increase in total viewers to start the 2007 season. (ChampCar.com)
_____________________________________________________________

04/24: Graham Rahal Makes Champ Car History in Third Race Outing
Graham Rahal, the 18-year-old rookie Champ Car driver, has made Champ Car history as the youngest ever Champ Car driver recording a podium finish, taking the chequered flag in second place in the Medi I Zone Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing car at the Grand Prix of Houston today.

Rahal, in only his third Champ Car race weekend is demonstrating the talent that he has already shown in previous formulae. Throughout his career he has notched up racing records, following in the footsteps of his father, Indycar legend, Bobby Rahal.

The young racer has shown improvement in his Champ Car races from the opening round at Vegas and on the back of a fifth place start and eighth position finish in Long Beach, Rahal moved up the grid to start from sixth place in Houston and make it on to the podium after 93 laps of the demanding street circuit. (ChampCar.com)
_______________________________________________________________

04/20: Alex Figge Will Not Compete in the Grand Prix of Houston
Houston, Texas (April 20, 2007) - Due to residual back pain from his incident in the final laps of last weekend's Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, Alex Figge will not compete in this weekend's Grand Prix of Houston. Figge will undergo further evaluation and an MRI this afternoon. (ChampCar.com)
____________________________________________________

04/05: Bourdais is Skeptical About the Performance of the New Champ Car
The engine has a strange mechanical glitch. At times, the transmission seems to have a mind of its own.

And the gear shifters on the Elan Motorsports-designed Panoz DP01 are an unnecessary Formula One knockoff, a feature that makes the cars too easy to drive.

Other than that, Sebastien Bourdais doesn't have a problem with the new Champ Car that will make its debut this weekend on the streets of downtown Las Vegas. (OCRegister.com)
_______________________________________

04/02: Press Snoop: Clock ticking to off.
It's less than five days until the season's opener race through the streets of Las Vegas for the 2007 Champ Car World Series and the driver line-ups are anything but solidified.

Fourteen drivers are confirmed, with one only sure of his first three races. Champ Car has become chequebook racing, with at least half of the current drivers buying their rides.

MARIO DOMINGUEZ of Mexico, who just signed on (again) with Forsythe Racing for the first three races, admitted to spending his winter chasing sponsorship just so he could race in Champ Car this year. The manager of another driver not yet signed said that his driver was having problems raising the necessary two million dollars for a Champ Car ride. (crash.net)
______________________________________________________

03/29: Graham Rahal's Signing Made Official
Graham Rahal now definitively knows what's he'll be doing for spring break.

The 18-year-old high school senior and son of former Indy 500 winner Bobby Rahal will be inside a Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing entry at the April 8 Champ Car World Series season opener in Las Vegas. Rahal will be officially announced in a conference call with reporters Thursday afternoon.

"Four years ago, I had never even driven a race car. Now I'm with one of the top teams, " said Rahal, one of two Americans in the series. "My dad has really helped me through the whole process. With this deal finally getting done, it takes the pressure off everybody and now we can relax." (USAToday.com)
_____________________________________________________

03/013: Pre-Season Testing is in the Books and Pacific Coast Motorsports is Pumped for their Champ Car Debut at The Vegas Grand Prix
Oxnard, CA (March 13, 2007) - The inaugural Vegas Grand Prix, round one of the 2007 Champ Car World Series season is just around the corner and after several months of 15-hour work days, the new team in Champ Car, Pacific Coast Motorsports is ready!

PCM wrapped their final pre-season test on Saturday at Champ Car's Spring Preview at the historic Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway. The event started with media day on Thursday where PCM introduced their team and colors to the media at their official unveiling at the beautiful new Red Bull Energy Center at the raceway. Team director Tyler Tadevic spoke to the media "We are thrilled to be a part of Champ Car. There are a lot of motorsports options in the U.S. and we made this decision very carefully. We feel Champ Car is the most commercially viable choice for us, with the best level of competition. The new car proves the ownership group has made a long-term commitment and we are confident we made the right choice, we intend to have a long and successful future in the Champ Car arena." Tadevic continued, "Making this a reality in such a short amount of time has been a massive effort by everyone at PCM, but we did it and we are ready to go. We are realistic with our goal as a new team with two new drivers and a new car, in an extremely competitive series but we intend to run near the top-ten by the end of the first season." (ChampCar.com)
_______________________________________________

03/07: Sheriff Gives Thumbs Up on Grand Prix Arizona Sound Measurement; Downtown Road Closures Lifted

Final Test Run Cancelled
PHOENIX (March 6, 2006) - Based on a successful result from today's sound measurement, the day's final test run scheduled for 3 p.m. has been cancelled. Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Dale Jensen, Grand Prix Arizona Co-Owner, were on-site for the 10:30 a.m. run and jointly declared the test a success.

Quote from Sheriff Joe Arpaio

"I am thankful and grateful to the owners of Grand Prix Arizona for what I didn't hear today." (ChampCar.com)
___________________________________________________

03/03: Champ Car Clears Schedule for Month of May
The Champ Car World Series is once again tinkering with its 2007 schedule.

Almost a month after canceling its event in Denver comes word that the series is preparing to switch the date of its inaugural race in China from the spring to the fall. According to SpeedTV.com, the race in Zhuhai scheduled for May 20 will now be held on October 28, one week after the Surfers Paradise race in Australia.

The decision will mean the series will not stage any races during the month of May, giving teams an opportunity to qualify and participate in the Indianapolis 500 if they choose. It also means that there will now be a six week gap between races on the schedule from Houston in April to Portland in June. (TSN.ca)
__________________________________________

02/23: Legge Frustrated by Uncertainty
Strapped tightly into the cockpit, her race car disintegrating around her as it cartwheeled down the track after slamming into the concrete retaining wall, all Katherine Legge could think of was: "Oh, s---, this is serious."

In a few seconds, which seemed like minutes, the tumbling ceased and Legge found herself hanging upside down under the mangled remains of a Lola.

She wiggled her fingers, moved her arms, then her legs. (thestar.com)
_____________________________________________________

01/25: Wilson Gets New Champ Car Deal
Justin Wilson has signed a new multi-year contract with Champ Car team RuSPORT.

Wilson will be hoping to go one step further in the series this year after a third-place finish in 2005 and runner-up last year.
The 28-year-old from Sheffield, who has raced for Minardi and Jaguar in Formula One, said: "I'm delighted to continue my relationship with the team.

"Continuity counts for a lot in Motorsports and this extension will allow me to focus 100% on getting the most out of the car and come out fighting for the 2007 championship." (FoxSports.com)

- Bourdais Paces Opening Champ Car Test
Sebastien Bourdais finished atop the time sheets after the first day of Champ Car's first open-test session of 2007.

The three-time defending series champion posted a top lap of 51.024 which was just over half a second faster than rookie Neel Jani in the PKV Racing machine.

"It was good to finally put some miles on the new Panoz after hearing about the car and planning for it for so long," said Bourdais, who completed a total of 58 laps. "The speed is in the car but it behaves differently for sure so it will be a challenge to figure it out at each track. The important thing is that the essence of the car is still a Champ Car." (TSN.ca)
____________________________________________________

01/22: Denver Grand Prix May Not be Back, Champ Car Head Says
DENVER (AP) — Lack of a promoter, title sponsor and competing Champ Car events around the time of the Grand Prix of Denver have organizers concerned that the event may not happen this year.
Champ Car World Series president Steve Johnson said Wednesday that there are a number of challenges organizers must solve to save the annual street race that's been at the Pepsi Center the past three years.

"We want to be in Denver," Johnson said. "It would be unfortunate if we have to postpone the event."

The Denver event this year will be competing with other Champ Car races this summer. One race has been scheduled in Elkhart Lake, Wis., on Aug. 12 — a week before the Denver Grand Prix. Two European expansion races have also been added for Sept. 2 and Sept. 9.

Local promoter Bob Sutton, then CEO of Centrix Financial, had pulled out before last year's race because of business problems. Centrix also withdrew as title sponsor. (USAToday.com)
_________________________________________________________

01/20: Belgian Champ Car Grand Prix at Circuit Zolder
With the first Dutch Champ Car Grand Prix on the 1st and 2nd of September 2007 at Assen - Holland, the promoter, Racing Management, has finalized an agreement with Champ Car Europe and Circuit Zolder in order to host the second European round of the Champ Car World Series. This event will be of a very high level and will most likely be faster, bigger and have a higher attendance than any previous event.

This will be the first ever Champ Car Grand Prix of Belgium and will be held on the 9th of September 2007. Tickets will be available online as from mid-February onwards. (flagworld.auto123.com)
___________________________________________________________________

01/06: Champ Car World Series Sets New Commercial Television Exposure Records
After a new television package delivered record-setting exposure for its commercial partners in 2005, the Champ Car World Series spent much of its preseason planning for ways to increase its return on investment for its ever-growing list of corporate partners and sponsors.

The 2006 year-end Joyce Julius Sponsor Report showed that the efforts paid large dividends for North America's top open-wheel series, with exposure value, sponsor mentions and exposure time all setting new records for the Champ Car World Series. (autoracingdaily)
____________________________________________________

12/26: Champ Car World Series Teams Take First Delivery of New Panoz DP01
Champ Cars
INDIANAPOLIS (December 20, 2006) - Christmas literally came early for the 10 teams that expect to contest for the Champ Car World Series title next season as Santa Claus personally introduced each team to the Future of Racing this morning at Champ Car's Indianapolis headquarters.

Champ Car teams from Michigan to California descended upon Indianapolis to take delivery of the new Panoz DP01 Champ Cars, which will serve as the exclusive car to the series in 2007. The newly-constructed cars arrived Monday in Indianapolis from the Elan Motorsports facility in Braselton, Georgia, and each team was greeted with a carbon-fiber machine distinguishable from the others only by a car number and a team logo affixed to the nose.

"We look at today as the actual start of the 2007 season," said Champ Car President Steve Johnson. "This has been an exciting process, watching the new Champ Car take shape. From the first design sketches to wind tunnel testing and now to see the cars going to our teams, it has been a very rewarding experience for all of us and I couldn't be happier about the way our team as well as the team from Elan Motorsports Technologies have performed throughout the process. " (ChampCar.com)