Champ Car TV announcers

UPDATE This rumor is upgraded to 'fact' with today's announcement by Champ Car and ESPN that Rick Benjamin and Jon Beekhuis will be in the broadcast booth for all ABC/ESPN Champ Car races. It was also confirmed that NBC will use their own on-air talent for the first two races of the season but Jon Beekhuis will be in the booth for the CBS televised race in Cleveland.

03/04/07 It looks like Champ Car is slowly looking to improve its domestic TV broadcasts. This year, according to AutoRacing1.com sources, there is a good chance we will see Rick Benjamin back in the TV booth to anchor both the Champ Car and Champ Car Atlantic races. We hear that Jon Beekhuis will probably move from the pits to the booth to provide expert TV analysis for the Champ Car races. We also hear that there will be three pit reporters this year instead of two – something NASCAR has done for years and it really helps the race broadcasts because it gives the viewers more information as to what is going on at the team level.

However, for the two NBC races (Las Vegas and Long Beach) we hear that Benjamin could be replaced by NBC regulars Bill Webber and Wally Dallenbach Jr. Both are veterans and did an excellent job for NBC for NASCAR and it's expected they would do the same for Champ Car. If this happens we hear that Jon Beekhuis would join them as a third man in the booth for those two events.

Look for Jeremy Shaw and James Hinchcliffe to return to the booth for the international TV feed.

We hear the TV booth and pit reporters for this year may be announced this week at Spring training.