Champ Car series bucks the odds

Paul Tracy

Paul Tracy smiled as he looked up and down the surprisingly busy pit road during last week's Champ Car World Series preseason test at Sebring International Raceway.

"Looks pretty good, doesn't it?" the series' elder statesman said. "We're already ahead of where we were last year."

Fourteen car-and-driver combinations were on hand for the first test of the season and optimism filled the hot, heavy Florida air.

Against all odds, Champ Car is getting ready for another far-flung season as an American-based series visiting Canada, Mexico, Europe and Australia.

Sponsorship dollars remain in short supply, the series owners continue to cut the budget for TV and marketing, and none of the drivers — except perhaps the 39-year-old Tracy, causes a stir in America's national consciousness.

Almost anyone with knowledge of the situation will quickly volunteer the belief that the only way to save Champ Car would be for the circuit formally known as CART to merge with or sell out to its open-wheel rival, the Indy Racing League and its IndyCar Series.

Numerous negotiations between the two entities over the years have all broken down, mostly over who would control the merged series.

IndyCar has its own troubles — particularly losing stars such as Dario Franchitti and Sam Hornish Jr. to NASCAR. But it also has the popular Indianapolis 500 as part of its schedule — a fact not lost on sponsors and drivers.

But don't tell Champ Car president Steve Johnson it's time for the series to fade away quietly.

"We're sitting in a better position now than we were a year ago," Johnson said during the Sebring test. "Overall, I'm optimistic with the future.

"Last year here we might have had eight or 10 cars and not a (sponsor) decal on any of them," Johnson added. "This year, we have cars and more sponsors and there are a lot of good things happening that I can't talk about yet." More from AP article