Champ Car Fans Can Vote for Favorites

Four-time Champ Car World Series champion Sebastien Bourdais and Roshfrans “Rookie of the Year" Robert Doornbos are among the nominees for the 2007 SPEED Performance Awards, with the winners announced during a one-hour special telecast to be aired next February.

SPEED TV is allowing its viewers the opportunity to vote for nine separate categories, some of which include Bourdais and Doornbos. Prospective voters can go to www.speedtv.com and click on the SPEED Performance Awards icon.

Doornbos, who won two races in his first season of Champ Car competition and wound up third in the final championship standings, is one of four candidates for the Racer Rookie of the Year Award. Juan Pablo Montoya, the 1999 Champ Car titlist, was also nominated for the award.

The podium ceremony from the Champ Car race at Mont-Tremblant is one of six nominees for the ‘Tell It Like It Is’ Award. Following Doornbos’ initial Champ Car victory, second-place finisher Bourdais refused to shake hands with the Dutch driver. The Frenchman felt he had been blocked in the closing laps.

Bourdais, the first driver in Champ Car history to win four consecutive titles, is also one of 12 drivers nominated for the SPEED Performer of the Year Award. Now in its second year, the award winner will be determined by a 15-member panel of racing experts and will receive the special Mario Andretti Trophy, a bronze sculpture by artist Elie Hazak. The awards program will be co-hosted by Tommy Kendall and former Champ Car Atlantic competitor Danica Patrick.