Long Beach - Champ Car Finale

[ÜberDoober]

With the last "real" Champ Car race coming up this weekend from Long Beach, I wanted to start a thread so people can share their memories of Champ Car and cry in our beers together for the last time we will see the DP-01's in action.

Yeah, it's all one series now but with the regular Indycars all heading to Motegi to race on the same weekend, for a Champ Car fan, it's all about what is happening in California.

I'll post up the entry list tomorrow but there are some good names running in the event. Paul Tracy is still an unknown but I hope to hell he gets to drive something or I'm going to write some letters or post a scathing editorial over on DooberVille (http://www.dooberville.com). :D

So, let's all remember the good times and the bad times for Champ Car and enjoy this one last race for posterity.
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/ChampCarSeriesTrans.jpg

[LittleAlguy]

Quite a few:

- 1990 Autoworks 200, the first car race of anytime that I remember watching when I was just a few years old. I know that I have the last few laps of that race on VHS. I don't know what happened to the tape with the stuff from before that.
- 1992 Indy 500. Little Al and Goodyear. Enough said.
- Mansell's first Indy car race at Surfer's and him winning then running out of fuel on the cool down lap.
- Bits from the '94 season including Mikey's first race back, the Milwaukee podium sweep, the weird Vitolo/Mansell incident at Indy, PT running into Little Al at Belle Isle, Villeneuve's first win, the Mansell-Emmo argument at Vancouver
- Al Jr. and Pruett at Michigan
- Zanardi's doughnuts
- Moore holding off Andretti at Milwaukee
- Some of Zanardi's great drives and moves (the Pass, the drive at Cleveland to name two)
- Papis losing the Michigan 500 on the last lap after dominating the race and then winning at Homestead the following year
- Races at Michigan and Fontana w/ the Hanford Device
- Unfortunately, the loss of Gonzalo and Greg as well as Zanardi's and Da Matta's accident:(
- The de Ferran/Brack battle at Rockingham
- Da Matta's championship run
- Paul Tracy finally winning a championship
- PT and Bourdais having some run-ins
- Going to Cleveland last year :D

There are more but those are the ones that stand out.

[ÜberDoober]

I remember being a grade schooler in 1966 and going with a neighbor kid to the newly opened Arizona Vetrans Memorial Coliseum to watch a very special live broadcast of the Indy 500. It was a pretty high tech linkup at the time and the 500 really was the biggest race in the world. Not exactly the Champ Car era but still...

I remember the first race I attended was the year before the split at PIR in Phoenix. Michael and Mario, one of my all time favorite drivers, were both in the black Texaco cars if I remember right. Unser, Leyundyk, Emo, Rahal, Sneva, Mears all the famous guys. I remember the first IRL race in Phoenix the following year and what a huge disappointment it was. I got drunk and lost my scanner under the grandstands. :D

I remember Michael and PT battling both on and off the track. I remember the whole Cart bankruptcy thing and the birth of Champ Car. I remember Kathering Legg's crash at RA and how surprised I was she wasn't killed.

I remember working a year and a half on a Champ Car racing sim that was never released. :mad::mad::mad:
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/Champ03.jpg

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/champdoc.jpg

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/GRAB_022.jpg

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/idea2.jpg

Oh, there's so much more. :D

[ÜberDoober]

Just doing a little snooping around and had the wild idea to go take a look at the Champ Car website. Much to my surprise, it is somewhat updated with stories on Long Beach and Justin Wilson in 2008. It laid dead and unchanged for a few weeks while everyone was waiting for news and I just figured it would stay that way forever.

When the split was announced, I cancelled my membership for Race Director. Now I'm dang curious if they will have anything this weekend from LB?

Time to do some lurking. :)

[ÜberDoober]

Paul Tracy Confirmed for Long Beach! W00t! :biggrinjester:

[HeadDoober]

Track is open for practice. Live timing & scoring working at www.champcarworldseries.com (http://www.champcarworldseries.com)

[DooberRoni]

Results from practice session 1. Top 9 cars within a second with Justin topping the charts. Love the names in the lineup. I just wish there were 15 more races like this. :(

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk279/DooberRoni/champP1jpg.jpg

[HeadDoober]

Q1 is in the books! Justin Wilson at the top of the charts followed by Servia, Tags and Mario Dominquez all in the 1:07's. Rookies Enrique Bernoldy and Franck Montagny ahead of Tracy, Power, Figge, Junky & Vasser. Top eight within a second, give a 10th or so.

I wish there was video and audio. Live timing is better than I expected, though. Just did a quick check of the Indycar site and they really are distancing themselves from the Long Beach race.

BTW, live Indycar feed starts at 10:00pm EST.

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk279/DooberRoni/champQ1.jpg

[LittleAlguy]

Yeah, they didn't even mention the race until Tuesday or Wednesday on their "Up to Speed" web show.

[ÜberDoober]

Ok, do I watch the live timing from the Champ Car website or I just wait for the tv broadcast? Hmmm?

[ÜberDoober]

45 minutes left in the race and I decided to turn off the live timing & scoring. I'll just wait until it comes on the tube to see the end. May even go out in the other room and watch on the big tv?

I'll watch AMA Superbikes and NASCAR until it comes on.

[ÜberDoober]

And we're off!

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/start2.jpg

[ÜberDoober]

Oh my gawd! PT is such a dumbass!

[ÜberDoober]

Oopsie!
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/carnage.jpg

[LittleAlguy]

I really hope they knock one out of the ballpark with the new car to at least match the performance of the DP01 and make them raceable enough to make for good racing.

It's great seeing the black and white car on Graham's car.

[LittleAlguy]

Did you get to see the start? The Nuggets-Lakers game went over where I am.

[ÜberDoober]

Yeah, they showed the start here. Wilson out - too bad.

[LittleAlguy]

Will Power's old team vs. Will Power's new team. Intrigue!

[ÜberDoober]

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/power1.jpg

The audio of Wilson's car conking out was great!

[LittleAlguy]

Pizzonia with trouble while in the pits.

[LittleAlguy]

Philippe stopped at the chichane.

[ÜberDoober]

Everybody in. PT not cooperating! :ack2:

OH NO! Problems for Tracy

[LittleAlguy]

Nice pass, Perera. I sure hope he's in the series for a long time. He looks like a keeper.

[ÜberDoober]

Nice little focus on JV.

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/vasser.jpg

[LittleAlguy]

Anything special (either in the race or in the broadcast) happen during the pre-race/first 15 minutes of the race?

[LittleAlguy]

That was a bit ambitious by Graham.

[ÜberDoober]

DAMN! Rahal spins!

Interesting they're running the rain light to indicate who is running the full season.

[ÜberDoober]

Anything special (either in the race or in the broadcast) happen during the pre-race/first 15 minutes of the race?

Not too much beyond the usual. The flashbacks they keep doing are great though.

[LittleAlguy]

Not too much beyond the usual. The flashbacks they keep doing are great though.

Definitely. I've been a bit critical of the broadcasts recently but I have to say it's been pretty neat so far. :cheers2:

Love that camera view from the left front suspension.

[LittleAlguy]

Graham is on a tear right now.

[LittleAlguy]

Montagny to 2nd. Looks as though Tags wore out the reds too quickly.

[ÜberDoober]

:mad:Crap! I'm watching on my computer, have the TV on SPEED but muted. I just looked up and see the results on the Speed Report.

[LittleAlguy]

I'm glad they're talking to her but there ARE a few minutes left to the race.

[LittleAlguy]

Tagliani doing the Trulli train. He's falling back in a hurry.

[LittleAlguy]

Congrats to Will Power for winning the final Champ Car race.

Ahh, Graham! He loses it with a couple of corners left.

[ÜberDoober]

Geez! So busy talking to Danica they aren't even watching the track.

Disappointment for Justin & Graham today but dominating performance by Power. Oh no! Rahal in the tires on the last lap.

At least it was a pretty clean race without endless full course yellows.

[ÜberDoober]

Good to see a traditional sponsor win the finale.

Thanks for joining us here in the 'Ville. See ya next week!

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/powerWin.jpg

[LittleAlguy]

Geez! So busy talking to Danica they aren't even watching the track.

Disappointment for Justin & Graham today but dominating performance by Power. Oh no! Rahal in the tires on the last lap.

At least it was a pretty clean race without endless full course yellows.

They seem to go into stretches where they don't even bother. They really mailed it in on this race the last 10 minutes.

Good to see a nice, clean race.

edit: I should say "relatively" clean as far as it wasn't a massive carbon fiber mess.