PT FINISHES P4 IN EDMONTON!
After starting P15 in todays race and despite having radio problems not allowing Paul to communicate with his team, PT finished in a much more than respectable P4. Driving the Vision Racing car prepped by Walker Racing, PT went into todays race a rookie of sorts. Although he is one of the most seasoned veterans of open wheel racing, and one of the drivers who had raced as much or more than any other driver on the Edmonton circuit, he had never driven a Honda powered Dallara until this weekend.
Within the first 2 laps Paul was up to P11. He continued his steady move up through the field and after a few yellow flags he found himself in P9 by lap 38. With 41 laps to go in what would become a timed race PT was running P10. After a couple of miscues by other drivers and some passing moves by Paul he found himself in P4 with 31 laps to go.
When it was announced that the race was to be a timed race not running the full number of laps PT was in P5 behind Oriol Servia. By race end he passed Servia for P4 which is where his race would end when the checkered flag dropped.
If nobody is now convinced that PT is still a major player and deserves a ride in this series they probably never will be...
PT BACK IN THE SADDLE IN EDMONTON
Driving the number 22 Subway sponsored car PT was very quick in todays qualifying session. He ran a lap fast enough to move into the final qualifying session in the new IRL format but unfortunately it came just after the checkered flag had dropped. Later Paul mentioned that the team had run the session with more fuel than needed adding extra weight to the car and affecting both handling and acceleration. Considering the fact that PT has not raced since Long Beach and never driven an IRL Dallara, he looks to be in very good shape for tomorrows race.
PT P11 IN HISTORIC FINAL RACE @ LONG BEACH
Long Beach, CA. - April 20, 2008 - In what was the final race of a long tradition in motorsport ChampCar/CART closed it's doors at what had always been the most prestigious race of the season. It also happened to be the venue that saw Paul's very first win in CART while racing for Roger Penske back in 1993! PT started todays race inside of row 3 in P5. A few laps into the race he clipped an inside concrete wall damaging his right rear rim and causing a tire to go down. He managed to get his car back to the pits and get some new rubber on while still staying on the lead lap. By lap 20 PT had worked his way up back to P15. He showed as high as P3 when pit stops were cycling through. He ran the race in a time of 1:46:21.372 @ an average lap speed of 92.149 MPH.
PT P5 IN LONG BEACH Q2
Long Beach, CA. - April 19, 2008 - Todays session had PT finish in P5. He ran a fast lap of 1:07.352 @ 105.191 MPH.
PT P8 IN LONG BEACH Q1
Long Beach, CA. - April 18, 2008 - Todays session saw Paul finish in P8. He ran a fast lap of 1:08.488 @ 103.446 MPH.
(below is a transcript from PT's post qualifying interview)
THE MODERATOR: We'll end with that. Thank you. We have Paul Tracy here. He'll be taking your questions. Mr. Tracy finished -- was the eighth-fastest time today, obviously in the top half of the field. Just to be clear on the field today, we actually had 19 cars qualify. Nelson Philippe had a car problem that didn't allow him to qualify. So first question for Mr. Tracy.
Q. How did it feel to be back in the car?
PAUL TRACY: It feels good to be back in the car obviously qualifying. Today didn't go as well as we wanted it to. It was basically mostly on me. I made a lot of mistakes in qualifying, just couldn't put the lap together. And then when I did on the last lap, I made a huge mistake in the second-to-last corner and I lost all the time we had. Ifs, and, buts, we should have been about third quickest.
So I'm a little bit frustrated. But it's been nice to be back in the car and kind of mixed emotions. I don't know where my career is leading me from here.
Q. (No microphone.)
PAUL TRACY: I mean, obviously it was like a big cobweb, very mixed, and coming into this race, I was racing, I wasn't racing. I didn't know if I was going to race. It was in the hands of lawyers. And usually when it gets in the hands of lawyers, it gets even more messy. But Gerry's lawyer has been very good to work with, with my lawyer.
We made an agreement to race through this race. From here out after this race, there will be no contract between Forsythe and myself, which is disappointing, because it was my intention this year to go racing with Forsythe, and I think everybody in both series would have like to have seen that happen. But obviously that's his decision, his right to do that.
I've had a great career with him and won him his only championship, which was great. But we have some more issues to work out with how we end the contract, what is still left to figure out, but we've decided that we'll handle that after this race. But from after this race I'll be able to look for another ride. That's been the frustrating part is that I've wanted to go racing so bad this year and been held, and it's kind of put me in a situation where now there's nothing available, so it's kind of like stuck -- like Alex, he kind of got told at the last minute there was nothing, and I've been helping him fix his house and play Guitar Hero and stuff like that. So it's fun, but not the kind of fun I like all the time.
Q. (No microphone.)
PAUL TRACY: Well, this was my first-ever race here with Dale Coyne in IndyCar in 1991. It was my first-ever win here in 1993. You know, I don't know how I'm going to feel after the race. I guess it could be my last race here as an open-wheel driver.
I want to go racing. This isn't really how I want my career to end. I feel that I kind of woke up -- I had the support and the well wishes of a lot of you guys in the room here. I've talked to a lot of you guys on the phone, and I really just woke up one day about two weeks before the season was to start for the (IndyCar Series) and I realized I'm not going to have a ride; I'm going to be sitting for the year.
I've had to deal with that for the last month, so it's kind of set in now. You know, it still wasn't that hard to watch the (IndyCar Series) races. I thought it would be harder than it was. But I still feel a little bit detached from it because I haven't been a part of it, because I've never really raced in the (IndyCar Series), so I didn't really feel like I was missing something and I was still gearing up for this race.
You know, I guess from here, I mean, I don't know what I'm going to do. I'd like to go to race for somebody, but like Alex said, there's nothing out there. I feel having missed a bunch of time last year with my back injury, and if I miss the whole of this year, it's probably unlikely that I'll be able to drive an IndyCar again. Just too much time out of the car.
Q. (No microphone.)
PAUL TRACY: It's the same for everybody, whether it's NASCAR or -- the economy is bad. There's no money out there in Canada and even in the United States. The economy is bad, the stock market is bad. The industry across the board, everybody is hurting.
I mean, it's not cheap to run an IndyCar or NASCAR. You're talking $6 to $8 million. And at this time of year, to go out and find that, I've had a bunch of go-arounds with a bunch of different companies about doing it and everybody is interested in doing it, but their budgets were set in September of last year. To find a company that can stroke a check for that kind of money, they're a big corporation, a public company, and they just don't write out $5 million checks willy-nilly and send it in the mail to you.
That's been the frustration is most companies are into their second quarter, their advertising money is spent for the year, so we're really kind of talking about '09 now.
Q. (No microphone.)
PAUL TRACY: No, I mean, that's even more expensive. I'd have to go buy equipment, buy trucks. The startup cost of an IndyCar team, you're probably talking upwards of $15 million.
Q. (No microphone.)
PAUL TRACY: Oh, it's pretty incredible today. I thought yesterday was a really good crowd for a Thursday, and then today it was probably 50 percent full, big crowds in the paddock, big crowds in the stand for qualifying, really like it was in the mid-'90s. I don't know if that is because of the anticipation of the new series or just the farewell for the hard-core fans that have been here. But tremendous fan support and a lot of well-wishes for me, which feels nice. Obviously it's bittersweet for me, but I hope that something will come about in the next couple weeks for Indy.
Q. (No microphone.)
PAUL TRACY: Yeah, it's something I would give consideration to, but like you said, it's not my first love. Open-wheel racing, IndyCar, Champ Car style racing is my first love. It's what I've done since 1991. I would like to continue to do it. Obviously I know there's a shelf life; I'm not going to keep driving for another ten years or anything.
But I guess for me I would like to do a couple more seasons and help the series establish itself. But like I said, I don't think I'm going to get the opportunity to do that. I'm looking at other things.
But really, it's been left so late now because I've been under contract until after this weekend that there's an opportunity to race maybe the Canadian race in NASCAR and the Busch Series and maybe do the GrandAm race that weekend. But it's not what I like doing; I like driving IndyCars.
Q. (No microphone.)
PAUL TRACY: Yeah, I mean, for sure. The team is motivated. Obviously I think we have a pretty good car. I didn't do a very good job today. The team did a good job and the team gave me a good car, but I let them down today on the track. I just couldn't put the lap together, and that probably just comes down to being Rusty. I haven't been in a car but for five or six hours about two months ago. So really on the track in the heat-of-the-moment qualifying-type stuff, I haven't done that since Mexico City, so it's been a while. A lot of guys have been racing already, done (IndyCar Series) races, they've been doing 24-Hour at Daytona, whatever, A1GP, stuff like that, so I was a little bit rusty today.
Q. (No microphone.)
PAUL TRACY: Well, I hope so, but obviously I haven't yet. This merger happened really in the last -- kind of in the last month before the season was going to start, and pretty much the teams on that side from the (IndyCar Series) had set their driver lineups, and a lot of guys were not really set here, but the main players were set, Justin, Graham, Will, Oriol, myself. Some of the teams from Champ Car were able to do the conversion to go to the IRL, but obviously Jerry has decided not to. That's kind of left guys like -- just Tag and myself, it's kind of left us standing with our helmets in our hands.
Q. (No microphone.)
PAUL TRACY: Obviously I've talked to just about everybody. I've talked to half the guys in this room dozens of times, and people know where I am and people know I'm easy to get a hold of. Tony George knows how to get a hold of me. If something were to pop up, I guess he would give me a call, but there's nothing available now.
Q. (No microphone.)
PAUL TRACY: Well, they're a personal sponsor of mine and they've been very supportive. Obviously we've pitched them on a deal, and like I said earlier, they're into the second quarter. Their budgets are spent. We have another meeting this weekend, but it's a long shot at best. They're going to continue with my personal deal, which obviously after this race when there's no income coming in, at least that's some income, which is always a help, and they've been great with me, a perfect fit as a sponsor for me.
But like I said, to come at this stage of the game, for a big business company to come up with $4 or $5 million is probably not going to happen.
Q. (No microphone.)
PAUL TRACY: I'm not frustrated with the merger. Obviously I'm frustrated I don't have a ride. But I think the merger was the best thing for the sport and the best overall thing for open-wheel racing in this country. It happened all very late and it was kind of messy, but the end result, I think it's not perfect right now, but I think the end result is where it needs to be.
We can sit here all day and argue what cars it should be and what engine it should be. That doesn't matter now as long as it's one series and they can continue to work forward on doing the best possible job with TV and promotion and promoting the drivers and having a good field and a strong field instead of a divided one.
But at the end of the day, when it happened with Forsythe in the beginning we were going to do it, and then all of a sudden Jerry decided he wasn't going to do it. It's been frustrating for our team. All the crew guys, they're all looking for jobs, so it's frustrating.
PT P5 IN FINAL RACE OF 2007
Mexico City - November 11, 2007 - Starting todays race in P8 Paul made an aggressive start moving him quickly into P4 when a yellow flag was thrown for stalled cars on the starting grid. By lap 15 PT had moved into P3. His first pit stop came on lap 24 and he returned onto the track in P5. When all stops had cycled through PT once again was in P4. Things remained the same until lap 48 when the second pit stop took place. After that stop PT found himself in P6. A yellow thrown on lap 56 for debris bunched up the field for a late race restart. Although Paul had saved a good deal of his 100HP Power to Pass he was unable to take advantage of Graham Rahal in the closing laps. PT would finish the race in P5 and the 2007 P11 in the points. Paul will return in 2008 with Team Forsythe.
Paul: “(On the race) I got a great start and jumped a couple cars on the grid. The car was okay, but not great. It got really loose halfway through each stint, so that’s really what we were fighting. I couldn’t really lean on the rear hard enough. We just finally got a half-decent result. The team has worked really hard this year, and we haven’t really had a lot of highlights. It’s been all lowlights. To come and have a good race—and we had a good race in Australia—it’s something we can build on for ’08.” (On the departure of Sebastien Bourdais) “I just wish him luck. He’s a great driver, and he’s a fantastic personality. All the Champ Car people want to see him do well in Formula 1.” (On Bourdais tying him for sixth on the all-time Champ Car win list) “Me, him and Al Jr. are all on the same number. I’m going to try to get ahead of that next year.”
PT P8 IN FINAL QUALIFYING SESSION OF 2007
Mexico City - November 10, 2007 - Todays session saw Paul finish in P8. He ran a fast lap of 1:24.608 @ 118.031 MPH.
Paul: “I had a really good first lap, nice and clean. I left a little bit on the table. Then, on the second set of tires, I upshifted on accident in The Esses, two corners too early, and basically lugged the motor down. The first lap is going to be your best lap. I upshifted by accident, and I equaled the time, but I probably lost three tenths just by carrying a gear too long for three or four corners. It was a small mistake on my part, but we’re getting closer. Road courses for our team have been a big struggle, and we’re getting closer to where we need to be. I don’t think it’s going to be hard to pass at all (in the race). The Power-to-pass for tomorrow is an incredible boost. I think we’ll see an unbelievable race. We’ll see what happens after the first couple of laps. You’ve only got five shots of it with the length of the straightaway, so you’ve got to be careful how you use it. But once somebody gets it on, there ain’t no stopping a guy from coming by.”
PT P8 IN MEXICO Q1
Mexico City - November 9, 2007 - Heading out at the very start of todays session it wasn't until his second to last lap that PT set his fast lap moving him to P5. By the time the session was checkered he had been bumped back down to P8. PT ran a fast lap of 1:26.130 @ 115.946 MPH.
Paul: “I think it went all right. I mean, it was only myself, (Simon) Pagenaud and, I think, (Will) Power, that stayed on blacks (black-walled tires). Everybody else in front of us was on reds. The reds seemed to be worth about three-quarters of a second in lap time. I’m pretty happy with how it went, considering we have two shots at reds tomorrow. I think the track will definitely be faster tomorrow. I’m pretty happy. Today, if we would have been on reds, I think we would have been top five which would have been good.”
PT P9 DOWN UNDER
Surfers Paradise - October 20, 2007 - Starting from the second row, an incident in the first turn sent PT towards the back of the field and then onto a different pit strategy. Paul ran up towards the front for a large part of the race but pit stops eventually cycled through and PT found himself low on fuel. A last lap stop to top off would put him from a potnetial podium spot to P9. PT ran a fast lap of 1:33.409 @ 107.720 MPH.
Paul: “I made a good start, got off the line well, and then got squeezed in the first corner by Servia. We touched just a little bit and I spun and that put us at the back, so we basically had to get on a different strategy. We did that and were able to get back towards the front, lead a little bit, try to make the strategy work. We just needed half a lap more of yellow and it never came. The yellows were all falling our way in the beginning and the strategy was working well. We were maybe in a position to win the race. We were going to try to go for it, just try to run. We thought we could make it around maybe two-thirds of the last lap, but it ran out coming onto the front straightaway on the white flag lap, so I came into the pits and by the time I got into the pits I had run out of fuel in the pit box and it wouldn’t start again. It’s disappointing, but we were up there, we made something happen. We made good out of a bad start. The team is working really hard and we’re getting back to where we should be finishing up on podiums. We just need some good luck.”
PT P2 IN FINAL QUALIFYING
Surfers Paradise - October 19, 2007 - PT finished todays final qualifying in P2. He was one of the last drivers to run a fast lap in final qualifying and despite hanging it out there on the edge in every corner on that lap he could still not best the time of native son Will Power who set a new track record in todays session. PT ran a fast lap of 1:30.426 @ 111.273 MPH.
Paul: “This is a very difficult track, and it takes having a trouble-free day. That's pretty difficult to achieve around here because there always seems to be a lot of accidents. This track is very, very tough, very physical, very hard on a car. Small mistakes on a chicane section can turn into a catastrophe, as we saw with Sebastien yesterday. Just a little small mistake ends up being a huge mistake. Today was great. We've been working very hard for this all year to get back into the fold of being able to contend.”
PT GOES P4 IN Q1 DOWN UNDER
Surfers Paradise - October 18, 2007 - PT finished todays final practice in P4. Paul hit the track today about 6 minutes into the Q1 session. He finished qualifying in P4 running a fast lap of 1:31.820 @ 109.584 MPH.
Paul: “It’s a lot better than we’ve run, so it’s great to be fourth. I was a little disappointed I only got one qualifying lap. I got traffic on the first run and after that it was spread and there was a lot of traffic and the session became very fragmented. That was frustrating because I felt that we could have been right there with Will Power and the other guys, but they were on reds and I was on blacks. We’re right where we need to be and we’re back in the game. It feels good. It could have been better but we’re still happy with where we ended up.”
CHULA VISTA CORR PHOTOS click here
ROBIN MILLER'S OPEN-WHEEL NOTEBOOK
Written by: Robin Miller
Chula Vista, Calif. – 10/1/2007
The all-out approach pays off in CORR - so it's tailor-made for PT.
It was a marriage made in horsepower heaven. Driving big trucks with 800 horsepower on dirt, soaring over jumps and into each other with little regard for sheet metal and no remorse.
Love at first sight for Paul Tracy.
The always-aggressive headliner from Champ Car competed in the Championship Off-Road Racing event at Chula Vista, Calif. over the weekend and, to put it mildly, was smitten.
“It was a blast, I had a lot of fun,” said the 38-year-old Canadian after running a Pro 4 truck appropriately named Bully Dog. “You’re sideways, then you’re flying through the air and you’re always bashing into each other.
“They’ve got no problem using the Chrome Horn or beating and banging and the fans loved it.”
Tracy had always enjoyed watching the truck series in Wisconsin on SPEED but never considered driving until a spur-of-the-moment offer.
“I was talking to Cameron Steele (pit reporter for Champ Car races) and he covers off-road racing and he was standing next to Ricky Johnson (perennial CORR champ) and I said to tell Ricky I wanted to test one of those trucks. His reply was, ‘Just come on down and race one of them,’ so that’s what I did.”
The 2003 CART champ was supposed to start out in the smaller Pro 2 category but ran into a little trouble.
“We only got a couple practice laps and they’d just watered the track, so it was kinda slippery,” he explained. “As I came off this jump I got a little crossed-up in the air, landed sideways, started sliding and when I corrected I went right into a concrete barrier – head on.
“It ripped off the A-arm so they put me in a Class 4 truck.”
Tracy’s only previous dirt track experience had been in a midget and sprinter with Sebastien Bourdais and Paul Newman during a hot-lap session at Perris Speedway in Riverside, Calif.
“My truck had a 440 cubic-inch, all-aluminum engine that made 830 horsepower,” said Tracy, whose Panoz-Cosworth Champ Car creates approximately 750 horsepower. “That thing got off the corner like an animal, and you’ve got to muscle it because it doesn’t want to turn.
“But once you get the wheels pointed straight and mash the throttle, it just accelerates like you can’t imagine. And the jumps are wild because you can’t see anything but sky for about four seconds.”
Tracy ran as high as fifth in one of the 20-minute features before another competitor landed on top of his truck during a caution period.
“The place was an old quarry and it was packed – there must have been 25,000 people and they seemed to be having a good time,” he said. “I asked where they got all the grandstands and concrete barriers and said they said they rented them from the Long Beach Grand Prix. So Gerry (Forsythe, who owns PT’s car in Champ Car and co-owns Long Beach with Kevin Kalkhoven) was there in spirit.”
Alex Barron, an open-wheel regular in CART and the IRL the past decade, finished third in the Super buggy category driving for his brother.
