2004 Champ Car season

The 2004 Champ Car World Series season was the 26th overall season in the CART/Champ Car genealogy, and the first under the ownership of Open-Wheel Racing Series (OWRS) as the Champ Car World Series. It began on April 18, 2004, and ended on November 7 after 14 races. For sponsorship purposes, it was branded as Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford. The Drivers' Champion was Sébastien Bourdais. The Rookie of the Year was A. J. Allmendinger.

2004 Champ Car season
Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford
Season
Races14
Start dateApril 18
End dateNovember 7
Awards
Drivers' champion Sébastien Bourdais
Constructors' Cup Lola
Nations' Cup Canada
Rookie of the Year A. J. Allmendinger

The open-wheel racing organization Championship Auto Racing Teams, Inc. had operated until 2003. After that year's season, CART declared bankruptcy and was liquidated in an Indianapolis courtroom in January 2004. Three team owners who had participated in the CART series, Gerald Forsythe, Kevin Kalkhoven, and Paul Gentilozzi, purchased CART's liquidated assets and resurrected it as Open-Wheel Racing Series for the 2004 season.

Champ Car races were broadcast on Spike TV.[1] Also, high-definition live broadcasts were on HDNet.

Drivers and teams

The Ford-Cosworth XFE, a 2.65 liter turbo V8 engine remained the exclusive power plant for the reorganized Champ Car series. Bridgestone remained the exclusive tire supplier as well. They also continued the marketing agreement that branded the series Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford. The following teams and drivers competed in the 2004 Champ Car season.

Team Chassis No Drivers Races Primary Sponsors
Forsythe Championship Racing Lola B02/00 1 Paul Tracy All Indeck
3 Rodolfo Lavín All Corona
7 Patrick Carpentier All Indeck
Newman/Haas Racing Lola B02/00 2 Sébastien Bourdais All McDonald's
6 Bruno Junqueira All PacifiCare
Herdez Competition Lola B02/00 4 Ryan Hunter-Reay All Herdez
55 Mario Domínguez All
Walker Racing Reynard 02I 5 Mario Haberfeld All Cummins
15 David Besnard 13 Wright-Patton-Shakespeare
Michael Valiante 14 Wildlife Conservation Network
Rocketsports Racing Lola B02/00 8 Alex Tagliani All Johnson Controls
17 Nelson Philippe 1-5 LeasePlan 6
U.S. Air Force Reserve 1
Rocketsports Racing 4
Microchip 2
Swift Leisure 1
Memo Gidley 6-7
Guy Smith 8-14
RuSPORT Lola B02/00 9 Michel Jourdain Jr. All Gigante
10 A. J. Allmendinger All BG Products 5
Western Union 8
Lance Armstrong Foundation 1
PKV Racing Lola B02/00 12 Jimmy Vasser All Gulfstream
21 Roberto González All NII Holdings
Mi-Jack Conquest Racing Reynard 02I 14 Alex Sperafico 1-8 Mi-Jack 12
TSI 1
Scotiabank Inverlat 1
Nelson Philippe 9
Lola B02/00 10-14
34 Justin Wilson 1-2, 4-14 Mi-Jack
Reynard 02I 3
Dale Coyne Racing Lola B02/00 11 Oriol Servià All YokeTV.com
19 Tarso Marques 1-2, 14 American Medical Response
Gastón Mazzacane 3-12
Jarek Janiš 13

From CART to Champ Car

The assets of the bankrupt Championship Auto Racing Teams, Inc. (CART) organization were awarded to Open-Wheel Racing Series, LLC in the Indianapolis courtroom of Judge Frank Otte on January 28, 2004.[2] A bid from Indy Racing League owner Tony George was rejected because the former venders of CART would not have been paid, thus ensuring the split in American open-wheel racing would continue. Despite this victory, the OWRS partners, CART team owners Kevin Kalkhoven, Gerald Forsythe, and Paul Gentilozzi, would still have to work hard to get the 18 racecars they promised would be on track for the scheduled Grand Prix of Long Beach on April 18. Two CART teams founded in 2003, American Spirit Team Johansson and Fittipaldi-Dingman Racing, would not race in 2004, while U. E. "Pat" Patrick, one of the original founders of CART, sold off his CART team assets before starting a short-lived IRL effort.[3]

Long Beach Season Premiere and its aftermath

On March 9 a "Season Premiere" promotional event was held in Long Beach, California, announcing 12 confirmed drivers and a 16 race schedule.[4] However, just two days later on March 11, Adrián Fernández threw the plans for the season into serious doubt by announcing the one car team he had presented at Long Beach would not compete in the Champ Car series. He instead expanded his Indy Racing League team to two cars (even though the IRL season had already seen its first race).[5] Another blow came a week later on March 18 when Bobby Rahal, onetime CEO of CART and 3 time series champion and who also presented a one car team in Long Beach, announced he would not compete in CART and would also run a two car IRL team like Fernández.[6]

Champ Car makes it to Long Beach

Momentum for Champ Car began to turn in the aftermath of Rahal's exit when his driver, Michel Jourdain Jr., announced that he and his sponsor, the Mexican supermarket Gigante would not follow Rahal to the IRL.[7] Jourdain ended up driving for the new RuSPORT team, partnering with rookie A. J. Allmendinger.[8] On March 20, Herdez Competition announced that Ryan Hunter-Reay would race a 2nd car for them.[9] On March 24 Gerald Forsythe expanded his team from two cars to three, providing a seat for Patrick Carpentier.[10] Conquest Racing announced a two car team featuring ex-Formula One driver Justin Wilson on March 25,[11] with Alex Sperafico filling the second seat two days later.[12] Walker Racing's one car team announced on April 8 proved to be the final piece of the puzzle to get to the 18 car field promised by the Champ Car partners in January.[13] Although his participation with two cars was already known, Dale Coyne waited until just before practice began for the Grand Prix of Long Beach to announce that his drivers would be Champ Car veterans Oriol Servià and Tarso Marques.[14]

Mid-season changes

Rule changes

  • The mandatory pit window rule from the previous two seasons was eliminated. At early races, teams were given a mandatory number of green flag pit stops but this was also dropped after the first two races of the season. However, the rule was re-instituted for the Las Vegas round to eliminate a possible fuel economy race with no push to pass.
  • For non-oval track races, Bridgestone introduced two types of tires, both of which had to be used unless wet weather tires were used: A primary black-walled tire and a secondary red-walled option tire. The option tire was a softer, faster tire but less durable than the primary tire.
  • For non-oval track races, Ford-Cosworth introduced the "push to pass" button, giving each driver an additional 50 horsepower for 60 seconds per race. The driver activated the function with a green button on the steering wheel, the boost would continue until the driver took his foot off the throttle for 1 second or time ran out.

Season summary

Schedule

Rnd Race Name Circuit City/Location Date
1 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach  S  Streets of Long Beach Long Beach, California April 18
2 Tecate/Telmex Grand Prix of Monterrey  S  Fundidora Park Monterrey, Mexico May 23
3 The Time Warner Cable Roadrunner 250  O  Milwaukee Mile West Allis, Wisconsin June 5
4 Champ Car Grand Prix of Portland  R  Portland International Raceway Portland, Oregon June 20
5 U.S. Bank Presents The Champ Car Grand Prix of Cleveland  S  Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport Cleveland, Ohio July 3
6 Molson Indy Toronto  S  Exhibition Place Toronto, Canada July 11
7 Molson Indy Vancouver  S  Concord Pacific Place Vancouver, Canada July 25
8 Grand Prix of Road America Presented by the Chicago Tribune  R  Road America Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin August 8
9 Centrix Financial Grand Prix of Denver  S  Denver Civic Center Denver, Colorado August 15
10 Molson Indy Montreal  R  Circuit Gilles Villeneuve Montreal, Canada August 29
11 Bridgestone Grand Prix of Monterey  R  Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca Monterey, California September 12
12 Bridgestone 400 Presented by Corona  O  Las Vegas Motor Speedway Las Vegas, Nevada September 25
13 Lexmark Indy 300  S  Surfers Paradise Street Circuit Surfers Paradise, Australia October 24
14 Gran Premio Telmex-Tecate Presented by Banamex  R  Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez Mexico City, Mexico November 7

 O  Oval/Speedway
 R  Dedicated road course
 S  Temporary street circuit

The initial schedule announced by Champ Car at the Long Beach Season Premiere event included 16 races.[20] One event that didn't make the final schedule was a race on a street circuit in Seoul, South Korea on October 17, a week before the Surfers Paradise race, but the race was cancelled on September 24 because of "environmental issues",[21] two months after reports that government approval for a race near Seoul World Cup Stadium could not be arranged in time.[22] The second was a "TBA" event that was scheduled to take place somewhere in the United States after the Gran Premio Telmex/Tecate in Mexico City and never materialized. A second TBA event on the initial schedule became the Bridgestone 400 on September 25 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, which was announced on July 7.[23]

Race results

Rnd Race Name Pole position Fastest lap Lead most laps Winning driver Winning team Report
1 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Bruno Junqueira Sébastien Bourdais Paul Tracy Paul Tracy Forsythe Championship Racing Report
2 Tecate/Telmex Grand Prix of Monterrey Sébastien Bourdais Sébastien Bourdais Sébastien Bourdais Sébastien Bourdais Newman/Haas Racing Report
3 The Time Warner Cable Roadrunner 250 Ryan Hunter-Reay Ryan Hunter-Reay Ryan Hunter-Reay Ryan Hunter-Reay Herdez Competition Report
4 Champ Car Grand Prix of Portland Sébastien Bourdais Bruno Junqueira Sébastien Bourdais Sébastien Bourdais Newman/Haas Racing Report
5 U.S. Bank Presents The Champ Car Grand Prix of Cleveland Paul Tracy Bruno Junqueira Sébastien Bourdais Sébastien Bourdais Newman/Haas Racing Report
6 Molson Indy Toronto Sébastien Bourdais Sébastien Bourdais Sébastien Bourdais Sébastien Bourdais Newman/Haas Racing Report
7 Molson Indy Vancouver Paul Tracy Paul Tracy Paul Tracy Paul Tracy Forsythe Championship Racing Report
8 Grand Prix of Road America Presented by the Chicago Tribune Sébastien Bourdais Bruno Junqueira Paul Tracy
Alex Tagliani
Alex Tagliani Rocketsports Racing Report
9 Centrix Financial Grand Prix of Denver Sébastien Bourdais Sébastien Bourdais Paul Tracy Sébastien Bourdais Newman/Haas Racing Report
10 Molson Indy Montreal Sébastien Bourdais Sébastien Bourdais Sébastien Bourdais Bruno Junqueira Newman/Haas Racing Report
11 Bridgestone Grand Prix of Monterey Sébastien Bourdais Mario Domínguez Patrick Carpentier Patrick Carpentier Forsythe Championship Racing Report
12 Bridgestone 400 Presented by Corona Patrick Carpentier Bruno Junqueira Sébastien Bourdais Sébastien Bourdais Newman/Haas Racing Report
13 Lexmark Indy 300 Paul Tracy Bruno Junqueira Paul Tracy Bruno Junqueira Newman/Haas Racing Report
14 Gran Premio Telmex-Tecate Presented by Banamex Sébastien Bourdais Sébastien Bourdais Sébastien Bourdais Sébastien Bourdais Newman/Haas Racing Report

Final driver standings

Pos Driver LBH MTY MIL POR CLE TOR VAN ROA DEN MTL LAG LAS SUR MEX Pts
1 Sébastien Bourdais 3 1* 18 1* 1* 1* 5 3 1 15* 8 1* 2 1* 369
2 Bruno Junqueira 2 2 6 2 2 18 4 15 3 1 2 2 1 2 341
3 Patrick Carpentier 4 4 2 4 16 3 16 14 9 2 1* 3 16 6 266
4 Paul Tracy 1* 7 17 3 17 5 1* 12 2* 4 10 18 4* 10 254
5 Mario Domínguez 5 3 8 17 8 17 6 5 4 3 11 7 3 8 244
6 A. J. Allmendinger  RY  12 17 5 6 6 11 3 13 5 5 15 6 6 3 229
7 Alex Tagliani 8 5 13 7 3 7 7 1* 10 7 6 16 19 11 218
8 Jimmy Vasser 16 12 4 8 5 2 10 8 17 8 17 5 12 5 201
9 Ryan Hunter-Reay 7 8 1* 12 11 8 8 4 16 18 5 13 5 19 199
10 Oriol Servià 15 14 7 11 4 9 12 6 6 9 3 12 13 7 199
11 Justin Wilson  R  6 6 11 5 18 12 14 7 7 14 18 8 8 4 188
12 Michel Jourdain Jr. 11 11 3 14 15 15 2 9 14 6 4 11 17 9 185
13 Mario Haberfeld 9 15 10 9 14 4 9 11 8 13 7 14 14 15 157
14 Rodolfo Lavín 10 13 9 18 9 14 15 2 11 11 12 4 15 13 156
15 Roberto González  R  14 9 12 10 7 13 13 16 12 10 14 10 11 12 136
16 Nelson Philippe  R  13 10 14 15 10 13 17 16 9 10 16 89
17 Gastón Mazzacane  R  16 13 12 6 DNS 18 15 12 13 15 73
18 Guy Smith  R  10 18 16 9 17 9 17 53
19 Alex Sperafico  R  17 16 15 16 13 10 17 17 47
20 David Besnard  R  7 18
21 Memo Gidley 16 11 15
22 Tarso Marques 18 18 18 9
23 Michael Valiante  R  14 7
24 Jarek Janiš  R  18 3
Pos Driver LBH MTY MIL POR CLE TOR VAN ROA DEN MTL LAG LAS SUR MEX Pts
Color Result
Gold Winner
Silver 2nd place
Bronze 3rd place
Green 4th & 5th place
Light Blue 6th-10th place
Dark Blue Finished
(Outside Top 10)
Purple Did not finish
Red Did not qualify
(DNQ)
Brown Withdrawn
(Wth)
Black Disqualified
(DSQ)
White Did not start
(DNS)
Blank Did not
participate
(DNP)
Not competing
In-line notation
Bold Pole position
Italics Ran fastest race lap
* Led most race laps
 RY  Rookie of the Year
 R  Rookie

Nation's Cup

  • Top result per race counts towards the Nation's Cup
Pos Country LBH MTY MIL POR CLE TOR VAN ROA DEN MTL LAG LAS SUR MEX Pts
1 Canada 1 4 2 3 3 3 1 1 2 2 1 3 4 6 380
2 France 3 1 14 1 1 1 5 3 1 15 8 1 2 1 358
3 Brazil 2 2 6 2 2 4 4 11 3 1 2 2 1 2 352
4 United States 7 8 1 6 5 2 3 4 5 5 5 5 5 3 310
5 Mexico 5 3 3 10 7 13 2 2 4 3 4 4 3 8 295
6 Spain 15 14 7 11 4 9 12 6 6 9 3 12 13 7 195
7 England 6 6 11 5 18 12 14 7 7 14 9 8 8 4 195
8 Argentina 16 13 12 6 DNS 18 15 12 13 15 73
9 Australia 7 17
10 Czech Republic 18 3
Pos Country LBH MTY MIL POR CLE TOR VAN ROA DEN MTL LAG LAS SUR MEX Pts

Chassis Constructor's Cup

Pos Chassis Pts
1 Lola 462
2 Reynard 168
Pos Chassis Pts

Driver breakdown

Pos Driver Team Entries Wins Podiums Top 5 Top 10 Poles Laps Led Pts
1 Bourdais Newman-Haas Racing 14 7 10 11 12 8 506 369
2 Junqueira Newman-Haas Racing 14 2 10 11 12 1 123 341
3 Carpentier Forsythe Championship Racing 14 1 5 8 10 1 66 266
4 Tracy Forsythe Championship Racing 14 2 4 7 10 3 286 254
5 Domínguez Herdez Competition 14 -- 3 6 11 -- 10 244
6 Allmendinger RuSPORT 14 -- 2 5 9 -- 16 229
7 Tagliani Rocketsports Racing 14 1 2 3 10 -- 29 218
8 Vasser PKV Racing 14 -- 1 5 9 -- 5 201
9 Hunter-Reay Herdez Competition 14 1 1 4 8 1 250 199
10 Servià Dale Coyne Racing 14 -- 1 2 8 -- 6 199
11 Wilson Mi-Jack Conquest Racing 14 -- -- 2 8 -- 1 188
12 Jourdain Jr. RuSPORT 14 -- 2 3 6 -- 13 185
13 Haberfeld Walker Racing 14 -- -- 1 7 -- -- 157
14 Lavín Forsythe Championship Racing 14 -- 1 2 5 -- 3 156
15 Roberto González PKV Racing 14 -- -- -- 5 -- -- 136
16 Philippe Rocketsports Racing
Mi-Jack Conquest Racing
11 -- -- -- 4 -- -- 89
17 Mazzacane  R  Dale Coyne Racing 10 -- -- -- 1 -- -- 73
18 Smith Rocketsports Racing 7 -- -- -- 3 -- -- 53
19 Sperafico  R  Mi-Jack Conquest Racing 8 -- -- -- 1 -- -- 47
20 Besnard Walker Racing 1 -- -- -- 1 -- -- 18
21 Gidley Rocketsports Racing 2 -- -- -- -- -- -- 15
22 Marques Dale Coyne Racing 3 -- -- -- -- -- -- 9
23 Valiante  R  Walker Racing 1 -- -- -- -- -- -- 7
24 Janiš  R  Dale Coyne Racing 1 -- -- -- -- -- -- 3

Notes

  1. The First Network For OWRS: Champ Car On Spike TV - Sports Business Daily, 11 March 2004
  2. "OWRS awarded CART assets". motorsport.com. 2004-01-28. Archived from the original on 2011-06-07. Retrieved 2010-06-20.
  3. "Patrick Racing, Unser Jr to debut at Indy500". motorsport.com. 2004-03-21. Archived from the original on 2011-06-07. Retrieved 2010-07-04.
  4. "Out of the woodwork in Long Beach". motorsport.com. 2004-03-09. Archived from the original on 2011-06-07. Retrieved 2010-06-20.
  5. "Fernandez moves to the IndyCar Series". motorsport.com. 2004-03-11. Archived from the original on 2011-06-07. Retrieved 2010-06-20.
  6. "Two Rahal cars for IndyCar Series". motorsport.com. 2004-03-18. Archived from the original on 2011-06-07. Retrieved 2010-06-20.
  7. "Jourdain leaves Team Rahal". motorsport.com. 2004-03-18. Archived from the original on 2011-06-07. Retrieved 2010-06-20.
  8. "Jourdain joins RuSPORT for 2004". motorsport.com. 2004-03-31. Archived from the original on 2011-06-07. Retrieved 2010-06-20.
  9. "Herdez adds Hunter-Reay to second car". motorsport.com. 2004-03-20. Archived from the original on 2011-06-07. Retrieved 2010-06-20.
  10. "Forsythe commits to three cars". motorsport.com. 2004-03-20. Retrieved 2010-06-20.
  11. "Justin Wilson to pilot Conquest Racing Lola". motorsport.com. 2004-03-25. Archived from the original on 2011-06-07. Retrieved 2010-06-20.
  12. "Sperafico joins Wilson at Conquest". crash.net. 2004-03-27. Retrieved 2019-03-12.
  13. "Walker Racing will compete in 2004". motorsport.com. 2004-04-08. Archived from the original on 2011-06-07. Retrieved 2010-06-20.
  14. "Marques, Servia secure rides with Coyne Racing". motorsport.com. 2004-04-16. Archived from the original on 2011-06-07. Retrieved 2010-06-20.
  15. "Memo Gidley To Drive For Rocketsports Racing In Toronto". motorsport.com. 2004-07-09. Archived from the original on 2011-06-06. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
  16. "Rocketsports signs Guy Smith". motorsport.com. 2004-08-03. Archived from the original on 2011-06-06. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
  17. "Walker Racing enters second car in Australia". motorsport.com. 2004-10-18. Archived from the original on 2011-06-06. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
  18. "Jaroslav Janis gets ride with Coyne". motorsport.com. 2004-10-21. Archived from the original on 2011-06-06. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
  19. "Marques returns with Coyne for Mexico City". motorsport.com. 2004-11-04. Archived from the original on 2011-06-06. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
  20. "The 2004 schedule is more complete". motorsport.com. 2004-03-08. Archived from the original on 2011-06-07. Retrieved 2010-07-05.
  21. "Three events remaining in season". ESPN. 2004-09-24. Retrieved 2019-08-05.
  22. "No Seoul for Champ Cars". AutoWeek. 2004-07-25. Retrieved 2019-08-05.
  23. "Champ Car to run at Las Vegas". motorsport.com. 2004-07-07. Archived from the original on 2011-06-07. Retrieved 2010-07-05.

References

See also

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