2004 Champ Car season

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2004 Champ Car season
Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford
Champ Car simplified logo (2003-2008).svg
Season
Races14
Start dateApril 18
End dateNovember 7
Awards
Drivers' championFrance Sébastien Bourdais
Constructors' CupUnited Kingdom Lola
Nations' CupCanada Canada
Rookie of the YearUnited States A. J. Allmendinger
← 2003 (CART)
2005 →

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.

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
United States Forsythe Championship Racing Lola B02/00 1 Canada Paul Tracy All Indeck
3 Mexico Rodolfo Lavín All Corona
7 Canada Patrick Carpentier All Indeck
United States Newman/Haas Racing Lola B02/00 2 France Sébastien Bourdais All McDonald's
6 Brazil Bruno Junqueira All PacifiCare
Mexico Herdez Competition Lola B02/00 4 United States Ryan Hunter-Reay All Herdez
55 Mexico Mario Domínguez All
United States Walker Racing Reynard 02I 5 Brazil Mario Haberfeld All Cummins
15 Australia David Besnard 13 Wright-Patton-Shakespeare
Canada Michael Valiante 14 Wildlife Conservation Network
United States Rocketsports Racing Lola B02/00 8 Canada Alex Tagliani All Johnson Controls
17 France Nelson Philippe 1-5 LeasePlan 6
U.S. Air Force Reserve 1
Rocketsports Racing 4
Microchip 2
Swift Leisure 1
United States Memo Gidley 6-7
United Kingdom Guy Smith 8-14
United States RuSPORT Lola B02/00 9 Mexico Michel Jourdain Jr. All Gigante
10 United States A. J. Allmendinger All BG Products 5
Western Union 8
Lance Armstrong Foundation 1
United States PKV Racing Lola B02/00 12 United States Jimmy Vasser All Gulfstream
21 Mexico Roberto González All NII Holdings
United States Mi-Jack Conquest Racing Reynard 02I 14 Brazil Alex Sperafico 1-8 Mi-Jack 12
TSI 1
Scotiabank Inverlat 1
France Nelson Philippe 9
Lola B02/00 10-14
34 United Kingdom Justin Wilson 1-2, 4-14 Mi-Jack
Reynard 02I 3
United States Dale Coyne Racing Lola B02/00 11 Spain Oriol Servià All YokeTV.com
19 Brazil Tarso Marques 1-2, 14 American Medical Response
Argentina Gastón Mazzacane 3-12
Czech Republic 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 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 United States Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach  S  Streets of Long Beach Long Beach, California April 18
2 Mexico Tecate/Telmex Grand Prix of Monterrey  S  Fundidora Park Monterrey, Mexico May 23
3 United States The Time Warner Cable Roadrunner 250  O  Milwaukee Mile West Allis, Wisconsin June 5
4 United States Champ Car Grand Prix of Portland  R  Portland International Raceway Portland, Oregon June 20
5 United States U.S. Bank Presents The Champ Car Grand Prix of Cleveland  S  Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport Cleveland, Ohio July 3
6 Canada Molson Indy Toronto  S  Exhibition Place Toronto, Canada July 11
7 Canada Molson Indy Vancouver  S  Concord Pacific Place Vancouver, Canada July 25
8 United States Grand Prix of Road America Presented by the Chicago Tribune  R  Road America Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin August 8
9 United States Centrix Financial Grand Prix of Denver  S  Denver Civic Center Denver, Colorado August 15
10 Canada Molson Indy Montreal  R  Circuit Gilles Villeneuve Montreal, Canada August 29
11 United States Bridgestone Grand Prix of Monterey  R  Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca Monterey, California September 12
12 United States Bridgestone 400 Presented by Corona  O  Las Vegas Motor Speedway Las Vegas, Nevada September 25
13 Australia Lexmark Indy 300  S  Surfers Paradise Street Circuit Surfers Paradise, Australia October 24
14 Mexico 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 United States Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Brazil Bruno Junqueira France Sébastien Bourdais Canada Paul Tracy Canada Paul Tracy Forsythe Championship Racing Report
2 Mexico Tecate/Telmex Grand Prix of Monterrey France Sébastien Bourdais France Sébastien Bourdais France Sébastien Bourdais France Sébastien Bourdais Newman/Haas Racing Report
3 United States The Time Warner Cable Roadrunner 250 United States Ryan Hunter-Reay United States Ryan Hunter-Reay United States Ryan Hunter-Reay United States Ryan Hunter-Reay Herdez Competition Report
4 United States Champ Car Grand Prix of Portland France Sébastien Bourdais Brazil Bruno Junqueira France Sébastien Bourdais France Sébastien Bourdais Newman/Haas Racing Report
5 United States U.S. Bank Presents The Champ Car Grand Prix of Cleveland Canada Paul Tracy Brazil Bruno Junqueira France Sébastien Bourdais France Sébastien Bourdais Newman/Haas Racing Report
6 Canada Molson Indy Toronto France Sébastien Bourdais France Sébastien Bourdais France Sébastien Bourdais France Sébastien Bourdais Newman/Haas Racing Report
7 Canada Molson Indy Vancouver Canada Paul Tracy Canada Paul Tracy Canada Paul Tracy Canada Paul Tracy Forsythe Championship Racing Report
8 United States Grand Prix of Road America Presented by the Chicago Tribune France Sébastien Bourdais Brazil Bruno Junqueira Canada Paul Tracy
Canada Alex Tagliani
Canada Alex Tagliani Rocketsports Racing Report
9 United States Centrix Financial Grand Prix of Denver France Sébastien Bourdais France Sébastien Bourdais Canada Paul Tracy France Sébastien Bourdais Newman/Haas Racing Report
10 Canada Molson Indy Montreal France Sébastien Bourdais France Sébastien Bourdais France Sébastien Bourdais Brazil Bruno Junqueira Newman/Haas Racing Report
11 United States Bridgestone Grand Prix of Monterey France Sébastien Bourdais Mexico Mario Domínguez Canada Patrick Carpentier Canada Patrick Carpentier Forsythe Championship Racing Report
12 United States Bridgestone 400 Presented by Corona Canada Patrick Carpentier Brazil Bruno Junqueira France Sébastien Bourdais France Sébastien Bourdais Newman/Haas Racing Report
13 Australia Lexmark Indy 300 Canada Paul Tracy Brazil Bruno Junqueira Canada Paul Tracy Brazil Bruno Junqueira Newman/Haas Racing Report
14 Mexico Gran Premio Telmex-Tecate Presented by Banamex France Sébastien Bourdais France Sébastien Bourdais France Sébastien Bourdais France Sébastien Bourdais Newman/Haas Racing Report

Final driver standings[]

Pos Driver LBH United States MTY Mexico MIL United States POR United States CLE United States TOR Canada VAN Canada ROA United States DEN United States MTL Canada LAG United States LAS United States SUR Australia MEX Mexico Pts
1 France Sébastien Bourdais 3 1* 18 1* 1* 1* 5 3 1 15* 8 1* 2 1* 369
2 Brazil Bruno Junqueira 2 2 6 2 2 18 4 15 3 1 2 2 1 2 341
3 Canada Patrick Carpentier 4 4 2 4 16 3 16 14 9 2 1* 3 16 6 266
4 Canada Paul Tracy 1* 7 17 3 17 5 1* 12 2* 4 10 18 4* 10 254
5 Mexico Mario Domínguez 5 3 8 17 8 17 6 5 4 3 11 7 3 8 244
6 United States A. J. Allmendinger  RY  12 17 5 6 6 11 3 13 5 5 15 6 6 3 229
7 Canada Alex Tagliani 8 5 13 7 3 7 7 1* 10 7 6 16 19 11 218
8 United States Jimmy Vasser 16 12 4 8 5 2 10 8 17 8 17 5 12 5 201
9 United States Ryan Hunter-Reay 7 8 1* 12 11 8 8 4 16 18 5 13 5 19 199
10 Spain Oriol Servià 15 14 7 11 4 9 12 6 6 9 3 12 13 7 199
11 United Kingdom Justin Wilson  R  6 6 11 5 18 12 14 7 7 14 18 8 8 4 188
12 Mexico Michel Jourdain Jr. 11 11 3 14 15 15 2 9 14 6 4 11 17 9 185
13 Brazil Mario Haberfeld 9 15 10 9 14 4 9 11 8 13 7 14 14 15 157
14 Mexico Rodolfo Lavín 10 13 9 18 9 14 15 2 11 11 12 4 15 13 156
15 Mexico Roberto González  R  14 9 12 10 7 13 13 16 12 10 14 10 11 12 136
16 France Nelson Philippe  R  13 10 14 15 10 13 17 16 9 10 16 89
17 Argentina Gastón Mazzacane  R  16 13 12 6 18 18 15 12 13 15 73
18 United Kingdom Guy Smith  R  10 18 16 9 17 9 17 53
19 Brazil Alex Sperafico  R  17 16 15 16 13 10 17 17 47
20 Australia David Besnard  R  7 18
21 United States Memo Gidley 16 11 15
22 Brazil Tarso Marques 18 18 18 9
23 Canada Michael Valiante  R  14 7
24 Czech Republic Jarek Janiš  R  18 3
Pos Driver LBH United States MTY Mexico MIL United States POR United States CLE United States TOR Canada VAN Canada ROA United States DEN United States MTL Canada LAG United States LAS United States SUR Australia MEX Mexico 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 United States MTY Mexico MIL United States POR United States CLE United States TOR Canada VAN Canada ROA United States DEN United States MTL Canada LAG United States LAS United States SUR Australia MEX Mexico Pts
1 Canada Canada 1 4 2 3 3 3 1 1 2 2 1 3 4 6 380
2 France France 3 1 14 1 1 1 5 3 1 15 8 1 2 1 358
3 Brazil Brazil 2 2 6 2 2 4 4 11 3 1 2 2 1 2 352
4 United States United States 7 8 1 6 5 2 3 4 5 5 5 5 5 3 310
5 Mexico Mexico 5 3 3 10 7 13 2 2 4 3 4 4 3 8 295
6 Spain Spain 15 14 7 11 4 9 12 6 6 9 3 12 13 7 195
7 England England 6 6 11 5 18 12 14 7 7 14 9 8 8 4 195
8 Argentina Argentina 16 13 12 6 DNS 18 15 12 13 15 73
9 Australia Australia 7 17
10 Czech Republic Czech Republic 18 3
Pos Country LBH United States MTY Mexico MIL United States POR United States CLE United States TOR Canada VAN Canada ROA United States DEN United States MTL Canada LAG United States LAS United States SUR Australia MEX Mexico Pts

Chassis Constructor's Cup[]

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

Driver breakdown[]

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