It felt like the good old days at Long Beach with the paddock packed with cars, drivers besieged for autographs and the turbocharged Champ Car engines reverberating off the walls of the downtown highrises.
Through a set of curious circumstances, Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach will be the last race for the soon-to-be-defunct Champ Car World Series, which has been largely absorbed into the rival IRL IndyCar Series through a unification announced in February.
Nine former Champ Car teams and several former drivers from that series have already made the transition to the IRL for its first two races but, because the IRL could not get out of a commitment to run Saturday in Motegi, Japan, it was decided the scheduled Champ Car event in the streets of Long Beach would go on.
It’s well documented that both American open-wheel series have struggled to find fan support and sponsorship through most of their 12-year rivalry, with fields shrinking and drivers fleeing to NASCAR and other series.
“Big crowds in the paddock, big crowds in the stands for qualifying,” said former CART/Champ Car World Series champion Paul Tracy, making his last start for longtime team owner Gerald Forsythe. “It’s really like it was in the mid-90s.
“Now I don’t know if that is just because of the anticipation of the new series or just a farewell for the hardcore fans that have been here. But (there was) tremendous fan support and lots of well-wishes for me.”
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