2004 Champ Car season

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2004 Champ Car season
2004 Champ Car season
Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford
Season
Races 14
Start date April 18
End date November 7
Awards
Drivers' champion France Sébastien Bourdais
Constructors' Cup United Kingdom Lola
Nations' Cup Canada Canada
Rookie of the Year United States A. J. Allmendinger
Chronology
Previous season Next season
2003 (CART) 2005

The 2004 Champ Car season was the inaugural season for the Champ Car World Series. It began on April 18, 2004 and ended on November 7 after 14 races. The Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford Drivers' Champion was Sébastien Bourdais. The Rookie of the Year was A. J. Allmendinger.

The open-wheel racing organization CART, Inc. had operated until 2003. After that year's season, the series 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 the series' liquidated assets and resurrected it as the Champ Car World Series for the 2004 season.

Contents

Drivers and teams [edit]

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
United States Forsythe Championship Racing Lola B02/00 1 Canada Paul Tracy All
3 Mexico Rodolfo Lavín All
7 Canada Patrick Carpentier All
United States Newman/Haas Racing Lola B02/00 2 France Sébastien Bourdais All
6 Brazil Bruno Junqueira All
Mexico Herdez Competition Lola B02/00 4 United States Ryan Hunter-Reay All
55 Mexico Mario Domínguez All
United States Walker Racing Reynard 02I 5 Brazil Mario Haberfeld All
15 Australia David Besnard 13
Canada Michael Valiante 14
United States Rocketsports Racing Lola B02/00 8 Canada Alex Tagliani All
17 France Nelson Philippe 1-5
United States Memo Gidley 6-7
United Kingdom Guy Smith 8-14
United States RuSPORT Lola B02/00 9 Mexico Michel Jourdain, Jr. All
10 United States A. J. Allmendinger All
United States PKV Racing Lola B02/00 12 United States Jimmy Vasser All
21 Mexico Roberto González All
United States Mi-Jack Conquest Racing Reynard 02I
Lola B02/00		 14 Brazil Alex Sperafico 1-8
France Nelson Philippe 9-14
34 United Kingdom Justin Wilson All
United States Dale Coyne Racing Lola B02/00 11 Spain Oriol Servià All
19 Brazil Tarso Marques 1-2, 14
Argentina Gastón Mazzacane 3-12
Czech Republic Jarek Janiš 13

From CART to Champ Car [edit]

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.[1] A bid from Indy Racing League owner Tony George was rejected, 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.[2]

Long Beach Season Premiere and its aftermath [edit]

On March 9 a "Season Premiere" promotional event was held in Long Beach, California, announcing 12 confirmed drivers and a 16 race schedule.[3] 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).[4] 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.[5]

Champ Car makes it to Long Beach [edit]

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.[6] Jourdain ended up driving for the new RuSPORT team, partnering with rookie A. J. Allmendinger.[7] On March 20, Herdez Competition announced that Ryan Hunter-Reay would race a 2nd car for them.[8] On March 24 Gerald Forsythe expanded his team from two cars to three, providing a seat for Patrick Carpentier.[9] Conquest Racing announced a two car team featuring ex-Formula One driver Justin Wilson on March 25.[10] 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.[11] 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.[12]

Mid-season changes [edit]

  • Mi-Jack Conquest's #14 team began racing a Lola chassis beginning in Montreal.
  • Dale Coyne Racing replaced Gastón Mazzacane with Jarek Janiš for the race at Surfer's Paradise.[16]
  • Tarso Marques returned to Dale Coyne Racing for the final race of the season at Mexico City.[17]

Races [edit]

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

The initial schedule announced by Champ Car at the Long Beach Season Premiere event included 16 races.[18] 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. The race was canceled in July after efforts to secure government approval for the race near Seoul World Cup Stadium could not be arranged.[19] 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.[20]

Full Series Results [edit]

Race Results [edit]

Rnd Race Name Pole position Fastest lap Winning driver Winning team Report
1 United States Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Brazil Bruno Junqueira France Sébastien Bourdais Canada Paul Tracy Forsythe Championship Racing Report
2 Mexico Tecate/Telmex Grand Prix of Monterrey 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 Herdez Competition Report
4 United States Champ Car Grand Prix of Portland France Sébastien Bourdais Brazil Bruno Junqueira 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 Newman/Haas Racing Report
6 Canada Molson Indy Toronto 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 Forsythe Championship Racing Report
8 United States Grand Prix of Road America Presented by the Chicago Tribune France Sébastien Bourdais Brazil Bruno Junqueira Canada Alex Tagliani Rocketsports Racing Report
9 United States Centrix Financial Grand Prix of Denver France Sébastien Bourdais France Sébastien Bourdais France Sébastien Bourdais Newman/Haas Racing Report
10 Canada Molson Indy Montreal 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 Forsythe Championship Racing Report
12 United States Bridgestone 400 Presented by Corona Canada Patrick Carpentier Brazil Bruno Junqueira France Sébastien Bourdais Newman/Haas Racing Report
13 Australia Lexmark Indy 300 Canada Paul Tracy Brazil Bruno Junqueira 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 Newman/Haas Racing Report

Point Scoring System [edit]

The 2004 season featured a change to the 1st through 12th place CART point system that had been in effect since 1983.[21] The number of points awarded were increased and point scoring positions increased to 20. Points continued to be awarded based on the driver's finishing position regardless of the number of laps completed. New bonus points were added as well, adding a point for fastest lap, leading a lap, as well as a point for the driver who improved the most positions from his starting position, while the point for leading the most laps was dropped.

Final driver standings [edit]

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 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 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 14 9 12 10 7 13 13 16 12 10 14 10 11 12 136
16 France Nelson Philippe 13 10 14 15 10 13 17 16 9 10 16 89
17 Argentina Gastón Mazzacane 16 13 12 6 DNS 18 15 12 13 15 73
18 United Kingdom Guy Smith 10 18 16 9 17 9 17 53
19 Brazil Alex Sperafico 17 16 15 16 13 10 17 17 47
20 Australia David Besnard 7 18
21 United States Memo Gidley 16 11 15
22 Brazil Tarso Marques 18 18 18 9
23 Canada Michael Valiante 14 7
24 Czech Republic Jarek Janiš 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
Rookie of the Year
Rookie

Point Scoring System:

  • Points are awarded based on each driver's resulting place (regardless of whether the car is running at the end of the race):
Position 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Points 31 27 25 23 21 19 17 15 13 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Bonus Points:

  • 1 For Fastest Race Lap
  • 1 For Fastest Friday Qualifying Lap
  • 1 For Fastest Saturday Qualifying Lap
  • 1 For Leading A Lap Of The Race
  • 1 For Most Positions Gained From Starting Position (in the event of tie, the better-placed driver gets the point)

Nation's Cup [edit]

  • 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 [edit]

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

Driver Breakdown [edit]

Pos Driver Team Entries Wins Podiums Top 5 Top 10 Poles Laps Led Pts
1 France Bourdais United States Newman-Haas Racing 14 7 700110000000000000010 700111000000000000011 700112000000000000012 8 7002506000000000000506 369
2 Brazil Junqueira United States Newman-Haas Racing 14 2 700110000000000000010 700111000000000000011 700112000000000000012 1 7002123000000000000123 341
3 Canada Carpentier United States Forsythe Championship Racing 14 1 70005000000000000005 70008000000000000008 700110000000000000010 1 700166000000000000066 266
4 Canada Tracy United States Forsythe Championship Racing 14 2 70004000000000000004 70007000000000000007 700110000000000000010 3 7002286000000000000286 254
5 Mexico Domínguez Mexico Herdez Competition 14 5000000000000000000-- 70003000000000000003 70006000000000000006 700111000000000000011 5000000000000000000-- 700110000000000000010 244
6 United States Allmendinger United States RuSPORT 14 5000000000000000000-- 70002000000000000002 70005000000000000005 70009000000000000009 5000000000000000000-- 700116000000000000016 229
7 Canada Tagliani United States Rocketsports Racing 14 1 70002000000000000002 70003000000000000003 700110000000000000010 5000000000000000000-- 700129000000000000029 218
8 United States Vasser United States PKV Racing 14 5000000000000000000-- 70001000000000000001 70005000000000000005 70009000000000000009 5000000000000000000-- 70005000000000000005 201
9 United States Hunter-Reay Mexico Herdez Competition 14 1 70001000000000000001 70004000000000000004 70008000000000000008 1 7002250000000000000250 199
10 Spain Servià United States Dale Coyne Racing 14 5000000000000000000-- 70001000000000000001 70002000000000000002 70008000000000000008 5000000000000000000-- 70006000000000000006 199
11 United Kingdom Wilson United States Mi-Jack Conquest Racing 14 5000000000000000000-- 5000000000000000000-- 70002000000000000002 70008000000000000008 5000000000000000000-- 70001000000000000001 188
12 Mexico Jourdain, Jr. United States RuSPORT 14 5000000000000000000-- 70002000000000000002 70003000000000000003 70006000000000000006 5000000000000000000-- 700113000000000000013 185
13 Brazil Haberfeld United States Walker Racing 14 5000000000000000000-- 5000000000000000000-- 70001000000000000001 70007000000000000007 5000000000000000000-- 5000000000000000000-- 157
14 Mexico Lavín United States Forsythe Championship Racing 14 5000000000000000000-- 70001000000000000001 70002000000000000002 70005000000000000005 5000000000000000000-- 70003000000000000003 156
15 Brazil González United States PKV Racing 14 5000000000000000000-- 5000000000000000000-- 5000000000000000000-- 70005000000000000005 5000000000000000000-- 5000000000000000000-- 136
16 France Philippe United States Rocketsports Racing
United States Mi-Jack Conquest Racing		 11 5000000000000000000-- 5000000000000000000-- 5000000000000000000-- 70004000000000000004 5000000000000000000-- 5000000000000000000-- 89
17 Argentina Mazzacane (R) United States Dale Coyne Racing 10 5000000000000000000-- 5000000000000000000-- 5000000000000000000-- 70001000000000000001 5000000000000000000-- 5000000000000000000-- 73
18 United Kingdom Smith United States Rocketsports Racing 7 5000000000000000000-- 5000000000000000000-- 5000000000000000000-- 70003000000000000003 5000000000000000000-- 5000000000000000000-- 53
19 Brazil Sperafico (R) United States Mi-Jack Conquest Racing 8 5000000000000000000-- 5000000000000000000-- 5000000000000000000-- 70001000000000000001 5000000000000000000-- 5000000000000000000-- 47
20 Australia Besnard United States Walker Racing 1 5000000000000000000-- 5000000000000000000-- 5000000000000000000-- 70001000000000000001 5000000000000000000-- 5000000000000000000-- 18
21 United States Gidley United States Rocketsports Racing 2 5000000000000000000-- 5000000000000000000-- 5000000000000000000-- 5000000000000000000-- 5000000000000000000-- 5000000000000000000-- 15
22 Brazil Marques United States Dale Coyne Racing 3 5000000000000000000-- 5000000000000000000-- 5000000000000000000-- 5000000000000000000-- 5000000000000000000-- 5000000000000000000-- 9
23 Canada Valiante (R) United States Walker Racing 1 5000000000000000000-- 5000000000000000000-- 5000000000000000000-- 5000000000000000000-- 5000000000000000000-- 5000000000000000000-- 7
24 Czech Republic Janiš (R) United States Dale Coyne Racing 1 5000000000000000000-- 5000000000000000000-- 5000000000000000000-- 5000000000000000000-- 5000000000000000000-- 5000000000000000000-- 3

Notes [edit]

  1. ^ "OWRS awarded CART assets". motorsport.com. 2004-01-28. Retrieved 2010-06-20. 
  2. ^ "Patrick Racing, Unser Jr to debut at Indy500". motorsport.com. 2004-03-21. Retrieved 2010-07-04. 
  3. ^ "Out of the woodwork in Long Beach". motorsport.com. 2004-03-09. Retrieved 2010-06-20. 
  4. ^ "Fernandez moves to the IndyCar Series". motorsport.com. 2004-03-11. Retrieved 2010-06-20. 
  5. ^ "Two Rahal cars for IndyCar Series". motorsport.com. 2004-03-18. Retrieved 2010-06-20. 
  6. ^ "Jourdain leaves Team Rahal". motorsport.com. 2004-03-18. Retrieved 2010-06-20. 
  7. ^ "Jourdain joins RuSPORT for 2004". motorsport.com. 2004-03-31. Retrieved 2010-06-20. 
  8. ^ "Herdez adds Hunter-Reay to second car". motorsport.com. 2004-03-20. Retrieved 2010-06-20. 
  9. ^ "Forsythe commits to three cars". motorsport.com. 2004-03-20. Retrieved 2010-06-20. 
  10. ^ "Justin Wilson to pilot Conquest Racing Lola". motorsport.com. 2004-03-25. Retrieved 2010-06-20. 
  11. ^ "Walker Racing will compete in 2004". motorsport.com. 2004-04-08. Retrieved 2010-06-20. 
  12. ^ "Marques, Servia secure rides with Coyne Racing". motorsport.com. 2004-04-16. Retrieved 2010-06-20. 
  13. ^ "Memo Gidley To Drive For Rocketsports Racing In Toronto". motorsport.com. 2004-07-09. Retrieved 2008-05-11. 
  14. ^ "Rocketsports signs Guy Smith". motorsport.com. 2004-08-03. Retrieved 2008-05-11. 
  15. ^ "Walker Racing enters second car in Australia". motorsport.com. 2004-10-18. Retrieved 2008-05-11. 
  16. ^ "Jaroslav Janis gets ride with Coyne". motorsport.com. 2004-10-21. Retrieved 2008-05-11. 
  17. ^ "Marques returns with Coyne for Mexico City". motorsport.com. 2004-11-04. Retrieved 2008-05-11. 
  18. ^ "The 2004 schedule is more complete". motorsport.com. 2004-03-08. Retrieved 2010-07-05. 
  19. ^ "No Seoul". AutoWeek. 2004-07-26. Retrieved 2010-07-05. 
  20. ^ "Champ Car to run at Las Vegas". motorsport.com. 2004-07-07. Retrieved 2010-07-05. 
  21. ^ "New point system announced". motorsport.com. 2004-02-05. Retrieved 2010-07-12. 

References [edit]

See also [edit]
AAA
NASCAR
USAC
CART / CCWS
INDYCAR
Years marked in italics are not official championship years.
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