2004 Champ Car season explained

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
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 U.S. Air Force Reserve Rocketsports Racing Microchip Swift Leisure
			Memo Gidley	6-7
			Guy Smith	8-14
RuSPORT	Lola B02/00	9	Michel Jourdain Jr.	All	Gigante
		10	A. J. Allmendinger	All	nowrap	BG Products Western Union Lance Armstrong Foundation
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 TSI Scotiabank Inverlat
			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
			nowrap	Gastón Mazzacane		3-12
			Jarek Janiš	13

From CART to Champ Car

On January 28, 2004, the assets of the bankrupt Championship Auto Racing Teams, Inc. (CART) were awarded to Open-Wheel Racing Series, LLC, over a bid from Indy Racing League owner Tony George as the judge decided that OWRS's bid would allow CART's debt holders a better chance at recouping their money.^[2] Despite this victory, the OWRS partners Kevin Kalkhoven, Gerald Forsythe, and Paul Gentilozzi, would still have to work hard to ensure 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. 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

• Ex F1 Driver Gastón Mazzacane replaced Tarso Marques at Dale Coyne Racing beginning with the race in Milwaukee.
• Rocketsports Racing swapped out rookie driver Nelson Philippe for Champ Car veteran Memo Gidley after "contractual issues" at Toronto.^[15]
• Rocketsports changed drivers again for the Road America round, bringing in Indy Lights and sports car veteran Guy Smith to replace Memo Gidley.^[16]
• Mi-Jack Conquest Racing brought in Nelson Philippe to take the place of Alex Sperafico beginning with the Denver round.
• Mi-Jack Conquest's #14 team began racing a Lola chassis beginning in Montreal.
• Walker Racing brought out a second car for the final two rounds of the season. Australian David Besnard drove the car at Surfer's Paradise. Toyota Atlantic veteran Michael Valiante took over the drive at Mexico City.^[17]
• Dale Coyne Racing replaced Gastón Mazzacane with Jarek Janiš for the race at Surfer's Paradise.^[18]
• Tarso Marques returned to Dale Coyne Racing for the final race of the season at Mexico City.^[19]

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

Oval/Speedway
Road/Street course

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		Led most laps	Winning driver	Winning team	Report
1	nowrap	Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach	Bruno Junqueira	Sébastien Bourdais	Paul Tracy	Paul Tracy		Report
2	Tecate/Telmex Grand Prix of Monterrey					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		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

See also: List of American Championship car racing point scoring systems.

Pos Driver LBH MTY MIL POR CLE TOR VAN ROA DEN MTL LAG LAS SUR MEX Pts 1 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 nowrap 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 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 14 9 12 10 7 13 13 16 12 10 14 10 11 12 136 16 13 10 14 15 10 13 17 16 9 10 16 89 17 16 13 12 6 18 18 15 12 13 15 73 18 10 18 16 9 17 9 17 53 19 17 16 15 16 13 10 17 17 47 20 7 18 21 Memo Gidley 16 11 15 22 Tarso Marques 18 18 18 9 23 14 7 24 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 *|style="background:#F2F2F2;" align=center|Led most race laps|-|style="text-align:center" colspan=2| Rookie of the Year|-|style="text-align:center" colspan=2| Rookie|}|}|} Nations' Cup Top result per race counts towards the Nations' 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 18 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 Constructors' 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 8 369 2 Junqueira Newman-Haas Racing 14 2 1 341 3 Carpentier Forsythe Championship Racing 14 1 1 266 4 Tracy Forsythe Championship Racing 14 2 3 254 5 Domínguez Herdez Competition 14 -- -- 244 6 Allmendinger RuSPORT 14 -- -- 229 7 Tagliani Rocketsports Racing 14 1 -- 218 8 Vasser PKV Racing 14 -- -- 201 9 Hunter-Reay Herdez Competition 14 1 1 199 10 Servià Dale Coyne Racing 14 -- -- 199 11 Wilson Mi-Jack Conquest Racing 14 -- -- -- 188 12 Jourdain Jr. RuSPORT 14 -- -- 185 13 Haberfeld Walker Racing 14 -- -- -- -- 157 14 Lavín Forsythe Championship Racing 14 -- -- 156 15 Roberto González PKV Racing 14 -- -- -- -- -- 136 16 Philippe Rocketsports Racing Mi-Jack Conquest Racing 11 -- -- -- -- -- 89 17 Dale Coyne Racing 10 -- -- -- -- -- 73 18 Smith Rocketsports Racing 7 -- -- -- -- -- 53 19 Mi-Jack Conquest Racing 8 -- -- -- -- -- 47 20 Besnard Walker Racing 1 -- -- -- -- -- 18 21 Gidley Rocketsports Racing 2 -- -- -- -- -- -- 15 22 Marques Dale Coyne Racing 3 -- -- -- -- -- -- 9 23 Walker Racing 1 -- -- -- -- -- -- 7 24 Dale Coyne Racing 1 -- -- -- -- -- -- 3 References Web site: Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford 2004 . Åberg, Andreas . Driver Database . 2009-05-19 . https://web.archive.org/web/20081005040646/http://www.driverdb.com/standings/5-2004/ . 2008-10-05 . live . Web site: 2004 Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford . Champ Car Stats . 2009-05-19 . https://web.archive.org/web/20081122000223/http://www.champcarstats.com/year/2004.htm . 2008-11-22 . live . Web site: Standings after Mexico City . Champ Car World Series . 2009-05-19 . https://web.archive.org/web/20081022080420/http://www.champcar.ws/Results/Standings.asp?Year=2004 . 2008-10-22 . dead . See also 2004 Toyota Atlantic Championship season 2004 Indianapolis 500 2004 IndyCar Series 2004 Infiniti Pro Series season ]

Notes and References

1. http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Daily/Issues/2004/03/Issue-119/Sports-Media/The-First-Network-For-OWRS-Champ-Car-On-Spike-TV.aspx The First Network For OWRS: Champ Car On Spike TV
2. News: OWRS awarded CART assets. motorsport.com. 2004-01-28. 2010-06-20. https://web.archive.org/web/20110607044916/http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=144777&FS=INDYCAR. 2011-06-07. dead.
3. News: Patrick Racing, Unser Jr to debut at Indy500. motorsport.com. 2004-03-21. 2010-07-04. https://web.archive.org/web/20110607134015/http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=148385&FS=INDYCAR. 2011-06-07. dead.
4. News: Out of the woodwork in Long Beach. motorsport.com. 2004-03-09. 2010-06-20. https://web.archive.org/web/20110607044927/http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=147287&FS=INDYCAR. 2011-06-07. dead.
5. News: Fernandez moves to the IndyCar Series. motorsport.com. 2004-03-11. 2010-06-20. https://web.archive.org/web/20110607045019/http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=147517&FS=INDYCAR. 2011-06-07. dead.
6. News: Two Rahal cars for IndyCar Series. motorsport.com. 2004-03-18. 2010-06-20. https://web.archive.org/web/20110607045051/http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=148025&FS=INDYCAR. 2011-06-07. dead.
7. News: Jourdain leaves Team Rahal. motorsport.com. 2004-03-18. 2010-06-20. https://web.archive.org/web/20110607045122/http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=148055&FS=INDYCAR. 2011-06-07. dead.
8. News: Jourdain joins RuSPORT for 2004. motorsport.com. 2004-03-31. 2010-06-20. https://web.archive.org/web/20110607044800/http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=149239&FS=INDYCAR. 2011-06-07. dead.
9. News: Herdez adds Hunter-Reay to second car. motorsport.com. 2004-03-20. 2010-06-20. https://web.archive.org/web/20110607044627/http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=148225&FS=INDYCAR. 2011-06-07. dead.
10. News: Forsythe commits to three cars. motorsport.com. 2004-03-20. 2010-06-20.
11. News: Justin Wilson to pilot Conquest Racing Lola. motorsport.com. 2004-03-25. 2010-06-20. https://web.archive.org/web/20110607044840/http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=148736&FS=INDYCAR. 2011-06-07. dead.
12. News: Sperafico joins Wilson at Conquest. crash.net. 2004-03-27. 2019-03-12.
13. News: Walker Racing will compete in 2004. motorsport.com. 2004-04-08. 2010-06-20. https://web.archive.org/web/20110607044742/http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=149863&FS=INDYCAR. 2011-06-07. dead.
14. News: Marques, Servia secure rides with Coyne Racing. motorsport.com. 2004-04-16. 2010-06-20. https://web.archive.org/web/20110607044852/http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=150405&FS=INDYCAR. 2011-06-07. dead.
15. News: Memo Gidley To Drive For Rocketsports Racing In Toronto. motorsport.com. 2004-07-09. 2008-05-11. https://web.archive.org/web/20110606160629/http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=159537&FS=INDYCAR. 2011-06-06. dead.
16. News: Rocketsports signs Guy Smith. motorsport.com. 2004-08-03. 2008-05-11. https://web.archive.org/web/20110606160748/http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=162264&FS=INDYCAR. 2011-06-06. dead.
17. News: Walker Racing enters second car in Australia. motorsport.com. 2004-10-18. 2008-05-11. https://web.archive.org/web/20110606160545/http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=171636&FS=INDYCAR. 2011-06-06. dead.
18. News: Jaroslav Janis gets ride with Coyne. motorsport.com. 2004-10-21. 2008-05-11. https://web.archive.org/web/20110606160905/http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=171869&FS=INDYCAR. 2011-06-06. dead.
19. News: Marques returns with Coyne for Mexico City. motorsport.com. 2004-11-04. 2008-05-11. https://web.archive.org/web/20110606160835/http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=172868&FS=INDYCAR. 2011-06-06. dead.
20. News: The 2004 schedule is more complete. motorsport.com. 2004-03-08. 2010-07-05. https://web.archive.org/web/20110607144756/http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=147277&FS=INDYCAR. 2011-06-07. dead.
21. News: Three events remaining in season. ESPN. 2004-09-24. 2019-08-05.
22. News: No Seoul for Champ Cars. AutoWeek. 2004-07-25. 2019-08-05.
23. News: Champ Car to run at Las Vegas. motorsport.com. 2004-07-07. 2010-07-05. https://web.archive.org/web/20110607144810/http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=159310&FS=INDYCAR. 2011-06-07. dead.