2004 Champ Car season

2004 American Championship Car season
Series : Champ Car
Champion : Sébastien Bourdais
Previous: 2003 (CART)	Next: 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.

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

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[]

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[]

F1 veteran 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.^[13]

Rocketsports changed drivers again for the Road America round, bringing in Indy Lights and sports car veteran Guy Smith to replace Memo Gidley.^[14]

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.^[15]

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[]

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	Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport	Cleveland, Ohio	July 3
6	Molson Indy Toronto	Exhibition Place	Toronto, Ontario	July 11
7	Molson Indy Vancouver	Streets of Vancouver	Vancouver, British Columbia	July 25
8	Grand Prix of Road America Presented by the Chicago Tribune	Road America	Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin	August 8
9	Centrix Financial Grand Prix of Denver	Streets of Denver	Denver, Colorado	August 15
10	Molson Indy Montreal	Circuit Gilles Villeneuve	Montreal, Quebec	August 29
11	Bridgestone Grand Prix of Monterey	Laguna Seca	Monterey, California	September 12
12	Bridgestone 400 Presented by Corona	Las Vegas Motor Speedway	Las Vegas, Nevada	September 25
13	Lexmark Indy 300	Surfers Paradise Street Circuit	Surfers Paradise, Australia	October 24
14	Gran Premio Telmex-Tecate Presented by Banamex	Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez	Mexico City, Mexico	November 7

Page Template:Legend/styles.css has no content.

Oval/Speedway

Page Template:Legend/styles.css has no content.

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[]

Race Results[]

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

Point Scoring System[]

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[]

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	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	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	14	9	12	10	7	13	13	16	12	10	14	10	11	12	136
16	Nelson Philippe	13	10	14	15	10				13	17	16	9	10	16	89
17	Gastón Mazzacane			16	13	12	6	DNS	18	15	12	13	15			73
18	Guy Smith								10	18	16	9	17	9	17	53
19	Alex Sperafico	17	16	15	16	13	10	17	17							47
20	David Besnard													7		18
21	Memo Gidley						16	11								15
22	Tarso Marques	18	18												18	9
23	Michael Valiante														14	7
24	Jarek Janiš													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)
Blank	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[]

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	0	3	6	11	0	10	244
6	Allmendinger	RuSPORT	14	0	2	5	9	0	16	229
7	Tagliani	Rocketsports Racing	14	1	2	3	10	0	29	218
8	Vasser	PKV Racing	14	0	1	5	9	0	5	201
9	Hunter-Reay	Herdez Competition	14	1	1	4	8	1	250	199
10	Servià	Dale Coyne Racing	14	0	1	2	8	0	6	199
11	Wilson	Mi-Jack Conquest Racing	14	0	0	2	8	0	1	188
12	Jourdain, Jr.	RuSPORT	14	0	2	3	6	0	13	185
13	Haberfeld	Walker Racing	14	0	0	1	7	0	0	157
14	Lavín	Forsythe Championship Racing	14	0	1	2	5	0	3	156
15	Roberto González	PKV Racing	14	0	0	0	5	0	0	136
16	Philippe	Rocketsports Racing Mi-Jack Conquest Racing	11	0	0	0	4	0	0	89
17	Mazzacane (R)	Dale Coyne Racing	10	0	0	0	1	0	0	73
18	Smith	Rocketsports Racing	7	0	0	0	3	0	0	53
19	Sperafico (R)	Mi-Jack Conquest Racing	8	0	0	0	1	0	0	47
20	Besnard	Walker Racing	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	18
21	Gidley	Rocketsports Racing	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	15
22	Marques	Dale Coyne Racing	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	9
23	Valiante (R)	Walker Racing	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	7
24	Janiš (R)	Dale Coyne Racing	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	3

Notes[]

↑ "OWRS awarded CART assets". motorsport.com. 2004-01-28. http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=144777&FS=INDYCAR. Retrieved 2010-06-20.
↑ "Patrick Racing, Unser Jr to debut at Indy500". motorsport.com. 2004-03-21. http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=148385&FS=INDYCAR. Retrieved 2010-07-04.
↑ "Out of the woodwork in Long Beach". motorsport.com. 2004-03-09. http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=147287&FS=INDYCAR. Retrieved 2010-06-20.
↑ "Fernandez moves to the IndyCar Series". motorsport.com. 2004-03-11. http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=147517&FS=INDYCAR. Retrieved 2010-06-20.
↑ "Two Rahal cars for IndyCar Series". motorsport.com. 2004-03-18. http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=148025&FS=INDYCAR. Retrieved 2010-06-20.
↑ "Jourdain leaves Team Rahal". motorsport.com. 2004-03-18. http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=148055&FS=INDYCAR. Retrieved 2010-06-20.
↑ "Jourdain joins RuSPORT for 2004". motorsport.com. 2004-03-31. http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=149239&FS=INDYCAR. Retrieved 2010-06-20.
↑ "Herdez adds Hunter-Reay to second car". motorsport.com. 2004-03-20. http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=148225&FS=INDYCAR. Retrieved 2010-06-20.
↑ "Forsythe commits to three cars". motorsport.com. 2004-03-20. http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=148629&FS=INDYCAR. Retrieved 2010-06-20.
↑ "Justin Wilson to pilot Conquest Racing Lola". motorsport.com. 2004-03-25. http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=148736&FS=INDYCAR. Retrieved 2010-06-20.
↑ "Walker Racing will compete in 2004". motorsport.com. 2004-04-08. http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=149863&FS=INDYCAR. Retrieved 2010-06-20.
↑ "Marques, Servia secure rides with Coyne Racing". motorsport.com. 2004-04-16. http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=150405&FS=INDYCAR. Retrieved 2010-06-20.
↑ "Memo Gidley To Drive For Rocketsports Racing In Toronto". motorsport.com. 2004-07-09. http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=159537&FS=INDYCAR. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
↑ "Rocketsports signs Guy Smith". motorsport.com. 2004-08-03. http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=162264&FS=INDYCAR. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
↑ "Walker Racing enters second car in Australia". motorsport.com. 2004-10-18. http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=171636&FS=INDYCAR. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
↑ "Jaroslav Janis gets ride with Coyne". motorsport.com. 2004-10-21. http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=171869&FS=INDYCAR. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
↑ "Marques returns with Coyne for Mexico City". motorsport.com. 2004-11-04. http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=172868&FS=INDYCAR. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
↑ "The 2004 schedule is more complete". motorsport.com. 2004-03-08. http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=147277&FS=INDYCAR. Retrieved 2010-07-05.
↑ "No Seoul". AutoWeek. 2004-07-26. Archived from the original on 2013-01-25. https://archive.is/j3e0l. Retrieved 2010-07-05.
↑ "Champ Car to run at Las Vegas". motorsport.com. 2004-07-07. http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=159310&FS=INDYCAR. Retrieved 2010-07-05.
↑ "New point system announced". motorsport.com. 2004-02-05. http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=145218&FS=INDYCAR. Retrieved 2010-07-12.

References[]

Åberg, Andreas. "Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford 2004". Driver Database. Archived

from the original on 2009-05-28. http://www.driverdb.com/standings/5-2004/. Retrieved 2009-05-19.

"2004 Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford". Champ Car Stats. Archived

from the original on 2009-05-28. http://www.champcarstats.com/year/2004.htm. Retrieved 2009-05-19.

"Standings after Mexico City". Champ Car World Series. Archived

from the original on 2009-05-28. http://www.champcar.ws/Results/Standings.asp?Year=2004. Retrieved 2009-05-19.