"I wasn't in the best shape of my life, like I said this weekend, but definitely was able to carry it through here and was strong all the way through the race," he noted, "I was a little bit concerned about fatigue, as I haven't been doing a lot of cardio in the last few months. I've been riding a little bit, a couple days a week, but not like every single day. I've been lifting more weights than doing cardio. So I was a little bit worried about my cardio for the race, but I think my strength was fine.

"Obviously, with more time to prepare, I would have been more prepared, but I only had four days of really hard training cardio-wise to get ready for this race. Other than that, I was pretty happy with how I ran."

Fitness aside, Tracy was convinced that he had lost nothing in his racing, and was determined to put up a good show, not only for the Canadian fans which packed the stands to cheer him on, but also to deny the naysayers who had suggested that neither he or the deal were all they made out to be.

"A lot of people were saying 'don't do this, it's going to be a bad deal, you're going to be set up to look bad, they're only using you to sell tickets', but I spoke to Derrick on the 'phone, and he said 'look, I'm going to give you the best, everything I got, to make us look good this weekend. So just believe in me'. That's why I took the chance on doing this. He's trying to get back in the game.

"For me, it's difficult to hear people say 'Paul should just have to come out and pay his dues again, run around at the back, show that he can drive'. I showed today what I can do if we got a proper deal.

"I felt, coming in, that I could do a good job. This series has got the best of both groups. The top guys in the IRL were really top guys at their time in CART - Helio and Dixon, they were frontrunners - ad you've got the top guys that were in Champ Car, so that doubles the level of top guys.

"The last couple years have been frustrating for me. We really struggled the last couple years, [and] I came into this weekend and learned that guys that were my crew guys and engineers from last year were making bets that I wouldn't crack the top 20, because they felt it was me that was the problem at Forsythe. So that definitely gave me some extra motivation to prove that 'hey, I can still do this, I can run up front with these guys that are a lot younger than me'."

The Edmonton outing, at present, is the only one slated for Tracy, despite Walker and Vision boss-cum-IndyCar CEO Tony George wanting to see him on track more for the good of the series. Tracy, too, is hoping that, even though other 2008 races may be tough to pull off, the group can put together a programme for 2009.

"I'm not ready to retire," he insisted, "I want to do a few more years of racing, try to help the series and help it grow in Canada. That's what I've stated all along since the merger so, hopefully, I'll get the opportunity to do that.

"It's no secret that, my whole career, the most important part of the season for me is always to run in the Canadian races. And, right from the beginning of my career, winning the Toronto race in '93, to run well at home was always the focal point of my year.