Sunday, 20th April 2008

With the Champ Car World Series about to bow out of the international motorsport sphere, Crash.net is out and about in Long Beach to get a taste of the atmosphere. Check back regularly to read the behind-the-scenes news...

Sunday AM: Garage sale?

With no future for the Champ Car series after this weekend's race, the teams continue to ponder what to do with their cars.

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KV Racing Racing Technology co-owner Jimmy Vasser said he didn't know what would happen to the team's cars, but said that there had been talk of getting them all together and selling them to a racing school or some such, rather than sell them off piece-meal. Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing general manager Brian Lisles also said he didn't know what would happen to the cars, but admitted that the team might try and find some space in its workshop for them.

Alex Tagliani, meanwhile, has been touted as a possible middleman should anyone wish to off-load a DP01 or two. It has been a running joke all weekend that Tag will promote a garage sale for team owner Derrick Walker. The Canadian said that, unlike those drivers making the transition from the IndyCar Series, his adaptation to driving the Panoz had been a lot bigger.

"I went from home renovator to Champ Car driver - all Justin [Wilson] had to do was go between cars," he grinned at the qualifying press conference. Wilson shot back that Tagliani actually had three job descriptions - race car driver, home renovator and, now, car salesman.

Later, Walker confirmed that Tagliani was serious about trying to sell off the Walker cars. It's Tag's deal, not his, but Walker said that the Champ Cars would have gone from a $100,000 value to $25,000 by Sunday afternoon. He seriously thinks there is a great opportunity out there for some driver/owners to buy a historic car and engine, and reckoned that there were 100 Cosworth engines that are now obsolete.

On Saturday, fellow team owner Paul Gentilozzi said that he thought that there were people trying hard to form a series to run the Champ Cars.

"They're great race cars and can be run economically," he pointed out, "Who knows, there could be a series in Japan or Brazil..."

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