Former Champ Car Champion Paul Tracy looks almost certain to return to competitive action with Walker Racing in the forthcoming IndyCar Series outing at Edmonton his home' race and he is hopeful it could lead to a full-time comeback in the category.
The Canadian for years one of Champ Car's biggest stars and crowd-pullers was left out of work following the demise of the series and merger with the Indy Racing League back at the start of 2008. Since then he has competed on just a sole occasion, finishing a delayed eleventh for Forsythe/Pettit Racing in Champ Car's final hurrah the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach after clipping the wall early on.
Despite having expressed his keen interest in switching across to the IndyCar Series following Champ Car's collapse, Tracy's insistence on only wanting to race with one of the leading teams after Forsythe shut its doors contrived to work against him. Now, however, it seems he may have got his wish.
I'll be back in action in the next couple of weeks, the 39-year-old confirmed, speaking exclusively to
Crash.net Radio at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, as he confessed that part of him misses racing and part of him doesn't. We've got a deal coming together with Derrick Walker to race in Edmonton, and hopefully that will then expand for the rest of the season from there.
Indy Racing League CEO Tony George has of late made no secret of his desire to get Tracy back into a car again, with suggestions initially that the 2003 Champ Car king was being lined up for a return at both Edmonton and Infineon Raceway weeks later, with George's own Vision Racing operation [see separate story
click here].
As to his personal thoughts on the unification of North American open-wheeled racing, the 31-time Champ Car race-winner was confident that it was the right direction for the sport to be heading in or it will eventually prove to be, at least.
