2004 Champ Car season

2004 Champ Car season
Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford
Season
Races	14
Start date	April 18
End date	November 7
Awards
Drivers' champion	Sébastien Bourdais
Constructors' Cup	Lola
Nations' Cup	Canada
Rookie of the Year	A. J. Allmendinger
Chronology
Previous season	Next season
2003 (CART)	2005

The 2004 Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford 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.

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
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
		6	Bruno Junqueira	All
Herdez Competition	Lola B02/00	4	Ryan Hunter-Reay	All
		55	Mario Domínguez	All
Walker Racing	Reynard 02I	5	Mario Haberfeld	All
		15	David Besnard	13
			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
		10	A. J. Allmendinger	All
PKV Racing	Lola B02/00	12	Jimmy Vasser	All
		21	Roberto González	All
Mi-Jack Conquest Racing	Reynard 02I Lola B02/00	14	Alex Sperafico	1-8
			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.^[2] 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.^[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] 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.^[12] 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.^[13]

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.^[14]

• Rocketsports changed drivers again for the Road America round, bringing in Indy Lights and sports car veteran Guy Smith to replace Memo Gidley.^[15]

• 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.^[16]

• Dale Coyne Racing replaced Gastón Mazzacane with Jarek Janiš for the race at Surfer's Paradise.^[17]

• Tarso Marques returned to Dale Coyne Racing for the final race of the season at Mexico City.^[18]

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	Mazda Raceway 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

The initial schedule announced by Champ Car at the Long Beach Season Premiere event included 16 races.^[19] 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.^[20] 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.^[21]

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.^[22] 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) 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	7001100000000000000♠10	7001110000000000000♠11	7001120000000000000♠12	8	7002506000000000000♠506	369
2	Junqueira	Newman-Haas Racing	14	2	7001100000000000000♠10	7001110000000000000♠11	7001120000000000000♠12	1	7002123000000000000♠123	341
3	Carpentier	Forsythe Championship Racing	14	1	7000500000000000000♠5	7000800000000000000♠8	7001100000000000000♠10	1	7001660000000000000♠66	266
4	Tracy	Forsythe Championship Racing	14	2	7000400000000000000♠4	7000700000000000000♠7	7001100000000000000♠10	3	7002286000000000000♠286	254
5	Domínguez	Herdez Competition	14	5000000000000000000♠--	7000300000000000000♠3	7000600000000000000♠6	7001110000000000000♠11	5000000000000000000♠--	7001100000000000000♠10	244
6	Allmendinger	RuSPORT	14	5000000000000000000♠--	7000200000000000000♠2	7000500000000000000♠5	7000900000000000000♠9	5000000000000000000♠--	7001160000000000000♠16	229
7	Tagliani	Rocketsports Racing	14	1	7000200000000000000♠2	7000300000000000000♠3	7001100000000000000♠10	5000000000000000000♠--	7001290000000000000♠29	218
8	Vasser	PKV Racing	14	5000000000000000000♠--	7000100000000000000♠1	7000500000000000000♠5	7000900000000000000♠9	5000000000000000000♠--	7000500000000000000♠5	201
9	Hunter-Reay	Herdez Competition	14	1	7000100000000000000♠1	7000400000000000000♠4	7000800000000000000♠8	1	7002250000000000000♠250	199
10	Servià	Dale Coyne Racing	14	5000000000000000000♠--	7000100000000000000♠1	7000200000000000000♠2	7000800000000000000♠8	5000000000000000000♠--	7000600000000000000♠6	199
11	Wilson	Mi-Jack Conquest Racing	14	5000000000000000000♠--	5000000000000000000♠--	7000200000000000000♠2	7000800000000000000♠8	5000000000000000000♠--	7000100000000000000♠1	188
12	Jourdain, Jr.	RuSPORT	14	5000000000000000000♠--	7000200000000000000♠2	7000300000000000000♠3	7000600000000000000♠6	5000000000000000000♠--	7001130000000000000♠13	185
13	Haberfeld	Walker Racing	14	5000000000000000000♠--	5000000000000000000♠--	7000100000000000000♠1	7000700000000000000♠7	5000000000000000000♠--	5000000000000000000♠--	157
14	Lavín	Forsythe Championship Racing	14	5000000000000000000♠--	7000100000000000000♠1	7000200000000000000♠2	7000500000000000000♠5	5000000000000000000♠--	7000300000000000000♠3	156
15	Roberto González	PKV Racing	14	5000000000000000000♠--	5000000000000000000♠--	5000000000000000000♠--	7000500000000000000♠5	5000000000000000000♠--	5000000000000000000♠--	136
16	Philippe	Rocketsports Racing Mi-Jack Conquest Racing	11	5000000000000000000♠--	5000000000000000000♠--	5000000000000000000♠--	7000400000000000000♠4	5000000000000000000♠--	5000000000000000000♠--	89
17	Mazzacane (R)	Dale Coyne Racing	10	5000000000000000000♠--	5000000000000000000♠--	5000000000000000000♠--	7000100000000000000♠1	5000000000000000000♠--	5000000000000000000♠--	73
18	Smith	Rocketsports Racing	7	5000000000000000000♠--	5000000000000000000♠--	5000000000000000000♠--	7000300000000000000♠3	5000000000000000000♠--	5000000000000000000♠--	53
19	Sperafico (R)	Mi-Jack Conquest Racing	8	5000000000000000000♠--	5000000000000000000♠--	5000000000000000000♠--	7000100000000000000♠1	5000000000000000000♠--	5000000000000000000♠--	47
20	Besnard	Walker Racing	1	5000000000000000000♠--	5000000000000000000♠--	5000000000000000000♠--	7000100000000000000♠1	5000000000000000000♠--	5000000000000000000♠--	18
21	Gidley	Rocketsports Racing	2	5000000000000000000♠--	5000000000000000000♠--	5000000000000000000♠--	5000000000000000000♠--	5000000000000000000♠--	5000000000000000000♠--	15
22	Marques	Dale Coyne Racing	3	5000000000000000000♠--	5000000000000000000♠--	5000000000000000000♠--	5000000000000000000♠--	5000000000000000000♠--	5000000000000000000♠--	9
23	Valiante (R)	Walker Racing	1	5000000000000000000♠--	5000000000000000000♠--	5000000000000000000♠--	5000000000000000000♠--	5000000000000000000♠--	5000000000000000000♠--	7
24	Janiš (R)	Dale Coyne Racing	1	5000000000000000000♠--	5000000000000000000♠--	5000000000000000000♠--	5000000000000000000♠--	5000000000000000000♠--	5000000000000000000♠--	3

Notes

References

• Åberg, Andreas. "Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford 2004". Driver Database. Archived from the original on 2009-05-28. 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. Retrieved 2009-05-19. 
• "Standings after Mexico City". Champ Car World Series. Archived from the original on 2009-05-28. Retrieved 2009-05-19. 

See also

• 2004 Toyota Atlantic Championship season
• 2004 Indianapolis 500
• 2004 IndyCar Series season
• 2004 Infiniti Pro Series season

American Championship car racing (IndyCar) seasons AAA 1905 1906–1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942–1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 NASCAR 1952 1953 USAC 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985-86 1986-87 1987-88 1988-89 1989-90 1990-91 1991-92 1992-93 1993-94 1994-95 CART / CCWS 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 INDYCAR 1996 1996–97 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Years marked in italics are not official championship years.

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