Champ Car Series making final run

The Toyota Grand Prix at Long Beach is the final race for the now defunct series.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

A lot of the drivers racing Sunday in the last Champ Car World Series event will be back on familiar ground at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

Most the teams and drivers who have made the switch to the IRL’s IndyCar Series as part of the unification of the two American open-wheel series have been dealing with strange equipment, new tracks and unfamiliar competitors.

But thanks to a quirk in the schedule, the traditional race through the streets of downtown Long Beach will put them back in the Panoz DP-01 cars most of them raced in 2007.

With unification, most of the races on the Champ Car schedule were canceled.

However, IRL founder Tony George wanted to keep the Long Beach event active. Since the IndyCar race in Motegi, Japan, Saturday could not be rescheduled, the solution was to run one more Champ Car race with the old equipment and even include the teams and drivers that aren’t making the move to the IRL.

It’s left a lot of the Champ Car veterans with mixed feelings.

“This will be a bittersweet weekend for me,” said former Champ Car regular Nelson Philippe, who has no IRL ride but will drive this week for the combined HVM Racing, Minardi USA team. “On one hand I am so happy to be back in a race car with the team that led me to success, and on the other, I am a bit sad to say goodbye to the series and cars that made my career here in the U.S.

“However, I want this weekend to be fun and lighthearted so that people remember the Champ Car World Series as it truly was: Fun and exciting.”

He will be teamed with American open-wheel newcomer E.J. Viso and long-time racing star Roberto Moreno.

Viso is coming off a fourth-place finish two weeks ago on the street circuit in St. Petersburg, Fla. Moreno doesn’t have a full-time ride, but did most of the development work on the DP-01 chassis before it was introduced last year.

Moreno, known for years as Champ Car’s supersub for his ability to replace an injured driver and keep the car competitive, is looking forward to getting back on track, particularly at Long Beach.

“Long Beach holds a special significance for me,” Moreno said. “In 1982 it was my first race in the U.S. and I drove an Atlantic car that my team and I rented from across the ocean. We ended up finishing second to Geoff Brabham in the race.

“That result eventually led to Rick Galles hiring me and giving me my first opportunity to race full-time in America. It all began at Long Beach.”