Friday, April 9, 2004 | 9:35 a.m.
Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at [email protected] or (702) 259-4089.
Although he has known for only two weeks that he would be back with Forsythe Championship Racing in the Champ Car World Series, Las Vegas resident Patrick Carpentier is not lacking confidence -- or motivation -- as he prepares for the 2004 season.
Carpentier temporarily was bumped from his ride with the team when owner Gerald Forsythe signed Rodolfo Lavin to drive as a teammate to Paul Tracy -- the defending series champion and another Las Vegas resident. After spending two weeks in limbo, Carpentier was told that Forsythe would fund a third car out of his own pocket.
Carpentier said that he has been reunited with most of the mechanics and engineers who helped him to four victories over the past three seasons, and he has no reason to believe he shouldn't be a championship contender this season.
"I think that's one thing that's going to help me because I know all the guys, we've got all the data and with Paul, we've worked together really well," Carpentier said.
Besides remaining with one of the stronger teams in the series, Carpentier said his brief unemployment helped him to become more physically and mentally prepared to prove himself on the track.
"I think more than the equipment that I have -- and I think I'm going to have very good equipment -- but more than that, I think, is motivation; I think that's where the difference comes in this year," he said. "With everything that went on, I almost lost a ride and I was not sure, when I was back in the car testing, it was like, 'Man, I'm lucky to be sitting back in one of these cars.'
"I just love it and I want to do it for many years to come, so for me the motivation is different than the past years and this year I want to make sure that I'm still going to be sitting in one of these cars next year. I want to win the championship and that's what I'm working for."
Carpentier also is in the final year of his contract with Forsythe, which he admitted would be another motivating factor this season.
Champ Car officials announced Thursday that when the 2004 season opens next weekend with the 30th annual Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, it would do so with a full field of 18 cars. Although Forsythe Championship Racing and Newman/ Haas Racing -- with drivers Bruno Junqueira and Sebastien Bourdais -- figure to be the dominant teams this season, Carpentier said he doesn't expects the series to be a two-team battle for the championship.
"One thing I'm going to tell you is, from what I've seen in testing and the way the cars are and the way they've set up the season with the rules, it's going to be extremely competitive," Carpentier said. "There's going to be, I think, eight or 10 guys who are going to be very fast and it won't take much to go to 10th place or to go to first place, so every detail and every little part of it will be extremely important."
Walker, who fielded at least one entry in CART for the past 13 seasons, said longtime sponsor Cummins Inc. would sponsor the No. 5 Ford/Reynard.
"We have always maintained that we would have a full field for 2004 and men like Derrick Walker, Carl Haas, Eric Bachelart, Dale Coyne, Carl Russo and the entire Herdez ownership group have demonstrated their commitment to building the best open-wheel racing series possible," Champ Car World Series co-owner Paul Gentilozzi said.
"The entire Champ Car community has done an incredible amount of work in getting to this point and we're confident that the 2004 season will be a tremendous success."
Dale Coyne Racing, which previously announced it would field two cars in the series this season, has yet to announce its drivers.
The barriers will be placed on the track's outer walls beginning just before the start/finish line and continuing through Turn 2, and from the entrance to Turn 3 through the exit of Turn 4. Powell said that approximately 6,100 linear feet of the SAFER barrier would be installed and that it would be in place before the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race on Sept 25.
At an estimated cost of $175 per linear foot, LVMS owner Speedway Motorsports Inc. is investing more than $1 million to install the SAFER barrier.
Johnson, nicknamed "The Cajun Sensation," finished in the top five in four WoO main events last season, including a third-place run in the Kings Royal at Eldora Speedway.
ANOTHER UNSER: Al Unser, the 21-year-old son of two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Al Unser Jr., will drive in the Toyota Atlantic Championship series this season for P-1 Racing, the team announced this week.
Unser moves to the Toyota Atlantic series after finishing 12th in the Barber Dodge Pro Series last season, where he earned four top-10 finishes.
Drifting, a sport that got its start in Japan and is becoming hugely popular in the United States, consists of racers attempting to maintain a controlled slide on a specially designed road course. Racers, who use the either the car's clutch or hand brake to force a slide through turns on the course, are judged on their lap times and sliding ability. The events at The Strip will be sanctioned and officiated by the North American Drifting Association.
"The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway is committed to staying on the cutting edge of sport compact motor sports," Chris Blair, LVMS' senior director of drag racing operations, said. "We're excited that (series sponsor) Hankook Tires shares our enthusiasm for this incredible new sport and look forward to delivering the first-ever local drifting series in the United States."
Drifting exhibitions at Irwindale Speedway in Southern California regularly attract capacity crowds. Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. Reach him at [email protected] or 259-4089.
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