Monday, April 19, 2004 | 9:34 a.m.
LONG BEACH, Calif. -- Bruno Junqueira called it a "banzai" move. Paul Tracy just called it a good pass.
Whatever the terminology, Tracy won Sunday's Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach by sliding past front-row starters Bruno Junqueira and Sebastien Bourdais in the first turn of the first green-flag lap. Tracy, a Las Vegas resident, dominated the remaining 80 laps for his second consecutive victory on the streets of Long Beach and his fourth overall here.
Junqueira, who finished second to Tracy in the Champ Car World Series championship last season, said he wasn't surprised by Tracy's aggressive move at the start of the race.
"I was expecting that -- that's Tracy," Junqueira said. "He's a great driver, especially on those streets. He used to crash a lot, but now...
"He's just banzai every time and it's going right for him."
Tracy, who started third, wasted little time reinforcing Junqueira's suspicions. The first lap was run under caution when the starter waved off the initial start, and Tracy said he was determined to get past Junqueira and Bourdais on the restart.
"It's always important to make a good start," Tracy said. "The first start that was aborted was going to be a really good one and the second start, I made another good start.
"I had a big run on Bruno and I was coming up on him. He was staying close to the wall and Sebastien squeezed me way out on the outside and he was trying to make it difficult for me."
Tracy pulled down to make the pass on the inside and got his car sideways into the corner, straightened it out through the turn and never looked back.
Tracy led 78 of the final 80 laps -- surrendering the lead only once for two laps during a green-flag pit stop -- and earned his 27th career Champ Car victory.
Junqueira, who started on the pole, finished second and Bourdais was third. Patrick Carpentier of Las Vegas was fourth and Mario Dominguez was fifth.
Bourdais, who won three races last season and was the series' Rookie of the Year, dropped from second to fourth when Tracy made his move at the start of the race.
"There was no room inside," Bourdais said. "Paul committed himself going into the first turn so I just had to back off ... and I lost a couple of spots.
"My car was very fast today ... I just regret that we didn't show that earlier in the race. But it's still a podium finish and I think it's very important to start the season like that."
Tracy now stands second in career victories in Long Beach and is two wins shy of Al Unser Jr.'s record six victories in the 30-year history of the race.
"This is a marquee event for the series ... and to have won now four times is a huge achievement," Tracy said.
The race also was a huge relief for Tracy, who had to wait out a prolonged off-season while Open Wheel Racing Series LLC went through the process of buying CART's assets -- including its race contracts -- out of bankruptcy.
Tracy also said it was important for him to get off to a good start this season after the way 2003 ended. He won the title in Australia despite finishing 13th and the final race of the season at California Speedway in Fontana was canceled due to wildfires.
"Last season, although we won the championship, it didn't really end the way that I would have liked it to," he said. "It was a bit of a disappointing end to the season with not having a good race in Australia and missing out on Fontana.
"I was very anxious over the winter to get back to a racecar, to get back in a race and have a good result and start off the season again with a win -- especially at Long Beach ... with all these fans here."
A crowd estimated at 78,000 saw Tracy coast to a comfortable 5.681-second victory over Junqueira on the 1.968-mile street course. Tracy's average speed was 91.785 mph in a race that was slowed by one caution for five laps.
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