By A.J. Perez, USA TODAY
June 8, 2007
Forsythe Racing's Paul Tracy had plenty of time to ponder his future while sidelined by both injury and the longest gap between races in modern Champ Car World Series history.
"I've never had this much time off and I realized I'm not ready to retire," said Tracy, who is in his 17th season in the series.
"Not driving for so long left me craving to get back and race. It was just too hard to stay home."
Tracy, 38, missed two races after he suffered a compression fracture of his first lumbar vertebrae during an April 14 practice session at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. He returned to the cockpit for a test in St. Jovite, Quebec, two weeks ago, but Sunday's Mazda Grand Prix of Portland — Champ Car's first race in six weeks — marks his first race since the season-opening Vegas Grand Prix on April 8.
"I'm still sore and achy a little bit," said Tracy, who has never won in Portland. "The bone is totally, 100% healed and, for the most part, I feel pretty good."
Tracy's chances at a second points title likely evaporated when he missed Long Beach and Houston. Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing's Sebastien Bourdais, Champ Car's three-time defending champ, leads Team Australia's Will Power by three points; Tracy is 15th.
"I'm not fighting for a championship and we don't have to concentrate as much on scoring points this weekend," Tracy said. "I'm just going to go out there and try to win."
Tracy said the team has changed the seat angle and added padding to his car in the two months since his accident, a wreck that looked fairly innocuous.
Tracy's Cosworth-powered Panoz, a new chassis being used for just the second time,hit the wall going between 30-40 mph, but the nose lifted off the ground a few feet. The injury occurred when Champ Car's new chassis slammed onto the pavement.
"I've been pretty lucky in my career," Tracy said. "I've been able to walk away from plenty of accidents that looked much worse. I think it finally caught up to me."
Tracy came close to signing with Kevin Harvick Inc. to race in the Busch Series' inaugural race in Montreal on Aug. 4.
"I didn't want to do any NASCAR races, but the opportunity presented itself that would have put me in a car that could win a race," said Tracy, who ran in six Busch races in 2006 with a top finish of 24th.