Tracy left in limbo by Forsythe

Driver fears that his open-wheel racing career might be done

RICK MATSUMOTO
Toronto Star

Mar 20, 2008

Paul Tracy can't help but wonder if his open-wheel racing days are over.

He knows he won't be on the starting grid when the engines roar to life March 29 for the opening race of the reunified IndyCar Series season at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

However, what is even more frustrating for the 38-year-old Scarborough native is that he doesn't know if he'll be driving for Forsythe Racing, his team for the past five years, when Champ Car holds its farewell race April 20 at Long Beach, Calif., before fading into history.

The Indy Racing League and Champ Car mended a 12-year split last month. Under the reunification agreement, Champ Car will hold its final event on the oceanside streets of Long Beach before being absorbed into the IRL along with races at Edmonton and Surfers Paradise, Australia.

Toronto, which was one of the cornerstone events of the Champ Car series, could not be fitted into the 2008 IndyCar schedule, but there is hope that it will be included in next year's lineup, especially with Tuesday's announcement that Andretti Green Racing is negotiating to purchase the assets of the race.

Michael Andretti and one of his partners, Kevin Savoree, were in Toronto on Tuesday to meet with Toronto Grand Prix president and CEO Charlie Johnstone.

Johnstone said the talks with the Andretti group are "certainly the best opportunity for the future of the race in Toronto. You have two parties here who are interested in doing the deal."

He added the sides have set April 30 as the deadline to complete the deal.

Tracy said in a telephone interview from his Las Vegas home that he was told by Forsythe manager Neil Micklewright that team owner Gerry Forsythe, who was a co-owner of Champ Car, was willing to run in the new series only if he had a fully paid sponsor for his cars.

So Tracy used his contacts to come up with a sponsor willing to commit to a three-year program. He declined to reveal the name of the sponsor or how much money that individual was willing to commit.

"I sent them the details of the proposal, but I didn't get a response for three weeks," Tracy said. "Finally I phoned Neil and he told me Gerry wasn't interested. It seems Gerry wants it to be like the days of Player's (Imperial Tobacco) when they paid $20 million (U.S.) a year to run two cars.

"The next thing I get is the announcement that Forsythe is going to help Conquest Racing with technical and engineering support."

Tracy still has four years remaining on a five-year deal he signed with Forsythe last season and is being paid. Tracy said his contract stipulates that Forsythe must field a car for him.

At the moment it doesn't appear that's going to happen.