2006 Champ Car World Series Tecate Grand Prix from Monterrey

Notes taken during the SPEED broadcast of the race in Monterrey on 5/21/06.

It's "Bump Day" at Indy so naturally all the drivers who should be bumping their way into the race are now in Monterrey, Mexico. Welcome to the Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford (BPCCWSPB) from Monterrey.

Broadcast starts with an ode to the mechanics. Rick Benjamin hails the Champ as "the most technologically advanced cars on the planet" (someone break it to F1). (Note: alert reader John below posts that Rick said "the most technologically advanced cars on the continent" so it was a slap at the Indy Racing League but not F1. I stand corrected. Although I've seen some really nice winged sprint cars that maybe Rick is overlooking.) It's a 185 mph festival of speed.

Rick and Jan Beekhus in the booth. Talking about Justin Wilson and Sebastien Bourdais going at it. In a shocking development, Bourdais has won the pole. We see some video of Bourdais going off the course into the dirt during practice. Yes, folks, he is human. We swear. There are all kinds of reasons to watch this race start to finish!

Cameron "Man of" Steele with AJ "the Lone American" Allmendinger. AJ hopes maybe Wilson and Bourdais will dart each other in turn 1 and then AJ will have a shot. That's what it's going to take, AJ.

Over to Bill Stephens with Mario Dominguez. Mario is like a god in Mexico. Mario wants to give all the beautiful people in Mexico a good result. Bill declares that if Mario wins there will be a "party of Biblical proportions" in Mexico. They partied DOWN in the Bible, baby. One big party. So buckle up!

Speed Shop segment. Anna Chatten the gear box builder for team Australia. Anna's father was a motorcycle racer who bought Anna and her sibs go-karts which they promptly raced. An example for fathers everywhere. Word, Anna.

Starting order: Bourdais, Wilson, AJ, Bruno "Hardware Store In My Back" Junqueria, Paul Tracy, Alex "Stuck Throttle" Tagliani, Oriol Servia, Mario, Will Power, Charles Zwolsman, Jan Heylen, Christiano "What's" Da Matta, Andrew "Lone" Ranger, Speedy Dan Clarke, Nelson Pastorelli, Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford Rookie Sensation (BPCCWSPBRS) Katherine Legge.

Katherine Legge is mentioned for the first time while running down the grid at 9:21 into the broadcast. BPCCWSPB again refuses to fixate on Katherine. Shout out to whoever is making that call. It's refreshing compared to the Danica Fest.

Dominguez has visor cam! Mildly interesting. Later in the race it will become unviewable. Wilson is sporting the roll-bar cam while Zwolsman had the Ass Cam under his car's rear end.

Cameron talks about a segment that shows the Champ Cars getting major air off the curbs. Dukes of Hazzard stuff. You can almost hear the crew chiefs weeping in the background. It's very hot in Mexico today. Stay hydrated. Hydration is key.

Let's light this candle. Green-green-green.

Lap 1, turn 1 -- We're through it. Nobody rolls it! Wait a second, Nelson got darted. His left front is sticking up as if giving the finger to the crowd as he drives around to the pit.

Lap 7. Jan reports Wilson is saving fuel. There are no stinking fuel mix settings inside a Champ Car, so you have to save fuel the old fashioned way and lift early going into corners. Saving fuel with Bourdais behind you takes a set, I gotta think.

Bourdais engineer Greg Hampson, the Super Optimist, declares that Bourdais has no chance to win. Kidding. He didn't really make that declaration. He's almost always doubtful Bourdais can win, though. Maybe that's just for the benefit of the other teams. Greg says fuel mileage is key. Big pit windows here, but you want to go a lap farther than the other guy so you can pit without losing a position. Hampson says it's the same for everyone. Make fuel mileage.

Houston recap of Bourdais coming from fifth. Includes Dominguez brain lock that let Bourdais take the lead.

Lap 5 -- Legge spins. Just setting up her Spin and Win. She was up to 13th, spun and is now in 16th. Didn't stall it, though. Reports "the tires are going off."

Servia vs. Dominguez for 7th gets major air.

Lap 16 -- Bourdais is 1 second in front. Bourdais has 18 wins in 47 Champ Car starts. That's a bitchslapping. Claire Cam is activated! Claire Bourdais gets air.

Review of Bourdais and Tracy smacking each other in Monterrey last year.

Neil Mickelwright (Tracy's pit boss) says the car is better. Getting reasonable mileage and it's as fast as the leader. They'll just hang out and wait and see what's up. Tracy does a power slide through a turn. Shades of dirt tracking!

Lap 19 -- Dominguez reports getting loos.

Lap 23 -- AJ Humdinger is in third. Dominguez is 8th. Oriol is 7th.

Holy Black Flag! Nicky gets blacked for BLOCKING Speedy Dan. What the? Blocking? Jan says after the Houston Block Party, the drivers all asked Champ Car race boss if he'd actually enforce the blocking rules. Unanimous request by all drivers to give drive-throughs to blockers. I wonder if that's just back in the pack when it doesn't effect the lead. Or, recognizing that Bourdais is going to continue to smack down on the field and maybe win every race, at least they can keep him from blocking to boot.

Drive-through penalty for Nicky. Camera follows Nicky in his Drive of Shame down pit lane.

Montage of Speedy Dan and Katherine battling in Houston and elsewhere. And again in practice. No love lost. Or, maybe it's one of those deals where they dig each other and show it by smacking each other around. Who knows.

Yellow-yellow-yellow. Lap 24 for debris.

Everybody pits. Wilson out first. Wilson out first. BOURDAIS DOES NOT LEAD. Bourdais is not leading this race. Media alerted. The queen has been woken up. frech protesters flood the streets of Paris. BOURDAIS lost the lead. Cameron with Jeremy Dale, president of RuSPORT. Claims Wilson did not short fill and beat Bourdais out of the pits fair and square.

AJ is second! Bourdais goes wide into the grass and Humdinger goes into second. Now BOURDAIS HAS BEEN PASSED ON THE TRACK AND IS THIRD. Clerics fear this is a sign of the apocalypse.

PT around Junk. Pass and re-pass. Ru-roh. Jan askes "Why is Junqueria in the middle of the road?" on the replay. Because he's throwing a Block Party for Tracy. Sure enough, Bruno is black flagged. The Iron Hand of Justice is coming down at race control! I'll be convinced when a blocking call effects the lead.

In-race Ford segment (commercial) featuring the tricked out Ford Mustangs they use for their pace cars. Ford woman says we "have professional female drivers." I gotta get me one of them (the Mustang, not the professional female driver).

Dominguez helmet cam. Nothing. It's like looking through a broken Coke bottle. Dominguez has cameras on the roll bars. He's carrying more cameras than an ESPN intern.

Bill with Brian Lisles, GM for Newman Haas. Disputing Bruno's blocking penalty.

Lap 35. Zwolsman's Ass Cam activated. Bruno does his penalty and is up to 12th.

Bourdais on black tires running down AJ. Cue the Jaws music. AJ is reporting some break issues. Bill says everyone had break issues in the last few days.

Half-way recap. Shows Bourdais getting two tires into the dirt on the restart and losing a spot on the track to AJ. All of Europe is still in denial that Bourdais got passed in the pits AND on the track in one race. Bourdais is third now.

Lap 43-ish. A battle between Heylen, Pastorelli and Legge gets major air.

Lap 47. Bourdais is virtually on top of AJ. Reminds me of how a Cheetah is virtually on top of an antelope before it's all over.

Jan relates a store of how he went 55 in the left lane of the interstate just to get used to having mirrors full of angry people. This explains a lot, actually. Someone should have hip-checked him out of there. Rick asks if he did that in Florida. I chortled. Shout out to Rick for the line. (Florida just won the honor of most rude drivers in a national survey.)

Let's go to Bill with Craig the Optimist in Bourdais' pit. Craig says Bourdais cannot win. (I made that up again.) He says some lapped traffic blocked Bourdais on the restart. It will be tough to win now. Craig thinks it is tough to win when you are in front by five seconds with one lap to go as well. Speedy Dan Clarke is accused of being in the way on the restart. Let's go to the replay. Sorry, ajan says, Speedy Dan moved over. AJ just shot inside Bourdais who took the dirt for some reason. Simmer down, Craig. Speedy was falsely accused on that one.

Lap 49 -- Junk pits. Zwolsman Ass Cam activated. We get a great shot of the bottom bit of left rear as it's put on. Sort of.

AJ pits. Bourdais into second. The planets begin to realign. Dominguez also passes AJ to get up to third place.

Wilson in on lap 56. Bourdais takes over the lead. Angry crowds melt away in Paris. Say goodbye. Wilson gets black tires. Is out in 9.8. Mario in. Out in 10.5. Bourdais in. Gets reds. Out in 8.9. Holy Flamin' Pit Stop. Bourdais onto the track in front of Wilson, barely. Wilson closes and is trying to make a move on Bourdais while the tires are cold. Not going to happen.

20 to go. Bourdais closing on Legge in 13th. Bourdais goes outside Legge who moves over to give him room. Bourdais responds by getting a major twitch. Looked like it shocked him to have her move over and give him room. Jan about pees himself in the booth. An opening for Wilson! Too bad he's about a second back at this point. Jan has to breathe into a bag for a second.

On lap 59, Champ Car Web site Race Director notes report that Tracy's drink system was spraying him. Pit crew radios out to Paul to rip it out of his helmet.

Lap 62. Zwolsman and Powers battle for 10th. Plenty of Ass Cam coverage.

Lap 64. Speedy Dan and Katherine get air. Battle for 13th. Dan has a run on her but Katherine says Welcome to My Block Party! Major blockage. Jan and Rick agree the booth is going to give that a major review. Given how they treat Katherine as just another racer (incredible, I know), I expect her to get the hammer.

7 to go. Bill said when Bourdais pitted he was on fumes.

Replay of Tag going into the tire barrier at Houston at about 93 mph. Throttle stuck. Scary. He's OK though. Bullet dodged.

Legge black flagged. Drive through penalty.

Today is Derrick Walker's 250th birthday. No, wait, it's his 250th start in Champ Car. Jan/Rick reports Walker was out for a run in the Mexican heat the other day, so he could probably kick my butt at whatever age he is.

6 to go. Zwolsman and Will Power are still battling, causing them to both go across the infield. It's like they are racing across the infield, two-wide. Then get back on the track just in time for Powers to about dart Bourdais. Much butt puckering in the booth. Could have been nasty. Will Power and Zwolsman are rampaging two-wide. Hide the women and children.

4 to go. Jan reports Newman Hass practices pit stops by using a air cannon to fire a car across their shop with some guy in it who hits the breaks to simulate a car coming in to pit. Best time is 5.8 seconds. Smoking.

2 to go. Bill with Craig Hampson who says due to that near miss, Bourdais probably cannot win this race, although he is currently in first place. (Made it up again.) Craig said we almost had a disaster when the Dukes of Hazzard came across the infield and almost darted Bourdais. "Guys need to use their mirrors." They may also need to use their heads. I think maybe guys need to stay on the actual paved track.

Carl Russo in the pits. Final fuel stop for Justin was a lap earlier than Sebastian and Sebastian had a better fuel strategy. Then Carl says about 10 words that I didn't get. Shout outs or pomos to someone.

Legge is sideways in turn 5 on the last lap. Stalled. Rick busts out a "Lady Katherine Legge" reference just for the occasion. Not her best race.

Bourdais wins! Hampson is in shock. No, really, he says he's really pleased with the win. He thinks Bourdais had "a few choice French words in the cockpit" when Will almost darted him.

Hat Trick for Bourdais. Due to the lack of yellows, SPEED has time to interview virtually everyone except Paul Tracy and Katherine Legge. Most said they did as well as their car could do. Bruno thinks his penalty is nutty especially after you had people running into each other in Houston. Good point. Maybe if they start calling fouls there won't be as much punting. Imagine that.

Finish -- Bourdais (shocker!) Wilson, AJ, Tracy, Tag, Mario, Lone Ranger, Oriol, Christiano, Bruno. Legge is 15th. Not the highest finish of a woman in Champ Car history. Bourdais' next victory comes at Milwaukee in two weeks. It's an oval. The similarity between "oval" and "ovulate" is so tempting I can't hardly resist, but I will.

Some bonus coverage of the Indy 500 qualifying day on Saturday:

I went to indycar. com to watch the live scoring for qualifying day. Here's the action summarized:

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