Notes from the TV broadcast of the Champ Car World Series in Surfers Paradise, Australia

Notes taken during the international broadcast of the Champ Car World Series Lexmark Indy 300 in Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia.

(Note: grabbed the replay of the race off Champ Car's most excellent "Race Director" -- go to www.champcar.ws and sign up for it right now! -- and it was the international broadcast version. No Derek Daly and Rick Benjamin! Some dudes named Jeremy Shaw and Jamie Hinchliffe. So no Dalyisms this time! Bummer.)

pressdog beer of the race has to be a Foster's because it's "Awstrawlyun for beeah."

Bourdais and AJ are the only two with a shot at the points title. Bourdais says he may play it conservative especially on Surfers infamous, car-eating first corner. AJ says he's going for the win. Has to win and get a Bourdais DNF to have a shot.

Video of AJ's mashed car as a result of finding the wall in practice. Video of Bourdais getting the left half of his car ripped off when hitting a barrier.

Will Power of Team Australia is on the pole. Extreme excitement. He thanks Derrick Walker and the posse. Hopes to get through turn 1 on race day.

Starting lineup: Will Power (!), Sebastien Bourdais, Paul Tracy, Bruno Junqueira, Nelson Philippe (!), Oriol Servia, AJ "The Truck Driver" Allmendinger, Speedy Dan Clarke, Alex Tagliani, Mario Dominguez, Ryan Briscoe, Andy Ranger, Antonio Pizzonia, Jan "Van" Heylen, Charles "Chuck" Zwolsman, Katherine Legge, Adreas Wirth. 17 cars on a nearly THREE MILE track. I hope the audience brought a book to read during the vast expanses of nothingness going on in front of them. Wait a second, they all have lots of beer. Problem solved.

Justin Wilson is out with a broken wrist. Busted it in practice when he hit a tire wall and the steering wheel snapped around. Ryan Briscoe is in the 10 car. That was last driven by Cristianio "What's" da Matta until he hit a deer at Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin in early August. I still can't get over it being a DEER he hit. WTF? A deer on the track? Nutty. da Matta is back in Brazil recovering. This is the first race with a sub in his car. Briscoe is from Australia and most recently raced in the Indy Racing League (holy cross-over driver!).

Last year 316,000 people attended over three days of the event in Surfers Paradise. Weather today cooler than usual. Wind has switched entirely around.

Let's light this candle. Throw another Foster's on the ice bucket because we are green-green-green.

WTF? We are yellow yellow yellow. The first 7 cars were in tight two-wide formation but then there was about a one-hundred-yard gap back to the next group so the starter waved it off. We'll go around (which under yellow at Surfers takes about five minutes) and try again.

Restart coming. Single file? WTF? Bogus restart. Champ Car wimps out and starts them single-file to prevent carnage in turn 1. Nice. I guess we're not all professionals here. Jan Beekhuis is deployed and said Champ Car made the call to go single file to avoid having carbon fiber all over the place.

If Bourdais gets 9th or better today he wins the title. If three or more cars fall out of the race he wins the title. Jan predicts if three cars drop out Bourdais will start charging.

Lap 3 -- Power leads. Lap 19 is the first pit window and then lap 38. We're going 59 laps unless there are too many yellows and Champ Car gets the stop watch out. Surfers has had 15 different winners in 15 years of events. Bourdais, Bruno and Tracy have all won at Surfers Paradise previously.

Lap 6 -- AJ working on Oriol. Heading toward the front. Gotta win to have any chance.

Andy Ranger Helmet Cam deployed. Not us useless as usual. Usually you can't see squat from Helmet Cam, but they have it aimed a lot better this time.

Lap 7 -- Nelson is pressuring Bruno. Welcome to the Block Party! Bruno puts his ass out to block Nelson. Much reaction in the booth.

Lap 8 -- AJ around Oriol. Oriol gives him room and doesn't Bruno (block) him. Jan reports that Oriol said his car was "harsh" so far this weekend. Very stiff.

Lap 9 -- Katherine spin-o-ramma! Stalls it. Turn 8. Local yellow. Benefit of having a massive track and 17 cars is you can have local yellows because you probably have time to drink a beer before the next car comes by. Crew is scurrying to pull Katherine back to where they can get her restarted.

Speedy Dan working on Oriol. Oriol not having a fab day so far.

Replay of K. Legge's spin. Goes into the corner too wide, hits the breaks, gets it stopped but stalls it.

Lap 10 -- AJ closing on Bruno. AJ vs. Bruno. Block Party II! Bruno makes himself wide again. Much lamenting in the booth.

Lap 12-ish. Chuck Zwolsman pits. He's on a Freaky Deaky Dutch Pit Strategy, apparently.

AJ gets past Bruno. Much speculating that Bruno let him go to avoid getting barked at by race control for blocking.

Lap 13 -- AJ closing in on Nelson. Front three (Power, Bourdais, Tracy) are out front, then about five seconds back to Nelson in 4th.

Holy Crap. Nacho Tracy goes around Bourdais on the outside (right side) going into a left-hand turn. Too easy! Maybe Bourdais screwed up or thought better of taking on Tracy with the championship to win. Many replays.

Lap 14 -- Yellow yellow yellow. Speedy Dan into the wall. Full course yellow. Dan is done. He was 8th at the time.

Many aerial replays of the Tracy pass on Bourdais. Might have been a bit of contact.

Pits are open. Here comes the bum rush. Everyone is pitting.

Tracy hip checks Power coming out of his pit stall. WE GOT FIRE. AJ takes off with the fuel hose in his car and touches off a methanol fire. Wild water throwing everywhere. Cue the circus music.

Replays -- Tracy comes about straight sideways out of his pit and smacks into Power who was in the fast lane. Nice. Then Tracy almost nails Bourdais on the rebound. Dude, always keep an eye on Tracy. I think they just tell the drivers that in the drivers' meeting. "And, of course, everyone should always be aware of where Paul is and keep an eye on him."

Video of AJ going around the track with the fuel hose dangling off his car.

AJ back in to get the hose taken off. Long stop. Casual. AJ stalls it. Got waved out and stalled it.

More pit replays. Briscoe may have darted Mario a bit as well. Reports that AJ's fueler was on fire. It was quickly extinguished, however. Thank heaven for Nomex.

Lap 16 -- Van Heylen and Zwolsman are 1-2 because they did not pit. Then it's Powers, Bourdais, Tracy, Nelson, Oriol, Tagliani, Briscoe, Ranger, Mario.

Tracy pits again so he'll drop back in the field.

Lap 16 -- green. Briscoe and Legge spin and are stalled. Not sure if the spins were related. May be turn 8 again for Katherine. Local yellow again. Props to the crews for getting out the local yellows and not going full course all the damn time.

Lap 20 -- Speaking of, full-course yellow yellow yellow. AJ is into the wall. Just came in to a corner too hot and smucked the wall.

With AJ and Wilson out, Bourdais wins the championship. Holy Anti Climax. Bourdais first racer in 60 years to win three in a row.

Video of AJ going around Bruno before sliding it into the wall. AJ has five wins in 8 starts with Forsythe. Not too shabby. That makes him one of the hotter prospects in NASCAR's feeder system (all of open-wheel racing).

Lap 23 -- GREEN. Zwolsman slows WAY up and then puts the hammer down to get a jump on everyone on the restart.

Jan says with the championship in the bag, look for Bourdais to get after it. Also, Tracy's darting of Power in the pit busted off the Power's car's tire flugelhorn. Downforce affected.

Many minutes of Ranger's helmet cam.

Lap 26 -- report that AJ's fueler is fine. Video of what I think as Katherine Legge and Ryan Briscoe diving under Van Heylen for the pass.

Jan with Bourdais manager Craig Hampson. Hampson sounds happy. Rare. Doesn't claim the team may be screwed. Said they plan to race harder now that the title is locked up.

Lap 28 -- Bourdais making a run on Power. Inside and into some oil dry on the track. Locks up the tires. He's not going to make the turn and slides in front of Power clipping Power's front end before Bourdais goes off into the run off. WTF? Nice place to pass, Sebastien. Bourdais keeps it running and whips it around and gets back out on the track. Power looks damaged but manages to get it going again too.

Power is now stuck. Against the wall. Sucks to be him. Safety guys get him back under way and Power limps around to the pits. Crew Chief Helmet Cam as they work on Power. Send him back out. Have to have him come back in to get a piece on the front end replaced.

Jan with Derrick Walker -- Sebastien tried to make the pass. Bit of a bone-head move to overtake there. Ruin the whole bloody day for us and him.

Lap 31 -- green next lap.

Oriol, Nelson, Tag, Ranger, Paul Tracy, Wirth, Mario, Chuck, Bourdais.

Lap 32 -- green. Zwolsman clips wall. Keeps going. No yellow.

Lap 34 -- Bourdais gets a penalty for "avoidable contact." Will have to drive through the pits soon. PT is all over Tag.

Jan reports that Craig Hampson was OK with the penalty.

Nelson around Oriol. Oriol locks up the breaks and smacks Nelson. No damage to either car, apparently. Nelson immediately checks out. He's GONE. Now Tag is around Oriol. Then Tracy is around Oriol. Replay. Tracy puts a dirt-track-esque "slide job" on Oriol. Puts his car under Oriol and then slides it about sideways to maintain the position and get around the corner.

Lap 38 -- Bourdais pits after setting fastest lap. Nelson is way out in front.

Jan with AJ. AJ says congrats to Bourdais. Not sure what happened in the pits. The fire burned out all the sensors in the car. Eventually the rear locked up and put him into the wall.

Lap 39 and 40. Much pitting. Zwolsman stalls it in the pits.

Lap 41 -- Tracy leads. Tracy sets fastest lap. Tracy is stretching it out in front of P2 Nelson. Tracy pits. Gets out in front of Nelson.

Lap 44 -- Yellow yellow yellow. Van Heylen into the tire barrier on turn 12. Oriol is out of the race. Black flagged for spraying something.

Nelson is in front of Tracy. ??? When did that happen? Nobody seems to know.

Lap 47 -- Now Katherine is into the wall gain. Third time today. Nose is toast. This one is terminal. Not sure if it happened at the same time as Heylen or under yellow.

Pizzonia leads but he still must pit. Then Nelson and then Tracy.

Carl Haas with the bratwurst-diameter cigar gets air.

Race control is eyeballing whether or not Tracy passed Mario under the yellow. Yep, he did. Tracy must let Mario pass before we go back to green.

Lap 49 -- green.

Mario takes a look inside Nelson. They get about an inch apart but no contact. Video of PT shortcutting the chicanes. Didn't gain a position on Mario so maybe no harm no foul. Now race control is telling PT he has to give up a position. WTF? Tagliani was about four seconds behind Tracy. Sha. Later Tracy claimed it was a fix to get a Team Australia car on the podium. Naaaaaaa. Stuff like that would never go on in auto racing.

Lap 52 -- Pizzonia pits. Gives up the lead to Nelson Philippe with 7 to go. Nelson is shitting toothpicks.

6 to go. 5 to go. Mario all up in Nelson's business. 4 to go. Mario has one shot of Power to Pass and Nelson has zero. Helmet cam with Ranger. Why go to Helmet Cam now when we have a race for the lead? No idea. They just love helmet cam, I guess.

3 to go. 2 to go. White flag. Mario can't get him. Went for it, got squirrellly and had to back off. Game over.

Nelson wins. Becomes the youngest winner in Champ Car history. Does donuts in about every corner of the race. Sets record for most donuts in most places on a single race track.

Bourdais goes off into a run off during the cool down laps. ???

Bourdais out of his car. AJ comes over to congratulate him. Bourdais says something like he wished they could have settled it on the track (rather than have AJ crash.) Class on both sides of that exchange. Very happy. Says this was the worst day of his career in Champ Car but glad to win the title. Irony.

Nelson (on the podium with the the Champ Car Australia Grid Girl queen, left) out of his car. Amazing. Fabulous. Great pit stops. Kept it off the wall. Absolutely fabulous.

Grab some Cerveza Tecate and tune in to the next race: Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez - Mexico City, Mexico. 3 p.m. eastern on SPEED.

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