New teams eye Champ Car

Steve Johnson, Champ Car's new President – "We are in talks with several other teams, so I see that number [number of teams] growing, and growing rapidly. Speaking of growing, take a look at what's happened with Atlantics. I think they've sold now 36 or 37 Atlantics for next year, which is a real healthy sign for our entire sport.

"But we're working on, again, creating value. That's what this series is all about. It's about an entertainment value. It's not an accident that we're averaging now — that we'll average 150,000 people per event. We'll have 2.1 million spectators at our 14 races this year. Next year with 16 races, we'll be over two and a half million spectators. Not many organizations are able to do that. Again, it's not by accident. We're following our business plan. We're adding value. By doing those things, the return on investment is going to increase significantly for the teams.

"I've had a lot of discussions already with the team owners. We're in some major negotiations right now with several sponsors that are not only team sponsors but series sponsors. Boy, all I can say is stay tuned because we're going to have some big announcements coming up that has a lot to do with our teams as well as series. So things are actually looking very good there."