Portland Champ Car race to continue

While the attendance numbers of over 64,000 over the three days in Portland weren't staggering, they did represent a slight improvement over 2004. And according to Champ Car majority owner Kevin Kalkhoven, this race no longer is on the endangered species list.

"No, no, no," said Kalkhoven, who was encouraged by the return of longtime sponsor G.I. Joe's this year and the addition of Intel's corporate muscle.

"You can't turn anything (completely) around in a year, but to be honest, I'm actually very happy about the way the numbers have turned out," he said. "We're committed to Portland. . . . It's unfortunate that we've had to drop places like Road America (and Laguna Seca and Mid-Ohio) because it simply wasn't working. . . . But Portland, I believe, can work."

Champ Car, sensing a big opportunity, announced Sunday that it will honor ticket stubs from the U.S. Grand Prix at this week's race in Cleveland.

Still dripping from the post race podium champagne shower, Tracy said, "This was a big day for our series because of what happened at the Formula One race. . . . People don't forget that sort of thing. And today, we put on a good show on national TV. Hopefully, we won some fans."

Of course Champ Car/CART lost some fans from two races that were postponed in the past – Texas and Fontana. Hopefully they learned their lesson and will always have a backup plan and not let politics come before the race fans like it did yesterday in Indianapolis.