Last USA race for Champ Car for 3.5 months

Race fans, pay close attention to this weekend's Generac Grand Prix of Road America (ABC, Sunday, 3 p.m. ET). It's the Champ Car World Series' last appearance in the United States for nearly four months — until the Dec. 2 season finale in Phoenix. After the Champ Car teams roll out of Elkhart Lake, Wis., on Sunday night, they'll head back to base to prepare for a two-week trip to Europe for races at Zolder, Belgium (Aug. 26) and Assen, Netherlands (Sept. 2).

Then the series looks set to totally drop out of the public consciousness, thanks to a seven-week gap in the schedule prior to an Oct. 21 event that's literally on the other side of the world in Surfers Paradise, Australia.

Three weeks after that, Champ Car races in Mexico City, and another three weeks will pass before the drawn-out championship draws to a close in Phoenix.

On top of all that, Champ Car continues to perpetrate the myth that the series will actually race in China — maybe even this year. Officials say the oft-postponed Chinese round could happen Thanksgiving weekend, which doesn't sound realistic with Phoenix theoretically on the card a week later. And that's assuming that the trivial matter of the FIA refusing to grant Champ Car an approved date for the Chinese race can be overcome. More at ESPN.com