’Little’ team dreams big in Champ Car
It has to be free-spirited Pacific Coast Motorsports of Oxnard, Calif., a one-time championship Formula Atlantic team that went sports car racing until it could muster the finances — and the courage — to step into the big leagues with the likes of Newman/Haas/Lanigan and Forsythe.
PCM has a team director you never heard of even though he graduated from Mountain View High School in Bend and two rookie drivers — Scotsman Ryan Dalziel and American Alex Figge — still finding themselves after three Champ Car races.
This isn't a buttoned-down, cookie-cutter outfit with a loaded roster of engineers, an unlimited supply of cars and engines and a driver who is one step away from Formula One.
No, the best description of Pacific Coast Motorsports, straight from team president Tyler Tadevic's mouth, is that PCM is, "little, but cutting edge. We're all good friends, and we all have this passion for motor sports. We love it. And we get to pursue this passion together."
In Oxnard.
"We're complete motorheads from top to bottom, front to back," Tadevic said, "and before the race starts, during the national anthem, we all get teary-eyed."
Tadevic isn't ashamed to say that he's still pinching himself about actually being the boss on an honest-to-goodness Champ Car team.
"I walk out of the shop every day and say 'wow!' there's Champ Cars in my shop. What are they doing there?" Tadevic said.
Tadevic noted with pride that he is a Mountain View Cougar (class of '89) for life and was a district champion in the high jump in track and field. More Portland Oregonian