Rahal quits Champ Car for IRL

As first reported last week on American TV website SpeedTV.com, Rahal, a three-time CART champion and former CEO of the series he helped grow into international respect, is following the defection of Adrian Fernandez and this leaves Champ Car scrambling for cars just a month away from its season opener in Long Beach.

On Thursday night, the 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner said his decision was very difficult but came down to the bottom line.

"No one agonized more about this and it's a very difficult decision emotionally because I've given a lot of blood, sweat and tears to CART," said Rahal, who along with Barry Green and Derrick Walker attempted but failed to convince Tony George to unite open wheel racing in 1998. "CART was my life to a large degree, much to the detriment of my family at times.

"This decision is 100 percent driven on business reasons and finances are certainly part of it. It's what presents the best business plan and opportunity. Having cars in each camp is very difficult and I think it hurt our IndyCar program and our CART team last year. It was also driven for sporting reasons.

It was rumored that Rahal, who is going through a divorce, went to Mexico City last week and attempted to renegotiate his contact with Gigante (sources say he wanted another $2 million) but the Mexican food chain opted to stay with Jourdain. The speculation is that Honda and/or George offered Rahal and Fernandez $6 million each to change series.

"We wanted Michel to come with us and he decided to stay in Champ Car and I totally understand it and wish him luck," continued Rahal, who currently campaigns Buddy Rice in the IRL but will be adding another full-timer until Kenny Brack recovers from serious injuries suffered in the final race of last year. Roger Yasakawa is also driving for Team Rahal next month at Motegi, Japan and at Indianapolis.

"We will be announcing a new sponsorship in the near future and we haven't made a decision yet on a driver but there are plenty of talented people out there. Obviously, we're waiting for Kenny's situation to become 100 percent clear but we'll be running three cars at Indianapolis."

Rahal said he was "underwhelmed" at the recent two-day Champ Car media tour at Long Beach but no one thing triggered his decision.

"It was very quiet over the wintertime and when you've got 65 people on your payroll it doesn't give you a warm feeling to not quite know what is going on," he said. "I can't run my business based on personal feelings. I have to do what is right for everybody."

Asked whether Champ Car could continue, he replied: "It's got a lot of good teams and drivers and I'm sure Champ Car will continue without us. I hope it will. I don't think we're bigger than Champ Car and, while I probably won't be the most popular guy in the paddock, I'll still continue to be involved in Champ Car with Toyota Atlantic and my son, Graham, in Formula BMW."

Jourdain, who scored his initial CART win and challenged for the championship in 2003 with Team Rahal, spent Thursday meeting with Gigante officials.

"Everything has been crazy around here, as you can imagine, and we're working hard to keep things together," said the 28-year-old veteran who will be the biggest draw at the Champ Car dates at Monterrey and Mexico City. "But I want to stay in Champ Car."

Paul Gentilozzi, one of the partners of Open Wheel Racing Series who also fields a two-car effort in Champ Car, also met with Gigante earlier this week. "I met with all the sponsors of Mexico City and everyone I spoke to cares about the success of Michel and Champ Cars in Mexico," said Gentilozzi, who maintains there will be 18 cars on the grid at Long Beach.

"He and Mario (Dominguez) were the big dogs on the track last year in Mexico and those fans have turned on Adrian."

If Jourdain secures Gigante, he could end up as a third car for Newman-Haas or as teammates to rookie A.J. Allmendinger at RuSport. The official car count stands at 11 -- with Herdez, Forsythe, PKV Racing, RocketSports, Newman-Haas all at two cars and RuSport a single-car effort for the moment.

Unconfirmed but works in progress are Dale Coyne Racing (with former Jordan driver Ralph Firman and either Michael Valiante or Alex Sperfico), MiJack/Conquest
(ex-Minardi and Jaguar's Justin Wilson and possible Mario Haberfeld or Rudolfo Sperfico) and Emerson Fittipaldi (possibly Canadian David Rutledge). A longtime and former IRL owner is also considering a Champ Car team, while Derrick Walker is still searching for a deal (besides helping Pat Patrick in the IRL with Al Unser Jr.).

Patrick Carpentier is also looking for a home after being dropped by Forsythe, who must pay his 2004 salary.

"We will get Michel and Patrick with good teams," vowed Gentilozzi.