Two Crashes Hamper Tracy at Molson Indy

TORONTO July 11, 2004; Mike Harris writing for the AP reported that Paul Tracy's day kept getting worse -- and nemesis Alex Tagliani had nothing to do with it this time.

The defending Champ Car World Series champion somehow managed to finish fifth in Sunday's Toronto Molson Indy despite being involved in two crashes, both of which brought drive-through penalties from race officials.

It was still a very disappointing effort from the hometown hero, who a year ago thrilled the partisan crowd with a victory from the pole.

Tracy started second, alongside pole winner Sebastien Bourdais and was able to pressure the leader for a while. He said he had no illusions about winning the race, though, and was simply hoping to stay close to eventual winner Bourdais and earn more championship points.

"I felt we should have been second because it would have been tough to get by Sebastien because he got better fuel mileage in the first stint," Tracy said.

In the past two races, it was fellow Canadian Tagliani who had run-ins with Tracy.

In June at Portland, Ore., Tracy was furious after Tagliani allegedly blocked him for a dozen laps. Strong criticism of race officials brought Tracy a $15,000 fine.

A week ago in Cleveland, Tracy blamed Tagliani after a first lap crash involving those two and rookie Justin Wilson took Tracy out of the race. Replays appeared to show Wilson was at fault.

But that crash left Tracy well behind the leaders in the points, and he was hoping for a big day in front of the home fans to get him back into the championship chase. Instead, he wound up the day in fourth place in the standings, 56 points behind new leader Bourdais.

The first penalty came after Tracy's first pit stop, when he tried to get past Wilson to regain second place. Tracy tried unsuccessfully to pass on the outside, then darted to the inside only to find Wilson in front of him.

The two came together and Champ Car officials immediately penalized Tracy, taking him out of contention.

"I thought he was going to go wide on the exit and I tried to get underneath him and we touched wheels and he spun right in front of me and that was it," Tracy explained.

"I think the officials did a fantastic job today, my hat's off to them, they were great," he added, sarcastically.

Team owner Gerald Forsythe, who also is co-owner of the Champ Car series, was just as upset as Tracy.

"I could get four or five people out of the stands here that could do a better job of officiating than the Champ car guys," Forsythe said. "In Cleveland, we were taken out of the race by Justin Wilson and what the hell penalty did he get? Absolutely nothing.

"Paul was past him, he turned in and Paul backed off and we get the penalty because he hit us. That's absolutely stupid. I'm very disappointed with the officiating."

Tracy was penalized again late in the race after slamming into Michel Jourdain Jr. and sending him hard into the wall as Tracy exited the pit lane after his final stop.

"I didn't see him," Tracy said. "I got to the corner first, went into the corner and all of a sudden I felt a touch on my car and I got a penalty for it. I guess I'm supposed to stop at the end of the pit lane put my hand out and wait for everything to go by. ... I can't help what goes on behind me."

Jourdain scrambled out of his car and onto the tire wall and waited for Tracy to come back around. He shook his fists as Tracy drove past.

"He didn't have to do that," Jourdain said. "It's just regular Paul. He just doesn't think."

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HARD SELL:@ Paul Gentilozzi, co-owner of the series and also a team owner, isn't buying the recent speculation that the rival Indy Racing League will be racing in Toronto next year in place of the Champ Cars.

"If that happens, I'll buy the first 10,000 seats for the IRL race here," Gentilozzi said, shaking his head. "This is a great venue for us and Champ Car is going to be here for years to come."

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TAKE A MEMO:@ Memo Gidley spent most of Friday flying to Toronto from his home in Northern California and most of Friday night having a seat fitted for his new ride with Rocketsports Racing.

Gidley, who made his last Champ Car start in 2001, then got on track for the first time Saturday, replacing fired rookie Nelson Phillipe and qualifying last in the 18-car field for the Toronto race.

He had an eventful race, touching wheels with rookie A.J. Allmendinger and sliding into a tire wall, getting back into the race and then sliding hard into a wall. That ended his day after just 36 laps. Gidley finished 16th.

"I went from 18th to 12th pretty quickly and then got spun around by Allmendinger," Gidley said. "Then, I tried to catch up from a lap down. I got sideways in lap 36 and couldn't save it, but I had a great time and enjoyed getting back into a Champ Car. I hope this is just the start."

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SPARK PLUGS: Sunday's race attendance was 72,561. ... Bourdais now has seven wins in 24 Champ Car races. He gave Newman/Haas Racing its seventh Toronto win in 19 tries.