AUTO RACING PACKAGE: Bobby Rahal to be honored at final Champ Car race
Longtime open-wheel racing star Bobby Rahal will be the grand marshall for the 34th annual Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, the final race for the Champ Car World Series.
Rahal won three series championships in Champ Car, which was then known as CART. The series was recently folded into the rival IRL IndyCar Series as part of the unification of American open-wheel racing, but a scheduling conflict with the IRL event in Motegi, Japan, set up the unusual Long Beach event.
Teams and drivers from Champ Car, already racing in the IndyCar Series, will return to their old equipment to run one more race on the streets of Long Beach before Champ Car is completely abandoned. Points at Long Beach will count toward the IRL championship.
Rahal, who raced at Long Beach 15 times and is also a former Champ Car team owner and series president, will say the traditional "Gentlemen, start your engines" to begin the final Champ Car event.
His 19-year-old son, Graham, will drive in the race for Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing.
"This is really a great honor for me to be part of one of the crown jewels of American motorsport," said Rahal, now co-owner of Rahal Letterman Racing in the IRL. "I first came to Long Beach as a spectator in 1977, little realizing that I would be racing there the next year. I look forward to serving as grand marshal and to seeing a great race."
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CHANGING BRANDS: NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series rookie of the year candidate Marc Mitchell will be driving a Toyota Tundra for the remainder of the year.
Billy Ballew Motorsports, which has already switched to Toyotas for Kyle Busch, has now officially left the Chevrolet stable.
"This is going to be great for (our) team," Mitchell said. "Chevy has been really good to us, and I want to thank them for all of their support. We've had three strong finishes in our (Chevrolet) Silverado this season, but we need both teams at Billy Ballew to have the same manufacturer."
Busch has two truck wins this season.
"We've had a lot of success with our No. 51 team this year," Ballew said. "Kyle won at Atlanta and California in a Toyota this year. Switching the Ergon team to Toyota will allow both of our teams to share setup information and streamline what they've learned. I think it will benefit both teams at Billy Ballew Motorsports."
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BUBBLING UP: It appears the recent unification of America's two open-wheel racing series under the banner of the IRL IndyCar Series is already beginning to pay dividends in attracting new sponsorship.
IndyCar this week signed a multiyear agreement with Coca-Cola North America that will make the soft drink an official sponsor of the series through 2010.
The agreement builds on the company's relationship with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indianapolis 500, which goes back decades. Through the expanded association, Coca-Cola will develop retail marketing programs to help enhance the IndyCar racing experience for fans throughout the season.
The new partnership follows the announcement last year of a 10-year sponsorship agreement between Coca-Cola North America and International Speedway Corporation, owner of five tracks on the IndyCar Series schedule as well as numerous NASCAR events.
