Final Champ Car race leaves mixed feelings

A lot of the drivers racing Sunday in the last Champ Car World Series event will be back on familiar ground at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

Most of the teams and drivers who have made the switch to the IRL's IndyCar Series as part of the unification of the two American open-wheel series have been dealing with strange equipment, new tracks and unfamiliar competitors.

But thanks to a quirk in the schedule, the traditional race through the streets of downtown Long Beach will put them back in the Panoz DP-01 cars most of them raced in 2007.

With unification, most of the races on the Champ Car schedule were canceled. However, IRL founder Tony George wanted to keep the Long Beach event active. Since the IndyCar race in Motegi, Japan, this weekend could not be rescheduled, the solution was to run one more Champ Car race with the old equipment and even include the teams and drivers that aren't making the move to the IRL.

It's left a lot of the Champ Car veterans with mixed feelings.

"This will be a bittersweet weekend for me," said former Champ Car regular Nelson Philippe, who has no IRL ride but will drive this week for the combined HVM Racing, Minardi USA team. "On one hand I am so happy to be back in a race car with the team that led me to success, and on the other, I am a bit sad to say goodbye to the series and cars that made my career here in the U.S."

The turbocharged Cosworth engines in the Champ Cars will give the drivers a different feel than the normally aspirated Honda engines in the IndyCars.

"I think those (Champ Cars) are going to feel like rocket ships after the IRL cars," said Will Power, who finished third in the season points last year. "It's going to be good fun to be back in those cars and it's going to give us a chance to pile up some points that could be really important later on."

Power was referring to the fact that points earned in Sunday's race will count toward the IRL championship, as will the points earned by drivers racing in Japan.

Said back on track in Mexico

For Boris Said, this week's NASCAR Nationwide Series event in Mexico City is more than just his first chance to race a stock car since February.

The free spirit from Southern California loves the sprawling city south of the border.

"I've enjoyed traveling the world to race cars, but I also have fun taking in the local sights and experiencing the local culture," he said. "As soon as I get to Mexico City, I look for the street vendor taco stands and order a couple of carne asadas (grilled steak). It is absolutely delicious -- I recommend it to all Mexican food lovers."

More important, Said, a top road racer, will drive the No. 25 Ford Fusion in Sunday's race on the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez road course and will be aiming to win for the first time on the Nationwide circuit -- previously known as the Busch Series.

Hamilton coming back

Longtime IRL IndyCar Series driver Davey Hamilton has signed with Kingdom Racing to drive in this year's Indianapolis 500.

Hamilton, who came back to racing after undergoing 21 operations and two years of rehabilitation following a devastating crash at Texas Motor Speedway in June 2001, finished ninth at Indy last year, his ninth start in the May race. He best Indy finish was fourth in 1998.

Looking to expand

NASCAR Sprint Cup star and 2007 Daytona 500 winner Kevin Harvick and his wife, DeLana, have teamed with NHRA drag racing veteran Bob Vandergriff Jr. to explore fielding a Top Fuel dragster in NHRA competition.

The proposed Harvick-Vandergriff Motorsports would offer its sponsors marketing opportunities in NHRA, NASCAR Sprint Cup, Craftsman Truck and the Nationwide Series.