APRIL 21, 2008

Champ Car powers into history

The Champ Car World Series came to a close on Sunday with Will Power scoring a dominant victory on the streets of Long Beach. The event was the last hurrah for the series, which dates back to 1979, and next week the teams that are switching into the Indy Racing League will be in action with the IRL regulars in Kansas.

The Long Beach race, the last event for the series that began as CART in 1979, was run with Champ Car teams, drivers and equipment, but the points awarded were for the IndyCar Series. Power made a fast start from third on the grid and led 81 of the 83 laps.

Power, who finished fourth in last year's Champ Car series for Walker Racing, was racing for KV Racing Technology team, one of the teams that will now make the transition to the IRL.

Twelve of the Champ Car drivers in the race do not have drives in IRL, one of them being former F1 driver Franck Montagny, who finished second in his first Champ Car start. Third place went to Mario Dominguez, ahead of another ex-F1 man Enrique Bernoldi and Oriol Servia.

There was disappointment for Justin Wilson, who started from pole but went out early with a mechanical failure.