The opening IRL race of the 2008 season was meant to be the start of the new era of US  open-wheel racing. Sure enough there were a few ex-Champ Car teams on the grid, but given the short amount of time they have had to prepare they weren’t really a factor. In short the start of this “new era” was pretty much the same as we’ve seen over the last few seasons.

The battle at the front was between the three power teams of Ganassi, Penske and Andretti-Green with Ganassi’s Scott Dixon ending up in victory lane with team mate Dan Wheldon being the star of the show with a charge up to third from the back of the grid. Marco Andretti drove with maturity beyond his 21 years to a solid second place.

Going back to the unification; while it was great to see a full grid of cars, would it have been better to wait a little longer, maybe even to the Indy 500 in may, for the ex-Champ Car teams to join in. having a team like Newman-Haas sidelined through a lack of spares is frankly ridiculous. And how can drivers like publicity stunt Milka Duno have a ride, while Sarah Fisher, Paul Tracy and many others sit on the sidelines?

Willy T. Ribbs -  3rd January 1956

Perhaps the best known African-American driver who over the years competed in many forms of racing. After retiring, he became a sport shooter in the National Sporting Clays Association.

Willy was born in San Jose, California,  and  after his graduating high school in 1975,  he moved to Europe to compete in the Formula Ford Series. He won the Dunlop Championship in his first year of competition, then returned to the United States. NASCAR owner Will Cronkite hired Ribbs to drive his Winston Cup car, but fired him after Ribbs skipped two practice sessions. Ribbs went on to race Formula Atlantic cars, winning the pole in the Long Beach Formula Atlantic race in 1982.

The following year, Ribbs won five races in the SCCA Trans-Am Series and was honored as Pro Rookie of the Year. Ribbs would attempt NASCAR again in 1986, running three races.

Here’s  onboard footage of Willy T. Ribbs driving an IMSA GTO Toyota around the temporary circuit at Del Mar Fairgrounds in 1988.

Also in 1986, Ribbs drove a Formula One car, when he tested for the Brabham team. In 1990, Ribbs joined the CART circuit in a car owned by comedian Bill Cosby. Ribbs had two top-10 events that season, and in 1991, he became the first African-American to qualify for the Indianapolis 500. He raced there a second time in 1993. After being released from the team in 1994, he continued in the CART series with another two top 10 finishes.

In 1999, Ribbs raced in an Indy Racing League event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, finishing 26th after a crash. After three top-10s in the SCCA in 2000, Ribbs signed to drive in the Craftsman Truck Series. Driving 23 out of 24 races, Ribbs had a best finish of 13th, and finished 16th in points.

 The official Willy T. Ribbs website.

Other Driver Birthdays today

• Russell Spence F3000 and occasional F1 driver (1960)
• Michael Schumacher  - Seven Times F1 World Champion (1969)

Justin Wilson took his first ChampCar win of the season during the series second European race at Assen in Holland. Wilson beat Sebastian Bourdais away from the line and was never really headed for the rest of the race.

Bourdais, and others, seemed to suffer from problems with a mal-functioning “power-to-pass” button and the race director instructed that it not be used; making overtaking vitually impossible on the tight fast track. A rare mistake by Bourdais, (stalling on a pit stop), further hampered his chances. Local favorite Robert Doornbos’s Minardi team miscalculated on fuel meaning a last minute pit stop dropped him to the back of the pack and a lowly 13th place finish.

The Top 10 finishers were:

1.  Justin Wilson (RuSPORT)
2.  Jan Heylen (Conquest)
3.  Bruno Junqueira (Dale Coyne)
4.  Tristan Gommendy (PKV)
5.  Neel Jani (PKV)
6.  Simon Pagenaud (Team Australia)
7.  S.Bourdais (Newman/Haas/Lanigan)
8.  Oriol Servia (Forsythe Championship)
9.  Graham Rahal (Newman/Haas/Lanigan)
10.  Ryan Dalziel (Pacific Coast Motorsports)

After confirmimg his long rumoured move to F1 in 2008, three-time ChampCar champion Sebastian Bourdais drove to his first victory on the challenging Road Amercia circuit, in perhaps the most dominant style of his five year ChampCar career.

The only threat to the Frenchman came from Team Minardi’s Robert Doornbos in the early stages. Any possibility of a challenge from Doornbos evaporated after he ran into the back of his team mate Dan Clarke and broke the nose of his car. While Clarke went on to finish second, Doornbos struggled home in 14th.

Bourdais’s team mate Graham Rahal finished a strong thrid with Oriel Servia in fourth. At one point Servia looked to be in a position to challenge Rahal and Clarke, but faded towards the later stages of the race.

The Top 10 finishers were:

1.  Sebastien Bourdais  (Newman/Haas/Lanigan)
2.  Dan Clarke (Minardi Team USA)
3.  Graham Rahal (Newman/Haas/Lanigan)
4.  Oriol Servia  (Forsythe)
5.  Alex Tagliani (RSPORTS)
6.  Jan Heylen  (Conquest Racing)
7.  Tristan Gommendy (PKV Racing)
8.  Justin Wilson  (RSPORTS)
9.  Bruno Junqueira (Dale Coyne Racing)
10.  Neel Jani (PKV Racing)

The Toronto leg of ChampCars swing through Canada proved to be a chaotic and incident packed race with only 8 cars left running at the end.  Team Australia’s Will Power emerged victorious through the crashes, rain and spins.

It all started on the opening lap with an incident invloving Paul Tracy, Tristan Gommendy, Jan Heylen and Katherine Legge. Oriol Servia looked set for a possible victory as he was leading Sebastian Bourdais and Justin Wilson until he started to run low on fuel.

In the rain Wilson slid into Ryan Dalziel, while last week’s winner, Robert Doornboss slid into the rear of championship rival Bourdais, taking him out.

The only finishers were:

1.  Will Power  (Team Australia)
2.  Neel Jani  (PKV)
3.  Justin Wilson (RSPORTS)
4.  Simon Pagenaud (Team Australia)
5.  Bruno Junqueira (Dale Coyne)
6.  Robert Doornbos (Minardi Team USA)
7.  Ryan Dalziel (Pacific Coast Motorsports)
8.  Alex Tagliani (RSPORTS)