Despite a plethora of death notices on the Internet, the Tecate Gran Premio presented by Banamex definitely didn’t feel like it was Champ Car’s last hurrah.
The mood was certainly brighter than it was a couple of months ago in Europe, when the Champ Car community learned that the much-hyped 2007 season finale in Phoenix had been cancelled.
Although at least one team (RuSPORT Racing) is ceasing operation, most of the other teams in the Champ Car paddock said they are gearing up for 2008.
The hasty announcement of the 2008 schedule the week before the Mexico City finale went some way toward appeasing the nasayers convinced that Champ Car was about to run its final race. But a lot more positive news needs to start flowing out of the series’ Indianapolis headquarters before its constituents regain confidence.
The basic problem is that there seems to be no sort of overall plan or business strategy for the future. If there is, it hasn’t been shared with the general public — or rank and file Champ Car employees, for that matter.
Champ Car’s marketing department hasn’t produced much for the better part of a decade. Yet the folks who keep the show going from day to day and city to city in areas like credentials, logistics and race operations are some of the best in the business.
Champ Car’s marketing arm would get some help if the series were simply more stable. To start with, it needs a consistent schedule of solid races that don’t get cancelled or never happen in the first place. And it needs consistency in the driver line-up as well.
For 2008, Champ Car is likely to feature Paul Tracy, Will Power, Justin Wilson, Robert Doornbos, Graham Rahal, Oriol Servia and Bruno Junqueira, adding in Atlantic series champion Rafael Matos.
That’s not a bad core group of drivers to work with. With the exception of Rahal, who has a name that resonates with American race fans, all have raced Champ Cars for more than three years. All except for Matos and Rahal have won races, and they will certainly join the ranks of winners within a year or two.
While purists degrade Champ Car as a spec series, the Panoz DP01/Cosworth races well and looks and sounds good on track. Though the Cosworth XFE engine is getting a bit long in the tooth, the chassis and engine package is the least of Champ Car’s problems.
Ultimately, what Champ Car really needs right now is a bit of attention (and investment) from its majority ownership partners. 
Gerald Forsythe has not attended a race since April, and Kevin Kalkhoven is otherwise occupied with the JDS Uniphase class action suit, which could potentially cost him hundreds of millions of dollars.
Kalkhoven and Forsythe need to lead the charge by quickly announcing their commitment for 2008. They don’t need to provide a lot of detail. But Forsythe needs to state that he will run two or three cars, with Tracy as his lead driver and other(s) to be named later. 
Same with Kalkhoven’s PKV Racing organization, which hopes to retain Servia as its number one.
Let the public know now how many cars they can expect on the grid at Long Beach in April 2008. And try to finalize the driver lineup as quickly as possible, so that Champ Car public relations and individual race promoters can start selling their product.
One final bit of advice: In addition to looking for new sponsors, Champ Car leaders need to reach out to companies already on board. 
Companies like CDW, which is on the fence about continuing its involvement in the series, may be feeling a bit neglected.