LONG BEACH, Calif. — The 34th annual Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach was the last race for the Champ Car World Series.
It might have been popular veteran Paul Tracy’s last open-wheel race as well.
Tracy, the 2003 CART Champ Car Series champion, is the most high-profile victim of the recent unification of American open-wheel racing. Team owner Gerald Forsythe, who is also a co-owner of the Champ Car series, has elected not to field cars in the IRL IndyCar Series.
The lateness of the open-wheel merger and Forsythe’s vindictive stance against the unified series has temporarily cost the U.S. open-wheel scene one of its most charismatic personalities. Yet addressing the media at Long Beach, Tracy did not seem bitter.
 “It’s been nice to be back in the car, and I kind of have mixed emotions,” Tracy related. “I don’t know where my career is leading me from here. I didn’t even know if I was going to race here — it was in the hands of lawyers, and usually when it gets in the hands of  lawyers, it gets even more messy. But we made an agreement to race through this race. From here out after this race, there will be no contract between Forsythe and myself, which is disappointing because it was my intention this year to go racing with Forsythe, and I think everybody in both series would have liked to have seen that happen. But obviously that’s his decision, his right to do that.”
Tracy said he has had limited contact throughout the offseason with Forsythe, for whom he has driven since 2003.
“I’ve had a great career with him and won him his only championship, which was great,” said Tracy. “The frustrating part is that I’ve wanted to go racing so bad this year and been held back. It’s kind of put me in a situation where now there’s nothing available, so it’s kind of like being stuck.”
Tracy said his first choice would be to remain in IndyCar, despite his contentious relationship with the Indy Racing League arising from the controversial finish of the 2002 Indianapolis 500. But every team owner he has spoken to is demanding sponsorship money.
“It’s the same for everybody — the economy is bad,” he observed. “There’s no money out there in Canada and even in the United States. The industry across the board, everybody is hurting.
“It’s not cheap to run an IndyCar or NASCAR,” Tracy added. “You’re talking $6 to $8 million. And budgets were set in September of last year. To find  a company that can stroke a check for that kind of money, a big corporation or a public company, they just don’t write out $5 million checks willingly and send it in the mail to you.”
Tracy’s last race in a Champ Car was nothing for the memory book. He fell to the back of the field after sustaining an early puncture and a split halfshaft boot, ultimately finishing 11th.