Competition.

Surprise, surprise

Former CART champion Cristiano da Matta will be back in the Champ Car World Series this year, as many people expected. He just won't be with the team that almost everyone expected.

PKV Racing was scheduled to announce the week of Jan. 31 that da Matta will join 1996 CART champion Jimmy Vasser in its 2005 driver lineup. Though most observers laid bets da Matta would land at Newman-Haas Racing, the driver says PKV is his best deal.

"The decision was not difficult,'' da Matta said. "In the end, it's the best opportunity for me.''

Da Matta, who spent most of two seasons with the Toyota Formula One team after winning the 2002 CART championship, made no bones about his desire to return to Champ Car. But why didn't he return to former employer Newman-Haas? No one is saying exactly. We can surmise it came down to money, the teams and the management.

Newman-Haas had been working since before the end of last season to get da Matta into a third car alongside Sebastien Bourdais and Bruno Junqueira, both under contract for 2005. The team was close, except, apparently, for one thing: da Matta's salary requirement.

PKV had no such problem, though it hasn't announced sponsorship for 2005. The team's primary owner, Kevin Kalkhoven, also co-owns Champ Car, and is ranked as a billionaire according to some business publications. He has been on a buying spree, recently acquiring Cosworth and Pi Research from Ford. Kalkhoven has also written checks to upgrade his race team, starting at the top. At the end of last season Kalkhoven hired Jim McGee, the most successful crew chief/manager in Indy-style racing history (measured by wins), to run PKV.