SLIP 'N' SLIDE; Champ Car puts on another weird race.(Motorsports)

Byline: Steven Cole Smith

Just after final qualifying for the Champ Car Grand Prix of Denver, someone pointed out to series champion, points-leader and fast qualifier Sebastien Bourdais that he, Forsythe driver A.J. Allmendinger and RuSport driver Justin Wilson have won all nine of the series' races this season.

"It looks like it's a three-man battle and there's not much we can do about it,'' Bourdais said. "If you've got the top-three being the best drivers, well, it's going to happen over and over again. But Paul Tracy could be right there. He is just making a lot of mistakes.''

Twenty-four hours later Bourdais was still talking about Tracy and those mistakes. But this time Bourdais was the victim, and much of what he said about Tracy cannot be printed here. On the last lap Tracy made a banzai move in Turn Eight in an attempt to save a second-place finish. Until then he had put in a remarkable drive that saw him come back from a first-lap spin that left him in last place. But now Bourdais passed a struggling Tracy, whose engine was sputtering due to a fuel-pick-up problem. Tracy drove too hard into the turn, braked too late, and ran hard into Bourdais, taking both out of the race.

Bourdais jumped from his car and ran across an active racetrack to confront Tracy. Bourdais shoved the Forsythe driver then Tracy shoved him, then they did more finger shaking before separating. It was not the slug fest Champ Car saw between Tracy and Team Australia's Alex Tagliani at San Jose two weeks before-after Tracy drove off the track, then drove back on directly in front of Tagliani, taking out both cars-but it was compelling enough to make the highlights of every Sunday night sportscast.

And it relegated Allmendinger's dominating win-by a margin of more than 20 seconds (the largest since 1997)-to "and by the way'' status. It was Allmendinger's fourth win this year, matching Bourdais. The rest of the podium was unexpected: Bruno Junqueira, Bourdais' Newman-Haas teammate, was second, and CTE driver Dan Clarke was third, the first time this year a rookie finished in the top-three.

This was by any measure a peculiar race. Tagliani hit Tracy in the first turn when both went for the same line. The crash spun Tracy and took out Tagliani, who took responsibility for the crash and ended a promising day early after qualifying fifth.