WAITING GAME; A.J. Allmendinger takes Road America, delaying Sebastien Bourdais' all-but-inevitable '06 title.(Motorsports)

Byline: STEVEN COLE SMITH

During the first half of the Champ Car Grand Prix of Road America, he had the dominant car, setting a succession of fastest laps of the race, and at one point, he led by more than 22 seconds over second place. But the Newman-Haas driver and the Champ Car champion and points leader finished third and missed an opportunity to wrap up the 2006 points championship with two races to go.

"And that,'' said Sebastien Bourdais, "is why I am not smiling.''

Team Forsythe driver A.J. Allmendinger smiled enough for both of them. He was happy with his fifth win of the season, and just as happy his championship hopes-marginal though they might be-will live at least until the next race on Oct. 22 in Australia. Likely that's where Bourdais will clinch his third straight title, having to finish only in the top half of the field. "No way was I going to let a French guy clinch on American soil!'' said Allmendinger, the only American driver, though he lives in Canada, in the Champ Car series.

Miserably rainy weather on Friday and Saturday gave way to cool temperatures and clear skies Sunday, rewarding a decent-sized crowd with an entertaining-and at one point, terrifying-Champ Car race, and four support races. The terrifying aspect came on lap 45 of the 51-lap race when rookie Katherine Legge, running a strong sixth, lost the top portion of the rear wing on her PKV Lola entering the kink, a portion of the 4.048-mile road course where speeds typically exceed 170 mph. Legge's car pitched sideways and backed into the wall, then barrel-rolled along the chain-link catch fence, shedding parts along the way. Only the carbon fiber tub, where Legge sat, remained intact. The 26-year-old Brit was loaded into an ambulance and taken to the Champ Car medical trailer, from which she emerged shortly thereafter shaken and bruised but in startlingly good spirits. It took three wreckers to collect the remains of her car to the paddock, following what was easily the worst wreck of the Champ Car season.

Until that point, the Grand Prix of Road America had been a relatively uneventful race. Series rookie Dan Clarke started on the pole, thanks to a great lap on a damp track during Friday qualifying; next to him was Bourdais, the fastest car in Saturday qualifying. Third was Mi-Jack's Charles Zwolsman, followed by Team Australia's Alex Tagliani, and Allmendinger. Legge, incidentally, qualified eighth, five spots ahead of her more experienced PKV teammate, Oriol Servia.

On the first turn of the first lap, a familiar sight: Newman-Haas driver Bruno Junqueira got tapped from the rear and spun sideways, collecting Coyne Racing's Jan Heylen and Team Australia's Will Power. All would continue, but Junqueira ended at the back of the 17-car field. It was too familiar.