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PORTLAND, Ore. -- If the Champ Car World Series season was a theatrical production, it would play out in three acts. Already completed, the first act consisted of three consecutive races in April that set the stage for the series' first year using the Panoz DP01-Cosworth spec car. Three-time series champion Sebastien Bourdais won two of them, while Team Australia's Will Power dominated the opener and established himself as potentially Bourdais' toughest competition for a fourth straight title. The second act, comprised of nine races in 13 weeks, kicks off Sunday with the Grand Prix of Portland presented by Joe's Sports and Outdoors (4 p.m. ET, ABC). It's a critical period for Champ Car. Aside from the 2007 championship playing out, by the time the series wraps up its Summer Tour with a pair of European races heading into September, it should be obvious if Bourdais' future will remain in American open-wheel racing or if the 28-year-old Frenchman will finally get a well-deserved crack at Formula One. After disappearing from the sporting scene for the last six weeks, the summer season is also important to Champ Car in terms of attendance and television ratings. The series needs to maintain its traditionally strong racetrack attendance while using a new television partnership with ESPN and ABC to improve ratings. Unfortunately, the third act of Champ Car's 2007 production may prove to be its downfall: The last three races are spread out over three months, and only one of them -- the Dec. 2 season finale in Phoenix -- is in the United States. Even if Champ Car does gain some traction during its hectic summer season, it's in jeopardy of frittering it away in the fall -- not to mention the three- or four-month offseason. But those are all problems to worry about in the distant future. More immediately, what's on tap at Portland International Raceway this weekend? First off, the Portland event will be the first-ever Champ Car race to begin with a standing start. Teams have been working with Cosworth at the last four Champ Car open tests to perfect the launch system, though Bourdais is still wary. "Obviously, it's going to be different with the standing start, so we'll see," he told the Portland Oregonian. "I just hope that everybody gets off the grid and nobody gets run into, because safety-wise it's a big concern as far as I'm concerned.
I think there is definite potential for guys to hurt themselves, especially if someone stalls at the front of the grid." The new Panoz has been particularly effective on smooth, natural road courses, so look for a new track record to be established in qualifying. Bourdais and Co. already were unofficially at record speed during an open test in May, and the 57.597-second mark set by Justin Wilson in 2005 could be undercut by a full second. Last year marked the debut of a revised "Festival" chicane, opened up to allow easier two-wide access, especially at the start of races. Otherwise the 1.967-mile PIR track is much as it has been for the last 40 years -- a flat but technically challenging track that mates a long, fast pit straight (it's also a dragstrip) with a series of long, decreasing radius corners capped by a white-knuckle, fifth-gear chicane. Bourdais, who won at Portland in 2005, naturally enters the weekend as the favorite. But he should have his work cut out for him because Power, Wilson, Graham Rahal and Oriol Servia are also potential winners. Bourdais leads the championship by three points over Power, with rookie Robert Doornbos of Minardi Team USA third thanks to two podium finishes. "It's finally time to get back to racing," Power said. "Portland is where I had my first test in the U.S. in a Champ Car, so I always enjoy going back there. It's been a nice break and we got some good testing in, and now we are ready for the road course." Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing has compiled seven race wins at Portland since 1985, and if Bourdais or Rahal wins Sunday, it will be the team's 100th Champ Car victory. "This has always been a great track for me," Rahal said. "My first-ever national karting victory came at Portland and so did my first victory in cars [in Star Mazda in 2005]. Then I was on pole in Atlantics last year, so I hope the momentum will continue. I expect more out of myself here because I am comfortable on this track." Wilson and Alex Tagliani believe the six-week break was beneficial for the recently merged R-Sports team. "We really jelled together in the tests during May," said Tagliani, who ranks fourth in the standings. "We made some great progress in the test at Mont-Tremblant, which should be applicable to Portland, and we hope this race will be the start of a summer of great results." Former series champion Paul Tracy returns at Portland after missing two races due to injury. The Canadian star sustained a fractured vertebra in a low-speed practice crash at Long Beach and finds himself ranked 15th in the standings. "It feels good to be back in shape and ready to drive," Tracy said. "It's been very frustrating after we started the year with a good result in Las Vegas [third] and this injury completely interrupted our plans for the championship. All we can do is go out there and win races, collect points and see what happens." Forsythe Racing's championship hopes may be better served by Servia, who subbed for Tracy at Long Beach and Houston and takes over the No. 7 car driven by Mario Dominguez in the first three races of the season. "It's another good opportunity for me and I want to thank Jerry Forsythe and the team for putting their trust in me and letting me get back behind the wheel of one of their cars," Servia said. Second-year Belgian driver Jan Heylen will make his 2007 debut at Portland for Conquest Racing. The team announced that Matt Halliday, who ran the first three races of the season, will return in a second car for the last five races at the end of the season. John Oreovicz covers open-wheel racing for National Speed Sport News and ESPN.com.
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