Racing News: Tracy stays in Champ Car

Paul Tracy has signed on for another season in the Champ Car World Series, putting an end to what had all the earmarks of a bitter split between the star open-wheel racer and his long-time Forsythe Championship Racing team owner, Chicago industrialist Jerry Forsythe.
The renewed deal came after Tracy was offered a lucrative opportunity to drive a Target Ganassi Racing Honda in the rival Indy Racing League.
The 39-year-old Scarborough native was mulling the Ganassi deal after being told that Forsythe was going to reorganize his race team with the lead building block being a much-smaller pay cheque for Tracy.
In an exclusive interview with veteran racing writer Gordon Kirby on gordonkirby.com, Tracy said that in a meeting with Forsythe last week he brought all his concerns -- the team has had only one win since 2005 -- to the table.
And in return, Tracy said that Forsythe promised to beef up the No. 3 Panoz team with a new manager and new engineers, the former being Kenny Siwieck, the former assistant team manager and strategist for four-time Champ Car champion Sebastien Bourdais.
"The result of the meeting is that Kenny Siwieck is now in charge of my car and everything is squared away with me and Jerry," Tracy told Kirby. "Everything is fine between us. I went into the meeting believing that Jerry was going to renegotiate my contract to a very low amount or I would leave. And the conversation never even went that way. It was never brought up."
Grand Prix of Toronto boss Charlie Johnstone had expressed alarm that Tracy might not be part of the annual speedfest by the lake this July.
The 2003 Champ Car champion and the series' leading active driver was a big draw not only in his hometown race but in races in Edmonton and the province of Quebec.
A source close to the Tracy camp told Sun Media yesterday that Ganassi had made a substantial offer to lure Tracy to the IRL, if he could not come to terms with Forsythe.

For the full Gordon Kirby interview with Paul Tracy, click here: http://www.gordonkirby.com/categories/columns/theway/2008/the_way_it_is_no108.html

story courtesy of http://www.torontosun.com