HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Paul Tracy, the most successful active driver in American open-wheel racing, became a free agent Thursday when Gerald Forsythe elected to disband Forsythe Championship Racing rather than take the team to the IRL's IndyCar Series.
Tracy, who owns 31 career victories in CART and Champ Car competition since 1993, got the unexpected news in a phone call from FCR general manager Neil Micklewright.
"After 13 years of competition in CART and the Champ Car World Series, the team has been unable to secure the necessary sponsorship to be able to compete in the IndyCar Series in 2008," Micklewright said. "Forsythe Racing Inc., the parent company of FCR, will participate in the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, the Champ Car finale, with drivers to be announced."
The organization also confirmed that it will field its two-car team as planned in the Atlantic Championship with drivers James Hinchcliffe and David Garza.
Forsythe has almost single-handedly funded his Champ Car team since late 2003, when his longtime sponsor, Player's cigarettes, was forced out of racing by Canadian legislation banning tobacco advertising.
Indeck Energy, a company owned by Forsythe, was listed as the team's title sponsor since 2004.
As with other decisions made during his 25 years in racing, Forsythe's decision to disband FCR surprised observers. On the surface, it appears he was willing to spend millions on open-wheel racing as it used to be, but not after the announcement that Champ was being absorbed by the IRL.
It seems incongruous that Forsythe would help bring together open-wheel racing by agreeing to disband Champ Car, but refuse to support the unified IndyCar Series.
Tracy did not attend the Wednesday press conference at Homestead-Miami Speedway to celebrate the unification of American open-wheel racing as the IndyCar Series. Contacted Thursday at home in Las Vegas, he said he wants to remain in open-wheelers and to compete again in the Indianapolis 500, where he finished a disputed second in his last attempt in 2002.
"It's pretty late for this to happen and I'm hoping I can still find a competitive seat," Tracy said. "I think I could do a good job in the IRL."
The 39-year-old Canadian's best opportunities would seem to lie with KV Racing, the former Champ Car team owned by Kevin Kalkhoven and Tracy's friend Jimmy Vasser; Rahal Letterman Racing, which has cut back to a single IndyCar Series team for 2008; and Tony George's Vision Racing, which could benefit from Tracy's experience and notoriety.
Another option for Tracy could be Gil de Ferran's newly-established American Le Mans Series team, which could afford Tracy's likely seven-figure price tag thanks to considerable support from Acura.
With Forsythe's team out of the reckoning, it appears that former Champ Car teams will contribute nine or 10 cars to the IndyCar Series field: Two for Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing (Justin Wilson and Graham Rahal); two for KV Racing (Oriol Servia and TBA); two for Conquest Racing (rookie Franck Perera and likely Nelson Philippe); one or possibly two for Walker Racing; at least one from Dale Coyne Racing for Bruno Junqueira; and one from Minardi Team USA, with Robert Doornbos as the preferred pilot.
Danica is P1 on Day 2; Wheldon fastest overall
Danica Patrick served notice that she could be among the frontrunners when the IndyCar Series returns to Homestead for the March 29 season opener.
Despite suffering from flu-like symptoms, Danica was the fastest driver in six hours of testing Thursday with a lap caught at 213.182 mph. The illness kept her out of her No. 7 Andretti Green Racing car on Wednesday, when Dan Wheldon of Target/Ganassi racing turned the fastest lap of the two-day session at 213.312 mph.
"I've never missed a day of work in my life -- it was weird not to be out there Wednesday," Patrick said. "Better safe than sorry, I suppose.
"It's nice to be quickest, though we were definitely struggling with the race car and until the end of the day we were really pushing to figure it out. We're walking away pretty happy with all the hard work the team did in the offseason."
Around the paddock
Panther Racing confirmed it will run only one car this year in the IndyCar Series and revealed a new red-white-and-blue paint scheme to denote the presence of the team's new co-sponsor, the Army National Guard. Delphi Electronics remains as co-title sponsor for driver Vitor Meira.
Sarah Fisher announced plans to form her own team to compete in the Indianapolis 500 and select other IndyCar Series races. She will run car No. 67, the number she used to win several USAC midget races earlier in her career.
Andretti Green Racing debuted a new livery for Marco Andretti's No. 26 car with Meijer markets as the primary sponsor for two races this year.
John Oreovicz covers open-wheel racing for National Speed Sport News and ESPN.com.