The 2003 Champ Car World Series, the twenty-fifth and final in the

CART A cart or dray (Australia and New Zealand) is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by one or a pair of draught animals. A handcart is pulled or pushed by one or more people. It is different from the flatbed tr ...

-era of

American open-wheel car racing American open-wheel car racing, also known as Indy car racing, is a category of professional automobile racing in the United States. As of 2022, the top-level American open-wheel racing championship is sanctioned by IndyCar. Competitive events ...

, consisted of 18 races, beginning in St. Petersburg,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

on February 23 and concluding in

Surfers Paradise Surfing is a surface water sport in which an individual, a surfer (or two in tandem surfing), uses a board to ride on the forward section, or face, of a moving wave of water, which usually carries the surfer towards the shore. Waves suitabl ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

on October 26. For sponsorship purposes, it was branded as

Bridgestone is a Japanese multinational tire manufacturer founded in 1931 by Shojiro Ishibashi (1889–1976) in the city of Kurume, Fukuoka, Japan. The name Bridgestone comes from a calque translation and transposition of , meaning 'stone bridge' in Japan ...

Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford. The intended final event, scheduled to be held in

Fontana Fontana may refer to: Places Italy *Fontana Liri, comune in the Province of Frosinone *Fontanafredda, comune in the Province of Pordenone *Fontanarosa, comune in the Province of Avellino *Francavilla Fontana, comune in the Province of Brindisi * ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

on November 9 was canceled due to

wildfire A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire ...

s, one of which was known as the "Grand Prix Fire", burning in and around San Bernardino County. The Drivers' Champion was Paul Tracy.

Rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience and expertise, a rookie is usually inexperienced ...

of the Year was Sébastien Bourdais. At the end of the season, the operations of a now bankrupt CART were assumed by Open-Wheel Racing Series, who continued to brand its top series as the Champ Car World Series. The season was the first since

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

not to feature Michael Andretti.

Drivers and teams

With the departure of

Honda is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a product ...

and

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

to the Indy Racing League for the 2003 season,

Cosworth Cosworth is a British automotive engineering company founded in London in 1958, specialising in high-performance internal combustion engines, powertrain, and electronics for automobile racing (motorsport) and mainstream automotive industrie ...

became the exclusive engine supplier for the CART series. Their 2.65L XFE

turbo In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (often called a turbo) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to pro ...

V8 powerplant continued to be badged by Ford.

continued on as an exclusive tire supplier for the series. Starting in 2003, CART began branding itself as the Champ Car World Series, and a marketing agreement between CART and the two suppliers resulted in the full branding of "Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford." The following teams and drivers competed in the 2003 Champ Car World Series season.

Team changes

With the departure of

and

to the Indy Racing League for the

2003 season 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious or cultural significance in many societie ...

, four CART teams joined them in the rival series as well.

Chip Ganassi Racing Chip Ganassi Racing, LLC (CGR), also sometimes branded as Chip Ganassi Racing Teams, is an American auto racing organization with teams competing in the IndyCar Series, NTT IndyCar Series, International Motor Sports Association, IMSA WeatherTech ...

, Andretti Green Racing (a merger of the former Team Green and Michael Andretti's Team Motorola) and

Mo Nunn Racing Mo or MO may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Mo, a girl in the ''Horrible Histories'' TV series * Mo, also known as Mortimer, in the novel ''Inkheart'' by Cornelia Funke * Mo, in the webcomic '' Jesus and Mo'' * Mo, the ...

became full-time IRL competitors for the 2003 season. Meanwhile,

Mi-Jack Conquest Racing Conquest Racing is an auto racing team that competed in the IndyCar Series and the Atlantic Championship. Formerly it competed in the Champ Car World Series. History It is owned by former series competitor Éric Bachelart. The team ran in Indy Li ...

went against flow and jumped from the IRL to CART.

Team Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing is an auto racing team that has participated in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the IndyCar Series. Headquartered in Brownsburg, Indiana and Hilliard, Ohio, it is co-owned by 1986 Indianapolis 500 winn ...

and

Fernández Racing Fernández Racing was a Mexican motor racing team that competed in the American Le Mans Series, Champ Car, the IRL IndyCar Series, and the Rolex Sports Car Series. The team was co-founded by Adrian Fernández and Tom Anderson in 2001. Open wheel ...

split their efforts between the two series, each reducing their Champ Car teams to a single car. Dale Coyne Racing returned to full-time status after a partial season effort in

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

. Four new teams joined the series. Businessman

Kevin Kalkhoven Kevin Oscar Newton Kalkhoven (1944 – 4 January 2022) was an Australian venture capitalist and auto racing magnate based in California. He served as CEO of JDS Uniphase and was an investor in Cosworth Group Holdings Limited, an automotive tech ...

and

Craig Pollock Craig Pollock (born February 20, 1956) is a British businessman. He was the manager of 1997 World Champion Formula One driver Jacques Villeneuve throughout his top-level career. Pollock was the founder of the British American Racing Formula One ...

, who previously managed the

British American Racing British American Racing (BAR) was a Formula One constructor that competed in the sport from 1999 to 2005. BAR began by acquiring Tyrrell, and used Supertec engines for their first year. Subsequently, they formed a partnership with Honda which l ...

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

team, started the

PK Racing KV Racing Technology was an auto racing team that last competed in the IndyCar Series. The team was originally formed as PK Racing before the 2003 season by Australian businessman Kevin Kalkhoven and former Formula One team manager Craig Pol ...

team. Long-time

Trans-Am The Trans-Am Series is a sports car racing series held in North America. Founded in 1966, it is sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA). Primarily based in the United States, the series competes on a variety of track types includin ...

competitor

Paul Gentilozzi Paul Gentilozzi (born February 6, 1950 in Lansing, Michigan) is a race car driver and businessman. His non-racing business interests are real estate development, principally developing office buildings for institutions and Government Agencies. ...

expanded his Rocketsports Racing team to include a Champ Car effort. Kalkhoven and Gentilozzi would go on to become two of the owners of the series in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

after the CART organization went bankrupt. Formula One and Champ Car champion Emerson Fittipaldi and businessman Jamie Dingman formed

Fittipaldi-Dingman Racing Emerson Fittipaldi (; born 12 December 1946) is a Brazilian former automobile racing driver who won both the Formula One World Championship and the Indianapolis 500 twice each and the CART championship once. Moving up from Formula Two, Fitti ...

while Formula One and Champ Car veteran

Stefan Johansson Stefan Nils Edwin Johansson (born 8 September 1956) is a Swedish racing driver who drove in Formula One for both Ferrari and McLaren, among other teams. Since leaving Formula One he has won the 1997 24 Hours of Le Mans and raced in a number o ...

formed

American Spirit Team Johansson Stefan Nils Edwin Johansson (born 8 September 1956) is a Swedish racing driver who drove in Formula One for both Ferrari and McLaren, among other teams. Since leaving Formula One he has won the 1997 24 Hours of Le Mans and raced in a number of ...

Driver changes

Along with the major changes to the team lineup to the series, a great many new faces made their debut in 2003. Of the nineteen drivers at the season opener in St. Petersburg, nine were rookies. Most notable was 2002 Formula 3000 champion Sébastien Bourdais who joined Newman/Haas Racing. Bourdais would impress immediately by taking pole in his first race, winning his fourth race, and finishing fourth in the season championship. Walker Racing had a lineup of two rookies,

Rodolfo Lavín Rodolfo Lavín Martínez (born July 30, 1977) is a Mexican racing driver from San Luis Potosí. He most notably raced in the Champ Car World Series. In Mexico, Lavín raced in Formula Azteca and Formula 3. With funding in the form of sponsorship f ...

and Darren Manning, who actually debuted at the 2002 race at the

Rockingham Motor Speedway Rockingham Motor Speedway is a former racing motorsport venue in Rockingham, Northamptonshire, England, United Kingdom, near the town of Corby. It hosted professional and club races, as well as testing, track days, driver training, exhibition ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

but was still considered a series rookie. Three rookie teams campaigned with rookie drivers.

ran Tiago Monteiro,

chose

Mario Haberfeld is a character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the title character of the ''Mario'' franchise and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his cre ...

, while

began the year with

Patrick Lemarié Patrick Lemarié is a French auto racing driver born February 6, 1968 in Paris. He currently competes in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series, driving the No. 5 car for Academy Motorsport in the EuroNASCAR PRO class having previously competed for FEED V ...

. Familiar Champ Car drivers also found themselves in new surroundings for 2003. With

gone to the IRL, Bruno Junqueira took over the #1 car at Newman-Haas, replacing Cristiano da Matta who moved on to

after winning the

2002 CART season The 2002 FedEx Championship Series season, the twenty-fourth in the CART era of U.S. open-wheel racing, consisted of 19 races, beginning in Monterrey, Mexico on March 10 and concluding in Mexico City, Mexico on November 17. The FedEx Championshi ...

. With Team Green also gone to the IRL, Paul Tracy moved over to Team Player's. Tracy would reward his new team with the season championship.

Alex Tagliani Alexandre Tagliani (; born October 18, 1973), nicknamed "Tag", is a Canadian professional racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Pinty’s Series, driving the No. 18 Chevrolet Camaro for 22 Racing. Tagliani has competed in a variety ...

lost his Player's seat to Tracy but found a ride with the new Rocketsports Racing team. Champ Car's elder statesman Jimmy Vasser joined the new

team after

downsized to a single car. His teammate there was series rookie Ryan Hunter-Reay. Herdez Competition tabbed veteran Roberto Moreno for their expanded two car team. The list of drivers not changing teams was short. Patrick Carpentier at Player's, Mario Domínguez at Herdez,

Michel Jourdain Jr. Michel Jourdain Lascurain, better known as Michel Jourdain Jr. (born September 2, 1976), is a Mexican racecar driver, best known for winning two Champ Car races in 2003. He is the 2020 Super Copa GTM Champion. Formula racing Jourdain started ra ...

at Team Rahal,

Oriol Servia Oriol () is a Catalan name, which can be found as a given name or a surname. It derives from the Latin word ''aureus'' (golden). It was originally just a surname, but started to be used as a given name in honour of Saint Joseph Oriol. It may refe ...

at Patrick Racing, and Adrian Fernández continued to drive his own car.

Mid-season changes

* Former

pay driver

Alex Yoong Alexander Charles Yoong Loong (; born 20 July 1976), is a Malaysian professional racing driver of Chinese and English parentage. Yoong began his career in saloon cars before moving into the Proton one-make series. He later raced in single-sea ...

took over the Dale Coyne Racing #11 car from Roberto González starting with the 2nd race of the season in

Monterrey Monterrey ( , ) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León, Mexico, and the third largest city in Mexico behind Guadalajara and Mexico City. Located at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the city is anchor ...

. * Sponsorship problems caused Yoong to lose his race seat to Champ Car veteran Gualter Salles at

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...

. * After a series of disappointing results to open the season,

replaced

with noted Laguna Seca expert Brian Herta for the race there. Herta's full-time job in 2003 was driving in the

IRL IRL may refer to: Places * Republic of Ireland (ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 country code) * Irlam railway station (National Rail station code IRL), England Organizations * International Rugby League, the governing body for the sport of rugby league * I ...

for Andretti Green Racing so

Max Papis Massimiliano "Max" Papis (born 3 October 1969) is an Italian professional motorsport driver who has competed in several top-level motorsports events such as Le Mans 24 Hours, Formula One and Champ Car. He has three Champ Car victories. He is the ...

took over the car starting with the following round at

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

. * Also at Laguna, the revolving door at Coyne continued with

Geoff Boss Geoff Boss is an American racing driver best known for his appearance in the 2003 CART season for Dale Coyne Racing. Boss also competed across 5 years in Indy Lights where he won the Toronto Grand Prix from pole position and had 4 additional podiu ...

taking over the #11 from Salles. * The shuffle at Coyne did not stop at Portland as Gualter Salles returned, taking over the #19 car from

Joël Camathias Joël Camathias (born 9 February 1981) is a Swiss race car driver born in Lugano. In 2001 he raced in the International Formula 3000 championship and in 2002 in the European F3000 series. In 2003 he made 7 starts in the American Champ Car series fo ...

. Salles remained in the #19 for the rest of the year with two exceptions:

Alex Sperafico Alexandre Sperafico (born January 21, 1974 in Toledo, Paraná) is a Brazilian racing driver. He is the oldest of the four racing Speraficos. From 2000 to 2001, and for one start in 2003, Alexandre competed in the Barber Dodge Pro Series and won a ...

took over the car at

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

and

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

because Salles had previous commitments those weekends. *

brought in Formula One veteran Mika Salo for the final four races of the year starting with the race in

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

. * Two extra Mexican drivers were brought in for the race in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

. Herdez Competition gave away Roberto Moreno's car to Roberto González for the race, while Walker Racing ran a third car for Luis Díaz.

Season summary

Schedule

Oval/Speedway
Dedicated road course
Temporary street circuit

Race results

Final driver standings

Nation's Cup

* Top result per race counts towards Nation's Cup.

Chassis A chassis (, ; plural ''chassis'' from French châssis ) is the load-bearing framework of an artificial object, which structurally supports the object in its construction and function. An example of a chassis is a vehicle frame, the underpart ...
Constructor's Cup

Driver breakdown

* Alex Tagliani started on pole at Milwaukee but was not awarded the bonus point for it when the qualification session was rained out. The grid was set by practice times. This result is not counted in Tagliani's season total in this table.

Notes

References

* * * * * {{Champ Car Seasons Champ Car seasons