When Paul Tracy Finally Got His Title

For years, Paul Tracy was always the bridesmaid and never the bride. He’d always win a few races a year and find himself poking his nose in the title fight and annoying the contenders, plus fans in the process, usually. However, it seemed that his over-aggressive mistakes would prevent him from ever becoming a champion. Until 2003, that is!

The 2002 Indy 500 Finish

The year before, Paul Tracy was involved in the most significant controversy of his career, a notable statement, given his history. At the 2002 Indy 500, he battled Penske’s Hélio Castroneves for the lead in the closing laps of the year’s most important race.

Paul Tracy made an outside pass to take the lead from the Brazilian. Immediately afterward, a wreck occurred behind them. Because the caution came out so late in the race, everyone knew it would end then and there.

For a few moments, a rush of pride, euphoria, and accomplishment rushed over the Canadian all at once. For he thought he had won the Indy 500, the race every kid who starts out racing karts in America dreams of winning. Decades of hard work and dreaming all finally paid off. Or so he and all of Team Green thought.

However, it was announced that Team Penske and Hélio Castroneves had won the race, as the results would be reset to the point before the last timer, rather than frozen at that time. To this day, Paul Tracy swears he really won, and the only reason Penske won that day was that Team Green was racing in CART while Penske was in the IRL, and Indy was an IRL event.

Which made what happened next pretty ironic and must’ve made Paul livid. After 2002, Team Green announced it had merged with Andretti, an IRL team, and would compete in the IRL in 2003. But Paul Tracy would not be going with them, no way.Instead, he’d stay in CART because he’s more motivated than ever now to get that title.

Paul Tracy’s CART Triumph

After the IRL robbed him of the one trophy he always wanted to win, then he’d go for the only other trophy he always wanted to win and that IRL couldn’t steal from him, the CART championship.

Paul Tracy had won plenty in CART, but a title had never fallen his way. The closest he ever got was the three third-place finishes he had earned, which, heading into 2003, had served as his career high in points. But 2003 would be different.

The Canadian driver signed with the Canadian team Forsythe and, for the first time, took up cycling to lose weight and improve his fitness before the season began. And all that would pay off immediately.

Paul Tracy won the season opener in St. Petersburg after leading 71 of 105 laps. Paul Tracy, as a matter of fact, won the first three races of the season, creating a massive points cushion for himself to start the season.

Something that would be easy for most drivers to maintain, but now we see Paul Tracy hadn’t yet won a CART title in his nine seasons as a CART driver before this year. His major inconsistency. As he failed to secure a top-ten finish in the next three races, allowing title rival Bruno Junqueira to catch up and pass him in points after Milwaukee.

When His Form Picked Up

Paul Tracy’s form picked up once again, though. He got on the podium for each of the following three races and even earned pole for Portland. This time, he’d carry all that positive momentum into the most important race of the year for him, which was in his home country of Canada at Toronto.

There, he earned another pole and left the field behind in a cloud of his dust for the whole race. He led every lap en route to another victory. When CART returned to his homeland this time in Vancouver, he earned pole again and led a race-high 77 laps to earn another victory in Canada.

But Junqueira had been on his tail the whole ton, and when Paul Tracy crashed out of the race at Road America, Junqueira went on to win and gain back the points lead. But this was the closest he’s ever been to finally winning that championship. So he wasn’t going to let it slip from his fingers again. So he gathered all the fight he had to have a great end to his season.

Final Thoughts

After Road America, Tracy won at Mid-Ohio two races late, earning back-to-back top ten finishes. He won the Gran Premio Telmex Gigante in Mexico City from pole position after another dominating display of racing. This also clinched him a victory in all three of North America’s mainland countries.

Tracy won his first CART championship and the Vanderbilt Cup by finishing 13th in the wet-weather Lexmark Indy 300, while Junqueira crashed with ten laps remaining. Making the exact kind of mistake Paul Tracy had used to lose so many titles. Making this one all the more sweeter, thanks a bunch for reading!