It was an auto race with a motorcycle twist.
Daredevil style.
The Boost Mobile FreestyleMx.com Tour was a big hit during the three-day Grand Prix of Denver, which was as much an urban festival as Champ Car race.
“Everyone seems down with it, very positive,” said Californian Derek Garland, 20, one of three riders to perform ramp-to-ramp jumps Sunday before awed fans at the Pepsi Center.
World-renowned rider Jim McNeil of Phoenix performed at least three backflips over the 85-foot gap in 12 weekend sessions. Tour president Marc Burnett said McNeil, a 26-year-old star of the Dew Action Sports Tour, is one of five riders in the world to make ramp-to- ramp backflips.
The third rider was Jeremy Lusk, 20, of San Diego.
Burnett said his Tour charges about $10,000 a day for four 30-minute sessions. The tour, which does between 70 and 90 dirt arena or stadium events a year that features 12 riders, made its Champ Car debut at the 2004 Grand Prix of Denver and performed at this year’s Long Beach (Calif.) Grand Prix.
Nobody crashed this weekend, but “when we do, it’s not pretty,” said McNeil, who has averaged one leg surgery a year the past four years.
Wilson caught in early wreck
Justin Wilson bowed out of the Champ Car race seconds after it began. His RuSport car, which started fifth in the 18-car field, sustained the most damage in a frightening accident on the first turn of lap one.
The 6-foot-4 Wilson, who sits higher in the cockpit than most drivers, had a close encounter with Cristiano da Matta’s left rear wheel. Wilson’s helmet saved him serious injury after da Matta’s car went airborne and landed on top of Wilson. The chassis of the flying car landed on the Wilson’s roll bar before the wheel briefly touched Wilson’s head.
“I’m not sure what happened,” said Wilson, who was not hurt. “I was on the racing line and someone came down on me, and then Cristiano came over me. It’s really unfortunate that I got caught in the middle of it. I thought the Intel car had a good shot at bringing home a top result.”
Jimmy Vasser, Timo Glock and Alex Tagliani also were involved in the wreck, but all continued to race after repairs.
Sutton garners praise
Actor and race-car driver Paul Newman, co-owner of Newman/Haas Racing, said Centrix Financial CEO and Grand Prix promoter Bob Sutton is the best in the business. Centrix owns the Grand Prix and has made significant improvements since buying the race from Delaware-based Dover Motorsports Inc. before the 2004 event.
“Bob is as good of a promoter as we’ve ever run across,” said Newman, who entered the series in 1983 with driver Mario Andretti. “We have some really wonderful ones out there, and we have some weak ones. And if the weak ones were as strong as he is, we’d be in gravy.”
Full house
Despite the continuous threat of rain and unseasonably cooler weather, the three-day attendance was estimated at a record 150,000, Centrix executive Rick Bolton said.
Actual attendance will be released today or Tuesday. The previous unofficial record was 112,000, set last year.
Footnotes
Da Matta, the 2002 series champion, absorbed his fifth consecutive DNF. … Newman and his winning driver Sebastien Bourdais also won the Champ Car owner-driver go-kart race Saturday night at the Mini Grand Prix of Denver, adjacent to the big track’s pit lane. … Newman/Haas has won 28 of the past 62 Champ Car races. … Bourdais has finished second, first and first in Denver. His 2003 runner-up result was when teammate Bruno Junqueira, who is injured, won.
