A.J. Allmendinger of Thornton ran away with Sunday’s Grand Prix of Denver, combining good tire strategy with an excellent car to win the race around the Pepsi Center by more than 20 seconds – the largest margin of victory in a Champ Car series race since 1997.
With Allmendinger’s hometown victory well in hand, Sebastien Bourdais and Paul Tracy provided some jaw-dropping drama at the end of the race. After Bourdais and Tracy crashed, then shoved each other within 100 yards of the finish line – ruining sure podium finishes for both – the crowd helped Allmendinger celebrate his fourth victory in six races since being fired by Loveland-based RuSport.
“The fans must have got their money’s worth with that one,” Champ Car co-owner Kevin Kalkhoven said.
Allmendinger, 24, who started second and led a race-high 45 laps, was born and raised in northern California, but has lived in Colorado for most of the past four years. He is Champ Car’s only full-time American driver.
“To be able to win in my hometown – my second hometown race since San Jose didn’t go too well – I’m just really pumped up and excited,” Allmendinger said. “All the people outside after the race cheering and high-fiving me, it’s a cool feeling to have that at these American races.”
With the victory, Allmendinger climbed into second place in the series standings – leapfrogging former RuSport teammate Justin Wilson – and, thanks to Tracy, got within 32 points of Bourdais.
Bourdais, who finished seventh, would have collected 10 more points if he had finished second, where he was running when Tracy tried to pass him coming into the turn nine hairpin that precedes the finish line. Tracy, Allmendinger’s teammate, appeared to have the pass, but he braked too hard and ran into Bourdais.
Bourdais, who won this race the past two years, jumped out of his car, ran over to Tracy, shoved him and received a shove back from Tracy.
Allmendinger, on his victory lap, picked up Tracy and gave him a ride on the side of his car.
“The best thing I could do was give him a ride back to the pits,” Allmendinger said. “It was exciting doing the parade lap. The fans were going crazy and cheering for me.”
Allmendinger took his first lead on lap 48 of the 97-lap event, overtaking Bourdais on the inside of turn one after both drivers made their first pit stop. Bourdais was running on the red-striped tires that are softer and sometimes faster. On this day, the “reds” were good when they were fresh, but lost grip quickly.
“I knew his tires were junk,” Allmendinger said.
Allmendinger began with the reds, which have to be used on at least one stint, but pitted early to get rid of them when Bourdais, the polesitter, built a lead of 15 seconds. Bourdais faded after running 10 laps on the reds.
“I have to admit, the next lap I came around after passing Sebastien, I had to kind of take a look into the grandstand to see what they thought about it,” Allmendinger said of his local support. “They were just so excited and cheering for me, waving the American flag. It really pumped me up when I saw that, to see how excited they were for me to get around him.”
RuSport owner Carl Russo, whose lone driver, Justin Wilson, finished a disappointing eighth, said he was happy for Allmendinger.
“We made a change because it wasn’t working, and as I said at the time, hopefully it would be good for the team and good for him,” said Russo, who fired Allmendinger in June because of a clash in racing styles. “It’s definitely been good for him. I think the world of him. I think he’s a very talented guy, but it just wasn’t working, so we made a change.”
Staff writer Mike Chambers can be reached at 303-820-5453 or mchambers@denverpost.com.
Soft treads ditched early
Keys to victory: A.J. Allmendinger, below, led a race-high 45
laps after dumping his red-striped soft tires during a pit stop on
lap 18.
Traffic report: The
last-turn, last-lap accident
that eliminated
podium finishes
for Sebastien Bourdais
and Paul Tracy
led to an on-track
shoving match and
a thrilling finish.
What you might have missed: After his shoving match with
Bourdais, Tracy hitched a ride with Allmendinger to his pit
stall, then shoved a TV camera while talking to his team owner.
