ANSWERS STRAIGHT FROM THE PADDOCK.

Byline: TIM HADDOCK

MOTOR SPORTS

LONG BEACH - For the casual motor sports fan, there are several questions surrounding the Champ Car World Series.

What's the difference between a Champ Car and an Indy car?

Do Champ Car drivers race in the Indianapolis 500?

Where are Mario Andretti and A.J. Foyt?

And what is a Cosworth DP01 anyway?

The easy answers to those questions are: not much, very rarely, in the Indy Racing League and a relatively cheap, high-performance race car engine.

For the more seasoned Champ Car fan, here are some more poignant questions that perhaps need some answers:

Is Will Power and Team Australia for real?

Power won the pole and the race in the season-opening Grand Prix of Las Vegas. He came to Long Beach as the series points leader and put his car on the front row in qualifying for Sunday's race.

His teammate, rookie Simon Pagenaud, started the Grand Prix of Long Beach on the second row, and was the third-fastest qualifier for the race.

Team Australia does not have the pedigree, drivers or resources of some of the top-tier teams in Champ Car, such as Forsythe Championship Racing or Newman-Haas-Lanigan Racing.

But Team Australia looks like it is going to be a contender in the series. Power said it is because of a combination of talented drivers, a commitment to training and technological developments, and focused owners -- Craig Gore and Derrick Walker -- who are willing to invest in the teams.

"Well, I think it's just progressed," Power said. "I mean, it was my first year last year. So for the first six or so races, I was learning. It was impossible for me to give good input into the car and understand what actually makes it go fast."

On the last lap of the race, Power powered past Alex Tagliani and finished third in the Grand Prix of Long Beach, his second podium finish in as many races, and maintained his lead in the series standings. The pass he made on the last lap of the race may prove valuable in the championship standings later in the year.

It was an even bigger indication of Power's competitiveness.

"It's important to be just consistently quick," Power said. "And that's what we are. We've been quick in testing. We've been quick in every session. You know, we have this car sorted out. We're also learning new things all the time. I think we're going to be strong all season."

How badly hurt is Paul Tracy?

The former Champ Car World Series champion crashed and broke his back in a practice session Saturday for the Grand Prix of Long Beach. He was fifth-fastest in qualifying Friday for the race, but during the Saturday morning practice, he hit the Turn 1 barrier head-on and broke his first lumbar vertebrae.

He was not able to start Sunday's race. Instead, he was replaced by Oriol Servia, a veteran of Champ Car racing and runner-up in the series championship in 2005. Servia, who did not have a full-time ride to start the season, qualified Tracy's car on Saturday and started the race 14th on Sunday.

Reports indicate that Tracy, a four-time winner at Long Beach, will miss the April 22 Grand Prix of Houston. He may miss more races than that.

No timetable was set for his recovery, but there is more than a month between the next two races, the Grand Prix of Houston and the Grand Prix of Portland, which runs June 10.

"This is obviously a very unfortunate situation," said Tracy, who drives for Forsythe Championship Racing. "It's really a shame because it pretty much ruins the championship for us this year. I'm very disappointed for the whole team because we had gotten off to a great start in Vegas and we were pretty strong here, we were building momentum and just hoping to be fast and consistent the whole year."

What is Frankie Muniz from "Malcolm in the Middle" doing in an Atlantic Series car?

He is racing an entry for Jensen MotorSport, one of three in the developmental series for Champ Car. He qualified 25th out of 30 cars in the Atlantic race on Sunday.

He finished the race in 19th place, surviving a series of crashes that took out more experienced drivers.

"He's definitely improved a lot since he started," said Raphael Matos, winner of the Atlantic Series race. "The performance is there. He just needs to find it."

Muniz said he is putting his acting career on hold to pursue his auto racing aspirations.

Looks like winning the Toyota Pro/Celebrity race in the Grand Prix of Long Beach a couple years ago gave him some tremendous confidence.

"This race felt good," Muniz said. "I was a little disappointed in qualifying, but I was happy to be out there today. I had a great start to the race. I passed six cars at the start of the race. I was happy to be out there the whole race. It just proves the kind of shape that I'm in. I had a lot of fun and I learned a lot and I can't wait for the next race (in Houston)."

Will Sebastien Bourdais finally have some competition in the Champ Car World Series?

The three-time Champ Car series champion and three-time winner of the Grand Prix of Long Beach had a disastrous start to his season. After dominating the series the past three seasons, he looked human in the Grand Prix of Las Vegas. Bourdais started 16th and finished 13th at Las Vegas, probably his worst performance in a Champ Car race in the past three years.

He was asked after winning the pole for the Grand Prix of Long Beach if his confidence was shaken after his poor start to the season.

"I think we really kind of decided to forget about it," said Bourdais, a driver for Newman-Haas-Lanigan Racing. "If you're going to have problems like this, you better pile them on in the same weekend. That makes it easier to restart the season.

"I just hope it's behind us and kind of moving forward, and we're back in the groove."

Bourdais got his biggest challenges at Long Beach from Servia, who is probably not going to be racing in Champ Car on a regular basis, and rookie Tristan Gommendy, who had the lead late in the race after the second round of pit stops.

Servia and Gommendy are not exactly names synonymous with intimidation.

With Tracy out of commission for the near future, it looks like the biggest challenge for Bourdais will come from Tagliani, a driver for RSPORTS. But Bourdais should have little to worry about.

"We got ourselves together and didn't panic after Vegas, which was really crucial because many teams could have completely blown up and, you know, fell apart, and we didn't," Bourdais said. "So I'm just really glad that we stayed together and got it done here again."

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Photo:

Oriol Servia served as a last-minute replacement for the injured Paul Tracy on Sunday.

Stephen Carr/Staff Photographer