After a long and eventful weekend in Long Beach, we thought we would give you a recap of our ride. To start things off, the Atlantic race was really important for us. It was our first event and our chance to see how we stacked up against the opposition in race conditions. It was also a big weekend for Greg and Leo Mansell, since it was their first Atlantic/street race.

We had mixed results. At times we had the cars extremely good and other times we needed more. As this happens with a three car team, you can almost guarantee there will be at least one, or maybe two drivers out of the three, that will have issues that need to get resolved. All in all, the team worked really well, and I think given the time we had to work through car setups, when all was said and done, we came away with one podium position.

For Greg and Leo's situation, not only is the series new to them, but street courses are a new type of race track for them to get used to. I think in time, as we work through the season, we will get closer to providing them a car that they need to move them up the grid.

In the race, Kevin brought home the beer, it was a good third position, but, more importantly, he brought home championship points. This year is all about points and we cannot afford not to get them, preferably the maximum amount of points possible at every race, to keep our second championship hopes alive.

Across the other side of the paddock, it was a very unusual weekend. We decided rather late to go to Long Beach and Alex Tagliani volunteered to drive. He brought two sponsors with him, CEC Wheels and Gatorz. Gardner Trucking also joined the team for the weekend. With a very small sponsorship amount to play with, and contrary to what people probably believed, we did not get a bag of cash from Champ Car to attend. It was through the generous donation from our sponsors that made it possible.

However, there were some challenges to be able to make it on the budget we had, given that most of the team is now dedicated to the Atlantic program. We had a very small band of four full-time Champ Car employees and three weekend warriors, all of them experienced, mind you. Nevertheless, we put together a very small group and the rest was history. It was a very productive weekend.

The car was probably one of the best cars that I've ever seen us have at Long Beach in all of my 18 years that I've been going there. Our strategy was almost flawless, however, and there always is a however, in the last 20 laps of the race, our magic plan began to unfold. The performance of the red tires, which we started on in the beginning of the race, was very good for us. So we decided to take a gamble and run our second set of reds, which turned out to be the wrong choice, because of the change in track conditions. Although they were quicker, they did not last as long, which made us sitting ducks, going from third to seventh in a blink of an eye.

It was a pity, because we had so much potential. Even so, we all came away with the feeling we had achieved a great deal and, in some small way, emphasized the fact that Walker Racing maybe down, but is not out.

Another interesting part of the weekend was the fan reaction. We had so many fans come up who wanted to talk and express their opinions about the departure of Champ Car. Almost 99% of them lamented on how they wished Champ Car was not going and dreaded the new formula that would be hurtling around the streets of Long Beach next year. With the ones that wanted to debate the subject, we explained to them that it's all about the racing. The equipment is important, but you need to wait and see an IndyCar race. They will put on a good show next year and I'm sure a lot of these fans will not feel the same as they currently do.

Next on the agenda, obviously Atlantics at Laguna Seca is our next event. We are gearing up with a good plan. We have tested there, so we have a good starting point. In between that, there is a possibility of fielding an Indy 500 entry. We have a good relationship with an existing team, who will help us pull the equipment together that we need. I'm sure nobody is surprised to hear, the only thing that I need to do now is to get the money, and that's my mission, put a program together and do a good enough job. For us it's really important to compete in IndyCar as often as possible. It's our intention to build back into IndyCar again. Therefore, getting as many events under our belts this year is extremely important. Hopefully, we can pull that off. We will be making an announcement as soon as it's a done deal. For now, it's Atlantics, maybe the Indy 500, and a visit to the last A1GP race this season at Brands Hatch.