Eric Bachelart will likely field only one Champ Car in 2007 but he's thrilled to still be on the grid following some dramatics last week. source: champcarworldseries.com After setting two deadlines, Bachelart was faced with the sad reality he had no sponsorship and no way to keep Conquest Racing in Champ Car for '07. Last Friday, he gathered his crew and told them the bad news. Then he got a phone call from a company in New York that agreed to fund a car. "We went from closing the doors to being back on the track in about 10 minutes," said the former Indy Lights champ whose Conquest team has been a staple of Champ Car since 2003. "I had just told everybody we didn't have any money and to go look for jobs when the phone rang in my shop and it was the call I'd been waiting on all week from New York. It's a new sponsor to racing and it saved us. "My guys were either walking out the door or already in the parking lot when the phone rang so I'm talking on the phone and running out into the parking lot, waving my hands at my guys to come back on Monday." Bachelart kept postponing the deadline. "We already had a new car prepared to go to Sebring but a couple of deals fell through and earlier last week I set the deadline for telling my guys to Jan. 31," said the native of Belgium. "I ask them to give me another 48 hours and wait until Friday and I had just told them we were pulling the plug when the phone rang. It's a big relief in a lot of ways." Since 2003, the MiJack/Conquest team had been one of the little guys in Champ Car and scored its first-ever podium with Andrew Ranger in 2005 after running strong with Justin Wilson the year before. Charles Zwolsman and Ranger ran for Bachelart a year ago but his driver for '07 remains a mystery. "We are talking to a number of drivers including Charles but I have a list of drivers I started to call this morning that had contacted us over the winter," said Bachelart. "We'll only have one car this year and it's still going to be a struggle. But I'm so relieved to be able to stay on the grid. We've worked hard to get to this level and, like I said, I've got a good crew and I didn't want to lose them."
Recent Articles
|
Racing Multimedia
Recommendations |