The first official event of the 2004 Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford has come and gone with the running of the season-opening Long Beach event, and it was Champ Car's first chance to see how this year's new rules looked when applied on the racetrack.

Many new rules were implemented for 2004, including the reintroduction of a push-to-pass button and softer-compound Bridgestone tires. The point system was changed and tweaks were made to the pit-stop rules. Csaba Toth takes a look at the changes along with Champ Car's Director of Technology Lee Dykstra and Senior Vice-President of Operations John Lopes.

Toth starts with the aero freeze rule, which changed significantly this year. Many parts of the chassis, like the main side pods, the engine cover, oval and road course noses still can not be tweaked by the teams, but the new rule enables them to work on small aerodynamic components such as rear tire kickers, body gurneys, and road course front and rear wing end plates.

Question: This year, teams are allowed to develop some more areas of their chassis. The 2003 season clearly shown that the Lola cars have a bit of an advantage over Reynards on some of the bumpier tracks, where a lot of downforce is needed. Drivers and team owners says that the main problem with the Reynard is that its underbody does not produce enough force to stick the car to the track. But this year's rule change does not allow the teams to touch the underside of their cars. Do you expect the Reynards to be more competitive despite this?