To borrow a line from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, for Michael Valiante, "the waiting is the hardest part."

The Canadian Toyota Atlantic standout was less than a week away from getting his first experience behind the wheel of a Champ Car with Walker Racing on the ultra-fast California Speedway, only to see his opportunity--literally--go up in smoke.

"I was actually scheduled to do the Fontana CART race, but due to the fires and the disaster that they had there, the event was cancelled," Valiante said. "That was a little bit disappointing to have to miss the race, but I understood why they had to cancel that. It was a great opportunity that Walker presented me with, because we'd been working hard all season to make something happen.

"It happened so quickly that--leading up to it--I wasn't sure if it was going to happen or not until quite late. So, there wasn't a lot of anticipation to the point. But once they actually said that officially I was going to run it, I got quite excited and nervous at the same time. It was definitely disappointing to have to miss that race."

However, while Valiante missed the opportunity to get his first Champ Car seat time in the heat of battle, the team made good on its promise to put him in a car in December, when he joined fellow 2003 Toyota Atlantic competitors Ryan Dalziel and Jonathan Macri, as well as German Timo Glock, in a test session at Sebring International Raceway. Valiante made the most of the opportunity.