In Racing, Teamwork Is in the Eye of the Beholder

Sunday’s season-opening Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach may be the first step toward a Champ Car World Series title, but it’s also the first step toward ensuring that one’s racing career lasts another season. The race within a race, teammate versus teammate, may be the most important of all.

Nine teams of two cars each will take the green flag, and nine drivers will stake out their territory.

It isn’t easy being No. 2.

“Usually, the ego of a driver is pretty high, and you don’t race to get your [butt] kicked,” said Sebastien Bourdais, the reigning champion who, two years ago, was fourth in the series but second at Newman-Haas to teammate Bruno Junqueira. “It’s pretty difficult to swallow.”

This week, before egos have been bruised, everyone is talking about open communication and being a team player, but there’s underlying pressure.

“You go into it expecting it,” said Ryan Hunter-Reay, 24, an American in his third season who is teamed at Rocketsports with Timo Glock, 23, a German who scored points for Jordan in his Formula One debut. “For a racing driver, really, the biggest competition comes from your teammate.”

Teammates need to share technical data so their cars will be competitive.

“It doesn’t mean anything if you beat your teammate and you’re 11th and he’s 12th,” said A.J. Allmendinger, one of two second-year drivers at RuSport. All that gets us is fired. Both of us.”

But drivers are also looking for an edge.

“I love to win, but even more, I hate to lose,” Allmendinger said. “You’re not going to give every secret away as a driver.

“If [teammate Justin Wilson] asks me what I’m doing in this corner, I’m not going to hide it from him, but I’m not openly going up to tell him, either. It’s a fine line.”

Hunter-Reay said, “Everybody holds back. Everybody!” “When you don’t tell something, it’s not lying.

“You share as much information as possible, but if you share too much information, then you’re giving away what you’re out there striving to gain in advantage. Some drivers won’t tell you anything. They’ll tell you something wrong.”

Paul Tracy, the 2003 champion, called it “competitive conflict,” something he experienced with former teammates Michael Andretti and Al Unser Jr. “Probably the worst guy I ever had to deal with was Al Jr., in terms of not being real forthcoming,” Tracy said. “His crew chief was Brian Barnhart [now president of the rival Indy Racing League]. The sheets that were handed in off the setup pad were really not the numbers that were on the car.

“I realized I couldn’t rely on him.”

Jimmy Vasser, the 1996 champion, finished second, and then third in the series standings, to teammate Alex Zanardi in 1997 and 1998. Vasser’s teammate in 1999, Juan Pablo Montoya, also won the title for owner Chip Ganassi.

“My philosophy has always been that if I can’t win, I hope my teammate wins,” said Vasser, who co-owns PKV Racing and is generally acknowledged for helping his teammates win their titles. “The team wins, it’s good for all the guys back at the shop, it’s good for the sponsors.

“If you’re so focused on beating your teammate, you may hold back information. Zanardi had that mentality early on in our relationship, ‘Your teammate is your enemy.’ It took a while to break that down. It was definitely spirited. Montoya was like that, but the team wasn’t, so he wasn’t able to operate that way.”

Veteran crew chief Jim McGee, now general manager of PKV, which pairs 2002 champion Cristiano da Matta with Vasser, has seen some of racing’s fiercest infighting. “Bobby Unser, Rick Mears -- terrible,” McGee said. “Bobby Unser wouldn’t help him if he was dying.” The Nigel Mansell-Mario Andretti pairing turned ugly too.

Mansell left Formula One and won the Champ Car title in 1993, Andretti finishing sixth. The team fell apart the next season, Mansell finishing eighth, Andretti 14th.

“It was pretty good at the beginning, and then Mario probably saw the attention and success that Mansell was having, so it was like, ‘I’m not going to help you, I’m going to look after my own self, you’re on your own,’ ” McGee said.

“Next thing you know, your team is split. You’ve got Mario’s teammates and mechanics, and you’ve got Nigel’s.”

Tracy’s new teammate at Forsythe Racing is the equally competitive Mario Dominguez, who finished 10 points behind Tracy last season but this year, for the first time, is a title contender.

“If we work well,” Dominguez said, “we’re going to be a very strong combination.”

Sometimes, that’s easier said than done.

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RACE WITHIN THE RACE

The two-car teams in Sunday’s Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach:

* Newman-Haas Racing: For three seasons, Brazilian Bruno Junqueira won the championship in whatever series he was driving, but he has finished second the last three seasons, last season to teammate Sebastien Bourdais, a Frenchman.

* Forsythe Racing: Canadian Paul Tracy, the aggressive champion from 2003, is paired this year with Mexican Mario Dominguez, an aggressive driver who last season finished only 10 points behind Tracy and is a championship contender for the first time.

* PKV Racing: American Jimmy Vasser, the 1996 champion and a team co-owner, is teamed with 2002 champion Cristiano da Matta of Brazil, who thinks he got a raw deal from Toyota in Formula One.

* RuSport: A.J. Allmendinger, last year’s top rookie, is the American wunderkind who beat Englishman Justin Wilson, whose performance last season for a more modestly funded team might have been equally impressive.

* Rocketsports: Ryan Hunter-Reay, an American with a victory in each of his first two seasons, is teamed with a driver a year younger, German Timo Glock, 23, who scored points in his debut last season with the Jordan F1 team.

* Mi-Jack Conquest Racing: Frenchman Nelson Philippe and Canadian rookie Andrew Ranger are both 18, making this the youngest team in history.

* Team Australia: Canadian Alex Tagliani, with one win in six years, is teamed with an Australian rookie, Marcus Marshall, on a team owned by Australian interests.

* HVM: Bjorn Wirdheim of Sweden, former F1 test driver for Jaguar, is teamed with Dane Ronnie Bremer, an eight-time karting champion who is trying to prove he belongs after finishing fifth in Toyota Atlantic.

* Dale Coyne Racing: Spaniard Oriol Servia brought the team its first top-10 finish last season. Brazilian Ricardo Sperafico is a Formula 3000 graduate whose brother, Alex, had a best finish of 10th in 10 Champ Car starts.

-- Martin Henderson