Teams Make Changes to Try to Catch Bourdais

Since winning Champ Car World Series titles in 2004 and 2005, Sebastien Bourdais has so dominated the series again this year that he’s now effectively restructuring the circuit.

Bourdais has won all four of the series’ races in 2006 for Newman-Haas Racing, starting with the season-opening Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach in April. And his rivals’ growing frustration with trying to catch the 27-year-old Frenchman has prompted two teams to change drivers.

A.J. Allmendinger, 24, of Hollister, Calif., and the sole American driver in Champ Car, was released by his RuSport team last week and replaced with 2002 series title winner Cristiano da Matta, 32.

Allmendinger promptly was picked up this week by Forsythe Championship Racing to replace Mario Dominguez. The Mexican driver parted ways with Forsythe not only after struggling against Bourdais, but after Dominguez was blamed for twice causing first-lap wrecks that also took out his teammate, Paul Tracy.

“I’m really looking forward to the next chapter in my racing career,” Allmendinger, said in announcing his move to Forsythe. The change, he added, would help him “stay in the championship hunt and try and chase down Bourdais.”

The initial accident involving Dominguez occurred in the Long Beach race, then there was another June 4 at the Milwaukee Mile in West Allis, Wis.

“That’s two races out of four that Mario has done this,” Tracy, 37, the series’ 2003 champion, fumed after the mishap. “I don’t know what he’s thinking.”

In announcing that they had “mutually agreed to terminate their relationship,” Dominguez, 30, and Forysthe made no mention of the wrecks in explaining why Dominguez was leaving the No. 7 car.

But “the accidents didn’t help the situation at all,” said Forsythe spokesman Toni Calderon.

For his part, Dominguez said, “I believe what’s best for my career is to go somewhere where I can be a leader. I will pursue other opportunities in another team in Champ Car, Formula One, NASCAR or the IRL.”

Dominguez has won twice in 4 1/2 years on the Champ Car circuit.

Allmendinger, meanwhile, is struggling to fulfill the promise he showed when he joined the series two years ago.

In 2003, the Los Gatos native won the championship in Champ Car’s Atlantic development series, and after joining Champ Car’s top tier in 2004, he earned rookie-of-the-year honors for RuSport. But Allmendinger has yet to win in 31 starts.

Team owner Carl Russo told reporters that the winless streak wasn’t the reason, per se, that Allmendinger was released, saying, “The growth curves of both the driver and team might be better suited to a change in environment.”

But Russo added that the change was aimed at helping RuSport “compete with Sebastien, because it’s getting annoying” watching Bourdais win.

Champ Car’s next race is Sunday in Portland, Ore.

The defending winner: Cristiano da Matta, now driving for RuSport.

Last Laps

* Bill Lester, who became the first African American driver in 20 years to qualify for a Winston/Nextel Cup race when he started 19th at Atlanta in March, today will attempt to qualify for his second Cup start in Sunday’s Michigan 400. Lester, who drives a Dodge for Bill Davis Racing, finished 38th in Atlanta.

* Cup driver Jeff Gordon says he’s also ready for Michigan, despite a crash last week at Pocono Raceway in Pennsylvania.

“It was probably the hardest impact I’ve ever had,” said Gordon, who slammed into the track’s first-turn wall after the brakes on his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet failed. “I feel very fortunate because it was a scary accident.”

After Michigan, the Nextel Cup series moves to Sonoma for the Dodge/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway on June 25.

* Late models highlight Irwindale Speedway’s four-race program Saturday night, which also includes a demolition derby. The track also will have several contests for dads in honor of Father’s Day.

* Perris Auto Speedway, meanwhile, is repeating a promotion from last year in which bald fans get free admission Saturday night for a racing lineup of late models, super stocks and street stocks.

* VRA sprint cars headline a full program of racing Saturday night at Ventura Raceway, with last week’s sprint winner Greg Taylor looking for back-to-back victories.

* James Stewart will miss the AMA Motocross race this weekend in Budds Creek, Md., because of a severely bruised left knee, the rider’s Kawasaki Racing team announced.

* The 24 Hours of Le Mans begins Saturday at Le Mans, France.