A DYNASTY BEGINS In early 2005, Sébastien Bourdais and Newman/Haas Racing were on top of the world.

The up-and-coming Frenchman had, in fact, already arrived—and now counted himself champion of the foremost open-wheel formula series in America.

In striking contrast to the IRL’s “oval-only” schedule, Champ Car still maintained a varied international calendar of fifteen races across some of the world’s premiere oval, road, and street circuits.

The series had taken much inspiration from the close-quarters racing of Formula One, and in fact shared several of the same venues.

The tight chicanes of Long Beach and sweeping right-handers of Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve were pointedly counterbalanced by the 240-mph banking of The Milwaukee Mile and Mexico City’s interminably long back straight.

The sun-soaked glamor of Australia’s Surfers Paradise street circuit proved a hilarious contradiction to the utilitarian, paint-striped race at Edmonton Airport—which still saw 200,000 fans ...