Mexican Driver, Canadian Race Team
 Jason Vondersmith - The Tribune
The only Mexican driver on the Champ Car circuit this year is racing for a Canadian team.
Mario Dominguez comes to Portland for the June 17 through June 19 Champ Car Grand Prix teamed with Forsythe Racing’s Paul Tracy, a Toronto native who is the series’ active victory leader with 29 wins.
“He’s open and honest,” Dominguez says of Tracy. “It’s either black or white with him.”
Dominguez, 29, finished fifth in points last season, behind drivers from Newman-Haas and Forsythe. If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. “It’s a big step, a huge opportunity. All the tools are in place,” he says.
This season, he has placed fifth at Long Beach, Calif., seventh at Milwaukee and 13th (“crashed out by Jimmy Vasser”) at Monterrey, Mexico —to the dismay of his following in his home country.
Dominguez, one of four Mexican drivers in the Champ Car in each of the last two years, has finished 10th twice and 17th once at Portland International Raceway.
Of all the Champ Car’s road or street courses, PIR “is the most difficult track of the year for me,” says Dominguez, son of a doctor. “The track has long corners, and you have to carry a lot of speed. You have to be smooth, like a surgeon, while trying to go fast.”
Born in Mexico City, Dominguez attended Culver Military Academy in Indiana for one year at age 14. He marched in George H.W. Bush’s inauguration parade in 1989 as part of Culver’s “Black Horse Troop.”
“It was not punishment. It was reward. In Mexico, it’s tradition to send kids to military school,” he says. “Teaches you self-discipline.” |
Vallarta Weddings
News from Around the Americas | June 2005 
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