Owner Paul Stoddart brings savvy style to Champ Car

	A savvy businessman, Paul Stoddart is looking for big success in Champ Car. AP
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You know all about the move of talented Columbian driver Juan Pablo Montoya from Formula One to NASCAR. But what about another F1 personality who has also decided to do his racing business in the U.S.?

After surviving five years in the shark-infested F1 waters as a team owner, Paul Stoddart has dipped his toes in the Champ Car pool and appears to be ready to make a big splash.

Stoddart bought into a team previously associated with comedian Cedric the Entertainer and renamed it Minardi Team USA. On Sunday, his Dutch-born driver, Richard Doornbos, finished second to an appropriately named Australian, Will Power, at the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix.

Doornbos' finish makes him the first driver to score a podium finish in his Champ Car debut since Nigel Mansell won his debut in 1993.

For Stoddart, it was a nice way to begin the next phase of his car-owning career. "To be honest, I couldn't be happier today," he said. "The result speaks for itself."

NASCAR fans' awareness of Formula One has grown immensely since Montoya joined Chip Ganassi's racing stable. However, stories about behind-the-scenes power struggles in F1 would curl Jack Roush's hair. For sure, it's an elitist group of people who wield their authority like a surgeon uses a scalpel.

An aspiring racer whose business skills exceeded his driving talent, Stoddart (known as "Stoddy" to his friends) parlayed an airplane spare parts business into two airlines and a venture into a far-flung international road racing series, as he bought the struggling Italy-based Team Minardi six years ago.

Stoddart was instantly enamored with the Formula One circuit -- racing in different countries and continents, playing a high-stakes poker game open only to a few with the necessary funds. His team's funds (an average budget of $40 million) were much lower than, say, Team McLaren's budget ($500 million).

No wonder Stoddart's small team was beloved for its underdog status.

Stoddart, ever the promoter, tried to maximize his investment. Take the time when Minardi's Australian driver, Mark Webber, finished fifth in his debut in Formula One in Melbourne in 2002. Since Formula One rules award points to the first six finishers, it felt like a victory for Team Minardi. Minutes after the official victory-lane celebration, Webber was hoisted on a fake podium. Many Australian fans went nuts, thinking their native son had actually won.

"People thought it was the real podium because the crowds saw us up there with the champagne," Stoddart recalled. "It was that Aussie feel-good factor."

But a lack of results and the lack of funds caught up with the wily Stoddart and Team Minardi. Eventually, the astronomic costs of Formula One forced Stoddart to sell the team to Red Bull, which has two cars in Nextel Cup for Brian Vickers and A.J. Allmendinger.

Stoddart has quickly put his promotional skills on display at the Champ Car series. He has introduced two-seater Formula One cars. It's a thrill ride for super VIP road racing fans. The cars weigh only 1,200 pounds, but pack V-10 engines that produce over 700 HP. Driven by some of the biggest names in the sport, the low-flying rockets are a fantastic draw.

At first glance Stoddart's change of venue from F1 to Champ looks like a smart move, especially with the second-place result in the first event -- even if Doornbos was a little peeved at race strategy. When his engineer, Mike Cannon, radioed and told his driver to save more fuel, Doornbos remembers thinking: "I'm racing. What do you want me to do, valet parking or something?"

After Sunday, the next goal for Doornbos and his boss Stoddart is indeed a parking spot ... in Victory Lane.