A few weeks ago I wrote about the Champ Car World Series, one of the few sports I know a lot about. Since then F1 and the IRL have opened their seasons. And again, what would an article about opening season be without some opinionated predictions? First IRL. It hurt me to no end when Dario Franchitti left CART to go to the IRL. And not just because he’s married to Ashley Judd. Dario is a road racer at heart. He’s going to get bored in the IRL, I’m afraid. I think he secretly longs to be in Formula 1, but realizes that to do so, he needs to stand out here in the States. For as much skill as he has, he’s always come up just a tad short in the end. He’s a surgeon in the racecar.

I pretty much cared less when Michael Andretti left. His best days are over and now he can chum around with his other retired racecar friends, Al Unser Jr. and AJ Foyt. Michael is no longer the throttle demon he used to be.

People forget that Michael Andretti used to be like Paul Tracy. In fact, several rules were made because of Michael Andretti. The most notorious being the tire-slashing rule that forced a front wing design change. The front wing on a Champ Car used to have a leading edge on the sides that stuck out about 2 inches. It was very thin. Thin enough that if a driver pulled up on the car he wanted to pass, they could “accidentally” put that leading edge into the tire. Oops. Michael did it so often officials outlawed the leading edge and dubbed it “The Michael Andretti” rule.

But Michael is a puppy dog now. The winningest active Champ Car driver could barely finish in the top 5 the last two seasons.

Tony Kanaan leaving to the IRL was also a non-factor. He was always regarded by the media as a great talent waiting to break out and show us his stuff. But the only times he’s demonstrated the ability to even challenge for the lead was on ovals. So it’s probably better for him to be in the IRL.

Sarah Fisher is once again driving in the IRL. Her major accomplishment is crashing. It’s a good race for her if she finishes. In the season opener, she was several laps down before the race was even half over. CART’s version of Sarah Fisher is Roberto Moreno. Those two should start a team together. That way we’d know who would be in the back row, and on lap one they could crash into each other and let the real drivers finish the rest of the race.

I actually helped build the current version of the Team Rahal Web site. So I’ve always paid a lot of attention to them. I’ve met many of his drivers, like Mad Max Papis and Kenny Breck.

As much as I like to cheer on the home team, I don’t think Kenny is going to have the success in the IRL as he has in the past. Kenny wants to be a rock star. He wants to be more famous than Jeff Gordon. I question a driver whose motivation seems to be more about fame than winning.

In the IRL, I expect the old CART contingent to do the best. Tony Kanaan will do well and win 2 races. I think Scott Dixon is going to be a front-runner. But I think the big winner at the end of the season will be Tomas Scheckter. He has his best chance this year with Team Target and a HUGE racing budget. I expect him to bloom in mid-season and never look back.

Now let’s get to the real fun, Formula 1. I’ve been watching Formula 1 for the past two years. Even though the races were won in qualifying and not during the race, I kept watching. The cars are lighter than their Champ Car cousins and dart around the tracks with more eloquence.

But I think even the more rabid F1 fan would admit that a lot of the races were real snoozers. Who wants to watch a race where the cars are 30 seconds apart from one another? There isn’t even any exciting pit action.

F1 changed their rules and I have to say, it’s about damn time. F1 racing is looking exciting again. There were more passes in the first race than there was all last season. OK, an exaggeration, but at least it looked like racing.

The “flying lap” qualifying is even fun to watch now. And best of all, you couldn’t guess who was going to win until the last 10 laps of the race.

Hell, even Mike Gascoyne at Renault F1 is convinced that the team will win a race this year.

But we have to remember that Ferrari has yet to bring out its new car. Right now it looks like the BMW P83 is the most powerful engine. But we’ll see when Schuy gets his new wheels under him.

OK, time for the line. Michael Schumacher will be champ again. In fact I don’t think it’ll even be close. He’ll win 8, maybe 9 this year. Rubens Barrichello will win 3, and I put Juan Montoya will win 4. Yes I said 4.

Ralf Schumacher might win one, but he’ll be second fiddle to Montoya - again. I’ll be surprised if David Coulthard wins another race, but he might. Da Matta will end up at the bottom, as the rookie everyone thought could, but didn’t.

The real excitement will be between Jacques “how’s come no one loves me” Villeneuve and Jenson “I really am better than Jacques” Button. The fun part won’t be on the track, but how they taunt each other in the media. It’ll surpass the Juan - Ralf media flames by far.