Paul Tracy's got a date with David Letterman.
The 34-year-old from Toronto will be on the Late Show with David Letterman on CBS tonight, giving this year's top driver on the Championship Auto Racing Teams circuit maximum exposure.
"I'm looking forward to it," Tracy said this week. "Not nervous at all."
Letterman, who became a father this week, has more than a passing interest in auto racing. The 56-year-old is a minority owner in Bobby Rahal's racing team, which is a rival to Tracy's PF Racing on the CART circuit.
Rahal's driver, Michel Jourdain Jr,. chased Tracy all season and ended up third in the standings.
So Tracy should get a decent amount of airtime tonight if he and Letterman talk shop. Actress Lauren Graham and comedian Brian Regan are also in the show's lineup.
"I'm looking forward to that opportunity, congratulate Dave on having a kid and just have some fun with it," Tracy said.
Other Canadian athletes who have been on the Late Show this year include hockey player Scott Stevens, after his New Jersey Devils won the Stanley Cup, and golfer Mike Weir, after his Masters victory.
Weir was featured twice, once as a guest and another as a Top 10 list: the top 10 messages left on Weir's answering machine after his victory in Augusta.
Tracy's life has taken off at the speed of the cars he drives since clinching his first CART driver's title in Surfer's Paradise, Australia, on Oct. 26.
The final race of the season, scheduled for Sunday in Fontana, Calif., was cancelled because of the wildfires there, but that hasn't made Tracy's postseason schedule any less crowded.
He received the Vanderbilt Cup, which goes to the top driver, in Indian Wells, Calif., on Tuesday.
He was in his hometown yesterday to meet with media. Tracy and his father, Tony, also had their picture taken with the Vanderbilt Cup.
"It's good to see him, because I haven't seen him since the race in Toronto," Tracy said.
A limousine waited outside a downtown restaurant to take him to the airport for his flight to New York for today's taping.
He then will head to Boston for interviews on ESPN.
"It's been a whirlwind ever since Australia," Tracy said. "It's just been non-stop.
"It's good and bad, but it's something every driver wants, and I'm enjoying it."
He prefers the current demands on his time over sitting at his home in Las Vegas wondering what went wrong during the season and how he was ever going to win a championship.
"My life doesn't feel any different, but the pressure now is gone of people saying, 'When are you going to win a championship?' " he said. "I guess I'm more relaxed and ready to try and win another one.
"It feels a lot different. . . . Now I have the championship. I know what it takes to win the championship.
"I've imagined it plenty of times. I've had plenty of dreams and plenty of nightmares about it, and it's good to finally be here."
Tracy plans to take a vacation soon, but it won't be long before he begins preparation for the 2004 CART season.
"We're going to start testing in December again for next year," he said. "It's only about three or four weeks off before I have to start driving again."