Playing musical chairs in the middle of the season might not be a bad idea for some teams and drivers. After reigning champion Sebastien Bourdais wiped out his competitors in the first four races, a major shake up was very much inevitable and it happened after Milwaukee this year. [A.J. Allmendinger from RuSPORT to Forsythe, Cristiano da Matta from Dale Coyne to RuSPORT, Mario Dominguez from Forsythe to Dale Coyne].

Forsythe team owner Gerry Forsythe rescued A.J. Allmendinger, who was fired by RuSPORT after the Milwaukee Mile oval race. A momentum shift quickly took place as Allmendinger showed his color a week ago in Portland for his maiden victory. A week later in Cleveland, Allmendinger proved himself once again by taking a back-to-back victory at Burke Lakefront Airport – in a race where points leader Bourdais suffered a huge scare at the beginning of the race after Paul Tracy's car took off and landed on his rollhoop.

“I was slowly fading away (passing out) as the pressure (from the bottom of Tracy’s race car) was increasing,” said Bourdais after his release from the hospital. “Maybe his tire hit me when he came up but it was the bottom of his car that was on top of my head. I probably lost a little consciousness because by the time the whole thing stopped I didn’t know if it was a dream or where I was, what happened. I couldn’t put everything together."

Thankfully, the Newman-Haas driver was able to escape serious injury in a typical chaotic start at the Grand Prix of Cleveland.

Despite Bourdais’ misfortunate that sent him to the hospital after his race retirement, Allmendinger’s victory wasn’t simply a walk in the park, as he had to fight the elements during the early part of the race. When Bourdais and Tracy clashed, Allmendinger had to take avoiding action and went into the grass. In the process, he damaged his wing and had to pit in for a wing replacement.

``I tried to do as much as I could to not get the victory for (Forsythe),'' Allmendinger said. ``I panicked because I didn't want to get clipped. I just threw it away and spun out.''

Though, Allmendinger fought back from the back and eventually took the lead from Team Australia’s Alex Tagliani. Allmendinger went on for his second career victory and made it 2-for-2 at Forsythe.

Meanwhile, a head-to-head battle between rookie Dan Clarke and Forsythe refugee Dominguez tuned into tears on the last lap. “Speedy Dan”, who dived inside Dominguez at the first corner for a pass, lost rear traction exiting the corner and spun into Dominguez while fighting for a precious second place finish. Instead, Bruno Junqueira and Oriol Servia went by and finished second and third, while Dominguez crawled back for a sixth place finish. Wild “Speedy Dan” stalled his car in the middle of the track and classified as a seventh place finisher.

With action took place ahead on the last lap, Tagliani and rookie Jan Heylen moved up to fourth and fifth respectively. Katherine Legge, who spun earlier in the race, overcame a rookie mistake and finished eighth for PKV Racing.