eam Germany, Sebastien Loeb win Race of Champions titles

NASCAR champions Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson told fellow Sprint Cup Series driver Carl Edwards of the fun to be had in the annual Race of Champions, but Edwards wanted to travel to London to see for himself.

Edwards came away from Wembley Stadium inspired by the talent of the drivers participating in what is designed to be an all-for-fun activity.

"Hopefully, I can be invited back so I can get better," he said.

Edwards did himself and his country proud by reaching the semifinals of the ROC's competition for individual drivers. He even beat retired seven-time Formula One champion Michael Schumacher in a head-to-head race.

"That was a dream, and that alone was worth the whole trip," Edwards said.

The ROC, which began in Paris in 1986 as a battle of international rally drivers, has grown into one of the world's best off-season attractions. Sixteen drivers come from both sides of the Atlantic Ocean to compete on a temporary asphalt course in a stadium setting.

The competition is divided into two parts--two-man teams competing for their countries in the Nations Cup and an individual shootout--and both involve bracket racing with two drivers racing at a time on a tight track. Five types of cars rotate through the four-hour event, keeping drivers on their toes.

Among the cars were the Ford Focus used in the World Rally Championship, an Audi-powered KTM X-Bow track car, an Abarth 500 Assetto Corse and a pair of open-wheel buggies, one of which looks like a sprint car and the other a praying mantis.

"Like racing go-karts in your living room," F1's Jenson Button said.

Drivers start races side by side in opposite lanes, and the approximately one-mile lap takes them on separate paths back to the starting line. Races consist of two laps, and the team competition is a best-of-three format. The individual portion is win-and-advance.

"But the world doesn't go bad if you [lose]," Schumacher said. "It just means you get to have a drink [earlier]."

Edwards expected to have two-time ROC participant Travis Pastrana as his teammate, but the X Games star injured his hip and a knee in a motocross accident just days before the race.

Replacing Pastrana was Tanner Foust, a stunt driver and California-based rally and drift driver who also is co-host of the yet-to-find-a-network Top Gear USA television show. Foust was in Orlando, Fla., on Thursday when he got the call to hurry across the pond for the Sunday event. His first look at the circuit was from the passenger seat of Sebastien Loeb's rally machine.

"Not a bad way to go," he said.

Edwards got the same first look, and it nearly took his breath away.

"When you're with a guy who has done a lot of left-right, shifting gears, pitching it around, it's really amazing," he said. "It surprised me. I didn't expect Loeb to be that good."

Edwards and Foust got off to a rough start, losing their first-round team match to one of two British teams. Edwards missed the first corner, which had been coated with oil from recently retired F1 driver David Coulthard's crash during practice and struck the movable barrier, costing him the race to Button. Foust made a bad start and was handily beaten by World Touring Car champion Andy Priaulx, handing the United States a quick 2-0 elimination.

"The Ford Focus [WRC] is a very sophisticated car, and there are a sequence of things you have to do to get the launch [right], and once I dumped the handbrake to accelerate, it just stalled," Foust said.

The German team of Schumacher and new F1 star Sebastian Vettel won for the second consecutive year, again beating the Scandinavian pairing of sports-car ace Tom Kristensen and two-time DTM champ Mattias Ekstrom, the 2006 and 2007 ROC champion. Last year, Vettel carried the load with two wins in the team finals; this time, the honor went to Schumacher.

"That's what you call teamwork," Schumacher said.

In the individual event, Edwards opened with a win over Jaime Alguersuari, the British Formula Three champion racing for injured F1 gun Mark Webber, before dispatching Schumacher. Edwards was faster than the legend on each of their laps.

"Still can't believe it," Edwards said.

Edwards reached the semifinals before Coulthard eliminated him. By event rules, Coulthard should have been dealt a five-second penalty for twice hitting barriers, but officials allowed him to advance to the finals because they had given Foust a similar--and very unpopular--pass against Button in the quarterfinals.

"I wouldn't have wanted to [advance] that way, anyway," Edwards said. "He beat me."

With bruises on his hand from intense driving, Coulthard lost the best-of-three final round to Loeb before a crowd estimated at 40,000. The win gave Loeb his third ROC title.

After two years in London, the event figures to be in a different, yet-to-be-announced location in 2009. Miami was in line to host until Dolphins Stadium was sold earlier this year. Believe it or not, the new Yankee Stadium in New York is under consideration for 2010. (Don't laugh. It snowed in London just a few days before this event, and each of the past five ROCs have been held in see-your-breath conditions.)

Edwards doesn't care where the ROC is, as long as he's there.

"It's such an incredible challenge," he said. "It's driving front-wheel-drive cars, open-wheels, rally cars, shifting gears in a tight setting with a different track surface. Wow!"

But if race organizers need a recommendation, Edwards has one.

"This would be fun at Bristol," he said.