St. Pete grid

[power&glory]

I believe i remember reading a story on champweb about a month ago that stated that we would not be losing any cars from this year to next. So that's 19 cars on the grid at St. Petersburg right there, but what about more? What are the chances of:

-PK, Rocketsports, Fernandez, Rahal and Patrick each adding a second car
-Luis Diaz' third Walker car being permanent in 2004
-Any new teams being started

And what about Roberto Gonzalez, will he be in a third Herdez car? And Jacques Villeneuve, he's been released from BAR, so will he become Salo's teammate at PK? Possibilty of DeFerran or Dario returning?

If those five teams add second cars and we get one or two new one-car teams, that's 26 cars. And that's all i want to see- a normal size champ car grid.

[brightline]

Although I think we may see more cars than we currently have this year, I can't see more than 20 or 21 at this point. I believe all the teams WANT to retrun, but I have a feeling without an influx of sponsors to smaller teams some may go away. Hopefully all current teams return.

[esorniloc]

Originally posted by power&glory
If those five teams add second cars and we get one or two new one-car teams, that's 26 cars. And that's all i want to see- a normal size champ car grid.

I think its better to have 20 quality cars than 26 cars with say 10 cars that are stretched too much and the resorces are too thin.

[macdaddy]

I like power&glory's list. And it sounds very feasible.
RuSport and Allmendinger also sound promising.

Gentilozzi has been allbut "guaranteeing" 18 cars on the grid, but my crystal ball sees at least 22.

Said crystal ball also sees Dario teaming up with Tags, but deFerran will be watching the races from his living room and Villeneuve from his yacht.

[Kicking-back]

De Ferran has retired.

He won't be driving in CART.

[indycool]

Last I heard about Dario was that he was going to get medically cleared next month and start testing in January for Andretti-Green.

[Muzza]

Hello Indycool,

I believe you are right - Michael Andretti said the same when asked about Franchitti in the paddock in Fontana (but Michael would not commit to a date.

There have been though many comments - particularly amongst my friends in Stuttgart - that Franchitti may steer his career away from ovals, and go back racing in the DTM.

Cheers,


Muzza

[rush1]

How many teams have full sponsorship in CART

[StuiE]

Originally posted by power&glory

-Luis Diaz' third Walker car being permanent in 2004

Valiente is pretty much assured a drive with Walker next year isn't he?
Lavin is definetly there
Manning will be there if there is still enough sponsorship (or maybe a bigger team will poach him?)
Diaz, I guess if Telcal, Sun and Motorola want to do a whole season with him, I don't see why not, but I think it would be a bit of a stretch for Walker to run 4 cars, one of those drivers above wont be racing for Walker next year, but a 4 car team would be nice .

[indycool]

gtr69, I don't think Valiante is a slam-dunk. The somewhat-strange announcement in Vancouver said Walker had signed him and will run if sponsorship can be found. When that situation happened to Walker with Sarah Fisher, she remained parked. I haven't seen what sponsorship Walker has or doesn't have for '04 for any of them.

[power&glory]

How's this sound:

Forsythe- 2 cars (PT, Carpentier)
N/H- 2 (Bruno, Sebastien)
Herdez- 2 (Dominguez, Moreno/Gonzalez)
Rahal- 2 (Michel, Lotterer)
Rocketsports- 2 (Tag, Dario)
Fernandez- 2 (Adrian, ???)
ASTJ- 2 (RHR, Jimmy?)
Coyne- 2 (who gives a ****)
PK- 2 (Salo, VILLENEUVE)
Patrick- 2 (Servia, ???)
Walker- 3 (Manning, Diaz, Lavin)
Mo Nunn- 2 (???,???: i heard he might come back, that he only went to irl so he could have guaranteed funds.
RuSport- 1 (A.J.)
Fittipaldi- 1 (Monteiro)
Conquest- 1 (Haberfeld)
New Team- 1 (Kiesa)

Ryo Fukuda? Gidley? Papis? Yoong? Baumgartner? Salles? Sperafico? the Swiss guy that started the yr w/ Coyne? These guys all need a ride!

This makes for a 29 car grid, and isn't that far-fetched.

[macdaddy]

I think that, if Rahal runs a second car, it will be for Fogarty. Not meaning to debunk your list, but I doubt if Vasser will return to ASTJ, and Villeneuve will not be in a ChampCar unless PK can land sponsorship from the World Bank.

[BootsOntheSide]

Out of this year's 19 cars, the least likely to stay appear to be ASTJ (Ryan may be safe due to Daddy's money, but sponsorship would be needed for a second car) and Conquest, who both have financial problems and were banking on ESP.

Even without those, and if only have P&G's suggestions come good, that makes an impressive 22-car field. If Mo Nunn returns, it could eb equal to the IRL grid.

Out of the list of drivers who could join / return to CART, I'd love to see Dario, Memo, AJ, Alex Yoong, Andre and Zsolt. Gil would be great, but it's far-fetched at best.

It's a shame the rumours of Barry Green running a team have gone quiet, as have Paul Cherry (ex-Sigma), Hylton and others.

[Marcel ten Caat]

Originally posted by Muzza
There have been though many comments - particularly amongst my friends in Stuttgart - that Franchitti may steer his career away from ovals, and go back racing in the DTM.

Hmmz, would that be the reason Dario was in the pitboxes at Hockenheim at the last DTM race?

[indycool]

Mo Nunn's spokespeople stated a couple of months ago when the rumors first surfaced that he had no interest in returning to CART. I haven't heard that has changed.

[Dov]

Hi power&glory,

Here's my Doom & Gloom list for next year's starting grid in ST. Pete.

Forsythe - 2 cars (PT/Carp)
N/H - 2 (Junky/SeaBass)
Herdez - 2? (Dominguez/Moreno?)
Rahal - 1 (Jourdain)
RocketSports - 1 (Tags)
Fernandez - 1? (Adrian?)
ASTJ - 2? (RHR/Jimmy?)
Coyne - 2 (2 pay drivers!!!)
PK - 1 (Salo)
Patrick - 1 (Servia)
Walker - 3? (Manning/Lavin/Valliante?)
Fittipaldi/Dingman - 1 (Monteiro)
Conquest - 1? (Haberfeld?)

Lets say that any of the drivers above who have a question mark beside their name will not return or move up to CART next year due to lack of funds, they retire or they move to another series (Moreno/Fernandez/Vasser/Valliante/Haberfeld).....so that leaves us with 15 cars for next year!

Here's who I really believe will be on the starting grid in ST. Pete....I think it's VERY REALISTIC!!!

Forsythe - 2 cars (PT/Carp)
N/H - 2 (Junky/SeaBass)
Herdez - 2 or 3 cars (Dominguez, Moreno and/or Gonzalez)
Rahal - 2 (Jourdain/2nd car!)
RocketSports - 2 (Tags/2nd car!)
Fernandez - 1 or 2 cars (Fernandez and/or Diaz)
ASTJ - 1 or 2 cars (RHR/Vasser said HE WILL be in CART next year!)
Coyne - 2 (2 pay drivers!!!)
PK - 2 (Salo/2nd driver!)
Patrick - 2 (Servia/2nd car!)
Walker - 3 or 4 cars (Manning/Lavin/Valliante/Diaz)
Fittipaldi/Dingman - 2 (Monteiro/2nd car!)
Conquest - 1 (Haberfeld)
RuSport - 1 (Allmendinger)
New Team - 1 car (Diaz)
New Team - 1 car (Gonzalez)

(1)Vasser will be with ASTJ or another team, but he will be back!!!
(2)Luis Diaz will be with Fernandez or Walker racing, but with his sponsors, he could have his own team.
(3)Gonzalez will be with Herdez Competition or he could also have his own team.

Let's add them up! PT/Carp/Junky/SeaBass/Dominguez/Moreno/Jourdain + 2nd car/Tags + 2nd car/Fernandez/RHR/Vasser/Coyne - 2 pay drivers/Salo + 2nd car/Servia + 2nd car/Manning/Lavin/Valliante/Monteiro + 2nd car/Haberfeld/Allmendinger/Diaz/Gonzalez = 28 cars! Even if Fernandez and Moreno retire, that's still 26 cars at ST. Pete!

P.S. Some of these deals will not work out, but with all of these possibilities out there, I expect we will see at least 20 -22 cars next year....KEEP ON ROLLING CART>>>

[Dov]

From 7G:

10/07/03

RuSport moving up?

UPDATE - Along with what Paul Gentilozzi has already said, we have now heard from several other reliable sources that RuSport will be making the move up to Champ Cars next year with a single car entry for AJ Allmendinger.

We spoke with RuSport representatives today and they would only tell us that the team will be making an official announcement sometime in the near future.

[MLM]

It sounds like Fittipaldi may be expanding to 2 cars.
I hope Allmendinger/RuSport comes to CART and NOT the IRL. A.J. is more of a road racer, at heart (F1 in his future perhaps?).

[rodrigomarban]

Villeneuve has just said he'd rather retire than return to Champ Cars.

Luis DÃ*az will probably race in the 2004 season in a Fernández Racing car. Tecate, Quaker State and Telmex don't want Fernández to have a team in IRL and would prefer to have 2 cars in CART.

I would like to see Camathias, Lotterer and Franchitti next year.

It would be nice also to see Alex Yoong to see how good he is, but he is currently in talks with an F1 team.

[Muzza]

Originally posted by MLM
It sounds like Fittipaldi may be expanding to 2 cars.
I hope Allmendinger/RuSport comes to CART and NOT the IRL. A.J. is more of a road racer, at heart (F1 in his future perhaps?).

Two stories about Fittipaldi-Dingman:

1.) Emerson himself is going to spend a good deal of time in Brazil during the Winter (in the North Hemisphere, Summer down there...) aiming to lure sponsors to his CART operation. High on the list is Embraer, the aircraft manufacturer. This makes all sensee. Embraer is a direct competitor to Bombardier, that sponsors IRL; the business fight between Embraer and Bombardier is very, very fierce and bitter, and Brazil and Canada have been engaged in commercial warfare for years because of this issue, that escalated to mutual accusations of illegal subsidy at the WTO)

(note: Embraer is doing everything they can to "give a jab" on Bombardier. For example, this Brazilian company set a special "celebration flight" to take Gil de Ferran from Dallas to his home in Fort Lauderdale next weekend, after Gil's last race)

High on the contact list are telecommunication companies and UOL, Brazil's biggest internet provider.

2.) It is possible that Fittipaldi-Dingman swallows Conquest Racing altogether - this is actually the most likely way for FDR to expand.

Cheers,

Muzza

[macdaddy]

Bombardier has CART ties, as well. In fact, they're working on some sort of advertising gig with Mika Salo this weekend.

Emmo has been keen on a number of other drivers this year, and although I'm sure he wants two cars, we'll just have to wait and see how his sponsor-hunt turns out.

And I definitely see Diaz in a FernandezRacing car next year.

[indycool]

Throw this one into the Embraer-Bombardier mix: The Rolls-Royce (formerly) Allison engines for Embraer's popular regional jet that competes with Bombardier's popular Canadian regional jet are built in a plant five blocks from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

[James Wilkenson]

Originally posted by indycool
Mo Nunn's spokespeople stated a couple of months ago when the rumors first surfaced that he had no interest in returning to CART. I haven't heard that has changed.

are you some kind of super secret insider dude? you always seem to have all the great insider information. How do you do it?


or do you just make stuff up as you go along?

[indycool]

In that case, James, the original rumor was posted on AR1 that Mo Nunn was in Toronto for the CART race looking to get back into CART. Then AR1 reported that Nunn wasn't in Toronto, that he was playing golf in another city. Then AR1 reported the rumor was false with a statement from a Nunn spokesperson that Mo was not contemplating a return to CART. Perhaps it's changed since then, but that's the last I've heard or read about it.