Indycar Silly Season - Page 2

drdisque · 26 Oct 2006, 02:15 (Ref:1749528)

perhaps both of their drivers will end up at rahal and rahal will stay a 3 car team.

rustyfan · 26 Oct 2006, 09:43 (Ref:1749824)

From Curt Cavin's October 24th entry in his Q&A column at IndyStar.com:

Quote:

Question: Any news on the makeup of Rahal Letterman Racing? (James T. Suel, Louisville, Ky.)
Answer: The team plans to announce its two-car lineup in mid-November.

Question: In the IRL, what car driver combinations have been confirmed for 2007? What are strong possibilities? (Ralph, Indianapolis)
Answer: Penske (HCN and Sam), Ganassi (Wheldon, Dixon), Vision (Carpenter), AGR (Marco, Danica, Kanaan), Rahal Letterman (an Ethanol car likely driven by Simmons). That’s nine. There’s going to be a fourth car at AGR (still looks like Dario), a second at Rahal (maybe Sharp), at least one Panther car (Vitor most assuredly), a Foyt car (probably Bucknum), and another Vision car (probably Scheckter). That’s 14. Dreyer & Reinbold and Fernandez probably will be back, although with who and how many cars is yet to be determined. It’s possible Sharp could be an extra car if he doesn’t go with Rahal, and Marty Roth is considering running the full season. It’s also possible that Panther will have a second car, although that might be Sharp.

Guess we'll see how his predictions pan out.

luke · 26 Oct 2006, 12:10 (Ref:1749986)

'Franchitti likely at AGR' Based on what?

rustyfan · 26 Oct 2006, 13:35 (Ref:1750055)

"still looks like Dario" could simply mean Cavin hasn't heard anything he considers solid enough to suggest that Franchitti would end up elsewhere.

luke · 26 Oct 2006, 17:02 (Ref:1750220)

2004 Indy 500 winner Buddy Rice will drive in the last round of the Champ Car World Series at Mexico City for Forsythe in replacement of AJ Allmendinger.

Quote:

"I haven't forgotten how to drive. I think we're both looking at this as a tryout and I'd like nothing better than to run that new Champ Car next year."

Looks like you can count Rice out of the being in the Indy Racing League next year.

Tim Northcutt · 26 Oct 2006, 17:04 (Ref:1750225)

It says that Rice is a one-off-deal for now, and that he would want it to lead to running in Champ Car next year....and he said the latter because he doesn't have a seat anywhere as of right now.

Unless Forsythe said that he will run at Mexico City, plus the 2007 season, then I don't think that you can reasonably jump to that conclusion, luke

luke · 26 Oct 2006, 17:06 (Ref:1750229)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tim Northcutt

My guess is that Rice is a one-off-deal for now, with the possibility of running in Champ Car next year....

Unless Forsythe said that he will run at Mexico City, plus the 2007 season, then I don't think that you can reasonably jump to that conclusion, luke

Can't I?

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/55432

It's official.

Tim Northcutt · 26 Oct 2006, 18:05 (Ref:1750289)

Quote:

Originally Posted by luke

Can't I?

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/55432

It's official.

Read my post, Luke...and read Rice's quote....

Bottom line:

Mexico City is a one-race ride...a "try-out" in Rice's words...

Rice would like to run in Champ Car next year....but nowhere in that article does it say that Rice is signed by Forsythe or anyone else for the 2007 season...

Nowhere...

It is a HUGE Leap to say that Rice will not be in the IRL simply because he has a one-race ride with Forsythe...

Based on what I've seen of Buddy Rice on road courses (with the exception of Infineon in 2005), there are many drivers out there who have more road racing talent than Buddy Rice....

But that is just my opinion.

Tim Northcutt · 26 Oct 2006, 18:06 (Ref:1750292)

Quote:

Originally Posted by luke

Looks like you can count Rice out of the being in the Indy Racing League next year.

Just in case you're wondering which of your quotes I disagree with...

Granted...Forsythe or someone else "could" sign Rice to a 2007 Champ Car contract...

But this one-time ride with Forsythe does not "count Rice out' of any racing options for next season....whether it is in CC, NASCAB Trucks, the IRL, or whatever...

luke · 26 Oct 2006, 18:08 (Ref:1750294)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tim Northcutt

It is a HUGE Leap to say that Rice will not be in the IRL simply because he has a one-race ride with Forsythe...

Usually when a driver starts to drive in another series, and they say they want to race in it the following season usually it means you can count him out staying in his current series which is what I said.

luke · 26 Oct 2006, 18:09 (Ref:1750295)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tim Northcutt

Read my post, Luke...and read Rice's quote....

You didn't think it was official. So I gave you the link showing its official that Rice will be in the car at Mexico City.

Tim Northcutt · 26 Oct 2006, 18:16 (Ref:1750301)

I didn't doubt that Rice was going to race at Mexico City...

I doubt that you, or anyone can "Count Rice out" of any driving options based simply on a one-race stint when the guy has not been signed by anyone for 2007 in any racing series...

My guess is that Forsythe will test people in Florida over the winter to get the best possible replacement for Allmendinger.

Rice might be one of those people invited....then again, he might not...guess we'll have to wait and see.

rustyfan · 27 Oct 2006, 08:03 (Ref:1750787)

I almost forgot, but since this is the silly season thread I just have to ask:

What's Greg Ray up to these days? Has he dropped racing completely or would he like to come back, either as a teamowner or driver, if for example sponsorship becomes available?

climb · 27 Oct 2006, 08:27 (Ref:1750818)

good question risty,

Tim, Team Owner, any hints about it?

luke · 29 Oct 2006, 14:36 (Ref:1752784)

More chance that Hornish will fully move to NASCAR later on...

He's confirmed to be doing more Busch races.

Tim Northcutt · 31 Oct 2006, 20:21 (Ref:1754700)

Quote:

Originally Posted by climb

good question risty,

Tim, Team Owner, any hints about it?

Team Owner would know more than I would on this one...

I haven't heard anything about Greg Ray for more than a year.

rustyfan · 1 Nov 2006, 09:12 (Ref:1755071)

Quote:

Originally Posted by luke

More chance that Hornish will fully move to NASCAR later on...

He's confirmed to be doing more Busch races.

Not a big surprise considering how long the rumours have been around.

Unlike with Allmendinger I'm not so sure it's a done deal Hornish will move to NASCAR full time in a couple of years - it probably depends quite a lot on how he performs. If he, like for example Paul Tracy, is having a rather mediocre time doing stock car races I think he'll stick to IndyCars.

- -

On a different matter... From SpeedTV.com:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robin Miller

INDYCAR: Fernandez Team in Limbo

Fernandez Racing has lost Scott Sharp and Kosuke Matsuura to other teams, has no IRL deals in place for 2007 and last week laid off 27 people from its Indianapolis shop.

“I’m still hoping we can do something full-time for ’07 but right now I don’t see it,” said Tom Anderson, who co-owns the operation along with Adrian Fernandez. “We’ve got one thing on the table but it’s kinda way out there and we just couldn’t hang on to our payroll without a deal in place.

“The League is aware of our situation and we’ve been talking to drivers but right now all we’ve got are cars and equipment.”

(Full article.)

Not unexpected news, really, but I hope they manage to get something together since the desire to have a team in IndyCar obviously is there.

drewdawg727 · 1 Nov 2006, 12:48 (Ref:1755245)

Where has Kosuke gone? Panther?

mountainstar · 1 Nov 2006, 17:10 (Ref:1755453)

D&R says they have not confirmed an irl program for next year and may vault over to champcar for next year(plea for tonybux).

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dl...2YixO9x7Xeo%3D

Tim Northcutt · 1 Nov 2006, 17:52 (Ref:1755492)

Dario should be signed and confirmed for AGR for next year in both the IRL and the ALMS program for races that do not conflict with the IRL schedule.

Source: Today's Indy Star

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