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25 Aug 2008, 17:07 (Ref:2275084) | #1 | ||
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IndyCar Silly Season Thread
Well, we have come to the time of the year where drivers are lobbying for new sponsors, improved rides, new environments, essentially the best place to challenge for a championship. By the same token, teams and sponsors get to look over the crop of drivers and decide on their plans. This time of year is silly season. In the honor of silly season let's open up the forum to speculation and rumor regarding the 2009 IndyCar Series team and driver lineups.
I'll start with speculation I'm familiar with: Marlboro Team Penske #3 Marlboro Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Helio Castroneves #6 Marlboro Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Ryan Briscoe Andretti-Green Racing (AS Racing?) #7 Motorola Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Danica Patrick #11 7-11/Frank's Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Tony Kanaan #26 Blockbuster/? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Marco Andretti #27 Formula Dream Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Hideki Mutoh Target Chip Ganassi Racing #9 Target/Energizer Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Dan Wheldon (Oriol Servia, Bruno Junquiera?) #10 Target/Energizer Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Scott Dixon #? Target/Wii Fit Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Alex Lloyd (Bruno Junquiera?) KV Racing Technology #5 KV/iRise/Plantronics/Angies List/? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Oriol Servia (will Oriol be moving to a bigger team?) #8 Aussie Vineyards/Smart & Final/? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Will Power HVM Racing #33 PDVSA/? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: E.J. Viso (though his hard driving is inspirational to some, he isn't liked by all... "Teams don't like two new drivers.") #?? ???/???/??? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: (Dan Clarke, can they afford two Kamikaze pilots? Robert Doornbos, was Bobby D a ChampCar only stud? Michel Jordain? PT... more than likely not, "former HVM drivers" are being talked to, check out Wiki for that long list. Nelson Philippe, perpetually improving driver, hugely popular amongst fans, but photos at Long Beach show he may be a "crappy" choice.) Panther Racing #4 Delphi/National Guard "Delphi National Guard Special" Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Vitor Meira #?? No news, but with proper funding a second car is very advantageous. Dale Coyne Racing #18 Z-Line Designs/? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Bruno Junquiera (Will we see Bruno in a bigger team?) #19 Sunny's Real BBQ Pit/? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Mario Moraes Conquest Racing #34 Sangari/Bidaroo Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Jaime Camara #36 Sangari Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Enrique Bernoldi Sarah Fisher Racing #67 Dollar General Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Sarah Fisher(full-time a real possibility. If she can't get up to speed on perhaps a road course ringer in the works?) #?? Possible second car for Indy, less likely full year. Pacific Coast Motorsports #96 VisitMexico.com/? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Mario Dominguez #?? Few rumblings about a second car, but the possibility is there. Dreyer & Reinbold Racing #15 ?/? (Red Bull will be associate or Driver sponsor) Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Buddy Rice #23 CITGO Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Milka Duno (certainly no full-season effort. Townsend Bell again? WilliamRast may want him full time.) #99 WilliamRast Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Townsend Bell (full-season? I'd like the 99 retired in Greg Moore's honor.) Rahal-Letterman Racing #16 Ethanol/Izod Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Ryan Hunter-Reay #?? second car very possible - if Wheldon is gone from TCGR this might be his seat. PT? A.J. Allmendinger? Vision Racing #2 Lilly/? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: A.J. Foyt IV #20 Menards/? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Ed Carpenter #22 Subway?/?/Monster Energy Drink Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Paul Tracy (just one place PT could end up, if all else fails, Indy + Canada at least.) #22? ??/??/?? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Bryan Herta (he is not over the hill and they NEED a road course setup guru. If PT isn't in the team...?) #?? HP Computer/? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Davey Hamilton (one team we could see Davey with at Indy, maybe more - he wants more races to get ready for Indy. Funding is the issue.) #?? See this as a couple of possible cars, Vision typically enter around 4 cars at Indy. Reward for hard-charging Indy Lights guys (gal)? A.J. Foyt Enterprises #14 ABC Supply Company/? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Darren Manning (is A.J. happy with Darren?) #41 ABC Supply Company/? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: (Jeff Simmons or another Indy Lights shoe for Indy only. Outside chance Allmendinger drives for his namesake.) Roth Racing #24 ?/? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: (Jay Howard? He'd jump at the chance to go full-time IndyCar racing but Roth isn't the right place for him. John Andretti, Indy and/or parttime?) #25 ?/? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Marty Roth (If he get's black flagged one more time!!! He'll be back anyway.) Luczo-Dragon Racing #12 Symantec/Kodak?/? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Tomas Scheckter (the aggressive South African will be back in the series full time reportedly.) #?? (Could PT end up here? Stranger things have happened...) Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing #02 McDonalds (From Le MacDawnal-ds cah to Thuh MacDonawds cah.) Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Justin Wilson #06 Hole in the Wall Gang Camps/McDonalds/? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Graham Rahal (I foresee one more year for Graham here, and if things don't improve, he is the second or third Penske driver.) Forsythe/Petit (Championship) Racing #?? ?/? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: ??? (The deal is ALMOST done. Tags? Ranger?) #?? ?/? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: ??? (2nd car should come if the team appears. Allmendinger? Hinchcliffe? Martinez?) Hemelgarn, American Dream, Beck Motorsports and the usual cast of Indy Lights and old school IRL teams are floating around looking for Indianapolis 500 entries. Realistically what does this mess above mean? At least 26 full-season entrants, and a very real chance of 30. Needless to say bumping will happen at Indy. Robin Miller, has said that although we can dream all day about having over 30 cars unloading at various tracks throughout the season to qualify, let's hope that all the teams we know exist today can make it to tomorrow, let alone have second cars or new teams arriving. Drivers sniffing around for drivers seats: Alex Tagliani (wasn't mentioned above but open-wheel is that guy's home and Canada loves Alex.) PT, a major coup for the IRL could be Paul Tracy in a full time team. He is a lightning rod for attention good and bad. And a far better driver than most lightning rods. Alex Lloyd, 500 possible... TCGR ride long-shot. Rafa Matos, potentially a back-to-back Atlantic-IndyCar champion won't be in IndyCar, Acura or Mazda ALMS driver? 500 possible. Richard Antinucci, potentially another Indy Lights champion to be soon forgotten. 500 - more likely. Dan Clarke, still living in America as far as I know. Former HVM driver. Dillon Battistini, name Lights driver. 2009: 500 most likely for him. J.R. Hildebrand, big-name Indy Lights driver, what does that mean to IndyCar owners? Arie Luyendyk Jr., with the right funding he wants to be in IndyCar. 500 possible. Ana Beatriz, will perfect her craft in Lights one more year, 500 appearance possible. A talented driver with lady bits is too appealing to pass up. Get while the gettin's good, they'll be old news soon. Robbie Pecorari, we'll sooner see in ALMS or Grand-Am if owners keep running the path they typically do. Al Unser III, needs funding to appear... even at the 500. Bobby D, running in that European soccer-meets-racing series, would an IndyCar offer tempt this super-talented driver? A.J. Allmendinger, how much does RB-Toyota love him? Whether or not he is an IndyCar driver in 2009 is the tell-tale sign. Nelson Philippe, this crappy choice will be a great competitor if given the chance, but has he burned bridges? Like Dan Clarke, he is still in the States AFAIK. (No funding?) Richard Philippe (F3 Euroseries), apparently better than his brother, all bridges he has crossed appear to be untouched. IRL team-owners that have been in the IRL since at least 2003 don't know he exists. Not an oval guy, brother of a crappy choice. Andrew Ranger, possible he could be in the series, but he's indicated a return only if American open-wheel "recovers". Define that for yourself. He is a good ol' boy now. Dario Franchitti, won't be back in an IndyCar. If he is not a Ganassi driver next year (NASCAR, and GARRA) he is a de Ferran ALMS driver (YES!!!). This was supposed to be posted Friday, unfortunately Internet slowed as I posted and my Dad shut off the power (we were leaving for the weekend) so this is sort of the bare bones of the intended post. I'll post more as I hear it. I want to hear what you guys think, what you've heard and all questions and comments are invited. Chris |
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25 Aug 2008, 22:23 (Ref:2275277) | #2 | |
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AGR likely to retain current lineup: http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dl...808250361/1217
Doornbos, Clarke, Gommendy and Philippe are likely to turn up in Superleague; but that's not going to clash with IndyCar. PCM's website says they're done for this year, but looking to return in '09. |
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29 Aug 2008, 05:01 (Ref:2277256) | #3 | ||
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I think it's highly unlikely that enrique bernoldi will return to IndyCar in 2009, leaving at least one of the Conquest seats open. I also imagine that Camara will have to bring a bigger check than this year since the team will have to pay for its engines next year, but he's done well enough and gotten along with the team well enough to be welcomed back if he supplies said check. I think that team will revert to its Champ Car ways of various drivers signing partial season deals next year.
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31 Aug 2008, 03:40 (Ref:2278479) | #4 | ||
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I see it looking something like this:
Penske Helio Castroneves Ryan Briscoe Ganassi Scott Dixon Dan Wheldon Andretti Green Danica Partick Tony Kanaan Marco Andretti Hideki Mutoh Vision Ed Carpenter AJ Foyt IV Bryan Herta (Road courses + Indy only?) Newman/Haas Justin Wilson Graham Rahal Rahal/Letterman Ryan Hunter-Reay Alex Lloyd Dreyer & Reinbold Buddy Rice Townsend Bell (Road courses + Indy only?) Milka Duno (ovals only?) KVR Oriol Servia Will Power HVM EJ Viso Nelson Philippe Panther Vitor Meira Dillon Battistini Coyne Bruno Junqueira Mario Moraes Conquest Alex Tagliani Rafael Matos Foyt Darren Manning Jeff Simmons Fisher Sarah Fisher (ovals only?) Luczo Dragon Tomas Scheckter Walker Paul Tracy Franck Perera Forsythe James Hinchcliffe David Martinez PCM Mario Dominguez Roth Marty Roth (ovals only) I can also see these as Indy extras/One offs: Andretti/Green Franck Montagny James Rossiter Arye Luyendyk Jr (I'd be surprised if all 3 of these turned up, but 1 or 2 wouldn't shock me much) Conquest Andrew Ranger HVM Robert Doornbos Fisher Davey Hamilton Luczo Dragon Richard Antinucci Foyt Pablo Donoso Roth John Andretti (Road courses + Indy) Hemelgarn Buddy Lazier Sam Schmidt Max Papis Beck Roger Yasukawa I can imagine a few more Indy only entries & I'm quite prepared for a few surprises in the silly season. |
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RIP Dan Wheldon, 1978-2011. 2005 & 2011 Indy 500 champion, 2005 Indycar champion RIP Marco Simoncelli, 1987-2011. 2008 250cc champion |
31 Aug 2008, 06:48 (Ref:2278516) | #5 | |
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I wonder if the irl being viewed on channel 607 on Versus is going to have an impact on sponsors for the future? An article in the indystar newspaper would seem to indicate so.
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Wolverines! |
31 Aug 2008, 08:15 (Ref:2278542) | #6 | ||
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Quote:
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31 Aug 2008, 09:43 (Ref:2278584) | #7 | ||
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I think Anthony Davidson would be a nice addition to the series.
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31 Aug 2008, 17:52 (Ref:2278856) | #8 | ||
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I'd love to see that. I was only basing Battistini going there on the basis that he'd already had tests with Panther...but so has Mike Conway. First time in the car he topped the timesheets ahead of the Penskes. Wouldn't mind seeing him there also.
Robert Doornbos has already said that he has his 2009 IRL seat sorted apparently & rumours are that it isn't with one of the ex-CCWS teams so Rahal & Panther (again!) are the 2 most obvious options. While I can't wait for him to get back in a seat it would leave me concerned as to where Alex Lloyd will end up. I'd hate to see him without a seat & a one off entry at Indy really isn't enough for a driver of this amount of talent. I hope he finds a good seat somewhere. |
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RIP Dan Wheldon, 1978-2011. 2005 & 2011 Indy 500 champion, 2005 Indycar champion RIP Marco Simoncelli, 1987-2011. 2008 250cc champion |
2 Sep 2008, 02:30 (Ref:2279849) | #9 | ||
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Marlboro Team Penske
#3 Marlboro Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Helio Castroneves #6 Marlboro Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Ryan Briscoe Andretti-Green Racing (AS Racing?) #7 Motorola Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Danica Patrick #11 7-11/Frank's Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Tony Kanaan #26 Blockbuster/? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Marco Andretti #27 Formula Dream Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Hideki Mutoh Target Chip Ganassi Racing #9 Target/Energizer Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Dan Wheldon (Oriol Servia, Bruno Junquiera?) #10 Target/Energizer Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Scott Dixon #? Target/Wii Fit Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Alex Lloyd (Bruno Junquiera?) KV Racing Technology #5 KV/iRise/Plantronics/Angies List/? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Oriol Servia (will Oriol be moving to a bigger team?) #8 Aussie Vineyards/Smart & Final/? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Will Power HVM Racing #33 PDVSA/? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: E.J. Viso (though his hard driving is inspirational to some, he isn't liked by all... "Teams don't like two new drivers.") #?? ???/???/??? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: (Dan Clarke, can they afford two Kamikaze pilots? Robert Doornbos, was Bobby D a ChampCar only stud? Michel Jordain? PT... more than likely not, "former HVM drivers" are being talked to, check out Wiki for that long list. Nelson Philippe, perpetually improving driver, hugely popular amongst fans, but photos at Long Beach show he may be a "crappy" choice.) Panther Racing #4 Delphi/National Guard "Delphi National Guard Special" Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Vitor Meira #?? UPDATE: Anthony Davidson at Detroit as a guest of Panther. Dale Coyne Racing #18 Z-Line Designs/? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Bruno Junquiera (Will we see Bruno in a bigger team?) #19 Sunny's Real BBQ Pit/? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Mario Moraes Conquest Racing #34 Sangari/Bidaroo Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Jaime Camara #36 Sangari Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Enrique Bernoldi (Alex Tagliani) Sarah Fisher Racing #67 Dollar General Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Sarah Fisher(full-time a real possibility. If she can't get up to speed on perhaps a road course ringer in the works?) #?? Possible second car for Indy, less likely full year. Pacific Coast Motorsports #96 VisitMexico.com/? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Mario Dominguez #?? Few rumblings about a second car, but the possibility is there. Dreyer & Reinbold Racing #15 Dad's Old Fashioned Root Beer/? (Red Bull will be associate or Driver sponsor) Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Buddy Rice #23 CITGO Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Milka Duno (certainly no full-season effort. Townsend Bell again? WilliamRast may want him full time.) #99 WilliamRast Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Townsend Bell (full-season? I'd like the 99 retired in Greg Moore's honor.) Rahal-Letterman Racing #16 Ethanol/Izod Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Ryan Hunter-Reay #?? second car very possible - if Wheldon is gone from TCGR this might be his seat. PT? A.J. Allmendinger? Vision Racing #2 Lilly/? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: A.J. Foyt IV #20 Menards/? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Ed Carpenter #22 Subway?/?/Monster Energy Drink Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Paul Tracy (just one place PT could end up, if all else fails, Indy + Canada at least.) #22? ??/??/?? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Bryan Herta (he is not over the hill and they NEED a road course setup guru. If PT isn't in the team...?) #?? HP Computer/? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Davey Hamilton (one team we could see Davey with at Indy, maybe more - he wants more races to get ready for Indy. Funding is the issue.) #?? See this as a couple of possible cars, Vision typically enter around 4 cars at Indy. Reward for hard-charging Indy Lights guys (gal)? A.J. Foyt Enterprises #14 ABC Supply Company/? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Darren Manning (is A.J. happy with Darren?) #41 ABC Supply Company/? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: (Jeff Simmons or another Indy Lights shoe for Indy only. Outside chance Allmendinger drives for his namesake.) Roth Racing #24 ?/? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: (Jay Howard? He'd jump at the chance to go full-time IndyCar racing but Roth isn't the right place for him. John Andretti, Indy and/or parttime?) #25 ?/? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Marty Roth (If he get's black flagged one more time!!! He'll be back anyway.) Luczo-Dragon Racing #12 Symantec/Kodak?/? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Tomas Scheckter (the aggressive South African will be back in the series full time reportedly.) #?? (Could PT end up here? Stranger things have happened...) Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing #02 McDonalds (From Le MacDawnal-ds cah to Thuh MacDonawds cah.) Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Justin Wilson #06 Hole in the Wall Gang Camps/McDonalds/? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Graham Rahal (I foresee one more year for Graham here, and if things don't improve, he is the second or third Penske driver.) Forsythe/Petit (Championship) Racing #?? ?/? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: ??? (The deal is ALMOST done. Tags? Ranger?) #?? ?/? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: ??? (2nd car should come if the team appears. Allmendinger? Hinchcliffe? Martinez?) Some updates. Chris |
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2 Sep 2008, 03:14 (Ref:2279861) | #10 | ||
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I believe that chip Ganassi and dario francetti are talking about dario replacing wheldon for next year.
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GO NEWMAN-HAAS-CHAMPIONS-2004-05-06 and 2007. |
2 Sep 2008, 17:49 (Ref:2280218) | #11 | ||
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Doornbos announced in the Dutch press a few days ago that I will be Indycar next season with a team with Indycar experience. Although rumours say it could be TCG, I'm more likely to say a second car at Rahal/Letterman.
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2 Sep 2008, 19:52 (Ref:2280328) | #12 | |||
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Quote:
This exact scenario was confirmed late this afternoon via separate news releases from Ganassi Racing. Dario will return to IndyCar with Ganassi in 2009 and Ganassi and Wheldon are parting ways. |
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Finally... One American Open Wheel Series! |
2 Sep 2008, 23:03 (Ref:2280494) | #13 | ||
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Marlboro Team Penske
#3 Marlboro Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Helio Castroneves #6 Marlboro Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Ryan Briscoe Andretti-Green Racing (AS Racing?) #7 Motorola Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Danica Patrick #11 7-11/Frank's Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Tony Kanaan #26 Blockbuster/? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Marco Andretti #27 Formula Dream Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Hideki Mutoh Target Chip Ganassi Racing #9 Target/Energizer Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Dario Franchitti #10 Target/Energizer Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Scott Dixon #? Target/Wii Fit Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Alex Lloyd (Oriol Servia, Bruno Junquiera?) KV Racing Technology #5 KV/iRise/Plantronics/Angies List/? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Oriol Servia (will Oriol be moving to a bigger team?) #8 Aussie Vineyards/Smart & Final/? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Will Power HVM Racing #33 PDVSA/? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: E.J. Viso (though his hard driving is inspirational to some, he isn't liked by all... "Teams don't like two new drivers.") #?? ???/???/??? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: (Dan Clarke, can they afford two Kamikaze pilots? Robert Doornbos, was Bobby D a ChampCar only stud? Michel Jordain? PT... more than likely not, "former HVM drivers" are being talked to, check out Wiki for that long list. Nelson Philippe, perpetually improving driver, hugely popular amongst fans, but photos at Long Beach show he may be a "crappy" choice.) Panther Racing #4 Delphi/National Guard "Delphi National Guard Special" Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Dan Wheldon #?? UPDATE: Anthony Davidson at Detroit as a guest of Panther. Meira Axed? Oriol Servia, Bruno Junquiera? Dale Coyne Racing #18 Z-Line Designs/? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Bruno Junquiera (Will we see Bruno in a bigger team?) #19 Sunny's Real BBQ Pit/? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Mario Moraes Conquest Racing #34 Sangari/Bidaroo Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Jaime Camara #36 Sangari Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Enrique Bernoldi (Alex Tagliani) Sarah Fisher Racing #67 Dollar General Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Sarah Fisher(full-time a real possibility. If she can't get up to speed on perhaps a road course ringer in the works?) #?? Possible second car for Indy, less likely full year. Vitor Meira? Pacific Coast Motorsports #96 VisitMexico.com/? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Mario Dominguez #?? Few rumblings about a second car, but the possibility is there. Dreyer & Reinbold Racing #15 Dad's Old Fashioned Root Beer/? (Red Bull will be associate or Driver sponsor) Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Buddy Rice #23 CITGO Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Milka Duno (certainly no full-season effort. Townsend Bell again? WilliamRast may want him full time.) #99 WilliamRast Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Townsend Bell (full-season? I'd like the 99 retired in Greg Moore's honor.) Rahal-Letterman Racing #16 Ethanol/Izod Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Ryan Hunter-Reay #?? second car very possible - if Wheldon is gone from TCGR this might be his seat. PT? A.J. Allmendinger? Vitor has to go to number one if this car exists. Vision Racing #2 Lilly/? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: A.J. Foyt IV #20 Menards/? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Ed Carpenter #22 Subway?/?/Monster Energy Drink Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Paul Tracy (just one place PT could end up, if all else fails, Indy + Canada at least.) #22? ??/??/?? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Bryan Herta (he is not over the hill and they NEED a road course setup guru. If PT isn't in the team...?) #?? HP Computer/? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Davey Hamilton (one team we could see Davey with at Indy, maybe more - he wants more races to get ready for Indy. Funding is the issue.) #?? See this as a couple of possible cars, Vision typically enter around 4 cars at Indy. Reward for hard-charging Indy Lights guys (gal)? A.J. Foyt Enterprises #14 ABC Supply Company/? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Darren Manning (is A.J. happy with Darren?) #41 ABC Supply Company/? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: (Jeff Simmons or another Indy Lights shoe for Indy only. Outside chance Allmendinger drives for his namesake. Vitor?) Roth Racing #24 ?/? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: (Jay Howard? He'd jump at the chance to go full-time IndyCar racing but Roth isn't the right place for him. John Andretti, Indy and/or parttime? Will this car exist?) #25 ?/? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Marty Roth (If he get's black flagged one more time!!! He'll be back anyway.) Luczo-Dragon Racing #12 Symantec/Kodak?/? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Tomas Scheckter (the aggressive South African will be back in the series full time reportedly.) #?? (Could PT end up here? Stranger things have happened... Vitor?) Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing #02 McDonalds (From Le MacDawnal-ds cah to Thuh MacDonawds cah.) Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Justin Wilson #06 Hole in the Wall Gang Camps/McDonalds/? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: Graham Rahal (I foresee one more year for Graham here, and if things don't improve, he is the second or third Penske driver.) Forsythe/Petit (Championship) Racing #?? ?/? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: ??? (The deal is ALMOST done. Tags? Ranger?) #?? ?/? Dallara/Honda/Firestone: ??? (2nd car should come if the team appears. Allmendinger? Hinchcliffe? Martinez? Vitor a dark horse if this team exists.) More updates. Chris |
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3 Sep 2008, 08:32 (Ref:2280649) | #14 | ||
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Panther seems to have a wealth of talent at their disposal and most of it is British too
Whilst I appreciate Vitor I think he's had his chances. I guess next year we'll see just how good he is. If Wheldon quickly adds to his 15 victories Vitor's career will be looked back on as a series of missed opportunities. Do I remember reading in Cavin's blog about a possible 5th AGR car? |
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3 Sep 2008, 13:52 (Ref:2280842) | #15 | ||
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When Doornbos says 'a team with IRL experience' does he just mean 2008 experience?
A second Panther car would be superb news, especially if Davidson gets a chance. The point about Vision needing a decent road course veteran is a good one, that's been their big achilles heel this year. Maybe they should give up on Ed for those races and hire Tracy or Herta or someone for them all? |
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3 Sep 2008, 15:27 (Ref:2280903) | #16 | ||
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Here's how I see it. Confirmed entries are in bold
Probable Entries Andretti/Green (4) Danica Patrick, Tony Kanaan, Marco Andretti, Hideki Mutoh Penske (2) Helio Castroneves, Ryan Briscoe Ganassi (2) Scott Dixon, Dario Franchitti Newman/Haas (2) Justin Wilson, Graham Rahal Panther (2) Dan Wheldon, Vitor Meira or Anthony Davidson or Mike Conway Rahal/Letterman (2) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Robert Doornbos or Alex Lloyd or Vitor Meira Vision (2) Ed Carpenter, AJ Foyt IV KVR (2) Oriol Servia, Will Power HVM (2) EJ Viso, Nelson Philippe or Robert Doornbos or Mike Conway or Dan Clarke Dreyer & Reinbold (2) Buddy Rice, Townsend Bell/Milka Duno (alternating) Foyt (1) Darren Manning or Jeff Simmons Conquest (2) Alex Tagliani or Franck Perera, Jaime Camara or ? Coyne (2) Bruno Junqueira, Mario Moraes or ? PCM (1) Mario Dominguez Luczo Dragon (1) Tomas Scheckter or Vitor Meira Roth (1) Marty Roth-well he says he'll be back anyway lol! Fisher (1) Sarah Fisher-ovals only? Possible Entries Andretti Green (+1) Rafael Matos or Franck Montagny or James Rossiter Ganassi (+1) Alex Lloyd Foyt (+1) Jeff Simmons or Pablo Donoso or Franck Perera Walker (1) Paul Tracy or Alex Tagliani Forsythe (2) James Hinchcliffe or Robert Doornbos, David Martinez or Robert Wickens or ? Unlikely Entries Penske (+1) Sam Hornish Jr Newman/Haas (+1) Sebastien Bourdais Vision (+1) Bryan Herta or Paul Tracy or Davey Hamilton KVR (+1) Jimmy Vasser (Indy only) or Jay Howard or Richard Antinucci or ? Dreyer & Reinbold (+1) Milka Duno (full time extra car added) or Vitor Meira or ? PCM (+1) Alex Figge or ? Luczo Dragon (+1) Vitor Meira or ? Roth (+1) John Andretti or Jay Howard or ? Fisher (+1) Davey Hamilton or ? Walker (+1) Alex Tagliani or Kevin Lacroix or ? Beck (1) Roger Yasukawa or Jacques Lazier or Alex Barron or ? Fernandez (1) Adrien Fernandez or Luis Diaz or Richard Antinucci or ? |
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RIP Dan Wheldon, 1978-2011. 2005 & 2011 Indy 500 champion, 2005 Indycar champion RIP Marco Simoncelli, 1987-2011. 2008 250cc champion |
3 Sep 2008, 15:35 (Ref:2280910) | #17 | ||
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Quote:
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3 Sep 2008, 18:23 (Ref:2281037) | #18 | |||
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Quote:
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4 Sep 2008, 20:42 (Ref:2281865) | #19 | ||
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So can we all conclude Tags is probably one of the two drivers in at Conquest in 2009?
Chris |
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4 Sep 2008, 21:40 (Ref:2281945) | #20 | ||
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I would have thought Montagny would be after a full time drive for next year, i am sure he still sees single seaters as unfinished business, i was under the impression he was getting an indycar test off Michael as part of his ALMS deal anyway.
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13 Sep 2008, 18:17 (Ref:2289130) | #21 | ||
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Just another thing to update. One very popular rumor is that Vitor will be in Jay Penske's Luczo Dragon car next year in favor of T. Scheckter... but where does that leave Tomas?
Chris |
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13 Sep 2008, 18:26 (Ref:2289135) | #22 | ||
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Marty Roth has been told to park it by ICS. He will not be racing next year.
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"Be good to your friends; for if it weren't for them, you'd be a total stranger!" |
13 Sep 2008, 20:36 (Ref:2289242) | #23 | ||
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Question is now whether he enjoys being a team manager enough to but some young gun in the car & just run the team. I have my doubts, especially as Howard & Andretti can't be mighty pleased at the on-off way that they were treated this year.
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RIP Dan Wheldon, 1978-2011. 2005 & 2011 Indy 500 champion, 2005 Indycar champion RIP Marco Simoncelli, 1987-2011. 2008 250cc champion |
14 Sep 2008, 07:15 (Ref:2289486) | #24 | ||
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There are some huge lists on this thread. How many of these rides are actually going to race a full season? If you look at it that way, then the lists are cut in half.
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Cuz trucks need love, too! |
15 Sep 2008, 00:29 (Ref:2290448) | #25 | ||
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I don't know about cut in half. But I bet we will see some 26 full time cars, assuming there are cars and parts to fill the order.
Chris |
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