2010 Silly Season - Page 27

Tim Northcutt · 28 Jul 2010, 18:53 (Ref:2734761)

Conquest will be giving the test at Mid-Ohio to Italian driver Francesco Dracone, who has raced in F3000 and done some sportscar racing.

Sorry...That's all I know about him...

JagtechOhio · 28 Jul 2010, 19:07 (Ref:2734765)

Good for Bachelart, if he can keep the seat occupied for the rest of the events on the schedule, he'll get the $1.3M TEAM money for the car.

cmk · 28 Jul 2010, 20:52 (Ref:2734820)

Definitely looks like a case of keeping the seat warm though. A bunch of weak showings in Euroseries 3000 over the last few years is not exactly the most amazing of pedigrees - his best finish in 4 seasons was 5th.

Tim Northcutt · 29 Jul 2010, 14:22 (Ref:2735206)

Well...I'm sure he's bringing a check, because Bachaelart runs on a small budget, but this guy will have to show some skills to earn the seat...I would think that there are probably others out here with a check as well who could take the seat and may have more talent.

We'll see what happens...

JagtechOhio · 29 Jul 2010, 15:25 (Ref:2735233)

Fuuny that Andretti is testing four cars at Mid-Ohio today, and no report of one for Carroll.

mountainstar · 29 Jul 2010, 15:26 (Ref:2735234)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tim Northcutt

Well...I'm sure he's bringing a check, because Bachaelart runs on a small budget, but this guy will have to show some skills to earn the seat...I would think that there are probably others out here with a check as well who could take the seat and may have more talent.

We'll see what happens...

Hopefully they made him watch the "How to become an IRL star" video first:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKmdeS-at1o

Tim Northcutt · 29 Jul 2010, 17:01 (Ref:2735312)

Quote:

Originally Posted by JagtechOhio

Fuuny that Andretti is testing four cars at Mid-Ohio today, and no report of one for Carroll.

They set up a separate test for Carroll at Mid-Ohio before he ran at Watkins Glen, IIRC, so they felt that it was unnecessary to bring him back there for a second spin around the place today...

BTW...

Since you are from central Ohio, are you planning on attending that weekend?

Just curious...

Tim Northcutt · 29 Jul 2010, 17:06 (Ref:2735314)

Quote:

Originally Posted by mountainstar

Hopefully they made him watch the "How to become an IRL star" video first:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKmdeS-at1o

LOL!!!!

That brightened an otherwise crappy day for me...Thanks, mountainstar...that's funny!!!

JagtechOhio · 29 Jul 2010, 17:11 (Ref:2735319)

Hi Tim,

I haven't answered that to myself yet, I'm pretty torqued up at this deal right now.

NaBUru38 · 6 Aug 2010, 15:27 (Ref:2740457)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tim Northcutt

Conquest will be giving the test at Mid-Ohio to Italian driver Francesco Dracone, who has raced in F3000 and done some sportscar racing.

He will race at Mid-Ohio and Sears Point for Conquest.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cmk

Definitely looks like a case of keeping the seat warm though. A bunch of weak showings in Euroseries 3000 over the last few years is not exactly the most amazing of pedigrees - his best finish in 4 seasons was 5th.

Francesco Dracone career at Euroseries 3000:
o- 2006: 23rd with no points, best finish 8th out of 14
o- 2007: 22nd with 2 points, best finishes 6th out of 12 in a sprint race and 8th out of 11 in a feature race.
o- 2008: 18th with 7 points, best finish 5th out of 11 in a sprint race
o- 2009: 7th with 15 points, best finishes 5th out of 8

Top drivers of the Euroseries 3000 those years include Renault F1 driver Vitaly Petrov, midpack GP2 drivers such as Jérôme d'Ambrosio, Luiz Razia and Giacomo Ricci, and LMP1 driver Nicolas Prost.

So Dracone doesn't deserve an IndyCar drive.

marcostraz · 12 Aug 2010, 08:27 (Ref:2743408)

29 cars for Chicagoland!!! I remember that this winter a lot of people wept for the the low number of cars (not more than 20)...apparently there is an interest to race in IndyCar...I'd like to see more optimism, especially in fans like us...also on the new rules: I read too many "you can not do," too many "ifs" and too many "but"...we'll see how things will go...but I think that in a time of economic crisis, very strong especially in American automotive industry, a category athat can bring to the track up to 29 cars should have a minimum credit...

JagtechOhio · 12 Aug 2010, 12:53 (Ref:2743510)

Very, very.

Yannick · 15 Aug 2010, 09:06 (Ref:2744714)

Yeah, 29 cars. And they all will be allowed to start! That record car count for an IRL sanctioned race (besides the Indy 500) surely going to attract some motor racing fans and invite them to travel to Chicagoland.

What, where and when was the highest car count for a CART race (even if not all of them did qualify)?

And I have more questions:

Has Conquest driver Francesco Dracone had an oval test yet - or will the more experienced Mario Romancini be back for the ovals?

Sonoma is known as Infineon Raceway. What did the track owners do with the money that the sale of the name rights has brought them? Has it been invested in reconstruction, safety updates or infrastructure?
I'm surprised that the number of tracks with a name sponsor is not higher (in fact, Sears Point and Disneyworld are the only ones that I'm aware of) because over here in Germany, almost every major soccer stadium has a name sponsor.

**GTRMagic** · 15 Aug 2010, 10:18 (Ref:2744733)

Marcos Ambrose doesnt have a ride for 2011, would anyone take a chance on another Aussie in the IndyCar series?

marcostraz · 15 Aug 2010, 11:49 (Ref:2744760)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yannick

Has Conquest driver Francesco Dracone had an oval test yet - or will the more experienced Mario Romancini be back for the ovals?

Dracone has only two races deal (Mid Ohio and Infineon)...

Yannick · 16 Aug 2010, 14:51 (Ref:2745249)

Quote:

Originally Posted by marcostraz

Dracone has only two races deal (Mid Ohio and Infineon)...

Thanks for info. So it'll probably be Romancini back in the car.

Ambrose? Why? Wasn't he a tintop driver in Australia before? After all, he's a road circuit specialist and Nationwide Series has 4 road courses opposed to Sprint Cup's 2.

Might the fact that now before the Sonoma event, the official indycars channel on youtube is streaming the 2002 IRL race at Fontana indicate that Fontana could replace Sonoma for next year? As there is a lack of ovals in next year's calendar at this point, why not?

ptclaus98 · 16 Aug 2010, 16:01 (Ref:2745294)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yannick

Thanks for info. So it'll probably be Romancini back in the car.

Ambrose? Why? Wasn't he a tintop driver in Australia before? After all, he's a road circuit specialist and Nationwide Series has 4 road courses opposed to Sprint Cup's 2.

Might the fact that now before the Sonoma event, the official indycars channel on youtube is streaming the 2002 IRL race at Fontana indicate that Fontana could replace Sonoma for next year? As there is a lack of ovals in next year's calendar at this point, why not?

Ambrose raced F3 in the early 00's IIRC.

JagtechOhio · 16 Aug 2010, 17:11 (Ref:2745348)

Romancini doesn't get back in the car until he finds another check, and he hasn't.

Fontana doesn't get a race until the IRL can present some semblance of a plan to at least allow the race to break even, and they can't.

Asking for higher sanctioning fees from a corporation who has suffered through money-losing events in the past is not a sound strategy. At the same time, blaming ISC for their indifferent approach to promoting IRL events is not exactly a good way to close the deal.

If it gets done, not enough people show up to Fontana (or Michigan) to pay the parking lot attendants. Bernard's best shot right now is Vegas, and he hasn't closed that deal in spite of his direct connections.

boom boom · 26 Aug 2010, 03:21 (Ref:2750352)

Could Paul Tracy be back before the end of the year?
From his Twitter account http://twitter.com/Paultracy3
"Had a good day today , went in to contract on a deal for 2 races , good day"

I'm thinking D&R

Tim Northcutt · 26 Aug 2010, 13:03 (Ref:2750558)

Beatriz will drive the 2nd D&R car this weekend, and Scheckter is in the 2nd Conquest car at Chicagoland.

NaBUru38 · 19 Sep 2010, 14:46 (Ref:2761533)

ESPN Latin America broadcasters said yesterday that Sebastián Saavedra is racing at Homestead. Fans will be able to put their faces on the car, as long as they contribute to him.

JagtechOhio · 23 Sep 2010, 03:57 (Ref:2763341)

From Twitter late Wednesday:

paultracy3 had a good day today at the bike show , but got bad news . got bumped out of the ride irl for miami ,for a bigger cheque.. season over

JagtechOhio · 24 Sep 2010, 05:38 (Ref:2763830)

Rumors are looking good for Ana Beatriz in the #24 car, and Sebastian Saavedra in the second Conquest car to run the finale at Homestead.

JagtechOhio · 25 Sep 2010, 00:14 (Ref:2764234)

Both of the rumors in the previous post were confirmed today.

Looks like the end of the 2010 silly season has finally arrived

**bjohnsonsmith** · 26 Sep 2010, 03:00 (Ref:2764562)

Quote:

Originally Posted by JagtechOhio

Both of the rumors in the previous post were confirmed today.

Looks like the end of the 2010 silly season has finally arrived

Or is the Silly Season of 2011 about to begin?

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