Monday, August 25, 2008

Silly Season Roundup: IndyCar Series

As the silly season gets sillier I will post a team by team breakdown of who will be driving for 2009 for both the IRL and Formula One. I will start with the IRL today and post Formula One later in the week.

Here goes
Target Chip Ganassi Racing
Scott Dixon, the probable champion for 2008 is a lock for Ganassi but the second seat is up in the air. Dan Wheldon is likely to stay, and has said he wants to stay but has not received an offer while Ganassi are saying that they want to keep WHeldon but have an alternative plan if he does not stay. With the news that Ganassi were courting Tony Kanaan it is understandable that Wheldon may feel unwanted, but realistically if he wants to keep winning races the only available seat is Ganassi at the moment. I expect him to re-sigh soon Thus:
9. Scott Dixon
10. Dan Wheldon

Penske Racing

Not much of interest at Penske as Helio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe are both confirmed to be back with the Captain's Crew for 2009 Thus:
3. Helio Castroneves
6. Ryan Briscoe

Andretti-Green Racing
This year AGR have been team turmoil, and Michael Andretti and Kim Green have spent too much time dealing with driver infighting and less time preparing race winning cars. Only two wins is not a good year for AGR and they will want to return to some degree of normalcy for 2009. Tony Kanaan has signed on to stay and Marco Andretti is the son of the team boss, so he will be back. Danica Patrick ain't going anywhere as long as Motorola keeps sponsoring her to the tune of $7 Million dollars per year. As the season has worn on Danica has been much better and yesterday's fifth place finish on a road course will boost morale for her. Hideki Mutoh is still unconfirmed but the leader in the rookie standing has heavy Honda backing so I see no reason why he would leave unless Honda decide that AGR are no longer their factory team Thus:
7. Danica Patrick
11. Tony Kanaan
26. Marco Andretti
27. Hideki Mutoh

Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing
We don't hear much about NHL's lineup for 2009 but there is no reason to believe that there will be any change. Graham Rahal has been fast but fragile this year while Justin Wilson has quietly gone about his business in the McDonald's car. The only reason I could see any change is if Sebastien Bourdais loses his job in F1 and NHL manage to court him back to the IRL, but that seems unlikely and if it happens they may just expand to a third car for him Thus
02 Justin Wilson
06 Graham Rahal
04 Sebastien Bourdais

KV Racing Technologies
KV are in an interesting position at the moment. They have proven to be one of the best, if not the best of the former Champ Car teams but they still may have sponsorship woes. Will Power's main sponsor is Aussie Vinyards wine and with Surfers Paradise probably not on the calendar for 2009 that sponsorship may disappear. Craig Gore insists that they will be able to keep two cars for next year and will have sponsorship for them, but that may mean losing number one driver Will Power to another team. It is a longshot that both current drivers won't be back so Thus:
5 Oriol Servia
8 Will Power

Vision Racing
Tony George's men have really been an all-oval team this year. They have been consistently in the top 10 on ovals but have been nowhere on road courses. This may have to do with the fact that their drivers have little Road course experience and so Tony may want to hire a road course veteran to compliment an oval specialist. Ed Carpenter will probably stay as he has been much better than Anthony Foyt IV most of the year but Anthony does bring sponsorship, although Tony doesn't really have money problems. AJ will probably stay on in a third Vision car, but if TG does decide to stay with two cars it may be Foyt that gets the boot. Vision have Bryan Herta as a "Road Course coach" and may just slide into the second Vision car or maybe Tony will hire Paul Tracy, who raced in a Vision owned car at Edmonton and had great success. I think Herta is more likely and so I reckon that Foyt will be out, Thus:
2 Bryan Herta
20 Ed Carpenter
22 AJ Foyt IV

Rahal-Letterman Racing

RHL will definetly be keeping Ryan-Hunter Reay as he comes with heavy sponsorship from the Ethanol alliance people. Meanwhile Bobby Rahal is talking up ambitions of running a second car should sponsorship materialize. Should this happen we may see a veteran driver joining Hunter-Reay and there had been rumours that man would be Dan Wheldon, although it is unlikely. They may end up bringing in a European-based rookie like Mike Conway, who is a Penske tester or even Anthony Davidson, although the latter will still be trying to resurrect his F1 career. There are plenty of young drivers in Indy Lights, Atlantics, and GP2 that could fit the bill but I give the nod to Conway if they do expand Thus
17 Ryan Hunter Reay
16 Mike Conway

HVM
Keith Wiggin's band of merry men are claiming that they will be running two cars next year and that EJ Viso will stay on in the number 33 car. I hope this is true but I would not know who to suggest as the second car, although someone from Indy Lights who has sponsorship or is marketable is likely. Thus I tip Ana Beatriz to take the second seat, she has bee a consistent top five driver in Indy Lights and has recorded a win thus year. She is third in Indy Lights points and oh yeah, is a woman, which will help Marketability Thus
33 EJ Viso
35 Ana Beatriz

Panther Racing
I have not heard any rumour to suggest that Panther will expand to two cars next year so I don't expect much. Vitor Meira has been very good for them and I expect him to stay Thus
4 Vitor Meira

Dale Coyne Racing
Dale Coyne will be difficult to read as they are a small cash strapped team. Bruno Junquiera has established himself as the teams number one guy and I expect him to stay but the second car is anyones guess. Mario Moraes has done a decent job but his presence will hinge on sponsorship and if another young driver like one of the Indy Lights title contenders Rafael Matos and Richard Antinucci come up with more sponsorship money then they could bump Moraes. If Moraes loses his job he could end up surfacing as an Indy only entry or even at another small backmarking team Thus
18 Bruno Junquiera
19 Mario Moraes, Rafael Matos, Richard Antinucci

Conquest Racing
Eric Bachelart's boys have established themselves as solid backmarkers and both Jaime Camara and Enrique Bernoldi are obviously there for their sponsorship money. Camara has been the better of the two (which is not saying much) and so I reckon that if one of the two is to stay then it will be Camara. I would be surprised to see Bernoldi back as Bachelart has not been impressed by the ex F1 pay driver. There are rumours of who will be his replacement with Franck Montagny being the leading candidate. Montagny was very good at Long Beach and has sponsorship connections. He is driving for Andretti-Green in the ALMS but could easily be courted back to the IRL Thus
34 Jaime Camara
36 Franck Montagny

Dreyer and Reinbold Racing
Another cash strapped team who are hard to read. Buddy Rice has been impressive all year and they will be keen to hold on to him, but there are also rumours that Rice will go to the ALMS for next year. The second seat will go to the highest bidder and unfortunately for the talent level of the field, that highest bidder will probably be Milka Duno. Townsend Ball may still be able to come up with the cash to share the seat again so due to lack of concrete news I say that the status quo will reign Thus
15 Buddy Rice
23 Milka Duno/Townsend Bell

AJ Foyt Enterprises
AJ Foyt's team will continue to press on with Darren Manning and potentially a second driver. AJ Foyt is an old-school oval racer and I suspect that any second driver he hires would be someone with plenty of oval experience. His relationship with Manning this year has been a love/hate relationship as it appears that AJ was about to fire Darren after the Englishman parked his car due to fatigue at Iowa but alas, good results heal all wounds and a second place at Watkin's Glen has appeared to have secured Mannings position within the team. A potential second car could be taken by AJ's grandson AJ Foyt IV if the younger Foyt gets loses his job at Vision, which at this point is not all that likely, or maybe someone like John Andretti, who was impressive in his few starts for Roth Racing earlier in the year. Paul Tracy or Scott Sharp could still be in the mix as well, but they are longshots, Thus
14 Darren Manning
41 Aj Foyt IV/John Andretti/Scott Sharp

Roth Racing
Marty Roth is insisting that he will be back next year to run full time, but it is undetermined whether it will be him driving the car. He may just realize that he is not talented enough, or maybe the IRL will make that decision for him. Roth's presence will likely hinge on whether or not Marty can be the driver, as they don't need money, although they have come up with a sponsor for the rest of the year Thus
25 (cringes) Marty Roth

Luczo Dragon Racing
The Coolest named team in the paddock are hoping to run a full season for Tomas Schekter but as usual it hinges on money. Jay Penske has shown that he knows how to run a team and if they get money to run the full season Scheckter could deliver some solid results. I Think that they will be able to get the money to run the whole year Thus:
12 Tomas Scheckter

Pacific Coast Motorsports
A Good run at Infineon still does not hide the fact that this team is struggling for money. Mario Dominguez has his visit Mexico City sponsorship but that may not be enough to keep them full time next year. They will probably run Indy and trim back to part time for next year Thus
96 Mario Dominguez-Part Time

Sarah Fisher Racing

If anyone deserves to run full time it's Sarah Fisher. She has Dollar General on board for two races this year and if she can convince them to give her more money she may be able to run a full year, although a limited schedule including Indy is more likely Thus
67 Sarah Fisher-Part Time

Forsythe Championship Racing

After coming out and saying they will run in the IRL next year all has suddenly gone quiet on the Forsythe front. Their presence is a longshot at best at this moment unless they come up with some mega sponsors. Paul Tracy take notice

Walker Racing
Another one of these "we will be there if we have money" teams, but I think their chances are slimmer than Forsythe's at the moment unless a driver comes up with 5 million dollars or so for next year, and there are very few of those.

7 comments:

Billy said...

What makes you think AJ Foyt IV will be out at Vision? Curt Cavin of the Indianapolis Star reported last week that he expects AJ to be back at Vision and says it is very unlikely that he would go back and drive for Grandpa's team. Tony George apparently likes AJ IV quite a bit and wants him around. I would say that it's more likely that Vision go to a three car team next year and Herta would drive car #22 for them.

Senor Soup said...

OK, so I may have been a little hasty to assume that AJ would be out at Vision and now that I reflect on it you are right, he will probably stay at Vision. I maintain that I think Herta will be driving for Vision next year so AJ may be in a third car as you say. I just think that if one of either Carpenter or Foyt were to get the boot it would be Foyt.

Anonymous said...

Vision contributes much of their improvements this year to going back to a 2 car team. So, I doubt they'll run a third car (except for Indy).

On another topic, i'm a first time reader, so I must ask - why do you think "Tony George is a dick?" You may not like his decisions, but how do you know what he's like as a person?

Anonymous said...

Word has it that Frankie Muniz is forming a new team to compete in the series..."Inxcess Racing." The current Atlantic wannabe's new team will be sponsored by Sun-Rich, and he will be buying out Tyler from PCM.
No word on whether or not he plans to drive also.
God help us.

Senor Soup said...

Thanks for the comments Anonymous. I am glad that people are contributing, even if it means proving me wrong, lol!! As for Frankie Muniz, this is the first I hear of it and honestly it sounds a little far fetched. From what I have seen of his performances in Atlantics Frankie is not good enough for the IRL yet. Unless the sponsors decree it I think it is more likely that Muniz will be in Indy Lights next year.

Senor Soup said...

Oh, and forgot to add, my comments regarding Tony George were meant to reflect on his decisions, he was a dick in his decision making.

Anonymous said...

Fair responses! You just got bookmarked!