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With twelve days of Christmas shopping still around, here are the latest silly season projections........

Dale Coyne Racing(2): Jan Heylen(?), Giorgio Pantano(?), Alex Tagliani(?), Andreas Wirth(?), Jay Howard(?). Speed Channel's Robin Miller reported on Sunday's edition of The Speed Report that Coyne's trying to find sponsorship for Tag in 2007; no other changes at present.

Forsythe Championship Racing(2): Paul Tracy, Justin Wilson(?), Adam Carroll(?), Simon Pagenaud(?), Jay Howard(?), Buddy Rice(?), Justin Wilson(?), Richard Phillipe(?), Andreas Wirth(?), Lawson Aschenbach(?), David Martinez(?). Throw a dart at any of the names after PT's and your chances of hitting the team's second driver are as good as anyone's; no other changes at present.

Gelles Racing(2): Michael Valiante(?), Colin Fleming(?), Jaime Melo(?), Robbie Pecorari(?). Nothing has been heard from the team since their San Jose announcement, so anything's possible here.

MiJack-Conquest Racing(2): Charles Zwolsman, Alexandre Premat(?), Guillaume Moreau(?), Enrico Toccacelo(?). According to the rumor mill, Andrew Ranger has been shown the door from the team, so both seats are open at the moment.

Minardi Racing(2+): Nelson Phillipe, Dan Clarke, Jos Verstappen(?), Nicolas Kiesa(?), Bas Leinders(?). Other than the additional names on the list, no changes at present.

Newman-Haas Racing(2-3): Sebastien Bourdais, Bruno Junquiera(?), Graham Rahal, Justin Wilson(?). According to Speed's Robin Miller, the team has tested Rahal twice more, at Homestead and at MSR-Houston and are close to inking a multi-year deal starting in 2007.

Pacific Coast Motorsports(2): Alex Figge, Ryan Dalziel. The team recently concluded testing this past week and are set for 2007.

PKV Racing(2+): Neel Jani, Oriol Servia, Katherine Legge. No changes at present.

Rocketsports Racing(2): Mario Dominguez(?), Alex Tagliani(?), Nicky Pastorelli(?), Tonis Kasemets(?). No changes at present.

RuSport Racing(2): Justin Wilson, Ryan Briscoe. Speed's Miller reports that, now that PKV co-owner Dan Pettit has bought RuSport from Carl Russo, that the team is set to re-sign Wilson and is in the process of signing Briscoe for 2007.

Team Australia(2): Will Power, Ryan Briscoe(?), Simon Pagenaud(?). This team is almost set; reports are that the team will probably sign Pagenaud should RuSport sign Briscoe(although Team Oz is still interested in Briscoe....)

No. of confirmed seats: 6
No. of open seats: 14-19
Expected car count: 20-24

According to multiple sources(speedtv.com, autoracing1.com), ChampCar officials are set to announce that former Minardi F1 principal Paul Stoddart will be running a team in ChampCar starting in 2007; reports are that the team will either field cars through current CCWS team CTE-HVM or will field his own team(w/CTE's assistance).

HVM is now owned by Stoddy, and renamed Minardi He is talking about multiple entries, but there is no word on the drivers yet.

Julian Mayo wrote:HVM is now owned by Stoddy, and renamed Minardi He is talking about multiple entries, but there is no word on the drivers yet.

Thank you; Ed already gave me a heads-up on that via PM.

mlittle wrote:

Julian Mayo wrote:HVM is now owned by Stoddy, and renamed Minardi He is talking about multiple entries, but there is no word on the drivers yet.

Thank you; Ed already gave me a heads-up on that via PM.

Would you prefer that?

Julian Mayo wrote:

mlittle wrote:

Julian Mayo wrote:HVM is now owned by Stoddy, and renamed Minardi He is talking about multiple entries, but there is no word on the drivers yet.

Thank you; Ed already gave me a heads-up on that via PM.

Would you prefer that?

No, no, no......sorry, Julian; didn't mean to sound crass or anything like that.

On the bright side, I'm just glad Stoddart's coming to NA...it should definitely make the ChampCar paddock seem more interesting for 2007.

mlittle wrote:

Julian Mayo wrote:

mlittle wrote:
Thank you; Ed already gave me a heads-up on that via PM.

Would you prefer that?

No, no, no......sorry, Julian; didn't mean to sound cross or anything like that.

On the bright side, I'm just glad Stoddart's coming to NA...it should definitely make the ChampCar paddock seem more interesting for 2007.

Didn't think u were x I am wrapt to see the Minardi name running again

If there is something to be said for silly season, it is this...........the silly season rivers are full of rumors, internet chatter, and everything else imaginable........hence, here are the current crop of rumors at present in ChampCar.........

~~Where will Joe Verstappen land in 2007? At first the rumor mill had him pegged heading to CTE-HVM(now Minardi Team USA), but sources close to Forsythe say he could be headed there to partner alongside Paul Tracy

~~PKV or RuSport..........This much we do know.......Katherine Legge will be in a ChampCar for 2007......where is the question; sources report that, should she not be able to land a seat w/PKV that RuSport's Dan Pettit will offer her the team's second seat alongside current RuSport driver Justin Wilson; the same sources also report that should that occur that RuSport will take a page from Team Australia and rebrand itself as a British team....

~~An all-RedBull PKV squad for 2007? Potentially; according to most available sources, assuming the team has indeed signed current F1 tester Neel Jani for 2007 w/RedBull backing, if for some reason Toro Rosso in Formula 1 were not to re-sign Scott Speed for 2007, all info points to him going to PKV w/RedBull(hence, an all-RedBull PKV Racing team.......)

~~There could be a new Atlantic Championship team for 2007; sources report that PKV co-owner Jimmy Vasser and former CART engineer TOm Knapp are inquiring into starting an Atlantic team in 2007

~~Newman-Haas Racing hasn't confirmed it....yet, but all sources report that the team will sign Graham Rahal for 2007 to drive alongsiden Sebastien Bourdais; sources also report that Rahal's Atlantic sponsor, Gehl, will move up to ChampCar as well and sponsor him there

~~Another Atlantic alum from 2006 could be moving up as well; Stephen Simpson, who was rumored to be headed to Gelles Racing, could be headed instead to MiJack-Conquest Racing(rumor has it that this is why Gelles Racing has been missing since their announcement in San Jose last summer.......)


Now.......does anyone know where that darned' bottle of Motrin is?

2007 Champ Car World Series Driver Lineups(Projected...)

~~Newman-Haas Racing(2): Sebastien Bourdais, Graham Rahal(R)
~~Forsythe Champ. Racing(2): Paul Tracy, (either)Nelson Phillipe or Jos Verstappen(R)
~~RuSport Racing(2): Justin Wilson, Mario Dominguez
~~Minardi Team USA(3): Dan Clarke, Katherine Legge, Robert Doornbos(R)
~~Conquest Racing(2): Charles Zwolsman, (R)Stephen Simpson
~~Dale Coyne Racing(1-2): Jan Heylen, (second driver tbd...... )
~~Rocketsports(2): Alex Tagliani, Nicky Pastorelli
~~Team Australia(2): Will Power, Simon Pagenaud(R)
~~PKV Racing(2): Oriol Servia, Neel Jani(R)
~~Pacific Coast Mtrspts(2): Ryan Dalziel(R), Alex Figge(R)

Projected Rookie Class for 2007......
Graham Rahal, Jos Verstappen, Robert Doornbos, Stephen Simpson, Simon Pagenaud, Neel Jani, Ryan Dalziel, Alex Figge

note......lists subject to change prior to season opener in Las Vegas.....

I would be putting a ? after Seb.

Julian Mayo wrote:I would be putting a ? after Seb.

Potentially, although NHR does have an out-clause w/SeaBass in case he decides to go to F1...

According to ar1.com's rumors page, former ChampCar/Formula 1 racer Tiago Montiero could be returning to NA motorsports.....sources close to Montiero report that the Portuguese driver, who drove for Fittipaldi/Dingman Racing in 2003 and for Jordan/Midland/Spyker in F1, has been in negotiations with Conquest Racing, Minardi Team USA and even Forsythe Championship Racing for a possible ride in 2007; backing this up are reports that it was not Robert Doornbos who Forsythe was looking at vs. Jos Verstappen, but Montiero instead....

Why the sudden attention on Montiero? Back in 2003, when he drove for Fittipaldi-Dingman, Montiero was IMHO the best of the Reynard runners vs. all of the Lola entries; with the entire grid now running Panoz DP01's, chances are good that if he returns, he could well surprise many in the paddock. And if it gets him a shot back into Formula 1......we shall see, won't we?

Champ Car Driver Lineup(Projected)...........

~~Newman-Haas-Lanigan Racing(2): Sebastien Bourdais, Graham Rahal(R)
~~Forsythe Championship Racing(1): Paul Tracy
~~PKV Racing(2): Neel Jani(R), Tristan Gommendy(R)
~~RuSport Racing(1): Justin Wilson
~~Rocketsports Racing(1): Alex Tagliani
~~Team Australia(2): Will Power, Simon Pagenaud(R)
~~Pacific Coast Mtrspts(2): Ryan Dalziel(R), Alex Figge(R)

~~Dale Coyne Racing(2): Katherine Legge, Andrew Ranger or Bruno Junquiera
~~Minardi Team USA(2): Robert Doornbos(R), Nelson Phillipe or Dan Clarke
~~Conquest Racing(1): Jan Heylen or Matt Halliday(R)

Others in the mix............
~David Martinez(R)--possibly a second seat at FCR
~Oriol Servia or Mario Dominguez--possibly a second seat at Rocketsports OR RuSport
~Nicky Pastorelli--possibly a second seat at Rocketsports
~Andreas Wirth--possibly a third seat(at some events) for DCR
~Charles Zwolsman--possibly a second seat at Conquest

2 upcoming driver announcements............
~~Wednesday, Minardi Team USA is set to announce their 2007 ChampCar driver lineup
~~NHL(Newman-Haas-Lanigan) Racing is set to formally announce Graham Rahal as the team's second driver for 2007, w/sponsorship from a well-known and large-scale technology company

16 probables and 5 possibles.
Not exactly the expected response that Champ Car organisers would anticipated.
With new cars for everyone and a sole engine supplier, I would have expected the series to grow.