2008 MERGED IndyCar Series Grid.....................

mlittle · Post by **mlittle** » Fri Feb 22, 2008 12:09 pm

Unless you've been on the far side of the moon or wrestling with a Sphinxian hexapuma over the past few weeks, you are no doubt aware that, barring some disaster, there will be peace in the land of American Open-Wheel Racing come Friday, 22 Feb. 2008..........with several ChampCar teams set to compete under the IndyCar banner, what, pray tell, will a merged grid look like?

~~Andretti-Green Racing(4): Tony Kanaan, Danica Patrick, Marco Andretti, (R)Hideki Mutoh
~~Team Penske(2): Helio Castroneves, Ryan Briscoe
~~Newman-Haas-Lanigan Racing(2): Graham Rahal, Justin Wilson
~~Forsythe/Pettit Racing(2): Paul Tracy, (R)Franck Montagny
~~A.J. Foyt Racing(1): Darren Manning
~~PKV Racing(2): Oriol Servia, Alex Tagliani
~~Target/Ganassi Racing(2+): Scott Dixon, Dan Wheldon, (R)Alex Lloyd*
~~Roth Racing(2): Marty Roth, (R)Jay Howard
~~Panther Racing(1): Vitor Meira
~~SAMAX Motorsports(1): Mario Dominguez
~~Vision Racing(2): Ed Carpenter, A.J. Foyt, IV
~~Team Australia(1): Will Power
~~Dale Coyne Racing(1): Bruno Junquiera
~~Conquest Racing(2): (R)Franck Perera, Simon Pagenaud
~~Minardi Team USA(1): Robert Doornbos
~~Rahal-Letterman Racing(1): Ryan Hunter-Reay
*--TGR is planning to run Lloyd in several races this year

Expected Car Count..............................27

mlittle · Post by **mlittle** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 5:02 pm

Current 2008 IndyCar Series Grid...................................

~~Current IndyCar Series Drivers.............
Ryan Briscoe, #3 Team Penske
Helio Castroneves, #6 Team Penske
Ryan Hunter-Reay, #17 Ethanol
Danica Patrick, #7 Motorola
Tony Kanaan, #11 Team 7-11
Marco Andretti, #26 Meijer
(R)Hideki Mutoh, #27 Panasonic
Scott Dixon, #9 Target
Dan Wheldon, #10 Target
(R)Alex Lloyd, (no. tba) Target*
Vitor Meira, #4 National Guard/Delphi
Darren Manning, #14 ABC Supply Co.
A.J. Foyt, IV, #2 Indy Vision/Joost
Ed Carpenter, #20 Hitachi Power Tools
(R)Jay Howard, #24 Dussault Apparel
Marty Roth, #25 Fountain Powerboats
Buddy Rice, #15 (sponsors tba)
Milka Duno, #23 CITGO**
Tomas Scheckter, (no. tba), Symantec 360***
Sarah Fisher, #67 (sponsors tba)
*--expected to run several races in 2008 for Target/Ganassi Racing
**--will share driving duties w/Townsend Bell in 2008
***--part time schedule for Luczo-Dragon Racing in 2008

~~Current ChampCar Drivers............
Alex Figge, (no. tba) Molecule Labs
(R)Franck Perera, (no. & sponsors tba)
Justin Wilson, (no. tba) McDonald's
Graham Rahal, (no. tba) McDonald's
Oriol Servia, (no. and sponsors tba)
Alex Tagliani, (no. and sponsors tba)
Paul Tracy, (no. tba) Indeck/Monster Energy Drink
Bruno Junquiera, (no. tba) Sonny's Real Pit BBQ
Robert Doornbos, (no. tba) Muermans/OzJet

note.......list subject to change prior to season-opening race at Homestead

mlittle · Post by **mlittle** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 10:16 am

Current 2008 IndyCar Series Grid....................................

~~Current IndyCar Series Teams......................
***FULL-TIME ENTRANTS***
Ryan Briscoe, #3 Team Penske
Helio Castroneves, #6 Team Penske
Ryan Hunter-Reay, #17 Ethanol
Danica Patrick, #6 Motorola
Tony Kanaan, #11 Team 7-11
Marco Andretti, #26 Meijer
(R)Hideki Mutoh, #27 Panasonic
Scott Dixon, #9 Target
Dan Wheldon, #10 Target
Vitor Meira, #4 National Guard/Delphi
Darren Manning, #14 ABC Supply Co.
A.J. Foyt, IV, #2 Indy Vision/Joost
Ed Carpenter, #20 Hitachi Power Tools
(R)Jay Howard, #24 Dussault Apparel
Marty Roth, #25 Fountain Powerboats
Buddy Rice, #15 A1 Team USA
***PART-TIME ENTRANTS***
Tomas Scheckter, (no. tba) Symantec 360*
Sarah Fisher, #67 (sponsor tba)***
Milka Duno, #23 CITGO**
Townsend Bell, #23 (sponsor tba)**
Roger Yasukawa, #77 Interush/PHYTTER*****
(R)Alex Lloyd, (no. and sponsors tba)****
*--Luczo/Dragon Racing; 3 race schedule at the moment
**--will split driving duties at Dreyer & Reinbold
***--part time schedule for Fisher Racing, beginning at Indy
****--will drive a part-time schedule in 2008 for Target/Ganassi
*****--part time schedule for Beck/Wellman Racing

~~Incoming ChampCar teams......................
Justin Wilson, (no. tba) McDonald's
Graham Rahal, (no. tba) McDonald's
Paul Tracy, (no. and team tbd) Monster Energy Drink
Oriol Servia, (no. and sponsor tba)
Alex Tagliani, (no. and sponsor tba)
Robert Doornbos, (no. tba) Muermans/OzJet
Will Power, (no. tba) Aussie Vineyards
(R)Franck Pereram (no. and sponsor tba)
Alex Figge, (no. tba) Molecule Labs
Bruno Junquiera, (no. tba) Sonny's Real Pit BBQ

Jim Watt · Post by **Jim Watt** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 9:33 am

M. Little:

If I'm counting correctly, the grid for the Indianapolis 500 will look a little anemic this year! It looks like somewhere around 20 cars. But, in the good old Indy days, when any one could bring a car so long as it passed the inspection, 33 started the race.

Nobody I know seems to have an answer.

What, pray tell, is the plan for May? Does Robin know? Is he saying?

Jim Watt

mlittle · Post by **mlittle** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 11:11 am

Jim Watt wrote: M. Little:

If I'm counting correctly, the grid for the Indianapolis 500 will look a little anemic this year! It looks like somewhere around 20 cars. But, in the good old Indy days, when any one could bring a car so long as it passed the inspection, 33 started the race.

Nobody I know seems to have an answer.

What, pray tell, is the plan for May? Does Robin know? Is he saying?

Jim Watt

Just counting the entrant list at the moment(or at least the most recent update!

), their 2 short of a 33-car field......chances are AGR will run a 5th entry(most likely Rapahel Matos, or Mikey could make another go at it........

)...........Foyt Racing, from what I've read and heard, is considering a 2nd entry for the 500[which then puts the list at 33].......but I actually think, Jim, that for once we'll see actual bumping at Indy and not the contrived ****(....

) that's passed for bumping in recent memory.....

I think the biggest problem they're going to have outside of Indy and the 500 are: a--how many former ChampCar races they'll bring into the IndyCar schedule(best bets....Road America, Houston and Toronto), b--how to fit them into the schedule without either losing any off time in the calendar or stretching the calendar past early-to-mid September and c--bringing back the fans who've left the sport over the past 12+ years.....

As for Speed's resident curmudgeon, I'm betting he's still recovering from the shock of the unification of AOWR......

mlittle · Post by **mlittle** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 8:14 am

Updated 2008 IndyCar Series Grid........................

***FULL-TIME IndyCar Series ENTRIES***
Ryan Briscoe, #6 Team Penske
Helio Castroneves, #3 Team Penske
Ryan Hunter-Reay, #17 Ethanol
Danica Patrick, #7 Motorola
Tony Kanaan, #11 Team 7-11
Marco Andretti, #26 Meijer
(R)Hideki Mutoh, #27 Panasonic
Scott Dixon, #9 Target
Dan Wheldon, #10 Target
Vitor Meira, #4 National Guard/Delphi
Darren Manning, #14 ABC Supply Co.
A.J. Foyt, IV, #2 Joost/Indy Vision
Ed Carpenter, #20 Hitachi Power Tools
(R)Jay Howard, #24 Dussault Apparel
Marty Roth, #25 Fountain Powerboats
Buddy Rice, #15 A1 Team USA
***FULL-TIME Incoming ChampCar ENTRANTS***
Will Power, #8 Aussie Vineyards
Oriol Servia, #32 Gulfstream
(R)Franck Perera, (no. and sponsor tba)
Bruno Junquiera, (no. tba) Sonny's Real Pit BBQ
Justin Wilson, (no. tba) McDonald's
Graham Rahal, (no. tba) McDonald's

~~Part-time Entrants.....................................
Sarah Fisher, #67 (sponsor tba)
Tomas Scheckter, (no. tba) Symantec 360
(R)Alex Lloyd, (no. tba) Target
Milka Duno, #23 CITGO*
Townsend Bell, #23 (sponsor tba)*
Roger Yasukawa, #77 Interush/PHYTTER
*--Duno and Townsend will share driving duties in the #23 during the year; both will have separate entries at Indy for the 500

mlittle · Post by **mlittle** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 3:58 am

Updated 2008 IndyCar Series Grid...........................
note----expected sponsor listed after driver no.

***CONFIRMED DRIVERS***
~~Andretti-Green Racing(4): Danica Patrick(#7 Motorola), Tony Kanaan(#11 Team 7-11), Marco Andretti(#26 Meijer) and Hideki Mutoh[R](#27 Panasonic)
~~Team Penske(2): Helio Castroneves(#3 Team Penske) and Ryan Briscoe(#6 Team Penske)
~~Target/Ganassi Racing(2+): Scott Dixon(#9 Target), Dan Wheldon(#10 Target) and Alex Lloyd[R](# and sponsor tbd)^
~~A.J. Foyt Racing(2): Darren Manning(#14 ABC Supply Co.), Pablo Donoso[R](#41 ABC Supply Co.)*
~~Conquest Racing(2): Franck Perera[R](#34 Opes Prime) and Enrique Bernoldi[R](#36 ARES)
~~Newman-Haas-Lanigan Racing(2): Justin Wilson(#02 McDonald's) and Graham Rahal(#06 McDonald's)
~~Dreyer & Reinbold Racing(2+): Buddy Rice(#15 A1 Team USA/Racing for Kids) and Milka Duno/Townsend Bell(#23)**
~~Rahal-Letterman Racing(1): Ryan Hunter-Reay(#17 Ethanol)
~~Vision Racing(2): A.J. Foyt, IV(#2 Joost/Indy Vision) and Ed Carpenter(#20 Hitachi Power Tools)
~~Luzco-Dragon Racing(1): Tomas Scheckter(#tbd Symantec 360)***
~~Wellman-Beck Racing(1): Roger Yasukawa(#77 Interush/PHYTTER)***
~~Sarah Fisher Racing(1): Sarah Fisher(#67 sponsor tba)***
~~KV Racing Technology(2): Will Power(#32 Aussie Vineyards) and Oriol Servia(#8 Aussie Vineyards)
~~Panther Racing(1): Vitor Meira(#4 National Guard/Delphi)
~~CTE-HVM Racing(1): Robert Doornbos(#4 Muermans/OzJet)
~~Roth Racing(2): Jay Howard[R](#24 Dussault Apparel) and Marty Roth(#25 Fountain Powerboats)
^--expected to run a partial ICS season in 2008
*--expected to run in the Indy Pro Series prior to the Indy 500
**--Duno and Bell will split driving duties in the #23 but will run separate entries during the month of May
***--part time ICS campaigns in 2008

No. of confirmed entries........................30*
*--counting part-time and partial season entries

***OTHER ENTRIES***
~~Dale Coyne Racing(2) w/Bruno Junquiera and Mario Moraes[R]
~~Pacific Coast Motorsports(1) w/David Martinez[R]

EXPECTED 2008 INDYCAR ROOKIE CLASS..................................
Hideki Mutoh, Andretti-Green Racing
Alex Lloyd, Target/Ganassi Racing*
Pablo Donoso, A.J. Foyt Racing*
Franck Perera, Conquest Racing
Enrique Bernoldi, Conquest Racing
Jay Howard, Roth Racing
*--part time schedules expected