Indy 500 is Over, Slackin' is Over

Yea, I know, I've been slackin' at this blog. Now that the Indy 500 is over, some things have caught my attention. This blog is slightly time consuming in the long run, but a couple of things have brought me to post this today, a couple things that make you think, not on a massive level, but a couple of things that make you appreciate the opportunity you have.

First of all, Jeff Iannucci over at My Name Is IRL has decided to put his writing on hold for personal reasons. For those of you that do not know, Jeff was one of the first Indycar bloggers, and one of the more famous ones (if you can call it famous, perhaps acknowledged was a better term). He posted for years on the subject of anything IRL informing people about smaller details and offering his opinion on the big picture while throwing in his witty humor along with it.

Jeff is the first Indycar blog I followed when the merger happened. I needed a place to get news asides from the Indycar website, and his blog provided that. In fact, often times, either his blog, or one of the blogs on his "sidepod" would report the news before the IRL would which was the best of both worlds.

After reading his blog for months and months, and really getting into the new Indycar Series, it was his humor and wit, along with the way he went about his writing that convinced me to start "The Other Side".

Unfortunately I do not have the humor and wit of one Mr. Iannucci, I think the only person to rival him in the blogging community is Pressdog. But when this blog is in full power mode, I do my best to provide the public with the information you guys seek, and the opinions you folks (for some reason) seem to care about.

Now that Jeff has left the circus, at least for now, it sort of gave me that jolt, that sense of being needed. Between all of us bloggers, we have to step up and try to fill the hole that Jeff and My Name is IRL has left so that you all can be kept up to date with the shenanigans and goings-on of the Indycar Series and all American Open-Wheel Racing.

The other thing that made me think today was a quote on Indystar.com from IRL CEO Randy Bernard regarding the 500.

"I didn't really hear any complaints, although I don't know if that's people just being polite when they talk to me,'' Bernard said. "That's why I like reading the blogs to find out what fans are saying. They're going to say the things you don't want to hear. So I'm going to make a point of reading what they're saying.''

It really makes you think, when you have the leader of a massive American institution claiming he wants to read blogs to find the opinions of fans. I mean, we have the opportunity, all of us, through my writing and your comments to perhaps make an impression on the man who leads the series we love (and hate).

Where else do we get an opportunity to influence any one of great power really. I think the closest thing you have is a politician who listens, but does not hear.

Mr. Bernard gives us that opportunity to create a positive influence and to have a stake in what we love. That is what made me realize I cannot continue to leave this blog sitting here idle any longer, and hopefully you folks will continue to trickle over here to catch some news and opinions, and maybe, just maybe, have your voices heard by the powers that be in AOWR.

Bartender Rumors #8

The Bartender is back and has some rumors for all of you to digest once again. Actually, it is more I finally had the time to get out there while he was around, but I finally have done it. I'll try to make this more of a constant thing now that we are in season again.

- Junior Strous should end up at HVM during May as that was the main reason he withdrew from his contract with Moore Racing in the FIL series. HVM offered him a way into the Indycar Series this season, and specifically a ride at Indy.

- He seems pretty damn sure there will be a minimum of forty cars at Indy.

- Even though Vision has been silent, he says they will most likely run ovals this season, and to expect them at Kansas and Indy at a minimum.

- Team 3G's struggles last season is making it difficult to put anything together for this season. He says Indy will probably happen for them though. They managed to pull it off last season, so they should be able to do it this year.

- He says the owners are pushing for multiple chassis' in 2012 or 2013, whenever this finally happens.

- Apparently there are rumors that the IRL is pressuring Milka Duno to get out of the car, at least on road courses. Apparently someone approached her about becoming a team owner and using the CITGO money to run a younger more talented racer.


Alright, that is what I got out of him. Whether you think it is crazy or not, that is what I was told.

I took some flack last time I posted from a couple people so I am simply going to finish this with a disclaimer.

I have no actual connections to any Izod Indycar team members or drivers, I am simply the messenger for this crazy bartender. I'm simply passing this along to others who might enjoy having a good read. These could be true or false, but I don't pretend to know which way they go. If you don't enjoy what is said in these bartender rumors, then you should stop reading them.

Let me know what you guys think about these rumors, feel free to comment.

94th Indy 500 Silly Season

The Indianapolis 500 Mile Race is 60 days away. Time to do a run down of what we know.

Confirmed

Andretti Autosport (32)

#7 - Danica Patrick - GoDaddy.com
#11 - Tony Kanaan - 7/11
#26 - Marco Andretti - Venom Energy Drink
#37 - Ryan Hunter-Reay - Izod
#43 - John Andretti - Window World (Richard Petty part car owner)

Team Penske

#3 - Helio Castroneves - Team Penske
#6 - Ryan Briscoe - Team Penske
#12 - Will Power - Verizon Wireless

Target Chip Ganassi Racing

#9 - Scott Dixon - Target
#10 - Dario Franchitti - Target

Sam Schmidt Racing (w/Chip Ganassi)

#99 - Townsend Bell - Herbalife

KV Racing

#5 - Takuma Sato - Lotus
#8 - E.J. Viso - PDVSA/Jet Aviation
#15 - Paul Tracy - Geico
#32 - Mario Moraes - KV Racing

Dale Coyne Racing

#18 - Milka Duno - CITGO
#19 - Alex Lloyd - Boy Scouts of America

Conquest Racing

#34 - Mario Romancini - Ronn Motor Company
#36 - Bertrand Baguette - Royal Automobile Club of Belgium

Sarah Fisher Racing

#66 - Jay Howard - Tire Kingdom
#67 - Sarah Fisher - Dollar General

Luczo Dragon Racing/de Ferran Motorsports

#2 - Raphael Matos - HP
#21 - Davey Hamilton - HP

FAZZT Race Team

#33 - Bruno Junqueira - TBA
#77 - Alex Tagliani - Bowers & Wilkens

Panther Racing

#4 - Dan Wheldon - National Guard

A.J. Foyt Enterprises

#14 - Vitor Meira - ABC Supply Co.

HVM Racing

#78 - Simona De Silvestro

Dreyer & Reinbold Racing

#22 - Justin Wilson - Z-Lines Designs
#24 - Mike Conway - Dad's Root Beer

Newman-Haas-Lanigan Racing

#06 - Hideki Mutoh - Panasonic/Formula Dream

Bryan Herta Autosport

#29 - Sebastian Saavedra - TBA

Likely (7)

A.J. Foyt Enterprises

#41 - Anthony Foyt IV - ABC Supply Co.

Newman-Haas-Lanigan Racing

#02 - Graham Rahal - TBA

Vision Racing

#20 - Ed Carpenter - TBA

Dreyer & Reinbold Racing

#23 - Ana Beatriz - TBA

Panther Racing

#16 - TBA - TBA

Team 3G

#98 - TBA - TBA

HVM Racing

#79 - Junior Strous - Shell

Rumored/Possibilities

Rahal-Letterman Racing

#17 - Oriol Servia - TBA

Hemelgarn Racing

#91 - Buddy Lazier - TBA

Robby Gordon Motorsports

#?? - Robby Gordon - TBA

PDM Racing

#?? - TBA - TBA

Walker Racing

#?? - J.R. Hildebrand - Automatic Fire Sprinklers

Stars & Stripes Racing

#?? - TBA - TBA

Free Agent Drivers

Tomas Scheckter - Brings a fair amount of Mona Vie money.

J.R. Hildebrand - Seemed ready to get the fifth Andretti Autosport car, but with the announcement of John Andretti, it seems unlikely. Linked to a couple of teams.

Jonathan Summerton - Linked to a couple of teams.

Oriol Servia - Ran last season with Rahal Letterman Racing at Indy. RLR would like to have him back but do not have a deal.

Scott Sharp - In tight with the owner of Patron Spirits who sponsors and drives for Sharp's ALMS GT team. Drove for Panther Racing at Indy in 2009.

Simon Pagenaud - Took over Scott Sharp's seat with Patron-Highcroft Racing in the ALMS Prototypes. Was a rising open-wheel talent before reunification.

Buddy Rice - Robin Miller says it doesn't look good for Buddy Rice to return in 2010.

Buddy Lazier - Again, Miller doesn't seem hopeful for Buddy Lazier to return in 2010. If Hemelgarn puts something together, expect Buddy to drive it though.

James Hinchcliffe - Has money, might be looking for a one-off Indy 500 ride to go along with his Firestone Indy Lights Season.

Roger Yasukawa - Qualified or attempted to qualify from 2003 until 2008. Competed at Motegi in 2009.


Of course, anything out side of the confirmed rides are not guaranteed, and there are more possibilities that could pop up, and more drivers that could show up looking for rides. That is the magic of the Indianapolis 500. It's not solely the race that gets us excited, but the I500 Silly Season, every single practice lap, the pace laps, bump day, pole day, race day, carb day... The entire event is just so magical.

Right now, I've got 38 cars penciled in to attempt to qualify for the big race. That basically counts all my confirmed and likely's. I'm thinking there will be another 1 or 2 cars show up that aren't in that neighborhood yet, and considering Honda is preparing 40 engines for Indy, I think we can expect around that number.

Every time a new car or car/driver combo is confirmed or becomes likely to occur, I will update this list.

Please feel free to discuss in the comments section and even mention possibilities I might have missed. I'll be glad to update the list as best I can, and I hope you enjoy the up to date list.

EDIT: After a quick update, I've corrected Davey Hamilton's car number (#21), Jay Howard's car number (#66), added Walker Racing with J.R. Hildebrand as a possibility, and added Junior Strous with HVM Racing as a likely.

Andretti to Andretti

John Andretti will be returning to Indy this year in the #43 machine in a joint venture between Richard Petty and Andretti Autosport.

Last year J. Andretti and R. Petty competed as driver and owner respectively in conjunction with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. They started 28th (Andretti's lowest qualifying position ever at Indy) and finished 19th.

As a prelude to Indy, John Andretti will also be running at Kansas with Andretti Autosport and Richard Petty. This will be John's first time in a Dallara on a track other then Indy since his stint with Roth Racing in 2008.

The car will feature the familiar Petty colors and will carry Petty's famous #43.

This puts Andretti Autosport up to 5 cars for Kansas and the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race, but more or less rules out J.R. Hildebrand running the fifth car for AA.

Perhaps this means rumors of J.R. starting his own team are more then simply fiction.

Bring Back Mears?

Alright, anyone who frequents this site will probably be terribly surprised by seeing me talk about a Nascab driver, especially when that Nascab driver is the main feature of the article. I know, I know, I thought twice about it but figure that his background in AOWR means it isn't as bad as if I was talking about Martin Truex Jr. or Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Hear me out here.

Mr. Mears only has a drive for the first 6 races of the 2010 Spint Cup Series, which brings him to Bristol Motor Speedway on March 21. Unless he gets some good results and his new team is able to find sponsorship to compete past Bristol, Casey will be looking for a ride.

Now I'm not going to suggest Casey returns to Indycars, because the odds are that no one would have the budget to run him. But Casey does have history in Indycars, and he has a relation to some old timer by the name of Rick Mears, who happened to be a decent driver back in the day for a certain Mr. Penske.

Casey has won in the old Indy Lights at Houston in October of 2000 and has run 8 races between the Indycar Series and the old CART so he has plenty of experience in open wheel cars.

He's an American and Nascrap has made him popular with the masses. People know who he is, and between his name and 92 Winston, Nextel, and Sprint Series starts make him a valuable asset to any race team.

And the best part is, come May, there is a good possibility he will be a free agent.

Casey Mears is a man who knows what Indianapolis means and I'm sure he would appreciate having a chance to win the Indy 500.

Come May, if someone can get Casey Mears into a Dallara for the Indianapolis 500, it would be a win-win for both the Izod Indycar Series, the Indianapolis 500, and Casey Mears.

Let's hope Casey realizes this possibility is too good to pass up, and let's hope maybe Roger Penske could field a fourth car at Indy (perhaps as a favor to Rick Mears) or atleast someone with a decent car can field a car for the American talent.

Been a nice month

Well, I haven't been around as much as I have wanted to be to blog away. I have fallen off the pace of some fellow bloggers and am not happy about it. The past few weeks with lacrosse have been pretty hectic, hell, I had to miss the 500 because I was on a bus to the middle of nowhere to play a team we beat 18-1. Whatever, over the last little bit, I've missed lots of things to blog about.

So, I missed the chance to tell everyone how excited I am that I finally get TSN2 up in Canada, so I should be able to watch every race, relatively close to the actual time is it run. That means either more live blogs or some hardcore twitter time which is good news because I'd like to be more interactive on the race days if you guys are interested in it.

I didn't get a chance to talk about Carb Day and Wade Cunningham taking home his second Freedom 100 or Ana Beatriz taking one of the hardest hits I've seen from an IPS car at Indy. I don't like talking about the taxi cabs on here, because this is an anti-taxi cab blog, but, does anyone else think that Ana's crash was a bit like the crash Jeff Gordon had at Vegas in '08 where he hit the angled inner wall at a 90 degree angle? Ana hit a part of the inner wall that was not parallel with the outer wall, which means she hit it a sharper angle, causing higher G-Forces and greater chance for injury. This should be fixed for next year.

I didn't get a chance to talk about PT's extension to do both Canadian races for the KVRT which is good news. The tickets probably sold at a much higher rate in Edmonton for the race then it would had earlier. I bet the tickets at Toronto picked up big time once he was announced. However, over at ChampCarFanatics.com they are probably laughing their asses off that their hero is being sponsored by the engine company they hate the most in Honda.

I missed a crash filled race. I've seen highlights and heard stories about the race, but it seemed like an average 500. Now, mind you, an average 500 is better then a good Kansas or Iowa, simply because it is Indianapolis, and Indianapolis makes everything better because of the history and the show they put on around it. And seeing Helio take the checkered flag is great. No one else deserved it more then him, thought I would had been happy to see just about anyone win, it was still a nice little touch to see Helio climbing the fence (to someone's dissapointment) then to see him in jail. He adds so much to the series outside of his publicity and talent. He is just an all around great guy. I don't like Penske Racing all that much, but I was happy to see him win even when he is in a Penske car.

How about T. Bell? He walks in second week and puts the KVRT #8 Herbalife car in 4th place? Not bad for a one-off. Maybe he will be lucky and talk Herbalife into sponsoring a second car at HVM for next season maybe? That would be sweet. Townsend Bell has, in my mind, with that drive, put himself on the list of drivers we should have in the series. Unfortunately, he seems to have lost William Rast sponsorship and is only hope right now is Herbalife. However, this is one guy who has proven he can go out and make friends with the higher ups which is good for his future.

My boy Tags wins Rookie of the Year at Indy which is nice. This decision might be more about the cheque accompanying the award then the award itself as it is a little extra cash flow for Conquest who is hurting.

Anyways, I doubt you folks want to read through all of this, I was just doing my best to catch up on all the news I haven't been able to blog about. I'll throw something up about the #14 car tonight and my opinions on who should or will get that drive. I'm also stopping by the bar tonight for a chit chat with the bartender. Hopefully he has some news from the weekend.

The Other Side - Poll of the Week

Well, Bump Day has come and gone, and so has the last poll. The amount of cars bumped on Bump Day has always been a hot topic since the split, usually due to the lack of cars being bumped. However, since bimergification the number of cars trying to bump their way into the field has been high enough we have seen some bumping. Drama ensued near the end of the day with drivers pushing to get into the show. When 6:00pm on sunday rolled around, 3 cars were left off the starting grid, including Alex Tagliani, Stanton Barrett, and Buddy Lazier.

Now, this is the first Weekly Poll you folk have gotten right. Congratulations, and go ahead and gives yourselves a pat on the back. Mind you a minority of you chose the correct answer, I'll still give it to you since you picked it more then any other one answer. I think anyone that picked 5+ cars was just hoping a whole lot, though it was possible.

This weeks question is as follows.

"Which stable will the 93rd Indy 500 Champion come from?"

Mind you, for practical reasons, Alex Lloyd's pink sensation car will be lumped in with Target Chip Ganassi for this poll.

Have some fun with it, and let me know who you think will win by voting, then tell me why in the comments section. I'd love to hear your reasons.

Tagliani to Conquest #36

Bye-Bye Bruno. Alex Tagliani is taking your spot in the number 36 car for the I500. It is being confirmed by everyone and their brother almost that the unluckiest guy and maybe stupidest team from bump day will still be running their main man in the big race.

Bruno Junqueira is being replaced by Alex Tagliani in the Conquest #36 car.

I'm not sure which sponsors will be on the car, probably a mix of the #34 and #36 car sponsors, but, I would be mighty pissed if I were All Sport and I were not on a car. Maybe this gives more meaning to the phrase "coming back from the dead" for the King Tut car of Tags?

I'm not sure what to think of this. I personally have grown a bit upset with Bruno the way he treated Dale Coynes men last year, however, I admire that he dug around and found sponsorship, or atleast got into a car when a team found sponsorship. His hardwork made me like him a bit more again. However, I'm happy to see Tags in the 500 now, even after his team screwed up by not getting him in the show in the first place, but I'm sad to see it's happening this way. Not sure how to react to this one as a fan or a Canadian.

Give me your thoughts on this. I want to know how to be cool, so I'll react like you folks do.

34 Confirmed

Once you count 1 Rahal-Letterman car (Servia) and the third KVRT car (Townsend Bell), we've just hit 34 cars confirmed. So we've basically confirmed bumping, unless someone doesn't make it to qualifying due to crash damage or something along those lines.

With Rookie Orientation finishing tomorrow due to the rain, we should see who is here for the full month tomorrow.

So let's recap the confirmed one offs.

• A.J. Foyt IV - A.J. Foyt Enterprises
• Buddy Lazier - Hemelgarn
• Scott Sharp - Panther
• Paul Tracy - KVRT
• Nelson Philippe - HVM
• John Andretti - D&R
• Davey Hamilton - D&R
• Alex Lloyd - Sam Schmidt
• Townsend Bell - KVRT
• Oriol Servia - RLR
• Will Power - Penske

Sure, I threw Will Power in there as a one-off, simply because the kid is in such a difficult position, and he is basically a one-off unless HCN or the Briscoe gets hurt (knock on wood) at some point during the season.

This has to be the most talented one-off fields since the split. You could make a strong argument for atleast 10 of the 11 to have a full time ride in the ICS, and you could pick 3 winners from this group (Power, Tracy and Sharp) and multiple outside bets (Servia, Lloyd, Foyt IV, and Bell). I'd be willing to bet money (with odds of course) that one of the one-offs will win this years version of the 500.

Whatever happens, this years race is shaping up to be quite a doozy. This much talent + the most historic track in the world = A Dream, and we get to live it.

Edit: Jeff over at MyNameIsIRL has informed me that Stanton Barrett's lack of sponsorship might drop him out of 500 contention.

Push-to-Pass tested in Kentucky Derby

I'm not sure how many of you saw the Kentucky Derby yesterday, but it turns out 50-to-1 winner, Mine That Bird, had some help.

Danica Patrick at Mid-Ohio and Snoroma in 2007 tested a new steering rack, basically a Power Steering substitute for the ICS Dallara's in race. This aid helped move her towards the front of the pack on those two road courses while she was usually qualifying mid-pack in 2007 on road and street courses.

For those of you who didn't see the race, the clip is provided below.



Well it turns out, now that the race is completed, Mine That Bird and jockey Calvin Borel were secretely testing out a new Push-to-Pass system for horse racing which provided them with the extra horsepower to pull off the upset.

Much like the Champ Car World Series used, and the IRL uses to a lesser extent and in a different manner, when pushed, the horse is able to use a bit of extra horsepower for about 10 to 15 seconds.

"It's basically like taking a Red Bull in the middle of a race for a horse, without the wings" said an anonymous trainer. "They wanted to make things a little more exciting, and well, I think this system needs a little refinement, but once it's all worked out, it will make horse racing a whole lot more exciting."

It is unclear at this point in time if the system will be implemented on all horses for the Blackberry Preakness Stakes or if it will continue to be worked on in a trial basis.

Over at ChampCarFanatics.com, CCWS loyalists are now claiming that Thoroughbred racing has stolen another one of it's ideas, the same way they believe every single element they had was stolen by another series or league somewhere in the world, much the way F1, and now the Indycar Series has copied the Optional Tires.

The IRL is also doing it's best to get Mine That Bird jockey Calvin Borel into Marty Roth's second entry at the Indianapolis 500 saying "If he can get a 50-1 underdog to win the Kentucky Derby, he should be able to help Marty Roth make the field."

The Other Side - Poll of the Week

Alright, well last week, Poll was all about Will Power and the options Roger Penske had in regards to his signed talent. Well, some of you spoke, and a large group of you thought he would simply run him at Indy while the rest basically though he'd either ship him off to another team or run 3 cars full time.

I guess I was the only one who thought he'd run him until he dropped out of the points race. Oh well, I guess I'm a tad different then the rest of you.

So this weeks question is all about the current 1-off entries. Who will qualify the highest of the current one-offs? Right now we have 8 one-off entries, so scroll down the page a bit and let me know who you think will qualify the highest by voting in the poll, and let me know how high you think they'll qualify in the comments section, I'd like to hear your opinions.

CSI: AGR

Well with the recent news about Danicker's car being stolen (the finger puppets did it), and the clips being put out by AGR, I'm on the case to determine whether this happened or not.

Evidence #1




Well, this seems like a seemingly normal cell phone video of a cop and someone outside of the AGR shop. Clearly there is no evidence proving this is a fake, but no real evidence this isn't a setup either.

Evidence #2




Well this supposed surveillance video will show the car actually being taken out of the AGR shop and put into a trailer. However, it is a hell of a coincidence that the trailer was backed up to just the right spot so that it was pretty well centered in the picture. On top of that, the robbers didn't seem to have any issues getting into the shop or getting the car onto the trailer which you think would be a bit tricky for a bunch of crooks who have probably never loaded a ICS Dallara onto a trailer. But hell, if you really want, you can push this one and say that the stars lined up to make this all work for this video, sort of like what would have to happen for Danica to win without fuel strategy.

Evidence #3




Well considering this news cast looks very fake in the first place, and there is a pretty obvious edit near the beginning (let me know if you can find it), the baseball scores are a few days old. Since this is the newest video out there, you would think they would be last night or even todays scores, but they aren't. They are atleast 2 nights old. That, ontop of the fact that I can't find a station name anywhere on there, and that they call themselves Action News, leads me to believe this is a fake.

Anyways, it's not really my decision, what do crime stoppers have to say? Leave me some love in the comment section.

HVM Hurtin'

Now, at the beginning of the year, I figured HVM was pretty well off. Sure they were a one-car team, but they were a one car team with some dough behind them. PVDSA has been funding E.J Viso's Indycar career for '08 and '09, but this year, with the added engine bill ontop of everything they had last year, there seems to be a bit more of a budget crunch.

Before the first race of the year, there were whispers HVM was hurting for some coin. Mike King said they were going to have difficulty answering the bell and making it through the season. Well, so far, he has an average finish of just over 20th, and 2 of them have been mechanical failures, which can sometimes have connections to the lack of money (teams trying to make things last, not buying the best parts etc...).

How we are coming up on the month of May, and while HVM might be expanding it's team to two cars for the I500, it isn't expanding the amount of chassis' it has kickin' around. According to Is It May Yet (who seems absolutely giddy that it's that time of the year), the addition of Nelson Philippe to the HVM stable has come at the expense of Monsieur Viso's 13 T-car. HVM will instead run solely cars 13 and 31 with no T-cars entered for the race.

Well I'm sorry, but running through the month of May with two cars, hoping neither crashes, well... You'd better be liked by the big guy in the sky, especially if you consider who the driver of the #13 car is. You'd have to assume HVM is making some money off of this endeavor to help fund the rest of Viso's season, otherwise this risk would seem almost stupid. I mean it's nice to get two cars out of them for May, and it's nice to see Nelson Philippe out there, this time in an IRL sanctioned race, but come on, there must be another reason they are doing it, and I'm guessing it's money.

So I guess the rumors at the beginning of the season were true regarding HVM's money, or lack there of, and with a string of ovals coming up, this is where we'll see that lack of money hurt the most. Hopefully they can come out it relatively well at Indy and Mr. Excitement can provide some excitement for us all.

Official Indianapolis 500-Mile Race Entry List Revealed

Ladies and Germs, the official list has been released by IMS and the IRL for the 93rd running for the Indy 500. Here is the Adobe file -> 93rd Indianapolis 500-Mile Race Entry List

In total, I counted 40 primary cars entered. However, the odds of some of them making an attempt are slim.

RLR has a car entered, but they've said they were having problems getting the funding for the 500 even.

Sarah Fisher has 67, 67T, and 68 entered. No T-car for the second entry.

Conquest, Dale Coyne both have two cars entered.

KVRT has entered 3 cars, Paul Tracy, Moraes, and TBA. TBA should either be Servia or Townsend Bell according to Cavin.

Roth Racing has two cars entered, however he is not listed as the driver. Both are TBA.

Team 3G only has 1 primary and T-car entered for Stanton Barrett, so you can assume Tomas will land elsewhere.

AJ Foyt has 3 primary/T-car combos entered

1. 14 Vitor Meira - ABC Supply Co. - A.J. Foyt Enterprises
2. 41 A.J. Foyt IV - ABC Supply/Foyt-Greer Racing - A.J. Foyt Enterprises
3. 48 TBD - A.J. Foyt Racing - A.J. Foyt Enterprises

Dreyer & Reinbold have 23, 24, 43, 44 entered. 23 and 24 are TBD (Best guesses are Roger Yasukawa, Milka Duno, or Darren Manning) while John Andretti and Davey Hamilton are running the 43 and 44 respectively.

Vision has a third car under the Bryan Herta Motorsports banner. I hope Mr. Herta runs the car himself as it would be fun to watch, plus another American won't hurt.

I'm sort of hoping Sarah another girl to run her second car. I think that might be her best way to attract some sponsors as well, maybe throw Ana Beatriz into the car?

Anyways, don't expect all these cars to make it to the grid. Unless a miracle occurs, I wouldn't expect RLR to make it or one of the Roth Racing cars. Some people get it in their heads that because they see 40 primarys on the entry list, that 40 primary cars will attempt to qualify when that is barely ever the case. Whether we get 40 to attempt a run, or 35, it will still be a fun month at IMS for everyone involved.

Updated 93rd Indianapolis 500-Mile Race Entry List

I've decided I will update the entry list I did for the Question of the Week a little while ago relatively often so that you lovely readers have something to keep you occupied. Here is what I have come up with today after all the hoopla and announcements.

Full Season Cars (21)

#2 Raphael Matos - Luczo Dragon Racing
#3 Helio Castroneves - Team Penske
#4 Dan Wheldon - Panther Racing
#5 Mario Moraes - Kalkhoven Vasser Racing Technologies
#6 Ryan Briscoe - Team Penske
#7 Danica Patrick - Andretti Green Racing
#9 Scott Dixon - Target Chip Ganassi Racing
#10 Dario Franchitti - Target Chip Ganassi Racing
#11 Tony Kanaan - Andretti Green Racing
#13 E.J. Viso - HVM Racing
#14 Vitor Meira - A.J. Foyt Enterprises
#19 Justin Wilson - Dale Coyne Racing
#20 Ed Carpenter - Vision Racing
#21 Ryan Hunter-Reay - Vision Racing
#24 Mike Conway - Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
#26 Marco Andretti - Andretti Green Racing
#27 Hideki Mutoh - Andretti Green Racing
#34 Alex Tagliani - Conquest Racing
#98 Stanton Barrett - Team 3G
#02 Graham Rahal - Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing
#06 Robert Doornbos - Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing

Partial (Including Indy)/Indy Only Confirmed (7)

TBD Alex Lloyd - Sam Schmidt Motorsports/Target Chip Ganassi Racing
#12 Will Power - Team Penske
#15 Paul Tracy - Kalkhoven Vasser Racing Technologies
#16 Scott Sharp - Panther Racing
#43 John Andretti - Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Richard Petty Motorsports
#44 Davey Hamilton - Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Kingdom Racing
#67 Sarah Fisher - Sarah Fisher Racing

Announced, but skeptical (1)

TBD - Top Cover Racing

Expected but not announced (5)

#18 TBD - Dale Coyne Racing
#23 Darren Manning/Milka Duno - Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
#36 TBD - Conquest Racing
#41 A.J. Foyt IV - A.J. Foyt Enterprises
TBD Tomas Scheckter - TBD

Possible, but Less Likely (14)

#8 Townsend Bell/Oriol Servia - Kalkhoven Vasser Racing Technologies
#17 TBD - Rahal Letterman Racing
#25 Marty Roth - Roth Racing
#76 TBD - Sarah Fisher Racing
TBD TBD - Bryan Herta Autosports
TBD Franck Montagny - Andretti Green Racing
TBD TBD - Walker Racing
TBD Jeff Simmons - A.J. Foyt Enterprises
TBD Robby Gordon - Robbie Gordon Racing/Richard Childress Racing
TBD TBD - Rubicon Racing
TBD TBD - Hemelgarn Racing
TBD Junior Strous - PDM Racing
TBD Takuma Sato - de Ferran Motorsports
TBD TBD -Vision Racing

So right now we are at 28 confirmed, and if the 5 I have down as possible confirm, we are guarenteed 33 which is good. I'm trying to figure out where guys like Robin Miller and Curt Cavin are coming up with their numbers though. I believe them, but I just can't figure out where they would come from.

Paul Tracy/Geico to KVRT for I500

Paul Tracy has been announced by KVRT to run the I500 with Geico sponsorship. He will be driving the number 15 KVRT machine with extensive Geico signage.

Max Papis was on hand at the announcement in Long Beach as a Geico driver. Due to Max' past efforts at Indy, you would have to wonder if Max would jump into PT's T-car if PT makes it on the first weekend of qualifying.

33? UOWWB QOTW

Well, the Indy 500 is creeping up on us. The race itself is 43 days away, while the track opens up May 5th, 25 days from now. Indycar teams have these dates scheduled on their calendars, and so do many of us fans. And early next week, we get to figure out who will be attempting to run the 500, as the entry list comes out. Now, I'm pretty sure we'll have a surprise or two in the entry list when it does get posted, which is usually one of the fun parts of May. Anyways, here is this weeks UOWWB question of the week.

"With the lack of cars, how many cars do you expect at Indy this year?"

There have been rumors lately about a lack of parts for the Dallara's lately, specifically Team 3G running into issues to find a car for Tomas Scheckter to run. Another rumor had Robby Gordon and Childress getting together to run a car for the 500, but could find an actual car to run. Whether there is a shortage of cars or not, in Curt Cavin and Steve Ballard's latest article at Indystar.com Brian Barnhart believes 35 or 36 cars will attempt to qualify for The Greatest Spectacle in Racing. However, Cavin also writes about ways the race could get to 40 cars this year. So let's go through this and see what I can get to. Don't forget, this is the entry list, not nessicarily who shows up.

Full Season Cars (20)

#2 Raphael Matos - Luczo Dragon Racing
#3 Helio Castroneves - Team Penske
#4 Dan Wheldon - Panther Racing
#5 Mario Moraes - Kalkhoven Vasser Racing Technologies
#6 Ryan Briscoe - Team Penske
#7 Danica Patrick - Andretti Green Racing
#9 Scott Dixon - Target Chip Ganassi Racing
#10 Dario Franchitti - Target Chip Ganassi Racing
#11 Tony Kanaan - Andretti Green Racing
#13 E.J. Viso - HVM Racing
#14 Vitor Meira - A.J. Foyt Enterprises
#19 Justin Wilson - Dale Coyne Racing
#20 Ed Carpenter - Vision Racing
#21 Ryan Hunter-Reay - Vision Racing
#24 Mike Conway - Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
#26 Marco Andretti - Andretti Green Racing
#27 Hideki Mutoh - Andretti Green Racing
#98 Stanton Barrett - Team 3G
#02 Graham Rahal - Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing
#06 Robert Doornbos - Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing

Cars trying to do the full season (1)

#34 Alex Tagliani - Conquest Racing

Partial (Including Indy)/Indy Only Confirmed (7)

TBD Alex Lloyd - Sam Schmidt Motorsports/Target Chip Ganassi Racing
#12 Will Power - Team Penske
#15 Paul Tracy - Kalkhoven Vasser Racing Technologies
#16 Scott Sharp - Panther Racing
#43 John Andretti - Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Richard Petty Motorsports
#44 Davey Hamilton - Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Kingdom Racing
#67 Sarah Fisher - Sarah Fisher Racing

Announced, but skeptical (1)

TBD - Top Cover Racing

Expected but not announced (5)

#18 TBD - Dale Coyne Racing
#23 Darren Manning/Milka Duno - Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
#36 TBD - Conquest Racing
#41 A.J. Foyt IV - A.J. Foyt Enterprises
TBD Tomas Scheckter - TBD

Possible, but Less Likely (13)

#8 Townsend Bell/Oriol Servia - Kalkhoven Vasser Racing Technologies
#17 TBD - Rahal Letterman Racing
#76 TBD - Sarah Fisher Racing
TBD TBD - Bryan Herta Autosports
TBD Franck Montagny - Andretti Green Racing
TBD TBD - Walker Racing
TBD Jeff Simmons - A.J. Foyt Enterprises
TBD Robby Gordon - Robbie Gordon Racing/Richard Childress Racing
TBD TBD - Rubicon Racing
TBD TBD - Hemelgarn Racing
TBD Junior Strous - PDM Racing
TBD Takuma Sato - de Ferran Motorsports
TBD TBD -Vision Racing

As far as I can drum up, we will have atleast 33 guarenteed trying to qualify. We get bump day from the less likely teams that end up putting together deals to run. I think with the tough times money-wise, and the shortage of parts, I think making 33 guarenteed between the full season, part timers/one-offs, and the expected cars is pretty good. Obviously we will see some surprises, and hopefully 3 Penske cars either way. Maybe Penske pulls Sam Hornish Jr. out of the taxi that weekend to try and vault the number 77 car up the owners points standings and throws him into a Dallara for the 500?

So either way, I am not worried about hitting 33 cars. I'm excited to see who does end up showing to the race and to see who ends up making the field. We should see between 35 and 38 cars actually attempt to qualify which is good for the race and for the competition.

Edit 1: Moved Scheckter to expected but not announced.

Sam Schmidt is Thinkin'

Sam Schmidt might be one of the surprises of May. If you haven't heard, Indycar.com is reporting they will run Alex Lloyd in association with Chip Ganassi in the 93th Indianapolis 500.

Lloyd is the 2007 FIL champion and signed a contract with TCGR over the following winter. He ran a bunch of Grand-Am in '08 and did the I500 with RLR in association with TCGR, but has been out of an ICS car since May 2008. None the less, Lloyd is a very talented driver with experience at the Brickyard in a top flight organization like RLR.

Sam Schmidt Motorsports will most likely run Alex Lloyd in a car supplied by Target Chip Ganassi Racing. Odds are that car will have all the bits and pieces on it that the average TCGR car would have. So, Sam Schmidt will turn up to the 500 with probably it's best chance of competing near the front of the event due to the partnership only a mad man could dream up. Sam Schmidt has to be considered a dark horse to actually win the main event when in years past he would be a dark horse to qualify for the show.

Obviously, the odds are very long for him to win, but if you ask Sam Schmidt, I would bet he would say this is the best opportunity they've had in years. He has just been handed a good young driver, a top notch car, and has a crew that has experience at the 500 (they have either run a car under the Sam Schmidt banner or in association with another team the last few years).

Sam Schmidt just entered the realm of Big 3, atleast for one race. Bet you didn't think that would happen did you?

The Other Side Poll - 2009 I500 Starters

I posted the question to my loyal yet vote lacking readers. Thanks to those of you who voted. I'd like to try and get some more votes to make these a little more interesting.

How Many Cars Will Attempt To Qualify For The 2009 Indy
500?

Those of you that voted, many of you voted for either 36 or 38 cars to visit on qualifying day. Obviously this poll has as much importance as a tit on a nun, but it is still interesting to see what you guys are thinking. It's odd because 2008 saw 37 cars attempt to run in the only 500 on the schedule. So maybe you are following the post-bimergification trend and going with that number, or your simply pulling a number out of your rear end, but either way, this number sounds about right.

There will be about 23 or 24 cars on the starting grid in 2009 for the average ICS race, with 26 last year the norm. So we could probably say there will be one or two less cars attempt to qualify. Makes sense, but we could also see some more one-car entries with the larger interest post-merger. It's really a gamble on guessing the exact number.

Anyways, I'll guarentee we see more then 33 cars attempt to qualify which is what matters.

Anyways, the question for this week (if you care) is as follows.

Who will be the top non-Big 3 team in 2009?

Hopefully you guys throw up your opinions in the comments section as well as on the actual poll.

One KVRT Car, Until 500 Anyways

Well, according to the article on Indycar.com it sounds like KVRT is starting the year with one car.

"He's still young and learning a lot, but we were impressed with him last year,"
said Vasser, who is hopeful that he and co-owner Kevin Kalkhoven will assemble to funding to add a second car to the grid starting with the 93rd Indianapolis 500. "When you can be on par with or quicker than Bruno Junqueira on a road course, that's saying something. And he was really getting racy on the last few ovals and he's still on a steep learning curve. He's doing a great job."

So I guess we can count on one car from them for sure for the first three races, and hope that they get either PT or Servia (or another ride buyer) into the second car from Indy on. Maybe they are hoping their second car wins the 500 so they can use that money to run 2 cars the rest of the year?

I am still in awe of how Kalkhoven can run only one car when he is a friggen billionaire. I guess he and Tony could team up and run a team, then we'd have two rich guys run a car each, and they would still never win.