Shake 'em up

Well, Milwaukee is done, and count that towards another race I missed due to my terrible lacrosse schedule that this past weekend, included a 5 hour bus ride to Ottawa to play a team we knew we'd beat, and we did. Unfortunately, game time was race time, which meant I had to go have rubber lacrosse balls hurled at me while Indycars flew around the Milwaukee Mile a couple hundred plus times.

Anyways, Dixon won, Briscoe continued his strong performances at Milwaukee, Danica finished top 5 again, and PT had a rough day. It's all over now, time to move to to Texas for this coming weekend and the Bombardier Learjet 550k/341.75m at the Cheesegrader Texas Motor Speedway. I like Texas, but something tells me the drivers fear that track. Hitting the wall there at 210ish can't be very much fun, and it has the reputation for tearing cars apart.

However, let's not forget the positives from Texas, the great side-by-side racing it provides us, the great crowd they pull in, the wide array of winners it produces, and drive through liquor stores.

As for the driver line up, there are a couple shakeups. First of all, PT is out, which seems mutual after AJ was embarrassed by the car he provided PT, and after PT realized he would be a lapped car in the Foyt equipment at Texas. Instead, AJ Foyt Numero 4 will pilot the ABC Supply Co. machine at Texas.

Stanton Barrett has finally stepped out of the car, for now anyways. Jacques Lazier will drive the car in Texas after Greg Beck said his Dallara needed an experienced driver right now. Atleast J-Laz will be up to speed and running with the back half of the field instead of being lapped every 10 laps. Beck did say Barrett will be back in the car at some point this season, just not sure when yet. I guess whenever the car doesn't need an experienced driver?

Conquest hasn't announced their driver yet. It will most likely be Alex Tagliani, Tomas Scheckter, or they won't show up. If you believe the rumor I threw up from the Bartender last week, they just won't show up.

As for the aforementioned Scheckter, he was on Twitter saying he is "looking forward to Texas" which led to rumors he would be driving in Texas obviously. Options are limited, either a second DCR car (please, please, please!), a third DRR car which has been rumored by Indyinformer as the number 43 car, or the open seat at Conquest. Hoping it isn't Conquest as this will raise the car count by one if both Conquest and Scheckter show up seperately.

Milka Duno is back in the number 23 car this weekend after stepping out for T. Scheckter last weekend. Milka will provide ample challenges for the leaders, she will most likely get about as much exposure as a top 5 car will, as she will be on camera about once every 10 laps as the leaders lap her.

By the way, all these shake ups are adding to the suspense of the "The Other Side - Weekly Poll". With Stanton Barrett and PT out, with Milka and Schecks in, the point standings will change a little bit. Make sure you vote, there are only 4 days left.

For now, this is how it has shaken out. I'm sure we'll hear more possibilities as we get closer to qualifying on Friday afternoon/night. Anything changes, I'll let you know about it.

Bartender Rumors #2

Well I went back to the pub last night in hopes that our former IRL team member would be tending the bar again, and well, he definately was. He said he checked out the blog and saw what he told me on the blog and laughed. Anyways, he said he'll keep feeding me the goods as long as I keep leaving him a nice tip, which I think I can do. He also told me he likes seeing his stuff online.

Anyways, I picked up his hours for the next two weeks so I can head in there a few times to get some news. Anyways, here's what he gave me last night.

• Rahal-Letterman Racing would return to Indianapolis this year for sure (confirmed this morning with Servia landing the ride).
• He says Patron is very impressed with Panther Racing level of professionalism. He says Patron has three options for 2010, they will either start their own ICS team, not join, or they will stay on board with Panther. It all depends on what Sharp does this year at Indy, and how much air time they get during the race.
• Takuma Sato is basically guarenteed a ride at Motegi with someone. Honda is already putting together a pit crew of ALMS guys to work on his car that weekend.
• Jacques Lazier is basically set for Indy this year.
• PDM Racing likely won't be at Indy. They were trying to get Jimmy Kite into their car for the second week but they are running out of time fast.
• Rubicon has plans for a second week entry (Conquest's second car) only if Buddy Rice can't find a ride.

So there you go, take it or leave it, but I've got them all written down on this napkin here beside me. I'll head back on friday or saturday, maybe Saturday incase he has some opinions on qualifying.

Feel free to discuss his news in the comments section.