Doornbos to HVM?

Well, Autoracing1.com has posted alot of rumors, but this one is pretty good and it's getting alot of play from ICS types.

AR1.com is running a rumor that HVM is preparing a car for Robert Doornbos of NHL Racing. Obviously, things have been rocky over at NHL Racing with reports that the relationship between Graham Rahal and Bobby D was frosty at best. Graham could be heard on TV during the Watkins Glen telecast complaining about his teammate blocking him.

We've heard all year long that Doornbos was tight on having the money to run the full season for NHL, and it makes sense that if he is low on money, HVM would be able to make it work for a little bit less dough. Let's not forget that Doornbos has history with Keith Wiggins. Doornbos ran for Minardi - Team USA in the Champ Car World Series which was partially owned by Wiggins.

Hell, if I were Doornbos, I'd be fed up playing second fiddle to Graham. It's quite obvious that Graham is getting the better equipment, and it must be tough for an older driver to see a younger budding star out shine him in what the public must think is equal cars.

If this is true, it would be the meeting of two financially strapped items. Both Doornbos and Mr. Wiggins are hurting for money, so hopefully this works out for them.

Obviously, this increases speculation that Sebastien Bourdais will be returning to NHL Racing, possibly in time for Mid-Ohio. If so, awesome. If not, there is no big loss here since we aren't losing any cars in the field.

Seeing Sebastien Bourdais running at Mid-Ohio would be amazing. That is the type of course he excels on, and it would be awesome to see him dicing it up with the Penske's and Ganassi's. Add to that, +1 car on the grid and it's a good situation for the depth of the field and the fans sitting at home.

I'm going to make a stop at the Gryphon tonight, and hopefully our good bartender can shed some light on this situation for us.

HVM Preparing Their Excuses Early This Year

It seems like HVM has found some associate sponsorship for Ernesto Viso's car the 2009 sponsorship. Looking at the picture on the IRL homepage that goes along with the Lucky 13? article, it seems they have Nestle and some other company I can't figure out along for the ride for 2009. That is good news for a smaller team. Hopefully some of that sponsorship can help turn RHR nosing around for a ride into RHR nosing around for wins in a second HVM car. There is some history between HVM and RHR as iZod boy ran for HVM (then known as Herdez Competition) in Champ Car in 2004, winning at Milwaukee.

In other news, in an attempt to think up excuses for Viso's accidents as a result of his aggessive driving style, HVM and EJ in particular have come up with an ingenious idea, let's change the car number to 13! EJ discusses his decision at Indycar.com.

And in a news release next week, HVM will announce their associations with Werner Ladder Company and the American Mirror Company. All pre-race interviews will be conducted under a ladder, and to prove how not supersticious Ernesto is, he will break a minimum of 1 mirror each qualifying day.

And at the end of the year, when things go poorly, Keith Wiggins and EJ can blame it all on the bad luck they've had due to their various associations and sponsorships, and they will switch to lucky number 07 for the 2010 schedule.