Bartender Rumors #6

I headed down to the bar tonight for a pint and a chat. Figured after a nice long weekend, drinking on a tuesday would be a positive. Turns out I was too early for our favorite bartender, so I had to sit around an hour or so, gave me time to enjoy beer.

Anyways, when he did show up, he was lively and entertaining. I had shown up with a few questions in hand from some tweeps on Twitter. I got those questions answered and got a couple other tidbits for your enjoyment.

@indy44 wanted to know what the bartender thought about his theory in regards to the 2009/2010 silly season. "Dixon to De Ferran, Danica to Ganassi & AGR running 2 car team with TK and Marco".

• He's not totally sure what is happening. Dixon all depends on the contract option, which no one seems to know if it is Dixon's option to return to TCGR in 2010, or Ganassi's option on Dixon for 2010. He says if Dixon can get out of the contract in 2010, Scott will be at De Ferran Motorsports asap. He says AGR runs three cars for Danica, Marco, and TK.

@PlanetIRLdotcom asked about where Dan Wheldon would end up in 2010.

• He said he had heard a possibility where Wheldon ends up at De Ferran Motorsports to team with Simon Pagenaud, but it is nothing substantial right now. Dan wants to go back to AGR, but they don't have an interest in him apparently. Dan will have to wait and see how the cookie crumbles.

For future reference, I will always post on my twitter page within a day of when I head to the bar, so if you have questions for him, just tweet me.

He also had this to say.

• He still expects Takuma Sato to be in a car at Homestead. Apparently Honda didn't want to break him in on ovals in front of his home crowd in case he had a bad outing.
• He said AGR is the only good team that wants to put up with Danica running both Nascab and ICS.
• He says to expect big things from HVM in 2010. Doornbos signed on with them for the rest of 2009 and all of 2010 because he was promised big improvements from his funding for the HVM Dallara's.
• J.R. Hildebrand to Panther? Jonathan Bomarito to Coyne?

That's all for tonight, I'll be visiting him on Friday night after the local Ribfest. Should be a good night, and I'll have something for you guys on saturday or sunday.

The Dixon Chronicles

For anyone who believes in the 2010 Dixon to De Ferran rumors, you just got a little bit more news to nibble on. For those of you who don't believe he is going anywhere in 2010, well, keep reading for my sake.

SpeedTV is reporting that Dixon will be joining the young, and possibly ICS bound, Simon Pagenaud along with team owner Gil de Ferran behind the wheel of the race-winning #66 XM Radio de Ferran Motorsports Acura ARX-02a prototype for Petit Le Mans.

This will be Scott's third time in a De Ferran Motorsports prepared prototype, and if rumors are true, he could be in a De Ferran Motorsports prepared Dallara in 2010 full-time. Leaving arguably the top Indycar team over the past 2 seasons and moving to a start up Indycar team (however, most likely backed by Honda) wouldn't seem the best career move, especially for a recent Champion. We've all seen what happened to Jacques Villeneuve's F1 career and his BAR fiasco.

However, there were strong rumors about Dixon being frustrated or upset over the summer that included everything from having a teammate that can compete with him (Franchitti) to Danica Patrick running a third Ganassi car. Robin Miller first broke the news of a possible Dixon to de Ferran, and Miller hasn't been too far off lately.

Oh, and there is something about an option for 2010 in Dixon's contract, yet, no one seems to know if it is Dixon's option or TCGR's option on Dixon. Obviously, if it is Ganassi's option, this could all be a moot point.

Of course, I'm sure de Ferran is doing everything he can to woo over the 29 year old Dixon. Start a new team with Honda and Apex-Brazil backing, then sign a two-time (possibly three time) champion in your first season would be a pretty big step towards becoming competitive from the get go. And who better to have Simon Pagenaud learn off of then the Iceman?

Anyways, make of it what you will. Most of this stuff is probably blown out of proportion in the first place, but, it's fun to speculate. Atleast Dixon running in Petit Le Mans is a sure thing, the rest of it, not so much.