Buddy Rice & Sarah Fisher to D&R

[Tim Northcutt]

Robin Miller reported in an article on Speed that Buddy Rice will be announced at Daytona as Dreyer & Reinbold's driver for this season.

[stradlin21]

and they are expected to run a second car full time


so i've heard

great news for Rice though, was hoping to see him get a drive

[luke]

Can't see him being competitive though for them. Since 2004 Buddy hasn't really been good and that won't help not being in a top team IMO.

[Tim Northcutt]

UPDATE:

The actual announcement today, according to the Indy Star, is that Buddy Rice and Sarah Fisher will compete as a two-car team for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing.

Here is the link:

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dl...TS01/701300465

[stradlin21]

Originally Posted by Tim Northcutt

UPDATE:

The actual announcement today, according to the Indy Star, is that Buddy Rice and Sarah Fisher will compete as a two-car team for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing.

Here is the link:

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dl...TS01/701300465

excellent news!

i think they will be stronger this season, anyone think the same?

[Tim Northcutt]

The engineers they picked up from Fernandez Racing over the winter certainly will help

[BootsOntheSide]

Some good news there - both Rice and Fisher are good for the championship and in need of an opportunity to show their ability. D&R always seem to do well with what little they have.

[marcus]

well I certainly hope so.

Great to have both of them in the series and I hope D & R can improve on things over the past few years.

should be good to watch their progression during the season

[D.R.T.]

Good to see Buddy having a ride and great to see Fisher back. One thing that stood out from the Speed artical was when Buddy said he'd like to thank the IRL for putting this deal together.

[climb]

AT this point there are 18 full season drivers on the grid.
Given the circumstances, it's not bad at all.

[climb]

Originally Posted by luke

Can't see him being competitive though for them. Since 2004 Buddy hasn't really been good and that won't help not being in a top team IMO.

A typical situation of every series in the world; of course he cannot be reckoned between the candidates to the title, but it doesn't prevent from leaving good marks sometimes.
Just remember what Buddy Lazier did last year at Indy.

[Tim Northcutt]

I think you're referring to 2005 with Lazier, Climb....when he took fifth place.

Last year, he struggled and moved up the order only due to attrition to cars in front of him.

[climb]

sorry Tim, you're right as usual

Of course I meant 2005, time goes by so fast...

[racer69]

Of course, Lazier finished 5th in 2005 at Indy with Panther Racing, not D&R

Originally Posted by Tim Northcutt

The engineers they picked up from Fernandez Racing over the winter certainly will help

Does this mean the Fernandez/Chesson team-up is less likely to happen now?

[Tim Northcutt]

Originally Posted by racer69

Of course, Lazier finished 5th in 2005 at Indy with Panther Racing, not D&R



Does this mean the Fernandez/Chesson team-up is less likely to happen now?

Not necessarily....those engineers were picked up by D&R when the news came out last autumn that Fernandez had laid off some of the employees from the shop.

The Fernandez/Chesson possibility become news weeks after the hiring of those engineers by D&R, so this should not impact that potential deal, IMO

[climb]

Originally Posted by racer69

Of course, Lazier finished 5th in 2005 at Indy with Panther Racing, not D&R

Yes I know it, I just cited him as a case of a driver running for a small team (panther in 2005 were no more what they used to be at Hornish' time) but able to perform well,even on important races.

[drdisque]

Panther ran 3 cars at Indy in '05, the most they've ever run.

[climb]

But they were no more the team they used to be at Hornish's time.Most of the staff around Sam had quitted the team, as well as the main sponsor

[drdisque]

they had the same main sponsor in '05 as they did when Sam was there.

[racer69]

And they had 2 full-time cars (Pennzoil #4 & Rockstar #2), plus Lazier's seperatly sponsored again #95 car at Indy.

[Xpunk75]

Personally I don't believe ether of them will be competitive at all, unless your driving for Penske, Gannassi, or Andretti, your chances of winning a race are much slim to nill.

[Tenoch]

Originally Posted by Xpunk75

Personally I don't believe ether of them will be competitive at all, unless your driving for Penske, Gannassi, or Andretti, your chances of winning a race are much slim to nill.

pretty much deadon. take the case of vitor meira, the vast majority of us (forumites) can see that he has the skill to win a race but he has been hampered by inferior equipment.

[luke]

Exactly, Meira should have been part of the 4 drivers for A-G. Not Danica.
Kim you should have got Meira, then again I guess Danica brings the sponsorship being a lady and Vitor is limited in that department...

[JohnSSC]

Meira drove for Rahal-letterman for two seasons. I do not believe he was hampered by inferior equipment then...

[stradlin21]

in 2005 he was easily better then his two teammates and finished 7th in the championship

he is a very good driver