New Entries & Maybe New Venue for 2007

[Peno]

Originally Posted by indycool

Cahill brought Donnie Beechler to the series as a rookie five years ago and Beechler acquitted himself very well.

That was when TG had the Vision for dirt trackers to get into an all-oval series such as the IRL, much like what was happening with IndyCars up until the late 1960's. He still believes in that to an extent but the dirt trackers will find the adaptation to road racing harder than expected. Let's just get back on the topic and not squabble about Cahill's decision. I have an opinion, you have one but this is just an opinion from someone who has seen drivers like AJ IV, Chesson, Buddy Lazier, even Hornish Jr. to a lesser extent (all oval specialists) struggle when it comes to road racing in IRL cars.

[indycool]

Peno, sprint and Silver Crown cars also run on pavement and they did back then, too. When CART first started going to road courses in the early '80s, many of the oval-track drivers took Skip Barber courses and the like. Some adjusted well, some didn't and as more road races got on the schedule, more road racers got in the game. Again, the IRL has 12 ovals and five road courses, heavily weighted toward ovals. 12 is more than twice as many as five, doing the math.

[Peno]

If the sprintcar, midget, etc. racers can adapt to road racing, more power to them. I just don't know if they can win races in the future, but then again a driver like Mario Andretti started on dirt ovals and he turned out just great when it came to turning right.

[Snips1]

At the moment it seems like the Cahill program is in jeopardy, there seems to be some heat problems with the Panoz chassic and the ethanol fuel, Cahill has not picked up the 4 Panoz' chassis that he had ordered from Ganassi...

We will see I guess...

[climb]

From what I know, this is the current situation:
AGR: 4 cars
Vision: 4 cars (one will be added)
Penske: 2 cars
Ganassi: 2 cars
Panther: 2 cars
Rahal: 2 cars
Fernandez: 1 car
Foyt: 1 car

The current total should be 18 cars, which is not bad at all considering the current troubles of openwheel racing in the US and the incredible CC's success, which is expected to put on the track 35-40 cars, according to CC unbiased fans


Cahill, from what I know, should be running a basic Indy500 schedule.

[D.R.T.]

Originally Posted by climb

and the incredible CC's success, which is expected to put on the track 35-40 cars, according to CC unbiased fans

You seem to have CC on the mind climb.

[Snips1]

It sounds like the DRR deal with Rice is pretty solid.. We will see I guess...

Don't like the fact that TG has to add cras just to get the number right, nor the fact that we have the same amount of cars, but fewer owners/teams...

[D.R.T.]

Is Buddy bringing $$$$. Just wondering how D & R couldnt get it done with Fisher but have apparently firming up with Buddy ?

[indycool]

I haven't heard that they can't get it done with Fisher, nor how many cars they intend to run.

[Jimmy Magnusson]

Originally Posted by climb

The current total should be 18 cars, which is not bad at all considering the current troubles of openwheel racing in the US and the incredible CC's success, which is expected to put on the track 35-40 cars, according to CC unbiased fans

No need for that comment 35-40 cars are being built if my mind serves me right, but I guess that there's going to be around 20-22 on track.

[Snips1]

Originally Posted by D.R.T.

Is Buddy bringing $$$$. Just wondering how D & R couldnt get it done with Fisher but have apparently firming up with Buddy ?

It seems like DD are going to haev 2 cars, Fisher is rumored to have a seat and so is Rice, but Camara also is in the frame

[climb]

Originally Posted by D.R.T.

You seem to have CC on the mind climb.

Just a fresh memory of a recently closed thread ..

[D.R.T.]

Originally Posted by climb

Just a fresh memory of a recently closed thread ..

Or something that keeps you up at night.

Originally Posted by indycool

I haven't heard that they can't get it done with Fisher, nor how many cars they intend to run.

Well things are definately turning around for them or is Tony becoming more generous.

[indycool]

Who knows? D&R hasn't said anything publicly about their plans for '07 that I know of. Lotta rumors, but nothing close to solid. They have IRL cars and equipment.

[climb]

[QUOTE=D.R.T.]Or something that keeps you up at night.

QUOTE]

[Alex Toropov]

vague updates from Indystar about Cahill and D&R:

Duno said Saturday that Cahill Racing still hasn't finalized plans to field an Indy-car team this season, but she remains optimistic. One of the final hurdles apparently is acquiring Dallara cars. Cahill initially pursued the less competitive Panoz chassis.

Buddy Rice said he has not yet agreed to an Indy-car contract with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. Rice said he might sign in time to participate in Wednesday's test. D&R has entered a car. "A lot should happen in the next couple of days," he said. Rice, the 2004 Indianapolis 500 winner, said his only option in the IRL is D&R. "But the IRL is not my only option," he said. "Not by a long shot."


hopefully Buddy is not considering to switch to Grand Am full time

[Fogelhund]

Duno said Saturday that Cahill Racing still hasn't finalized plans to field an Indy-car team this season, but she remains optimistic. One of the final hurdles apparently is acquiring Dallara cars. Cahill initially pursued the less competitive Panoz chassis.

Oh yes, having a Dallara will make such a huge difference for Milka.

[indycool]

Fogel, you have a point about Milka's presumed ability, but the Dallara is going to be the car to have at every track but Indy. The Panoz parts truck hasn't gone to the races for awhile and it has no new customers, plus a disadvantage in design at every track but Indy.

[Fogelhund]

Yes, of course the Dallara is currently the car to have. Of course, you have a point there with the parts supply, but one would think you could purchase two or three spare Panoz chassis for cheap, and have all the spares you would need, for a week or two.

You have to wonder whether the bosses at Samax are wondering if they would have rather won the Daytona 24, or taken the Milka money now??

[Alex Toropov]

why Panoz is disadvantage at every track but Indy?
I remember, Ganassi team used their old Panozes on road courses last year... and Dallaras on ovals.

[indycool]

It might work competitively on the road courses, I don't know.....but Panoz didn't even send a parts truck along because it had so few customers....Ganassi had a stock of Panozes but switched to Dallaras. He is reported ready to sell the Panozes now.

[luke]

Maybe because they work at Indy like Dallaras is because they do so much testing over the whole month and its basically a flat out circuit its not really an obstacle? Also on non ovals maybe because they are not at a disadvantage also because its more down to the driver?

[Alex Toropov]

I doubt that on road course driver/car input ratio is very different from oval track... maybe, it's otherwise, I read many times, that drivers find their IRL cars quite tricky to drive in road course trim.
So chassis characteristics and setup are probably more important on road course... on oval track driver of slower car can rely on slipstream effect to some extend when he tries to stay in touch with front-runners, on road course however he must rely solely on his own skills and his car handling...

[climb]

Originally Posted by luke

.. Also on non ovals maybe because they are not at a disadvantage also because its more down to the driver?

Yes, and , more in general, to the drivers' behaviour.

Road courses run by oval-track drivers are very exciting because they keep a similar race style, with lotta risky moves, which bring to more accidents than road courses with road track drivers.

[Snrub]

On ovals the setup is even more critical than on a road course. On an oval the car is setup to do a very specific task, if only because there are only 4 corners and often they're pretty similar. For qualifying in particular a car on an oval will be setup to be razor's edge lose. On a road course the car is required to do substantially different things and thus is more of a compromise in terms of how squirly they can make it. On oval races that are setup to be foot to the floor through the corners affairs, the setup is much more key than the driver because the maximum pace of the car is most dependant on how fast the car can go.

As for the slipstream helping lesser cars, go back to the old CART Handford device races at MI and Fontana. For those who don't know, the wing was enlarged to create a massive hole in the air and facilitate wild passing throughout the race. Cars that were getting lapped could often stay close to the front runners for a reasonably long time by utilizing the draft. In fact they could repass the leaders multiple times. Eventually though they would fall off the pace and drop behind.