So, the lineup for next year...

[Jordi]

Player's/Forsythe
-Carpentier
-Tracy

Fernandez Racing
-Fernandez
-one or two cars?

Herdez Competition
-Dominguez
-another car, probably

Newman/Haas Racing
-Junqueira
-Tagliani? McNish? anyone?

Team Rahal
-Jourdain Jr.
-Hunter-Reay?

Gentilozzi-Rocketsports
-Tagliani?

Patrick Racing
-Servia (he is in, right? Please tell me he is in!)
-Vasser? someone else?

Walker Racing
-Rodriguez (R)
-Takagi???

Dale Coyne Racing
-Camathias (R)
-Lotterer? Manning?

-Mo Nunn?
-Johansson?
-Fittipaldi?
-Anyone else?

OK. The best possible case is 17 cars, without counting Nunns, Johanssons, Fittipaldis... Worst possible may be 12 or 14...

I think it looks quite good. With one or two more new teams, we will have a good field.

[Jay]

Interesting quote on Cart.com from Alex Tagliani:

“Newman/Haas has a good program,” he added. “They are working on some Canadian sponsorship so they would like to have a Canadian driver. I've had some conversations with Carl Haas and it seems very good. He has a very strong team and I think he would like to give me a chance. It's getting closer and closer. Player's is going to meet with their people to look at the numbers. For sure, it would be attractive to Carl to get a driver whose salary is paid where he gets to keep the prize money. It's a bonus for him and it would give him a very good basis to run a second car.”

[Jordi]

Indeed... having a driver for free!

[Ben 93 325is]

As long as he finishes races!

[Crash Test]

So what happened to this magical 22 we were promised?

[Jay]

When were we ever promised 22? 18 has always been the majic number, with 22 as the max.

Toyota Atlantic is expected to have a grid of around 30 (or likely more) cars next year, yet there hasn't been one official announcement yet (although some guys are pretty much guaranteed to be there)...they must be going under.

It's the start of the offseason, and the above is based on who's actually made official announcements...so far, I'd say it's a good start.

[camcartfan]

This is way too premature

[mac]

This is how I think it'll go:

Player's/Forsythe
-Patrick Carpentier
-Paul Tracy

Forsythe Championship Racing
-Alex Yoong

Fernandez Racing
-Adrian Fernandez
-Luis Diaz

Herdez Competition
-Mario Dominguez
-Roberto Moreno

Newman/Haas Racing
-Bruno Junqueira
-Alexandre Tagliani

(I hope) Andretti Newman-Haas
-Allan McNish

Team Rahal
-Michel Jourdain Jr.
-Jimmy Vasser

Gentilozzi-Rocketsports
-Michael Valiante
-Townsend Bell

Patrick Racing
-Oriol Servia
-Memo Gidley

Walker Racing
-Rodriguez
-Ricardo Zonta

Dale Coyne Racing
-Joel Camathias (R)
-Andre Lotterer*

Mo Nunn Racing
-Max Papis

Team Johansson
-Ryan Hunter-Reay
-Bryan Herta

Team St George
-Darren Manning

*May be a German team

We can dream!

[Jay]

err..I believe Team St. George and Dayle Coyne are the same thing...but never know.

Apart from that, yes, that'd be if everyone found the sponsorship they were looking for (heck, if everyone found the sponsorship they wanted we could have 100 cars on the grid)...

I think it's too early to speculate on numbers. The only certainty is that there'll be at least 18. (Cart will throw in the money to make up for any shortfall, but I don't expect that they'll have to)

[power&glory]

mac- Coyne is only fielding one car, he bought 2 lola's and has pretty much said this is it, and Johansen's team is pretty much a done deal, but it doesn't seem that he's got funding/sponsorship for two. About the team St. George confusion, that was a one race Coyne deal and the team name was simply an "all-British" promo stunt (note the lack of such a name for Lotterer(German)'s car in the Mexican race) And where did u hear about Max at mo nunn, and why have i not heard about it?! sweetness!! Other than those things and the fact that i think T-Bell's got as good a shot as anybody at the second Herdez seat, this looks like a realistic set of propositions

But hey, u know what, it really is a little early to be getting this deep into next year's line-up; i mean, think about the difference in this series between Fontana '01 and Monterrey '02, and how much things can change in one off-season But hey, let's just take our valium and have a seat, huh? ya

[Liz]

You forgot Wayne Taylor's two-car team, which is a done deal and waiting for "clean-up" details to be ironed out. That's two more. Bryan Herta is probably going to drive for him as they are buds. Johansson is rumoured to be signing a Portuguese driver contingent on their getting the race in Estoril; also Pedro de la Rosa (and Repsol) are heading a two-car Spanish team if they get a race in Jerez. I'd guess de la Rosa will land a drive somewhere as he has not only his own money but a very big fan base in Spain from what I hear.

P.S. I hear two more teams are dropping out of F1 next year. F1 is doomed and is going to die and be replaced by NASCAR!

[f1manoz]

Well, the following are certainties:

Players - Certain of 2, perhaps 3
Newman/Haas - 1 signed, 1 on the way
Herdez - 1 signed, 1 on the way (Moreno)
Coyne - 1 signed
Fernandez - 1 signed, trying for 2 (Diaz)
Rahal - 1 signed, trying for 2 (Vasser)
Rocketsports - One car team, waiting for driver announcement
Walker - 1 signed, trying for 2
Patrick - 1 signed, trying for 2
Johansson - One car so far, trying for 2

Others who may stay or teams on the way:

Mario Andretti's satellite with Newman/Haas
Thanks to Liz, Wayne Taylor (awaiting announcements)
Mo Nunn is trying everything for one car (and if anything, already has a deal), possibly 2
Emerson Fittipaldi's rumoured adventure... I'll say nothing more
Ganassi could even stay with one car

And who knows *gasp* even Mikey's!!!
I also read of a team that competed in the Telefonica World Series is intending to join the CART series.

In 2004, there is every possiblity Barry Green could return.

For 2003, I say at worst there will be 16, but the target of 22 could just as easily be reached if the sponsors can be found. There is no shortage of good drivers out there.

[BootsOntheSide]

There may well be others entering who have not made any announcements yet, and I expect Team St George to run a car as they are a set of individual people, who for Rockingham simply used Dale's vast (then) stagnant experience to get on the grid. A second Dale car is quite feasible too.

Has the rumour of Super Nova switching over from F3000 died?

How come Barry Green has no chance of being in the action in 2003?

What of Frank Arciero? Team Menard switching or augmenting its efforts?

[indycool]

Think the key announcements will be Haas and Rahal...once they announce what they're doing, CART, IRL or both, things will be a little more clear.

Jay, CART has earmarked the $30 million to prop up teams, according to its latest 10Q, which says it was unlikely to get a grid unless it spent the money.

There's a report on another forum, that I verified independently, that the procedure for spending the $30 million is a dollar-for-dollar match to teams as they sign sponsors. The report on the other forum said that Indy Regency was the first team to confirm they'd been offered that deal.

Don't think Team Menard is switching. They've been testing Meira and J. Lazier in IRL cars. That rumor stemmed from John Menard showing up at Elkhart Lake to see his friends at a track a short distance from his home in Eau Claire.

Rumors out of Fontana had Dick Simon coming back to CART, but Simon has since said that's not gonna happen.

FWIW.....

[Jay]

Barry Green's retired from action. Won't be seeing him for a while...

indycool, I'm aware that money is set to help propup teams. That's the current plan, but I am pretty sure (and Robin Miller has said this) that Cart will spend whatever it takes to ensure they have 18 cars on the grid in 2003. Earlier this season they seemed to think they might have to completely fund a team or two to make up the 18 cars, but that doesn't seem to be the case now.

Rahal will run at least one car in Cart (Do you really think Gigante cares about driving in circles around trailer parks?) He's supposedly working on the other, although I'm sure he's being offered bags of cash from Honda and/or Toyota to leave Cart completely.

Newmann-Haas don't have anything concrete, but he has said many times he is committed to Cart and has reportedly turned down BIG money from Honda to run in the IRL. If he fields any cars in the IRL, it will more than likely be with Toyota. Although, Bruno wants to stay in Cart at all costs, and Tags sounded as if he would be driving for Newmann-Haas next year with some Canadian sponsorship.

Hey guys, just remember who tried to destroy Cart and who saved it the next time you buy a car.

[Snrub]

Moreno basically said he had something in the bag. Would be nice to see Emmo and Mario set up teams as was rumoured. Jackie Stewart should start up another team.

[mac]

I also just read that Racing Engineering from the Telefonica Nissan World Series are considering CART. This team ran Franck Montagny and Justin Wilson in 2002 and won several races.

[429CJ]

Michael Valiante is almost like Michel Vaillant...

[paul-collins]

Yeah, but Michel races in Le Mans, not open wheels!

[Crash Test]

I think Vasser might be off to Nascar Busch Series..

[Jay]

He did a test, but I'm not sure if that's his thing. Again, he's trying to stay in Cart, and he more than likely could...if he asked for less money. He's an oval man, so maybe nascar will suit him.

[ringo]

i want to see fogarty (2002 atlantic champ) in the there. I guess 2002 wasn't the best time to become formula atlantic champ.