2009 Prospective Entry List?

[WMUCarGuy]

Hey guys,

I usually post over in the sports car forums, but thought I'd poke on over here and find out how IRL was looking for 09. Is there a prospective 2009 entry list anywhere?

[Flyin Ryan]

Originally Posted by WMUCarGuy

Hey guys,

I usually post over in the sports car forums, but thought I'd poke on over here and find out how IRL was looking for 09. Is there a prospective 2009 entry list anywhere?

It's always very fluid late. Things usually don't get settled til January.

Here's a confirmed list:

#3 Penske-TBA (depends on Castroneves and his legal issues, as of now Castroneves still in seat)
#6 Penske-Ryan Briscoe

#9 Ganassi-Scott Dixon
#10 Ganassi-Dario Franchitti

#7 Andretti Green-Danica Patrick
#11 Andretti Green-Tony Kanaan
#26 Andretti Green-Marco Andretti (just confirmed)
#27 Andretti Green-Hideki Mutoh

#4 Panther-Dan Wheldon

#14 A.J. Foyt-Vitor Meira (some rumblings Foyt will run a second car but I can't see it outside of Indy)

#2 Vision-A.J. Foyt IV? (there's been a couple rumors this car might not exist next year, but I can't see George dropping it and I think he'll keep Foyt)
#20 Vision-Ed Carpenter

#06 Newman-Haas-Lanigan-Graham Rahal
#02 Newman-Haas-Lanigan-Justin Wilson? (dependent on sponsorship, Rahal's car will carry McDonald's, Wilson may get the Penske seat)

#17 Rahal Letterman-Ryan Hunter-Reay? (dependent on sponsorship, as the Ethanol organization is getting out, Hunter-Reay may get the Penske seat, I can't see the team disappearing but it's possible)

#33 HVM-E.J. Viso
#TBA HVM-Robert Doornbos (this is not confirmed, but VERY likely)

#34 Conquest-TBA (this team usually takes ride buyers, but Giorgio Pantano might go here)
#36 Conquest-Alex Tagliani

#15 Dreyer & Reinbold-Buddy Rice? (not confirmed, but I watched a podcast with team co-owner Dennis Reinbold and he said they had more sponsorship than at that point last offseason)
#23 Dreyer & Reinbold-? (Milka Duno will probably still run a partial season here, Townsend Bell ran the remaining races)

#18 Dale Coyne-? (like Conquest, this team also takes ride buyers, Coyne is like Minardi, he's always ran on a shoestring budget and no one hears anything from him in the offseason, but come first race of the season every year, he defies the odds and shows up on the grid, last year he had Bruno Junqueira and Mario Moraes)
#19 Dale Coyne-?

#5 KV-? (Aussie Vineyards not returning as a sponsor, team says they'll return with 2 cars though, presumably continuing with Will Power and Oriol Servia, I imagine this is dependent on sponsorship)
#8 KV-?

#12 Luczo Dragon-Raphael Matos (defending Indy Lights champion)

#98 Curb/Agajanian3G-Stanton Barrett (this is Greg Beck's team that runs one-offs occasionally, they're doing a full season next year with Barrett who has been fielding his own cars in Busch/Nationwide for some years)

#67 Sarah Fisher-Sarah Fisher (partial season, rumors she may do a full season with her doing ovals and getting someone like Darren Manning to race the road courses if sponsorship will cover it)

There's a businessman named Jim Freudenberg that has 19 sponsors and $6.5 million and that money will get spent SOMEWHERE. This is the Rubicon effort that tried and failed to qualify for the Indy 500 last year with Max Papis. Wikipedia says the latest rumor is that this money might go with Pacific Coast Motorsports, who ran the #96 for a partial season last year with Mario Dominguez. Otherwise, Pacific Coast has gone very quiet.

Gerry Forsythe may return, may not.

For "insider" news, go to this link and listen to their podcasts. It's an Indianapolis-area weekly racing show on their sports station there that focuses mainly on Indycars. http://www.1070thefan.com/trackside/

[gomick]

thats 27 cars listed i think - will take 22 when the season rolls around

[WMUCarGuy]

Does Matos stand any real chance of success with Luczo Dragon? I don't follow IRL enough to know of the teams other than the top flight ones stand chance of winning.

I've watched Matos come up through the MazdaSpeed latter (and unfortunately, burn his bridge with them), but I'll be pulling for him to do well in IRL!

If it's not a team capable of winning, hopefully he can at least make a good enough impression to be noticed by the top flite teams.

[Flyin Ryan]

Originally Posted by WMUCarGuy

Does Matos stand any real chance of success with Luczo Dragon? I don't follow IRL enough to know of the teams other than the top flight ones stand chance of winning.

I've watched Matos come up through the MazdaSpeed latter (and unfortunately, burn his bridge with them), but I'll be pulling for him to do well in IRL!

If it's not a team capable of winning, hopefully he can at least make a good enough impression to be noticed by the top flite teams.

All indications are Matos is the real deal. 2007 Atlantics champ, 2008 Lights champ.

As far as the team, they ran 6 races, had 6 DNFs, and almost all of them were broken driveshafts, which they stated their opinion it was due to Scheckter's drving style. Luczo Dragon is owned by Jay Penske (Roger's son) and Steve(?) Luczo (co-owner of the Boston Red Sox). They ran Indy in 2007 and they were a kind of satellite to the Penske operation and finished 5th with Ryan Briscoe in a one-off. Last year, they went off on their own with no help doing a partial schedule. My personal opinion is they'll fall in that Panther/Vision/KV/Rahal team range of not the A-list challenging for wins every race, but every once in awhile popping up and challenging.

[climb]

Rebus sic stantibus, if nothing changes, it would be another disapponting season for mountanstar (sorry mate, I couldn't help it!)