Indycar Silly Season

News is coming in fast and furious today. Here is a few notes from Dallara, taken from a press event yesturday regarding the 500.


Dallara chasis note – Dallara has said that the two new chasis they created for Dale Coyne and one of the Lazier cars, brings the total number of DW12 chasis created to 66. 2 of the 66 were destroyed in accidents last season (Mike Conway at Indy and Bourdais at Sonoma). Now with 64 remaining chasis out there, that does not necessary mean that we could have 64 cars attempt a race. A good number of chasis are owned by teams as spares in case of an accident. Andretti has a total of 10 chasis, Ganassi has 8, Penske 6, and Schmidt has 5, those are the only numbers that were actually told. At Indy those backup cars will be used as T-Cars for the teams in case repairs can not be made to there primary cars. Dallara will continue to make more chasis, so there are going to be many more out there. Any team that purchases a DW12 chasis must pay Dallara $375,000 for purchase regardless of owner or pressure among series officials to get them distributed to the teams. Dallara has also guaranteed any teams that request a chasis prior to May 3rd will be able to receive a chasis for the Indy 500, and receive them by Thursday the 16th.


Another couple notes to pass along. Townsend Bell has began talking with Panther racing and feels confident that he will sign with them. Also the Lazier brothers have reached out to Ed Carpenter Racing to try and help with resources and a possible alliance with them.​
 
More good stuff Wilson, thanks. Good to see Pippa get a chance, she looked good in Lights at Indy a couple of years ago.
 
Update May 6th​
Chevy(16 cars)​
Andretti (5) - Marco, Hinch, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Viso and Carlos MunozPenske (3) - Helio, Power and AJ AllmendingerKV Racing (2) - Tony Kanaan and Simona de SilvestroDragon Racing (2) - Sebastien Bourdais and Sebastian SaavedraPanther/Dreyer and Reinbold (3) - JR Hildebrand, Oriol Servia, and Townsend BellEd Carpenter Racing (1) - Ed Carpenter ​
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Honda(17 cars)​
Ganassi (4) - Franchitti, Dixon, Charlie Kimball and Ryan BriscoeRahal Letterman Lanigan (3) - Graham Rahal, James Jakes and Michel Jourdain Jr.Schmidt/Hamilton Racing (3) - Simon Pagenaud, Tristan Vautier, and Buddy RiceDale Coyne Racing (3) - Justin Wilson, Ana Beatriz, and Pippa Mann​
Fisher-Hartman Racing (1) - Josef Newgarden​
Herta Autosport (1) - Tagliani​
Foyt (2) - Sato and Conor Daly​
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We currently have a full field confirmed with 33 teams/drivers for the Indy 500. The following teams are still possible for the Indy 500.​
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34. Lazier Brothers car 1 – Buddy Lazier has Jean Alesi car from last season. Both Chevy and Honda are not wanting to commit to the Laziers because they are afraid they will both fail to qualify and they don't want to be affiliated with a team that fails.​
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35. Lazier Brothers car 2 – Jacque Lazier has purchased a new Dallara. Honda and Chevy both don't want to commit to the Lazier for fear of them not qualifying for the 500.​
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36. AJ Foyt Racing car #3 – Alex Lloyd still trying to finalize a deal with Foyt​
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37. Sarah Fisher Racing car #2 – Is talking to a couple unknown drivers, would really like to run two cars. Thomas Schketer is no longer believed to be in talks with the team.​
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38. KV Racing car #3 – Originally Vasser said at Long Beach that he was turning people away. Well That may be the case since news over the past week has said that Bryan Clauson is bringing some USAC money to KV to try and get a deal.​
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39. Schmidt car #4 – Jay Howard is said to be still talking with the team despite the Buddy Rice already coming aboard Howard believes he can get something finished here.​

Rides that I previously mentioned that are gone​
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Ed Carpenter Racing (Car #2) – Not going to happen unless its with some kind of alliance with the Laziers​
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Bryan herta Racing (Car #2) – No one could bring any type of money to the table this ride is dead.​
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Drivers still in the mix for a seat​
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Buddy Lazier (see ride #34)​
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Jaques Lazier (see ride #35)​
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Alex Lloyd (see ride #36)​
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Bryan Clauson (see ride #38)​
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Jay Howard (see ride #39)​

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Drivers no longer involved in any discussions​
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Thomas Schekter​
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Esteban Guerrieri​
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Wade Cunningham​
 
Good stuff as usual, Wilson, thanks for putting it all in one place. It'd be great to see Sheckter try to make the race, a reminder of the days when guys like Johnny Parsons would be hanging around the track and get an offer to try to qualify someone's 'T' car.
 
SuperTex14 said:
Good stuff as usual, Wilson, thanks for putting it all in one place. It'd be great to see Sheckter try to make the race, a reminder of the days when guys like Johnny Parsons would be hanging around the track and get an offer to try to qualify someone's 'T' car.
Click to expand...

Kurt Busch might play the Johnny Parsons role this year, who knows!
 
I'm glad to see that Pippa is going to have a ride in Indy this year. I had the chance to talk to her a little at Indy last year and she was trying to get a ride then but it fell through.
 
Not this year, but maybe next? You'd think some Penske or Ganassi drivers would be most likely to have a legitimate chance, especially Sam. And don't forget, Paul Menard practically grew up at The Brickyard.

Anxious to see how Kurt's test drive goes tomorrow...
 
SuperTex14 said:
Not this year, but maybe next? You'd think some Penske or Ganassi drivers would be most likely to have a legitimate chance, especially Sam. And don't forget, Paul Menard practically grew up at The Brickyard.

Anxious to see how Kurt's test drive goes tomorrow...
Click to expand...

I would love to see Sam return for Indy again. I also wouldn't mind seeing a lot of Nascar drivers attempt to qualify for the Indy 500. 1 guy I would love to see is Kasey Kahne, I think he could be a possible winner at Indy.
 
wilson89 said:
I would love to see Sam return for Indy again. I also wouldn't mind seeing a lot of Nascar drivers attempt to qualify for the Indy 500. 1 guy I would love to see is Kasey Kahne, I think he could be a possible winner at Indy.
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I would love to see Kasey Kahne at Indy, but it will never happen while he drives for Hendrick. He (Kahne) said in an interview somewhere that he talked about testing at Indy once but Rick Hendrick forbid it. Apparently, Hendrick thinks open-wheel cars are dangerous and won't let any driver under his contracts race them.

Here's an ESPN article with Kahne explaining Hendrick wouldn't let him enter the 2011 IndyCar Championships for the $5 million prize (race where Dan Wheldon was killed).

http://espn.go.com/racing/nascar/st...had-eye-5m-godaddy-challenge-dan-wheldon-took

There definitely was an article around this time where Kahne said Hendrick said IndyCars were (and I quote) "dangerous". Probably doesn't help that the race Kahne wanted to enter resulted in a driver getting killed.
 
SuperTex14 said:
Not this year, but maybe next? You'd think some Penske or Ganassi drivers would be most likely to have a legitimate chance, especially Sam. And don't forget, Paul Menard practically grew up at The Brickyard.

Anxious to see how Kurt's test drive goes tomorrow...
Click to expand...

Maybe, I don't know. The timing of the Busch test is pretty close to qualifying at Indy. Seems like an exact case (to me) where if all the Andretti cars qualify in their primary car and there's a spare "T" car sitting around, Kurt Busch might get the call to try and put one in the field.
 
KevinWI said:
I would love to see Kasey Kahne at Indy, but it will never happen while he drives for Hendrick. He (Kahne) said in an interview somewhere that he talked about testing at Indy once but Rick Hendrick forbid it. Apparently, Hendrick thinks open-wheel cars are dangerous and won't let any driver under his contracts race them.

Here's an ESPN article with Kahne explaining Hendrick wouldn't let him enter the 2011 IndyCar Championships for the $5 million prize (race where Dan Wheldon was killed).

http://espn.go.com/racing/nascar/st...had-eye-5m-godaddy-challenge-dan-wheldon-took

There definitely was an article around this time where Kahne said Hendrick said IndyCars were (and I quote) "dangerous". Probably doesn't help that the race Kahne wanted to enter resulted in a driver getting killed.
Click to expand...

I am pretty sure most of the big cup teams forbid there drivers from doing something like that. Kurt though is driving for Furniture Row so they are probably a lot more open and would possibly even welcome Kurt getting his name out there.

As for Busch qualifying for Indy this year, the timing is right but unless Kurt actually practices in traffic in an Indycar I don't think it would be such a good idea. Most the drivers say qualifying at Indy and the bigger tracks are really easy because your flat out the whole time. But driving the cars in traffic could be very dangerous if you never have before.
 
KevinWI said:
Maybe, I don't know. The timing of the Busch test is pretty close to qualifying at Indy. Seems like an exact case (to me) where if all the Andretti cars qualify in their primary car and there's a spare "T" car sitting around, Kurt Busch might get the call to try and put one in the field.
Click to expand...
I agree that Busch might very well be fast enough to make the field, but it would be a challenge to put together a strong enough effort this year to make the whole thing worth the trouble; that is, give him a chance to win the 500, jet back to Charlotte, and win the 600 from the rear of the field (since he'd likely miss the mandatory driver's meeting).

Here's Smoke weighing in on the subject:
“There’s not a doubt in my mind that he could make the (500’s) field. If he gets with the right team — and obviously he’s going with Andretti — I don’t see any problem making the starting field for sure.”
http://www.indystar.com/article/201...vious-Busch-s-IndyCar-test-IMS?nclick_check=1
 
After the first dual race in Detroit, Marco Andretti is your IndyCar points leader.
 
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