Indy 500

[rfjeff9]

Ah, didn't see it or think it was race related.

My bad, I will do the honors.

 

[IndyAndy]

Okay; I know that we still have the Sao Paulo race (this weekend) to get through first, but I thought that I would go ahead and start talking about the big one.

As of right now, it appears that there are 31 confirmed car/driver combinations, with (hopefully!) more to come.

Here is the list as of 5/2: Names in bold are the 'one-off'/Indy only rides confirmed to date;

HONDA (16)

Barracuda: Tagliani.

Coyne: Beatriz, Wilson and Mann.

Fisher/Hartman: Newgarden.

Foyt: Sato and Daly.

Ganassi: Franchitti, Dixon, Briscoe and Kimball.

Rahal: Rahal, Jakes and Jourdain.

Schmidt: Pagenaud and Vautier


CHEVROLET (15)

Carpenter: Carpenter.

Dragon: Bourdais and Saavedra.

Panther/DRR: Hildebrand and Servia.

Penske: Power, Castroneves and Allmendinger.

KV: Kanaan and De Silvestro.

Andretti: Marco, Hunter-Reay, Hinchcliffe, Viso and Munoz


TEAMS LIKELY TO FIELD EXTRA CARS (if a deal can be made):

Foyt/Schmidt/Panther/Carpenter/Fisher/KV/Penske/Ganassi

DRIVERS THOUGHT TO BE SHOPPING FOR A RIDE:

Townsend Bell
Jay Howard
Alex Lloyd
Bruno Junqueria
Bryan Clauson
the Lazier Brothers eek

... and there are probably a few other sniffing around, so I'm thinking that an honest-to-gosh Bump Day should happen.

I'll keep everyone updated as further driver signings happen.

Here is the track schedule:

5/11-5/17 Rookie Orientation/Practice/'Fast Friday'
5/18 Pole Day (grid positions 1-22)
5/19 Bump Day (grid positions 23-33 + bumping)
5/24 Carb Day (final practice, Indy Lights race, concert)
5/26 Race day.

I'll be at the track on Pole Day, Carb Day & (of course) Race Day. I'll have my 35mm camera (not a top end job, but certainly better than a cell phone camera!) - and I can bring along my Flip Video recorder if anyone wants to see some video footage.

 

[IndyAndy]

Doh!

I missed something earlier:

Count Ryan Briscoe at Ganassi as a 'one-off' - which likely means that the Chipster doesn't have any more cars lying about for someone else to use.

... and it's probably safe to add Katherine Legge to the list of drivers who are trying to put together a bid for a seat.




Shoulda had another cup of coffee this morning before I started this thread.

 

[potzer25]

Indy 500 Pace Cars and Drivers

 

[Retroram52]

I'll take an Andretti autosport car of Hinchcliffe, Hunter-Ray, or even Marco who is a better driver this year after taking some driving lessons as some schools around the world in the off-season to win the big one. I just wish Mikey could have won it as a driver before retiring. He is the only driver to lead the most laps without winning the thing.

 

[IndyAndy]

Indy 500 Pace Cars and Drivers

Cool link: Thanks for that.

 

[bored at work]

the Lazier Brothers eek

I read Jacques wants to make a comeback and run a full schedule next season. It's not every day someone attempts to comeback from unemployment.

Can't wait to see how Daly and Allmendinger perform. And if Simona can be a contender.

 

[IndyAndy]

Well now this is interesting:

usa today: Kurt Busch to test IndyCar at IMS 5/9

Doesn't say that he's looking to make something happen THIS year, but who knows?

Besides; I thought that the relative start/finish times of the races made doing the double impossible these days.

 

[IndyAndy]

... And now we're at 33? - SpeedTV.com thinks so:

Townsend Bell, Buddy Rice secure Indy 500 rides

Great if true: Now any other signings will mean that there will be an actual Bump Day.

 

[IndyAndy]

Once again, this year's Pace Car will be the Corvette.

 

[IndyAndy]

The official entry list (as it currently stands) is now out:

indycar.com

As of May 8 there are 33 drivers and one open car, but that can still change.

Contrary to what Speed TV thought, there is no sign that Buddy Rice has signed a deal with anyone as of yet.

 

[BUCCS469]

i miss the good old days when there were 40 plus cars....bump day was great back then

 

[IndyAndy]

Now he's in:

FOX news: Buddy Lazier attempts to make Indy again

I posted yesterday that there were already 33 drivers, but I was mistaken: This deal gets us to 33.

... Now lets get a couple more so that we can have a real Bump Day.

 

[IndyAndy]

The opening day of practice (& Rookie Orientation) was today. Three of the four rookies -Allmendinger/Vautier/Munoz - breezed through the orientation program in less than two hours. A total of sixteen drivers logged track time, with Ed Carpenter posting the top speed @ 220.970.

Still sitting on only 33 confirmed drivers, but with two open cars: 1 at Carpenter & 1 at Schmidt.

Sunday & Monday look to be unseasonably cold, but the rest of the week should be much warmer.

 

[IndyAndy]

A very cold and breezy day at IMS, but 23 drivers still went out & put in laps at better than 214 mph. Rookie Carlos Munoz had the day's fastest: 223.023.

 

[IndyAndy]

Can't seem to get the link to work tonight, but there were 32 drivers on track today: Only Buddy Lazier didn't make it out. Marco Andretti topped the charts with a 225.100.

 

[IndyAndy]

And now getting to 33 is looking 'iffy' again...

Word is that Buddy Rice's deal fell through, & Sam Schmidt is shopping the car about. There may be a deal announced today, but who knows at this point.

Also, Buddy Lazier has yet to turn any laps as far as I can find.

Everyone else did make it onto the track yesterday, with James Hinchcliffe posting the fastest lap; 224.210.

Fingers crossed that we get a couple more driver signings today.

 

[Retroram52]

Marco and the rook Munoz putting up those kind of numbers means Andretti Autosport is getting their ducks in a row!

 

[IndyAndy]

Here is 'The Rest of the Story' on Buddy Rice's fate:

speedtv.com

Seems that Schmidt wanted to give him a 'Bump Day' only program, and Buddy turned him down.

Can't say that I blame him: That's no way to have any shot at a good result.

Currently, there are 33 drivers (I thought we were down to 32, but was mistaken) - thought Lazier won't hit the track until Friday by all indications.

Schmidt and Carpenter still have open cars, so we may yet get an actual Bump Day out of this.

 

[IndyAndy]

Dario put in the fastest lap on Wednesday at 224.235.

No word on any further driver signings, so we remain stuck on just enough to fill the field ATM.