2009 Silly Season anyone?

[MDS]

Here's my best guess based on my reading and rumors:

25 Full time teams

Newman Hass Lanigan
02-Justin Wilson
06-Graham Rahal

Panther Racing
2-Dillon Battisti
4-Vitor Meria

Team Penske
3- Helio Castroneves
6- Ryan Brisco

KVRT
5-Will Power
8-Oriol Servia

Andretti Green Racing
7-Danica Patrick
11-Tony Kannan
26-Marco Andretti
27- Hideki Mutoh

Target Chip Ganassi
9-Scott Dixon
10-Dan Wheldon

Luco Dragan Racing
12- Thomas Sheckter

A.J. Foyt Enterprises
14-Darren Manning

Vision Racing
15-Buddy Rice
20-Ed Carpenter

Rahal Letterman Racing
17-Ryan Hunter Reay

Dale Coyne Racing
18-Bruno Junqueria
19-Mario Moraes

HVM Racing
33-E.J. Viso

Conquest Racing
34-Jamie Camara

Redbull-Indeck Racing
83-Robert Doornbos
84-James Hinchcliff

Partial Schedules

Dryer-Reinbold
23-Mika Dunno
24-Townsend Bell

Sara Fisher Racing
67-Sara Fisher

Roth Racing
25-Marty Roth

Walker Racing

Indy one offs
Rubicon
Beck

The Big questions:
What happens to Rafa Matos? Supposedly he signed a deal with AGR for a seat in the ICS in 2009.
Will Forysthe come? Rumors have it they locked in a deal with Red Bull.
What happens to Walker? If he doesn't come back in 2009 I doubt he ever will.
Will TG continue to help out the unsponsored teams like D&R, Roth, and Conquest?
Will the shakeup at ABC affect Foyt's sponsorship?
Is Dan Wheldon movable?
Will Tony George do the right thing and sell off Vison?

[The instant classic]

the only silly season i have heard was

Graham Rahal to Ganassi thats the only one i have heard so far,

TG sholud sell off vison racing,,to me its not good business having the owner of indycar having a race team,, i know hes team anit winning races, but i can see when they do win,,, some fans will say, was that race fixed?
better selling off

for Wheldon i wolud like to see him race, with a small team, next year i know that wont happen,, but i wolud love to see a big name race for a small team,, and bring them up, and trun that team into something that can fight with penske ganaiss and agr,,,

[ykiki]

...and what happens to Paul Tracy?

[Chamoo]

The Big questions:
What happens to Rafa Matos? Supposedly he signed a deal with AGR for a seat in the ICS in 2009.
Will Forysthe come? Rumors have it they locked in a deal with Red Bull.
What happens to Walker? If he doesn't come back in 2009 I doubt he ever will.
Will TG continue to help out the unsponsored teams like D&R, Roth, and Conquest?
Will the shakeup at ABC affect Foyt's sponsorship?
Is Dan Wheldon movable?
Will Tony George do the right thing and sell off Vison?

I don't want to go out on a limb regarding drivers and teams, as I don't believe anyone really knows enough to even know who will be back next year as full time competitors.

But I will do my best to answer your questions the way I think they will go down.

Rafael Matos will either be put in a fifth seat at AGR, or will replace Danica. They could run Matos as a one off at Indy, as part of his contract saying that he will have a 2009 Indycar ride. I could see Danica going elsewhere, as that would had been part of TK's contract possibly.

There is no reason for Forsythe not to come. He will eventually end up in the ICS, and why wait until 2010 as the new car will come out in 2011. Chances are he has struck a deal with someone, most likely Red Bull to run two cars under a Red Bull/Indeck sponsorship program. Question is, does Red Bull mandate which drivers will end up in the program, or does GF have some say.

Walker will most likely be back. He has always had a way of scratching up some sort of sponsorship to stay alive. Unfortunately, this year was different due to the merger. If Subway stays on for the last three races of the year, then expect them on for next year with Walker. If Walker doesn't show up at the last three races, he will have to find a new sponsor for next year.

TG will most likely stop helping Roth Racing out, simply as a way to get him off the track. D&R will most likely run Duno again, as she brings money with her, and Townsend Bell might also be able to get his sponsor to jump on board for the whole year. Expect D&R to run two cars for the entire year whether TG helps out or not. I have no clue about Conquest. I wasn't aware, nor did I believe he was funding them this year. Eric Bachelart might be able to scratch some more money together over the winter, and TG will make sure they stick around as he will want the merger to look prosperous for both sides.

I think Foyt is fine with the ABC sponsorship. I think the company understands that they almost have an obligation to sponsor that team now as part of their marketing, as a favor to their past owner who has passed away.

I think Ganassi wants to get out of having to pay Wheldon 3 000 000$ a year. Either he signs a new contract, worth a whole lot less, or he ends up being replaced. I think those Target rumours could be true, or atleast partially, where Target could be dropping the total amount they sponsor.

TG won't sell off Vision. He enjoys running the team too much, and it is a source of confidence in the car count from year to year knowing that there are atleast two cars more than there could be.

I've changed my mind. I will take a stab at next years driver line up.

Season Long Entries

Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing

02 - Graham Rahal
06 - Justin Wilson

Vision Racing

2 - Ed Carpenter
20 - A.J. Foyt IV

Team Penske

3 - Helio Castroneves
6 - Ryan Briscoe

Panther Racing

4 - Dan Wheldon *
44 - Dillon Battistini

KV Racing Technology

5 - Oriol Servia
8 - Will Power

Andretti Green Racing

7 - Danica Patrick
11 - Tony Kanaan
26 - Marco Andretti
27 - Hideki Mutoh

Target Chip Ganassi Racing

9 - Scott Dixon
10 - Vitor Meira

Luczo Dragon Racing

12 - Tomas Scheckter

A.J. Foyt Enterprises

14 - Pablo Donoso

Dreyer & Reinbold Racing

15 - Buddy Rice
23 - Milka Duno/Townsend Bell

Rahal Letterman Racing

16 - Ryan Hunter-Reay
17 - Dan Wheldon *

Dale Coyne Racing

18 - Darren Manning
19 - Mario Moraes

Roth Racing

(?) 24 - Marty Roth

HVM Racing

33 - E.J. Viso

Conquest

34 - Alex Tagliani
(?) 36 - Jaime Camara

Pacific Coast Motorsports

96 - Mario Dominguez

* indicates driver could end up at one of two teams
(?) indicates car is not guarenteed to race.

Potential Season Long Entries

Red Bull-Indeck Racing

85 - James Hinchcliffe
86 - Robert Doornbos

Walker Racing

50 - Paul Tracy

Kingdom Racing

22 - Davey Hamilton

Rocketsports Racing

60 - Markus Niemela

Sarah Fisher Racing

67 - Sarah Fisher

Potential Partial Season Entries

Walker Racing

50 - Paul Tracy

Kingdom Racing

22 - Davey Hamilton

Sarah Fisher Racing

67 - Sarah Fisher

American Dream Motorsports

?? - Jacques Lazier

Potential Indy Only Entries

Indeck Racing

85 - James Hinchcliffe

Kingdom Racing

22 - Davey Hamilton

Walker Racing

50 - Paul Tracy

Andretti Green Racing

?? - Rafael Matos

(Include the usual suspects regarding Indy One-Offs and Regular teams running 2nd/3rd cars)


I think one thing that could really throw a wrench into my silly season predictions is if Rafael Matos was promoted to take Danica Patricks spot at AGR. I could see it happening as part of TK's new contract. If that happened, one of the second tier teams, including RLR, Panther, or even one of the former CC teams could make a move for her as part of getting sponsorship.

I think it is relatively obvious that Chip Ganassi wants to get rid of Wheldon, it is just a matter of who takes his spot.

[bravefish]

He retires loudly...

[bravefish]

...and what happens to Paul Tracy?

He retires loudly...

[MDS]

...and what happens to Paul Tracy?

Unless something unexpected happens I just don't see an empty seat for PT. I'm pretty sure he could get a seat for Indy Edmonton and Toronto, but I haven't heard anything about Walker finding enough cash to go full time in 2009.

If PT can find sponsorship he might be able to be part of a second team at RLR, or replace Bernoldi at Conquest, or be part of a Walker team. Reguardless I haven't heard or read anything since Edmonton. It's still conceivable that Monster could be interested in sponsor a car, but the ratings and attendance haven't been steller.

[fugariracing]

Oh, you gotta love all the preposterous premonitions that are probably not going to happen. God bless the silly season.

It's pretty simple. The guys who drive in IndyCar in 2009 will be the ones who bring the biggest checks. I hate to sound pessimistic but I feel the economic realities fo the series will make it seem like 2005-07 in CC all over again in terms of who gets rides.

[DanicaFan]

Sorry Chamoo, but Danica Patrick is going nowhere next year. She will be with AGR. She is signed up with them till at least through the 2009 season. And Im sure AGR will extend her contract. They will do anything to keep her.

[speeddurango]

Unless something unexpected happens I just don't see an empty seat for PT. I'm pretty sure he could get a seat for Indy Edmonton and Toronto, but I haven't heard anything about Walker finding enough cash to go full time in 2009.

If PT can find sponsorship he might be able to be part of a second team at RLR, or replace Bernoldi at Conquest, or be part of a Walker team. Reguardless I haven't heard or read anything since Edmonton. It's still conceivable that Monster could be interested in sponsor a car, but the ratings and attendance haven't been steller.

That's all pure guesses aren't they, from what I've heard PT will be driving from Sonoma or Detroit onwards till Chicago or Surfers, and even that's pure gossips so let's just ignore that. I'd still get puzzled about someone with big enough publicity and good enough pace could be on the sideline and couldn't even find a drive? While it's understandable the commercial budget for this year has been set last year so PT had to wait on the sideline for a long time and possibly had to wait for an empty seat available, but that was purely because of the late merger that caught everybody out including PT, next year is a complete different story.

And by the way, that oen post above yours was just plain stupid, when did he ever retire? He's not remotely considering retirement and his performance in Edmonton makes him look like a 20 year old rookie who's fighting hard to land an Indycar drive.