Newman-Wachs Racing Considering ICS in 2010

[Chamoo]

[http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/indycar-newman-wachs-ready-to-move-up//url] indicates that Newman-Wachs is looking to move John Edwards either to GP2 or the Indycar Series in 2010.

If this comes through in favor of the IRL, it's major news.

+1 Car
+1 American
+1 Talent
+1 Youth

[DBell]

I'd like to see Edwards be able to get a GP2 ride. I think he is the most talented American to come up through the North American feeder series since AJ Almendinger. I'd love to see him get a chance to do something in OW with his talent. If he wants to get to F1, then he has to go over to Europe to do it.

[MDS]

MWR pulling stakes and moving to England? Didn't really see that happening.

I've met John Edwards a number of times, and he's been impressive both on the track and off the track. For a kid whose seen a good bit of success he has a good personality, speed and doesn't think he's God's gift to racing. I've known Eddie Wachs a while too. He's a good man who is an asset to whatever series he ends up in.

Edwards is ready, and if Wachs can find sponsorship, which I rather doubt in this economic climate, they can grown into a solid team, especially with NHL's help. Alex Lloyd and Graham Rahal at a fully-funded NHL plus NWR as a satillite team? Yeah, they'd be a force to be reconned with.

[DBell]

Depends on how it's done. They could just buy into or rent an existing team and call it whatever they want. Going over there to start a team from scratch? Don't see that happening.

That's the impression I got, that they would look to partner a current GP2 team. It's a long shot I'm sure, but I'd love to see it happen.

[bblocker68]

If they move to GP2, could that make them the farm system for USF1?? Hope they go to 2 cars and add either Summerton or Rossi.

Wait, don't they have to be a 2 car team for GP2?? I believe they have to have 2 cars for the constructor's championship.

Whatever they do, it's great news.

[Chamoo]

If they move to GP2, could that make them the farm system for USF1?? Hope they go to 2 cars and add either Summerton or Rossi.

Wait, don't they have to be a 2 car team for GP2?? I believe they have to have 2 cars for the constructor's championship.

Whatever they do, it's great news.

Yes, all GP2 teams must field two cars. However, the article made it seem as though NWR would run as a split team operation, one car being NWR and one car being who knows what.

Best case scenario is they find the money to run Edwards in the IRL, and then find some ride buyers to keep their Atlantics program going.

[DBell]

Yes, all GP2 teams must field two cars. However, the article made it seem as though NWR would run as a split team operation, one car being NWR and one car being who knows what.

Best case scenario is they find the money to run Edwards in the IRL, and then find some ride buyers to keep their Atlantics program going.

Best case scenario for who? If you mean Indycar, then yes another team would be good news. But if Edwards goal is to be an F1 driver, then not the best case scenario. I don't know what his ultimate goals are as a driver, but I'm assuming by the paths he's taken that he wants to be in F1.

[MDS]

Best case scenario for who? If you mean Indycar, then yes another team would be good news. But if Edwards goal is to be an F1 driver, then not the best case scenario. I don't know what his ultimate goals are as a driver, but I'm assuming by the paths he's taken that he wants to be in F1.

I'm not sure. I talked to him at Long Beach the year before he got the Red Bull/Forsythe ride, so that would have been 2005, when he was 15? The line he gave then was that he'd love to go to F-1, and it would mean a lot to him, and when he was with Red Bull it was a real possibility. But he, and Colin Fleming, both got dropped from Red Bull's driver development program, and he's had had to scratch pretty hard to not disappear the way Fleming did.

I talked with him briefly at Road Atlanta last month, and he said something along the lines of its very difficult to get to Formula 1 without major backing, and right now he doesn't have that, but with all the new teams next year who knows what the future will bring.

Also Alexander Rossi is the kid getting all the F-1 attention at the moment, and he still doesn't have any sort of development deal from any of the teams.

I've said it on this forum before and I'll say it again. If I had to pick one driver to build a team around it would be John Edwards.

[Chamoo]

I understand that John Edwards wanted to run F1, but sometimes you have to realize where your better options are.

Rossi or Summerton are the next Americans to enter F1 (and most likely, unfortunately, be spat out) and Edwards has no backing to push that along. Right now, he has the closest thing to backing in Eddie Wachs, why would you turn that down.

[Copse]

If they move to GP2, could that make them the farm system for USF1?? Hope they go to 2 cars and add either Summerton or Rossi.

Wait, don't they have to be a 2 car team for GP2?? I believe they have to have 2 cars for the constructor's championship.

Whatever they do, it's great news.

GP2 has a franchise system, and currently the grids are full. They can't join unless they bug/merge/partner with an existing team. And if they do, they need to, as Chamoo writes, run 2 cars. A bunch of the GP2 teams seem to be poor enough to accept any kind of deal, so finding a place should be possible.

[IMSA]

Here is a statement from NWR today. I wonder from his comment in the statement that all $$ has yet to be paid to the teams.

____________________________

A STATEMENT FROM NEWMAN WACHS RACING:

On the heels of Newman Wachs Racing Team Owner, Eddie Wachs’ statement made earlier this week regarding NWR’s future, it has become apparent that a few things need to be clarified.

Team Manager, Brian Halahan explains:

“The team has plans to move forward with John Edwards and we hope to be in IndyCar with him for the 2010 season. We hope to be able to make an announcement about the details of those plans in the near future. However, this does not directly affect our current position in the Atlantic Championship Series. I am continually in close contact with the Atlantic Championship Series and I am hopeful they will be in a position to fulfill all financial obligations, both for the viability of the Series and for the continued support the Atlantic Championship Series gives to drivers in the open-wheel ladder system. I am moving forward on the 2010 Atlantic season and in discussion with several drivers. I hope to be testing by mid-November.”

[Placid]

GP2 has a franchise system, and currently the grids are full. They can't join unless they bug/merge/partner with an existing team. And if they do, they need to, as Chamoo writes, run 2 cars. A bunch of the GP2 teams seem to be poor enough to accept any kind of deal, so finding a place should be possible.

If Newman/Wachs are serious on placing Edwards in GP2, they must at
least merge with a current GP2 team. There is also Formula Master,
Formula 2 and the new GP3 series.

[bblocker68]

Any idea where Summerton is going? I haven't seen much news on his site lately. There was a lot of USF1 hype a while back, but things have gotten a little quiet.

[EagleEye]

[http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/indycar-newman-wachs-ready-to-move-up//url] indicates that Newman-Wachs is looking to move John Edwards either to GP2 or the Indycar Series in 2010.

If this comes through in favor of the IRL, it's major news.

+1 Car
+1 American
+1 Talent
+1 Youth

At least three IRL teams looked into running GP2 last year, as the costs are very low compared to other series. There also seems to be some solid backing, unlike A1GP. This would have been in addition to their IRL efforts.

The series has a centralised purchasing program, strict testing restrictions, and other cost and competitive controls in place to make for close racing.

With all the issues with Atlantics, ALMS, Grand Am on even other series, it will be interesting to see who might take part.

[tick-tock]

At least three IRL teams looked into running GP2 last year, as the costs are very low compared to other series.

That's interesting, I'm always interested in 'nearly' GP2 teams (ie. possible teams which didn't come to fruition), and I hadn't heard of any IRL IndyCar teams having looked into GP2 (I presume for the 2009 season?).

The only 'nearly' teams I had down for 2009 were some names linked to buying BCN Competicion before ORT did: Tech 1, Tec Auto, Llusia and some anonymous Spanish entrepreneur.

Do you have any more info on who these IRL teams were? If I was guessing I'd say AGR probably looked at GP2, as they bought the USA A1GP franchise after all. Thanks ;)

[vintage]

I'm surprised that an IRL team would look to do GP2, unless their goal was getting their driver to F1. Would be interesting to know which drivers in essence run the team's decision making. I could perhaps see AGR running Marco in GP2, and maybe NHL running Rahal in GP2, but unclear who else would be interested.

Be interested in more info just for kicks.

[gofastandwynn]

In my best Robert Stack voice, "Update."

http://www.gordonkirby.com/categories/columns/theway/2009/the_way_it_is_no208.html



After four years, Newman/Wachs is unlikely to return to the Atlantic series next year. At this stage, Wachs has not been paid any of this year's championship prize money.

"I'm afraid we probably won't be back in the Atlantic series, although we're not selling our cars yet," Wachs says. "We haven't heard anything from the Atlantic people about the points fund. We're not sure whether that's real money, or not."

But Wachs is committed to running Edwards next year and it looks like it will be in an Indy car.

"Weve got an obligation and an offer with John to move our nuclear promotional budget onto his race car," Wachs explains. "We've alerted Entergy and the nuclear group that we could very easily be changing series. We'll be testing John in an IRL car in about a week. We will probably siamese onto an existing team. My sponsors have indicated they would go along with that but it's going to take a few more days to work the details out.

"John is pretty young to do that, which is okay. It would be great experience for him. I don't think it would be a winning car, obviously. We would have to detune him on the ovals, but on the road courses I wouldn't count him out. If he has a good engineer he's comfortable with, I think he could hold his own, just like Graham Rahal has done.

[bblocker68]

Can anyone say, "Newman Haas Wachs Racing"??

[NickFalzone]

Can anyone say, "Newman Haas Wachs Racing"??

Good luck with that, Bob Jenkins.

[chuck34]

Please forgive my ignorace, but is the Newman in Newman-Wachs the same Newman from Newman-Haas-Lanigan?

And if so, who is controlling that name now?

[Chamoo]

Please forgive my ignorace, but is the Newman in Newman-Wachs the same Newman from Newman-Haas-Lanigan?

And if so, who is controlling that name now?

Yes it is the same Newman, Mr. Paul Newman.

I'm not sure who is controlling it now, probably his wife.

[gofastandwynn]

http://www.eformulacarnews.com/news_info.php?n=6612


Newman Wachs Racing Exiting Championship

Newman Wachs Racing will not defend its 2009 Atlantic Championship title now that the cars and equipment are up for sale


The 2009 Atlantic Championship winning team Newman Wachs Racing regretfully has made the decision to not return to the series and defend its 2010 title.

Newman Wachs Racing owners and management have come to the conclusion of selling its Atlantic Championship squad after careful deliberation and consideration, having competed in the historic race series for the past four years. With this being said, the complete Newman Wachs Racing Atlantic team is now for sale.

This is a turn-key operation, and includes four Swift 016 chassis, together with the championship-winning car driven by John Edwards and the championship runner-up machine driven by Jonathan Summerton. Also in this package are the tools and equipment (jacks, set-up equipment, etc.) needed to service and maintain the specific Swift chassis. One trailer and one C-Tech pit cart are also included, in addition to an extensive spares package. This package includes gear boxes, gear ratios, suspension, front and rear wings, springs, wheels, electronics and a Pi data system.

Newman Wachs Racing will also offer valuable engineering information and data to the buyer, ensuring success on the track.

For a complete listing, please contact team manager Brian Halahan at [email:3g899v8c]bhalahan@newmanwachsracing.com[/email:3g899v8c] or call (847) 996-1080.

While yet to be officially confirmed, it is believed the Illinois-based team will focus its efforts on the Indy Lights series in 2010.

This, plus the atlantics being a scratch from the upcoming IMSA Sebring test makes it look more and more like the series is not going answer the bell in 2010.

[Placid]

If they move to GP2, could that make them the farm system for USF1?? Hope they go to 2 cars and add either Summerton or Rossi.

Wait, don't they have to be a 2 car team for GP2?? I believe they have to have 2 cars for the constructor's championship.

Whatever they do, it's great news.

I like to see NWR buy the defunct Durango GP2 team. Summerton is considering the Formula 2 route when he tested this past December, Rossi is confirmed for the ART GP3 team.

That leaves Edwards and JR Hildebrand who might get into GP2.