The first 2011 Silly Season driver/team thread

A few tidbits...

-Sounds like the component of the Herta/Wheldon deal is Honda and 2012. Good move on both parties parts. More races should be added after Indy. Sponsorship TBA.

-SFR has a brand new Dallara for Carpenter. They finally got rid of that lemon of a chassis that was collecting dust in their shop. They have 2 chassis in their stable. They have sold 2 cars in the off-season. One to AFS. One to Wiggins.

-AFS out of Lights. Putting all of its eggs into the IC basket. Should run all the non-ovals and Indy in 2011. Still undecided about its Indy 500 driver. Matos likely the leader, but that could change.

-Hamilton is the 4th D&R Indy 500 driver. Also will run Texas and Vegas. With Tracy also doing several races as well, D&R will be a 3 car team more often then not during the season.

-I am hearing potentially good things about Joey Hand and a IC ride at some point in 2011.

Updates...

-Tracy to Dragon for at least 5 races (6 if you count Texas twice).
-Hornish the leader in the clubhouse to be Dragon's Indy 500 driver
-Junquiera will be in the #84 for Foyt at Indy. A 3rd car (the BAM/Foyt entry) is very possible as well.
-Hinchcliffe has a deal done with Newman/Haas. Should be at Barber, where he was very fast.

It looks like at least 40 entries at Indy this year for the first time since 2002.

Good to hear Hinch is in at Barber. Any idea when they will confirm it?

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Originally Posted by Scotty G.

It looks like at least 40 entries at Indy this year for the first time since 2002.

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Your talking entries that hit the track correct? We've seen 40+ entries the last few years, but some of them never take to the track.

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Originally Posted by bblocker68

Good to hear Hinch is in at Barber. Any idea when they will confirm it?

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http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/artic...s-hinchcliffe/

It says he's racing in all North American races. So the rest of the schedule minus Brazil and Japan.

Bertrand Baguette to partner with Jay Howard at RLR/Sam Schmidt Motorsports for the Indy 500.

SSM will have a whole bunch of setup info to use between themselves and RLR. They could be a force at Indy, especially with how competitive both FAZZT and RLR were last season at Indy.

Hey Eagle Eye, check out this week Spotter's Guide.

http://www.indycar.com:8080/var/asse...potter_web.pdf

Where's my Hat?

Interesting to see Servia has taken over the number 2. Now if they can get the 11 for Hinch, then they will have proper numbers!

Plus theres a few different schemes out there this weekend

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Originally Posted by MDS

Hey Eagle Eye, check out this week Spotter's Guide.

http://www.indycar.com:8080/var/asse...potter_web.pdf

Where's my Hat?

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Very interesting spotters' guide with a lot of noteworthy items.

1) Helio is running the AAA Insurance livery which was only supposed to be used at Long Beach and Texas.
2) Briscoe is carrying the colors of Penske Truck Rental. It seems like a logical step for the races not covered by either the IZOD, the PPG or the Guidepoint deals.
3) The sponsor rotation continues for DRR: it's Charter for Wilson and BlazeMaster for Pagenaud.
4) Dario will run the Clorox colors as part of the promotion scheme of Target suppliers.
5) Conway will run a Window World Cares livery.
6) The Acorn Stairlifts car will be red. It's a shame, I really liked the burgundy car.

The Service Central/Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing team should get a professional livery designer. Do they really think people can make out "NovoLog FlexPen - Insulin aspart (rDNA origin) injection" on a moving car? Do they really think red, white and blue are the correct car colors for a yellow, black and red sponsor logo? Newman/Haas could use more creative liveries too, but the Ganassi paint jobs are simply piss poor.

Some of those liveries look great on a picture on a computer, but suck I suspect at the track. Oh well, at least there is a bill or two being paid...beats NO livery!