Silly Season update: Nov. 25

A few updates for the Silly Season, but there's still a TON up in the air.

2008 lineup
Andretti Green Racing (4)
7-Danica Patrick (Motorola, 4th-year FT driver, 2nd year with AGR). Under contract through 2009.
11-Tony Kanaan (7-11, 6th year FT driver, all with AGR, 2004 champ). Under contract through 2008.
26-Marco Andretti (NYSE Group, 3rd-year FT driver, all with AGR). Staying with AGR.
27-Hideki Mutoh (Panasonic, 1st-year FT driver). Signed to replace Dario Franchitti.

Team Penske (2)
3-Helio Castroneves (Team Penske, 7th-year FT driver, all with Penske, 2-time I500 champ). Under contract to Penske through 2008.
6-Ryan Briscoe (Team Penske, 2nd-year FT driver, 1st with Penske). Has recently signed with Penske to replace Sam Hornish Jr.

Target Chip Ganassi Racing (2.5)
9-Scott Dixon (Target, 6th-year FT driver, all with TCGR, 2003 champ). Under contract for 2008.
10-Dan Wheldon (Target, 6th-year FT driver, 3rd with TCGR, 2005 IRL & Indy champ). Under contract through 2008.
Part-time entry: Alex Lloyd: Has signed a "development deal" with Ganassi that includes IRL & GrandAm races. Lloyd could be farmed out to another team or run in a third Ganassi car. Expect to see him in a full-time ride for TCGR in 2009.

Rahal Letterman Racing (2)
8-Scott Sharp (Patron, 12th-year FT driver, 1st with RLR, 1996 champ). Announced during the week of Oct. 7 that he is confirmed to return for 2008, "at least."
17-Ryan Hunter-Reay (Ethanol, 2nd-year FT driver). Likely to return for 2008. Ethanol sponsorship requires an American driver.

Panther Racing (1-2)
4-Vitor Meira (Delphi, 7th-year FT driver, 3rd with Panther). Confirmed for 2008.
55-Driver TBA: This ride was slotted for Hideki Mutoh, but Aguri Suzuki took his driver & his support of the second Panther car to AGR. Possible drivers: P.J. Chesson (ref: Curt Cavin's blog), A.J. Foyt IV or Alex Lloyd (farmed out from Ganassi). Chesson seems to be most likely, according to Cavin, but he floated out the Foyt idea, as well.

Dreyer & Reinbold Racing (1-2)
15-Buddy Rice (RollCoater, 7th-year FT driver, 2nd with D&R). Not confirmed yet, but this arrangement is likely to continue unless Buddy gets a ride with a top-tier team. Rice was running A1GP in the off-season, but a teammate has been taking that car.
TBA-2nd car. Sarah Fisher drove this car in 2007, but she is very unlikely to return. Whether or not D&R keeps the second car is unknown (Fisher made comments in 2007 that indicated D&R may go back to one car).

Vision Racing (1-3)
20-Ed Carpenter (Hitachi Power Tools, 5th-year FT driver, 4th with Vision). Confirmed for 2008. The only confirmed Vision car for 2008.
The other two cars are unconfirmed ...
TBA: 2-Tomas Scheckter (Joost, would be a 7th-year FT driver, 2nd with Vision).
TBA: 22-A.J. Foyt IV (Indy Vision, would be a 5th-year FT driver, 2nd with Vision). TG has turned both Scheckter and Foyt loose for 2008. It appears Vision will be a 2-car team in 2008, possibly fielding Davey Hamilton in an Indy 500 one-off in a third car.

A.J. Foyt Racing (1-2)
14-Darren Manning (ABC Supply, 3rd-year FT driver). Contract extended through 2008.
TBA: Second car. Foyt is exploring the option of adding a second car, pending funding. Curt Cavin has said the funding appears to be not there at this point.

Roth Racing (2)
25-Marty Roth: Plans to run 2 full-time cars next year. He'll be driving one of them.
76-TBA: P.J. Chesson drove the car at Chicago and said he would like to stay with Roth if things go well, according to comments at Chicago. Cavin said in his Nov. 24 blog that IPS vet Jay Howard appears to be the person for this particular car.

SAMAX Racing (1)
Unconfirmed for 2008: 23-Milka Duno (Citgo - rookie). Duno will be invited back only if she satisfactorily completes off-season testing. Spent the last half of the season on probation.There is the possibility of SAMAX fielding a second car for Tomas Enge (or someone else) or not coming back.

**Potential new entries**
Fernandez Racing (1-2?)
From Curt Cavin's blog (8/8/2007), Adrian Fernandez's team still has its IndyCar equipment and Tom Anderson is apparently interested in a return to the IRL, but things "haven't been worked out." Sept. 8: Cavin said funding isn't there yet for this team, but it would like to get back in. Cavin says on Aug. 13 that he knows of two individuals to keep an eye on for new 2008 teams, but hasn't seen any sign of $$ backing them. An Indy 500 one-off is likely, at the very least, if not the full season. We haven't heard much from Fernandez in recent weeks. I'm putting this in the 50/50 category.

Kingdom Racing (1)
The team announced its plans to field a team for 2008 on Aug. 16. Led by Houston businessman George Del Canto, the team plans to be based on a Christian philosophy, with several pastors and Christian leaders on the board of directors. They've been announcing new partnerships as recent as Sept. 28, when evangelical leader Patrick Morley came on board. But we haven't heard anything out of them other than that.

Sarah Fisher Racing (1)
TBA: Sarah Fisher (AAMCO, 6th FT season, 2nd with D&R). Has sponsorships from AAMCO and AAA. Curt Cavin said on Nov. 25 that Fisher has hired a staff and this possibility appears more likely. She'd likely be the only IRL driver married to her crew chief, too.

**Likely part-time entries**
Racing Professionals (1)
Jon Herb: As for the future, it's probably part-time at best, with the Indy 500 one-off and maybe the Chicago race.

Playa Del Racing (1-2)
Indy-only entry. Will probably field 1 or 2 cars for the Indianapolis 500.

PDM Racing would like to run a partial season of ovals in 2008 and become full-time in 2009. It would be more than good to see this longtime program back in the ICS full-time.

Beck Racing (1)
TBA: Although Beck ran some early-season events, the Beck machine hasn't been seen since Indy. Beck has said he'd like to be back in the IndyCar game, and his comments at the TEAM announcement seemed to indicate that is possible. Probably not a full-season entry for 2008, unless some $$ materializes. I moved this into the likely part-time camp.

Unlikely for next year, but for the more distant future?
Cheever Racing ... the Aug. 28 IRL press release quotes Eddie's nephew Richard Antinucci as looking to get into the ICS (and get the team back into the ICS) long-term, if, of course, the $$ comes together.

2009 schedule news
The 2009 schedule may expand to 20 races, according to IRL brass.
As far as new tracks:
*-Michigan International Speedway has already been mentioned as a possible re-addition to the schedule, in a Detroit News story.
*-Expect Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama to get a look, given positive comments after the IRL's test Oct. 12, and owner George Barber saying he'd like to have an IRL race there in the future.
*-New Hampshire Motor Speedway has re-entered the picture for 2009, according to stories in the Boston Herald & Concord (NH) Monitor. It is likely to lose a NASCAR date, and the IRL might be looked upon to be an addition to the track's racing menu.

More unlikely, but possible entries: Rockingham, which was recently purchased by former Indy 500 starter and Hoosier native Andy Hillenburg, who has scheduled ARCA and Pro Cup races at the 1-mile track next season.

Confirmed for 2009: Indianapolis (signed forever), Texas (signed through 2009), Iowa (signed through 2009), Milwaukee (signed through 2009), Detroit (signed through 2011).