Silly Season update: Dec. 29

Lots of new meat in this Silly Season update.

The short version
Confirmed entries (17 full-time cars + 1 part-time car)
AGR (4): 7-Danica Patrick, 11-Tony Kanaan, 26-Marco Andretti, 27-Hideki Mutoh
D&R (1): 15-Buddy Rice
Foyt (1): 14-Darren Manning
Ganassi (2+1): 9-Scott Dixon, 10-Dan Wheldon. ??-Alex Lloyd will be a part-time entry
Panther (2): 4-Vitor Meira, ??-Driver TBA
Penske (2): 3-Helio Castroneves, 6-Ryan Briscoe
RLR (1): 17-Ryan Hunter-Reay
Roth (2): 25-Marty Roth, 76?-Jay Howard
Vision (2): 20-Ed Carpenter, Second car driver TBA
Rumored/possible/potential entries (up to 8)
Greg Beck (1)
Sarah Fisher (1): Sarah Fisher (officially trying to put sponsorship together)
Foyt (1): Rumored second car they're trying to squirrel together
Kingdom (1)
Luczo Dragon (1): Patrick Long (part-time?)
D.B. Mann (1)
RLR (1): Second car (#8 car vacated by Scott Sharp)
Samax (1): 23-Milka Duno
Part-time/Indy-only
PDM Racing (1): Usually fields a car for Jimmy Kite at the 500.
Playa Del Racing (1-2): Al Unser III?
Racing Professionals (1): Jon Herb
Rubicon (1)
Additional cars from major teams for Indy: AGR (1), Vision (1)-likely Davey Hamilton, Panther (1)-possibly John Andretti if no NASCAR conflicts.

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 (1-2)
17-Ryan Hunter-Reay (Ethanol, 2nd-year FT driver). Likely to return for 2008. Ethanol sponsorship requires an American driver. Just about everyone has tied RHR to this car, and reports in the last week indicate that RHR has tested this car.
8-TBA. A couple of things are TBA about this car. First of all, will it even be there? Scott Sharp is likely taking his sponsor & team to ALMS. Second, if it does exist (and Robin Miller insists that Ethanol requires a two-car team), who will be the driver?

Panther Racing (2)
4-Vitor Meira (Delphi, 7th-year FT driver, 3rd with Panther). Confirmed for 2008.
TBA-Driver TBA: This ride was slotted for Hideki Mutoh, but Aguri Suzuki took his driver & his support of the second Panther car to AGR. P.J. Chesson is emerging as the frontrunner for this ride. Cavin has also mentioned Tomas Scheckter as a possibility, but Chesson seems to be the frontrunner.

Dreyer & Reinbold Racing (1-2)
15-Buddy Rice (RollCoater, 7th-year FT driver, 2nd with D&R). Rice has recently said that things are close to him returning to D&R for 2008.
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 (1-2)
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: 22-A.J. Foyt IV (Indy Vision, would be a 5th-year FT driver, 2nd with Vision).
TBA: 2-Tomas Scheckter (Joost, would be a 7th-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. It looks like Foyt will stay and Scheckter will probably become the free agent.

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, although some MyNameIsIRL speculation says A.J. is selling $6 million worth of land.

Roth Racing (2)
25-Marty Roth: Plans to run 2 full-time cars next year. He'll be driving one of them.
76-Jay Howard (rookie). Howard was announced Nov. 26 as the driver of this car, the second car with Roth Racing.

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 also the possibility of Duno not coming back at all.

**Potential new entries**
D.B. Mann Motorsports (1?)
This team fielded cars for John Paul Jr., Steve Chassey, Gary Bettenhausen & Mark Dismore between 1989 & 1992, but hasn't been heard from since. But Cavin said on Dec. 21 that they are planning an IRL entry for 2008, and they do have a website.

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 since.

Sarah Fisher Racing (1)
TBA: Sarah Fisher. Has sponsorships from AAMCO and AAA. Curt Cavin said on Nov. 25 that Fisher has hired a staff and this possibility appears more likely. Another Indy Star story in late December quoted father-in-law John O'Gara saying they're putting something together, and hoping to get enough sponsorship to run the full season, not just Indy.

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 series, and his comments at the TEAM announcement seemed to indicate that is possible. Beck does have a Dallara, which he used in a couple of races last year and leased to Panther at the end of the season (Panther has returned it to Beck).

**Possible part-time entries**
Luczo Dragon Racing (1)
Patrick Long: Long is committed to running for Penske in ALMS next year, but there are rumors he could be the Luczo Dragon driver. Will he be running more races than Indy? That is to be seen.

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.

Rubicon Race Team (1)
This will be an Indy one-off owned by Jim Freudenberg and Jason Priestley.

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).