Silly Season update: Jan. 22

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-TBA, although Buddy Rice is the likely entry
Foyt (1): 14-Darren Manning
Ganassi (2+1): 9-Scott Dixon, 10-Dan Wheldon. ??-Alex Lloyd will be a part-time entry (might hook up with another team)
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, A.J. Foyt IV
Rumored/possible/potential entries (up to 8)
Greg Beck (1)
Sarah Fisher (1): Sarah Fisher (officially trying to put sponsorship together)
Kingdom (1)
Luczo Dragon (1): Patrick Long (part-time?/Indy Only?)
D.B. Mann (1)
D&R (1): Second car
RLR (1): Second car (#8 car vacated by Scott Sharp)
Samax (1): 23-Mario Dominguez?
Part-time/Indy-only
PDM Racing (1): Usually fields a car for Jimmy Kite at the 500. Plans to field an Indy entry this year.
Playa Del Racing (1-2): Al Unser III?
Racing Professionals (1): Jon Herb
Rubicon (1): Max Papis?
Additional cars from major teams for Indy: AGR (1); Vision (1)-possibly Davey Hamilton or John Andretti; 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. Expect him to think about fenders, especially if he has a good showing at Indy.
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 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, although there are some rumblings that Vitor may be shopping around.
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. Other names mentioned have been Dan Clarke and Nelson Philippe

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, although this is still TBA.
TBA-2nd car. Sarah Fisher drove this car in 2007, but she is starting her own team. 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), but recent rumblings have indicated that D&R is planning to field two cars.

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 ...
22-A.J. Foyt IV (Indy Vision, would be a 5th-year FT driver, 2nd with Vision). This hasn't been announced, but that Foyt is teaming with Ed Carpenter and John Andretti to run the Vision entry in the Rolex 24 of Daytona is a good sign.

A.J. Foyt Racing (1-2)
14-Darren Manning (ABC Supply, 3rd-year FT driver). Contract extended through 2008.

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)
23-TBA. Of course, this is Milka Duno's ride, but she will be invited back only if she satisfactorily completes off-season testing. She is also reportedly shopping her Citgo $$ around. She spent the last half of the season on probation. There is also the possibility of Duno not coming back at all. Curt Cavin mentioned on Jan. 22 that Mario Dominguez might be the person for this ride.

**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. Fisher has confirmed she's trying to put something together, but nothing beyond that.

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. On Jan. 21, Max Papis was listed as the likely driver.

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).

I'm not gone ... honest (or, the Jan. 21 newsstand)

... and neither is this blog. (for those of you who don't know ... my day job is high school teacher + basketball coach. I have coached in 11 games since Jan. 3, so time to update this has been somewhat nonexistent).

Anyway, my apologies for being gone during Silly Season madness ...

Some updates
Changes for 2008
Four-lap qualifying at all ovals is one of the biggest changes for the 2008 season.
Road course qualifying will stay the same, with the Firestone Fast 6 deciding the top spots. The multi-position fuel setting will be back ... rather than the "green" and "yellow" setting that existed last year. The Infineon course has also been changed. Major sponsor deals have already been signed with Peak Motor Oil. Coca-Cola and Mac Tools are in the offing.

Drivers wanted
66 drivers showed up at the preseason physical/meet-and-greet/driver meeting last week, both ICS and IPS drivers.

17 did promo photos, including Sarah Fisher. Fisher said she doesn't have enough things in place to announce anything yet, but Sarah Fisher Racing is still being put together.

Going to the dark side
Dan Wheldon is still interested in NASCAR, but his plans are taking a back seat, at least for 2008.
Says Dan: "I'm going to worry about the (Indy) 500, and then we'll evaluate (NASCAR) toward the end of the year. Hopefully, I can put myself in position with a performance next year to push my weight around and say what I want to do." (translation: if he has a good year, he's gone).

Not that we all didn't know this anyway, but Dario Franchitti was going to retire from OW racing after last year. Just to set the record straight, you know.

Who is going to fill the Panther seat?
Champ Car's Speedy Dan Clarke, who has made headlines with his, um, aggressive driving, has been sniffing around for the job.

Who is going to fill the Vision seat?
We know Ed Carpenter is in the 20 car, but who is going to be in the 2? Scheckter & Foyt were both told they could shop for rides in the off-season, but Tomas was MIA when the IRL meetings took place a couple of weeks ago and A.J. Foyt IV is joining Carpenter and John Andretti for the Rolex 24 in Vision's car.

Indy one-offs: Rubicon Racing
We mentioned this team earlier, but Jason Priestley and Jim Freudenberg are putting together a team for Indy 2008. Former IRL team owner Tom Kelley is also on the advisory board. With Freudenberg and Kelley on the docket, could Scott Sharp be the driver?

IPS news
This is HUGE news, with Atlantics champ Raphael Matos turning down $2 million to run in Champ Car and instead signing with AGR to run in the IPS
Says Matos: "I have $2 million and it's two weeks before pre-season testing begins and I had nothing in Champ Car except one offer from a bad team."

Richard Antinucci, the nephew of former Indy winner Eddie Cheever, has tested with Sam Schmidt Motorsports for 2008's IPS season, and has no plans to run in the IndyCar series. Yet. 2009 is more likely for the young American.

There will be lots of estrogen in the IPS pits, withBrazilian Ana Beatriz and Swiss driver Cyndie Allemann joining Leilani Munter in the series.

Star Mazda champ James Davidson has also tested with Sam Schmidt Motorsports.

Brent Sherman is one of several drivers who have tested Panther's IPS car

The dancing champ
Newly-minted dancing celebrity Helio Castroneves stopped by the Detroit Auto Show.

People driving elsewhere
The Rolex 24 of Daytona will have an IRL flavor. Ed Carpenter, A.J. Foyt IV and John Andretti will drive the Vision Racing entry. Alex Lloyd, Scott Dixon & Dan Wheldon are running a Ganassi car. Ryan Briscoe and Helio Castroneves will team with Kurt Busch for the Penske car. Milka Duno and Tomas Enge will drive a SAMAX entry. Ryan Hunter-Reay and Buddy Rice are also entered in two other teams.

Sponsor stuff
Time-Warner is sponsoring the Kansas race this year, which will be the Road Runner Turbo Indy 300

And finally
The 2008 season begins with a salvo from John Oreovicz, who basically blames everything that has to do with the IndyCar Series for all that ails open-wheel racing. Responses predictably flowed in, from ESPN.com readers, and Diecast Dude at Restrictor Plate This. But the best response was crafted by Jeff Ianucci at MyNameIsIRL. That led to a response from Oreo himself, and an interview with MNIIRL.

Meanwhile, Robin Miller thinks Champ Car should just give up the ghost.

Jan. 3 newsstand: More on Mann & Clarke

A couple of updates as we begin 2008 ...

First, the rumored sponsor announcement for Jan. 1 came and went without happening.

Catching up with D.B. Mann Motorsports
It looks like Mann is planning a one-car team for 2008, and is putting sponsorship together now.
Says co-owner Fred Azbell III: "We are very close to completing our sponsorship arrangements and we have spoken to several top-notch IndyCar drivers. We hope to be able to announce our sponsor/driver package soon and to have our team operational and ready for pre-season testing."

Changes at HPD
This is old news, but Robert Clarke's retirement from Honda begins today, as Erik Berkman takes over at HPD.
Says Brian Barnhart: "Robert's been a good open-wheel supporter and a fan of Indy car racing and that's a great tribute to him in itself. He's very much responsible for an unbelievable increase in the level of performance and reliability in regards to engines in Indy car racing in the last decade."

This should come as no shock
But as Ralf Schumacher leaves F1, he rules out running on American ovals, which would include both NASCAR and the IRL. Ralf, if you remember, is the guy who was too afraid to go through IMS' Turn 1 during the USGP ... possibly because he had multiple meetings with the SAFER barrier down here.