This Week in Auto Racing April 3 - 5
Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - NASCAR heads to the "Lone Star State" this weekend as the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series run at the high-speed Texas Motor Speedway. Meanwhile, the IndyCar Series kicks off its season in St. Petersburg, FL, and Formula One travels to Malaysia.
Sprint Cup Series
Samsung 500 - Texas Motor Speedway - Fort Worth, TX
After two weeks of beating and banging on the short tracks of Bristol and Martinsville, Sprint Cup Series teams tackle the 1 1/2-mile Texas Motor Speedway, where qualifying speeds can reach over 195 m.p.h. Texas is very similar to Atlanta and Charlotte, which also produce fast speeds.
Carl Edwards won both races at Texas in 2008. Edwards, currently eighth in points, is seeking his first victory of the season after winning a series-high nine races last year.
"Texas is just a really fun track," Edwards said. "We swept the races there last season, and because of that, I am the recipient of the 'Texas Motor Speedway Racer of the Year Award.' It's an honor to be recognized for that, but the coolest part about winning at Texas is you get guns when you win there. You get to stand there in victory lane and shoot guns."
Edwards won at Texas for the first time in November 2005. He leads all drivers with three victories there. His team owner, Jack Roush, has the most car owner wins at Texas with seven.
Jeff Burton gave Roush his first Texas win in the 1997 inaugural race. It was also Burton's first career victory in the series.
Burton, now in his sixth year driving for Richard Childress Racing, has had his share of success at Texas. He won there for the second time in April 2007.
"We've had a lot of good things happen to us at Texas," Burton said. "The race two years ago with (Matt) Kenseth was a heck of a race. It was a lot of fun and things fell our way. We were really good on old tires and got a real long run at the end of the race. It worked out well for us."
With many years of experience at Texas, Burton knows that tires will be a huge factor since the fast pace is hard on them. And high speeds makes it challenging to pass, particularly in the turns.
"The track slows down a lot in race trim, but it's still really fast," he said. "Goodyear is bringing a new tire to this race that is, hopefully, going to have a lot of grip. Speeds should be up and stay there during the whole run. Anytime you have a lot of speed, track position becomes real important because it's harder to pass. The way you pass is you have to catch a guy who is not handling well...Corner speed is everything at Texas. Turns two and four are tight coming off the corner, so you have to be able to be in the throttle, accelerating off the corners to go fast."
Burton is currently 13th in the standings, just seven points behind 12-place Matt Kenseth.
Meanwhile, Jimmie Johnson climbed from ninth to fourth in points after winning his first race of the season at Martinsville.
Johnson won the fall race at Texas in 2007, and finished second twice there, including last year's spring race. He should be among the heavy favorites to win this weekend's Samsung 500.
"I'm pretty confident in our mile-and-a-half program," Johnson said. "We had some good speed in our cars at California and Las Vegas earlier this year. I know our finishes don't really show it, but I'm looking forward to getting back to an intermediate track to see if we can't put it all together. I know our cars are better than what our finishes have shown."
Johnson's teammate, Jeff Gordon, remained the points leader after finishing fourth at Martinsville. Gordon, who currently holds an 89-point advantage, continues to run well this season with top-10 finishes in the last five races. His winless streak, however, has now stretched to 47 races, dating back to October 2007 at Charlotte.
Gordon has not won in 16 starts at Texas, but has finished second there twice, most recently in November.
"Texas is one of those places that is on my radar," Gordon said. "I want to turn things around and conquer it. We've made such huge progress - the way the cars are driving, the way the team is performing - that I'm really optimistic. What we are doing with the cars has worked well so far this year."
Texas and Homestead are the only tracks on the Sprint Cup schedule where Gordon has yet to win.
Nationwide Series
O'Reilly 300 - Texas Motor Speedway - Fort Worth, TX
The Nationwide Series begins a six-week stretch of racing this weekend at Texas. The series has enjoyed three open weekends in the last four weeks. Their next open weekend isn't until mid-May during the NASCAR Sprint All-Star race week in Charlotte.
Carl Edwards holds a 114-point lead over Kevin Harvick, who won two weeks ago at Bristol in the No.33 Chevrolet he owns along with his wife, DeLana. Harvick will not compete in the Nationwide race at Texas, but Tony Stewart will drive his No.33 car.
Stewart, who won the season-opener at Daytona in a Hendrick Motorsports car, will share driving duties with Harvick, Ryan Newman and Cale Gale in the No.33 this year.
"Kevin's program, especially at Texas, is always good," Stewart said. "Every time I've run with them there, we've run well, and that's all you can ask for."
Stewart gave Kevin Harvick Inc. its first Nationwide victory in 2005 at Daytona. He has six Nationwide starts at Texas with his best finish of second coming there in November 2006 in a Joe Gibbs Racing car.
"It was Tony's idea to run our first Nationwide Series race back in 2004," Harvick said. "At that point, we were just a Truck-only operation. He mentioned it to me, and I thought 'Why not?' So that's basically how our entire Nationwide Series program got started. He's been very instrumental in KHI's success from the very beginning."
Stewart will compete in one more Nationwide race for KHI later this year.
Texas marks the first time since last July at Daytona that Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kerry Earnhardt will race against each other in Nationwide competition. Dale Jr. will drive the No.5 Chevrolet for his JR Motorsports team, while Kerry will be behind the wheel of the No.31 Chevrolet for Rick Ware Racing.
RWR recently announced that Kerry and his 19-year-old son, Jeffrey, will share select events for the team, substituting for Stanton Barrett, who will concentrate on his full-time IndyCar Series schedule in 2009. Jeffrey's schedule will be limited to seven races this year in order to maintain his rookie status in the series for 2010.
The three Earnhardts are hoping to compete against each other for the first time in NASCAR national series competition in the September Nationwide race at Atlanta.
INDYCAR SERIES
Honda GP of St. Petersburg - Streets of St. Petersburg - St. Petersburg, FL
The 2009 IndyCar Series begins with Sunday's Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on the streets of St. Petersburg in Florida.
St. Petersburg will become the third Florida venue to host the series' season- opener. The first race in 1996 was held at Walt Disney World Speedway in Orlando. The series also began the season at Walt Disney World from 1998 to 2000.
The series moved its first race on the schedule in 2002 to Homestead-Miami Speedway, where it remained the season-opener until last year. Homestead will now host the final race of the year in October.
Scott Dixon begins his championship-defense campaign at St. Petersburg. Dixon won his second series title last year by 17 points over Helio Castroneves. His first title came in 2003.
Dixon has dominated the competition since the middle of 2007, winning 10 of the last 25 races, including last year's Indianapolis 500. But Dixon might have his hands full this season as 2007 Indy 500 winner and IndyCar champion Dario Franchitti returns to America's top open-wheel racing circuit, and teams with Dixon at Target Chip Ganassi Racing.
"I'd like to think that we can definitely keep the momentum rolling," Dixon said. "The way we started last season and the way we ended it we were still very competitive, and with the addition of Dario (Franchitti), I think to have the last two series champions and the last two (Indianapolis) 500 champions could definitely - we've got the target on our back as such, and people are going to have to chase us."
In 2007, Dixon trailed Franchitti by just three points heading into season- finale at Chicagoland. The two battled all the way to the final lap with Franchitti taking the checkered flag and the title. Dixon held the lead on the last lap, but Franchitti passed Dixon, who suddenly slowed when he ran out of fuel. Dixon managed to coast to a second-place finish.
Dixon began the 2008 season with the victory at Homestead, but finished a disappointing 23rd in the following race at St. Petersburg after mechanical problems put him out of the event in the late-stages.
"St. Pete actually was - we started off great with the win at Homestead and then we had a problem in the first qualifying knockout," he said. "We had a lap taken off us, and then we were sort of knocked out of that, which was nothing that we ever thought we'd be a part of, not to even make it into the top 12.
"That was frustrating. We had a great race. I think we were running about second, and actually coming out, I'm not sure if many people remember, but it was a bit of a wet start to the race and then it kind of dried up. When I went out on the dry tires, made contact with the wall in turn four but then carried on for about another 25 laps until the suspension finally failed."
Graham Rahal won last year's race at St. Petersburg. Rahal, the son of 1986 Indy 500 winner Bobby Rahal, became the youngest driver to win an IndyCar event at age 19.
"What matters most to us is to make sure that when we go to all the road races we've got a good shot at winning, and that's what we're trying to do right now - learn as much as we can," Rahal said after last week's pre-season testing at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, AL. "I think we're doing that. We've got a lot more knowledge and understanding than we did before, and that's what we need. We're trying things that we hope we can adapt to other tracks. That's been our focus."
Helio Castroneves finished second last year at St. Petersburg after winning the event there in 2006 and '07. Castroneves, however, will not compete this season until his tax evasion trial is settled.
Will Power is filling in for Castroneves at Team Penske. Power and teammate Ryan Briscoe turned in the fastest laps overall in pre-season testing at Barber and Homestead.
FORMULA ONE
Malaysian Grand Prix - Sepang Circuit - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Jenson Button capped off a stunning debut race weekend for Brawn GP by winning last Sunday's Australian Grand Prix. Button's teammate, Rubens Barrichello, came in second position to give the new team a one-two finish. The last team to score a one-two finish in their maiden Formula One grand prix was Mercedes- Benz in 1954.
Button and Barrichello were also first and second in qualifying. Button led from start to finish, while Barrichello had a somewhat more dramatic start when he quickly fell back in the field and then sustained damage to his front wing and nose in a first corner collision. He damaged the front wing again later when he made contact with Kimi Raikkonen. But Barrichello powered his way up to fourth in the closing stages. He grabbed second after an incident between Sebastian Vettel and Robert Kubica put both cars out of the race with three laps to go.
Button recorded his second career grand prix victory. His first win came in the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix.
Both drivers were uncertain of their futures in F1 before Brawn purchased the team. The two drove for Honda in 2008, but in December the Japanese auto manufacturer pulled out of the sport and sold its team due to the world-wide economic slowdown.
Brawn GP team principal Ross Brawn recently acquired the former Honda team and immediately surprised the competition in testing at Barcelona and Jerez, Spain where Button and Barrichello turned in the fastest times in their BGP 001 car.
"What's so exciting is that there is so much more to come from myself and from this team," Button said. "I can't wait to get to Malaysia."
But Brawn might face challenging times ahead.
Brawn recently secured a partnership deal with Sir Richard Branson and the Virgin Group, but the sponsorship is for Australia and Malaysia only. The team continues to search for major sponsorship while dealing with an already underfunded operation.
"We haven't got the budget but, hopefully, we will and hopefully people will take an interest in what we have done with a pretty plain car," Button told the UK Daily Express newspaper this week. "Our factory and facilities are very good, it is just whether weve enough money to run the machines. I am hoping and guessing it is going to be OK. It would be a waste otherwise."
Furthermore, stewards last Thursday passed the cars of Brawn, along with Toyota and Williams, for the Australian GP, despite protests from rivals, who believed their diffusers may be illegal. The protests were rejected, which in turn was appealed by Ferrari, Red Bull Racing and Renault. The FIA International Court of Appeal will hear the case on April 14.
Brawn, Toyota and Williams could possibly be stripped of all points they scored in Australia and Malaysia, should their cars be deemed outside the rules.
While the Brawn BGP 001 car has performed exceptionally well so far, McLaren is still searching for answers in how to significantly improve their MP4-24. Defending world champion Lewis Hamilton had poor performances in qualifying and practices at Melbourne. Hamilton struggled for pace throughout the 58-lap event, but good strategy and a little bit of fortune (two safety cars and Jarno Trulli's time penalty) helped the Briton soldier on to a third-place finish.
"First, we shouldn't get carried away by our podium in Australia," Hamilton said. "Yes, we had a fantastic race, but we're all aware that our car isn't capable of repeating that sort of performance on sheer pace alone. And Sepang is one of the tougher tracks on the calendar, one where we will probably be further from the frontrunners than we were in Albert Park."
With little time to make changes to the car between Australia and Malaysia, Hamilton is hopeful he can turn in another strong run this weekend.
"We're all really encouraged by the progress we've made, and I know we'll be pushing as hard as ever to put more points on the board in Sepang."
Auto Racing Glance
Samsung 500 - Texas Motor Speedway - Fort Worth, TX
Schedule: Friday, qualifying (Speed Channel, 4:30 p.m.); Sunday, race (FOX, 1:30 p.m.).
Track: Texas Motor Speedway (quad-oval, 1.5 miles, 24 degrees banking in turns).
Race distance: 501 miles, 334 laps.
Last race: Jimmie Johnson nudged Denny Hamlin aside in the third and fourth turns with 15 laps to go at Martinsville Speedway, and gave team owner Rick Hendrick a perfect place to celebrate the 25th anniversary of his first victory in NASCAR's premier series: Victory Lane. Johnson now has five victories in the last six races on the circuit's smallest and trickiest track.
Last year: Carl Edwards dominated at Texas Motor Speedway, leading a race-high 123 laps while building a lead of more than 7 seconds at one point.
Fast facts: Edwards swept both races at Texas in 2008, holding off Johnson in last year's Samsung 500 and Jeff Gordon in November. He was the top lap leader in both events, 123 and 212 respectively. Edwards also won the 2005 fall race there. ... Matt Kenseth has had an average finish of 27.8 in the four races since opening the season with consecutive victories. He is now 12th in the standings. ... Dale Earnhardt Jr. won his first career Cup race in the 2000 event in just his 12th start. He has also claimed two poles at the track, including last year. ... Hendrick had four cars finish among the top eight last week, while Stewart-Haas Racing had two.
Next race: Subway Fresh Fit 500, April 18, Avondale, Ariz.
O'Reilly 300 - Texas Motor Speedway - Fort Worth, TX
Schedule: Thursday, qualifying, 7:05 p.m.; Saturday, race (ESPN2, 2:30 p.m.).
Track: Texas Motor Speedway (quad-oval, 1.5 miles, 24 degrees banking in turns).
Race distance: 300 miles, 200 laps.
Last race: Kevin Harvick proved just how strong his organization is by winning at Bristol Motor Speedway in his own race car. Harvick led 44 laps in his Kevin Harvick Inc.-owned Chevrolet, his first victory in a car fielded by the race team he built with his wife.
Last year: Kyle Busch won at Texas Motor Speedway in dominating fashion, leading 126 of the 200 laps and finishing more than a second ahead of Jeff Burton. With an average speed of 151.708 mph, it was the fastest Nationwide race at the 1 1/2-mile high-banked track.
Fast facts: Harvick has a series-high four wins at Texas. ... Busch swept both Nationwide races at Texas last year. ... There has yet to be a repeat winner this season. ... Kenny Wallace is among the top 10 in the standings for the first time since 2006. ... This race will mark the final time where the 2008 owner points set the top 30 in the field. Starting next week at Nashville, the top 30 in this year's owner points standings will determine those spots for the remainder of the season.
Next race: Nationwide 300, April 11, Lebanon, Tenn.
Malaysian Grand Prix - Sepang Circuit - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Schedule: Saturday, qualifying (Speed Channel, 5 a.m.); Sunday, race (Speed Channel, 4:30 a.m.).
Track: Sepang International Circuit (permanent road course, 3.443 miles, 15 turns).
Race distance: 192.248 miles, 56 laps.
Last race: Brawn GP, formed from the remnants of the Honda team after the Japanese manufacturer pulled out of the sport after 2008, opened the 2009 season with a 1-2 finish at the Australian Grand Prix. England's Jenson Button led from start to finish to claim victory ahead of veteran Brazilian teammate Rubens Barrichello, cruising to the line behind the safety car after a late crash.
Last year: Kimi Raikkonen comfortably won the Malaysian Grand Prix, immediately injecting Ferrari back into the title race after the disappointment of the previous week's flop in Australia where neither car finished. Raikkonen won by 20 seconds over BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica, with McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen another 19 seconds back in third.
Fast facts: The past three winners of the Australian GP went on to win the championship. ... Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel was fined $50,000 by race stewards for continuing around the track on three wheels following an accident. He also incurred a 10-place grid penalty for this weekend's race. ... Days after winning the Australian Grand Prix, Brawn GP said it will cut about 270 of its 700 employees. Brawn GP became the first team since 1977 to win its maiden F1 race. ... Button, who is in his 10th year in the series, has only two career victories.
Next race: Chinese Grand Prix, April 19, Shanghai
Honda GP of St. Petersburg - Streets of St. Petersburg - St. Petersburg, FL
Track: Streets of St. Petersburg (1.8 miles, 14 turns).
Race distance: 180 miles, 100 laps.
Last year: Graham Rahal came back from a spinout early to become the youngest winner in major open-wheel history. At 19 years, 93 days, Rahal broke the age record set two years ago in Sonoma, Calif., by another driver from a racing family, Marco Andretti, who was 19 years, 167 days old.
Fast facts: Dario Franchitti is returning to open-wheel racing after joining NASCAR following the 2007 season, when he won the Indianapolis 500 and IndyCar Series championship. His stock car tenure ended abruptly last July when team owner Chip Ganassi closed his team for lack of sponsorship. ... Andretti Green Racing has won 34 races and three points championships since switching from Champ Car to the IRL full-time in 2003. ... IUPUI will sponsor Sarah Fisher this season. The university stepped in and helped her qualify for the Indianapolis 500 after her previous sponsor, sports drink ResQ, dropped out. ... Tony Kanaan is expected to make his 98th consecutive IRL start this weekend. ... Defending-champion Scott Dixon needs two more top-five finishes to reach 50 for his career. ... St. Petersburg is hosting its first IRL season opener. The winner of this race has gone on to win the title just once in the four-year history of the event.
Next race: Long Beach (Calif.) Grand Prix, April 19
Plenty of turbulence as F1 heads to Malaysia
April 1, 2009
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -Formula One heads to Malaysia this week after a season-opener where the natural order of the sport was turned on its head and doubts were raised about whether the result will be allowed to stand.
England's Jenson Button won the Australian Grand Prix and his Brawn GP teammate Rubens Barrichello was second, making F1's newest team only the third in history to record a 1-2 finish in its debut race.
But there's no guarantee the result will stand. Rivals Ferrari, Red Bull and Renault have appealed a stewards' decision that allowed Brawn GP, Toyota and Williams cars to race in Australia with rear diffusers they believe breached the sport's new aerodynamics regulations.
The decision on the legality of the cars will be made by the FIA - the sport's governing body - after this weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix.
With no change prior to Malaysia, the pattern from Australia could be repeated at Sepang.
Since preseason testing, it had been apparent that Brawn had the quickest car, and in Melbourne the England-based team proved it had the reliability to match. Williams and Toyota also showed they had taken strides forward since 2008, thanks in no small part to those diffusers.
Red Bull and Williams appear to be the strongest of the 'non-diffuser' teams, while the established giants Ferrari and McLaren are playing catch-up. Both Ferrari and McLaren devoted most of their efforts last year to tweaking their 2008 cars as they challenged for the title, and are now competing with rivals that turned to development of the radically different 2009 cars much earlier.
Defending champion Lewis Hamilton of McLaren was third in Melbourne, promoted from fourth after a stewards' penalty imposed on Toyota's Jarno Trulli for overtaking under safety car conditions as the GP came to a close.
The third-place finish resulted from a patient and mature drive by Hamilton, but exaggerated McLaren's performance, and the team is not expecting much in Malaysia, either.
``Yes, we had a fantastic race (in Australia) but we're all aware that our car isn't capable of repeating that sort of performance on sheer pace alone,'' Hamilton said. ``And Sepang is one of the tougher tracks on the calendar, one where we will probably be further from the front-runners than we were in Albert Park.''
Ferrari finished without a point in Melbourne for the second straight year. In 2008, the Italian-based team bounced back quickly in Malaysia as Felipe Massa took the pole and led comfortably in the race before spinning off, handing the win to teammate Kimi Raikkonen.
A repeat looks more difficult this weekend. In Melbourne, as it did last year, Ferrari struggled to get heat into the harder tire. But where the scarlet cars looked good on the softer tires in 2008, in Melbourne last weekend it quickly degraded its rear tires when on the softer compound.
Ferrari is hoping a return to a pure racetrack in Sepang, unlike the low-grip street circuit of Melbourne, will provide a turnaround in fortunes.
``It's good we have a race coming up immediately in Malaysia,'' Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali said after the Melbourne race, saying the result there was ``not worthy of Ferrari''.
``It will give us the opportunity to react as long as we draw the right conclusions, calmly but also decisively.
``The pecking order is not so clear. It will be more evident in Sepang, but we are well aware that, apart from one team that was untouchable today, there are numerous other strong competitors.''
Just as Ferrari will be looking to right the wrongs of Melbourne, so too will Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel. The young driver ran in second place for much of the Australian race before a collision with BMW's Robert Kubica four laps from the finish ended the race for both.
Kubica was looking to pass Vettel and maybe even challenge Button. As he overtook around the outside, Vettel, on worn tires, could not avoid the collision.
Stewards fined Vettel $50,000 and gave him a 10-place grid penalty in Malaysia.
Ferrari boss blames 2008 hangover for poor start
April 1, 2009
Luca di Montezemolo believes Ferrari's struggles in Formula One's season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Sunday can be attributed to the title fight with McLaren that went down to the final race of last season.
``There's no doubt that we're paying for how the 2008 season went down to the final turn in the final lap of the final race,'' the president of the Italian automaker said Tuesday during a book presentation, according to the ANSA news agency.
``We and McLaren had to develop the car right up until the end, while the others could work on completely new projects many months earlier.''
McLaren's Lewis Hamilton narrowly beat Ferrari's Felipe Massa for last season's title.
Massa retired due to a steering failure in Melbourne on Sunday and teammate Kimi Raikkonen sent his Ferrari into a wall. Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello of Brawn GP finished 1-2 and Hamilton was third.
``I expect to see the real values in Malaysia on a circuit that's not as strange as the one in Melbourne,'' Montezemolo said, looking ahead to the Malaysian Grand Prix this weekend.
As the president of the Formula One Teams Association, Montezemolo also said he was anxious for an FIA hearing regarding the rear diffusers of Brawn, Toyota and Williams.
Stewards in Australia cleared the diffusers of the three teams, but Ferrari, Red Bull and Renault have filed an appeal that will be heard following the race in Malaysia.
``I'm expecting the rules to be clarified,'' Montezemolo said. ``It's not good to start a season with such important question marks.''
TIME TO WIN: It's been 18 months and 47 races since Jeff Gordon last visited Victory Lane and Texas Motor Speedway wouldn't seem to be the most likely place for the four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion to end that streak.
But Gordon, leading the season points and coming off his fifth straight finish of sixth or better, is feeling pretty good this week heading to the Fort Worth track, along with Homestead-Miami Speedway one of only two current Cup venues where he has yet to win.
He's come close on the 1.5-mile Texas track.
``In 2007 when we hit on the setup, I hit the wall with about 20 to go while leading and it ruined that opportunity,'' Gordon said. ``Another time we had electrical issues while leading late in the race. But those were instances when we ran well and had a shot at the win. Other times, we've been off the mark.''
Last April's race was one of those. Gordon hit the wall in turn four on lap 110 and finished last in the 43-car field.
``I am not going to base anything off last year,'' Gordon said. ``Even when we finished second (in the fall race), it was because of fuel mileage and we still were only about a 12th- to 15th- place car.
``The team worked hard over the offseason and our performances on intermediate tracks have improved. We are just a different team with different race cars right now.
In three races on 1.5-mile ovals, Gordon has led laps in each event and has had finishes of second at California, sixth at Las Vegas and second at Atlanta.
``Texas is one of those places that is on my radar,'' Gordon said. ``I want to turn things around and conquer it. We've made such huge progress - the way the cars are driving, the way the team is performing - that I'm really optimistic. What we are doing with the cars has worked well so far this year. ``And I think it could possibly even work better at Texas than some of the places we have been to.''
QUALIFYING REWARD: Pole winners in the IndyCar Series are about to get a reward they haven't received since 2001 - championship points.
The overall points for each of the 17 events this season, beginning with Sunday's Honda Grand Prix in St. Petersburg, Fla., will remain the same in 2009. But each pole will be worth one point, with points awarded for leading the most laps in the race reduced from three to two.
Pole winners will also received a $10,000 PEAK Performance Pole Award at every race except the Indianapolis 500, which pays $100,000 for the top qualifying spot.
``It seems appropriate that the driver who can survive four laps driving on the edge on ovals, or who can make it through three elimination rounds on road and street courses, be rewarded for their efforts with a point toward the championship,'' said Brian Barnhart, IndyCar's president of competition and operations.
Late sponsorhips help IRL add drivers to field
April 1, 2009
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -The grinding offseason work of finding sponsors is finally paying dividends for a few IndyCar drivers.
Companies are lining up just in time for the season-opening weekend, prompting a flurry of announcements including two more Wednesday that expanded the expected starting field Sunday in St. Petersburg, Fla., to 22.
The newest additions: Darren Manning and Alex Tagliani.
``It's just scrapping,'' Manning said. ``You've got to never give up. We all have a good product, and it's just getting it out there to the right people.''
In this economic environment, it would have been easy for both drivers to write off this season - especially so late in the game.
But Manning and Tagliani kept working the phone lines and eventually landed temporary gigs.
Dreyer & Reinbold Racing announced the 33-year-old Manning would drive the team's No. 23 car Sunday, a one-race deal the English native hopes to turn into a season-long job with a solid performance in St. Pete.
Conquest Racing brought back Tagliani, a 36-year-old Canadian, who started in two points races with the team last year. It, too, is a one-race deal that could keep Tagliani in the car longer if team co-owner Eric Bachelart can find more financial backing.
Bachelart said Tagliani would race in St. Pete and hoped Tagliani would be back in the cockpit two weeks later in Long Beach though the details have not been worked out for the second race.
Those announcements came two days after Vision Racing owner and Indy Racing League founder Tony George hired Ryan Hunter-Reay.
And it could be just the beginning.
``There is nothing more important to us right now than having a strong car count,'' said Terry Angstadt, president of the IRL's commercial division. ``We were hoping for 22 to start the season. I think we're there, and I think it's going to clearly go up in Long Beach.''
But it's hardly been an economic boon.
Manning still plans to run more frequently in the Grand Am series than IndyCars, and he didn't mince words when asked how the global economic woes have impacted racing.
``It's been a nightmare,'' he said. ``I have a manager who works out of the U.K. and looks after a couple of the other drivers, and I know a lot of teams around America and back in Europe, and a lot of guys have had to shut down. So it's a real testament to anybody who can keep going in this current climate.''
That's why the four-year IndyCar veteran jumped at the offer Tuesday night.
``I guess I was just on their minds when the opportunity arose that they needed a guy at the last minute,'' Manning said.
Until two days ago, it appeared Hunter-Reay didn't have a job, either.
After spending the past 1 1/2 seasons with Rahal Letterman Racing, the promising 28-year-old suddenly found himself out of a job when the team's Ethanol sponsor pulled out. Hunter-Reay expected even better things this season after last year's achievements: a win at Watkins Glen, 10 top-10 finishes and rookie of the year honors at the Indianapolis 500.
So instead of losing Hunter-Reay, George figured out a way to keep him around.
``When you see the talent and marketability of a Ryan Hunter-Reay, believe me, we were just working hard trying to make sure Ryan got in a car,'' Angstadt said. ``I compliment Tony for taking the opportunity that I think was right for our business. It was right for Ryan. It was right for his team, to really make that happen.''
How many more drivers could be added in coming weeks?
Angstadt wouldn't say.
There are plenty of familiar names available including Former Indy 500 winner Buddy Rice, former Indy pole-winner Bruno Junqueira and A.J. Foyt IV. And former Indy winner Bobby Rahal would still like to get his IndyCar team back on the track, too.
The lingering question, of course, is whether there's enough money to fill in all the holes - something teams and the series are still struggling with.
``The plan is to keep Alex in the car and not share this car with somebody else,'' Bachelart said. ``I mean, we still have some work to do and some ways to go, so we're working on Long Beach, and then, I mean, keep going from there. It's definitely harder but possible.''