20+ car ChampCar GRID Shaping Up ?!?!

[zerO]

OK, Long Beach is on !!! with 18 cars as promised, but there is EXPANSION COMING IN !!!... the latest from the Grapevine is that we may see as many as 3 cars added to the CCWS grid at Monterrey next month ?!

Brazilian sources indicate that Emmo's team not only is on a verge of being completed, but it will be a TWO CAR effort for Gaston Mazzacane AND Ricardo Sperafico (who's better than Alex or Gaston, btw ) ?!

Also, Walker's second car #15 for Michael Valiante is on a brink of becoming a reality ?!

Here's how the line-up scenario looks like now:

1. FORSYTHE - #1 - Paul Tracy
2. FORSYTHE - #3 - Rodofo Lavin
3. FORSYTHE - #7 - Patrick Carpentier
4. NEWMAN/HAAS - #2 - Sebastien Bourdais
5. NEWMAN/HAAS - #6 - Bruno Junqueira
6. HERDEZ - #4 - Ryan Hunter-Reay
7. HERDEZ - #55 - Mario Dominguez
8. COYNE - #11 - Oriol Servia
9. COYNE - #19 - Tarso Marques, Tomas Enge, Michael Keohane and/or Jaime Melo
10. KALKHOVEN - #12 - Jimmy Vasser
11. KALKHOVEN - #21 - Roberto Gonzalez
12. GENTILOZZI - #8 - Alex Tagliani
13. GENTILOZZI - #17 - Nelson Philippe
14. RUSSO - #9 - Michel Jourdain
15. RUSSO - #10 - AJ Allmendinger
16. BACHELART - #24 - Alex Sperafico
17. BACHELART - #34 - Justin Wilson
18. WALKER - #5 - Mario Haberfeld

Possibles:

19. FITTIPALDI - #20 - Gaston Mazzacane
20. FITTIPALDI - #23 - Ricardo Sperafico
21. WALKER - #15 - Michael Valiante or Jonathan Macri
22. KALKHOVEN - #22 - Josh Hunt and/or Christian Murchison
23. HEMELGARN - #18 - Townsend Bell or Richie Hearn

btw, for the updated picturesque version go to www.champcarfan.com and click on the "Line-up" thingy ?!

zerO

[codename_47]

It says in this weeks Autosport that Hemelgarn STILL hasn't made his mind up of which series to be in....which I read as "I'm selling myself to the highest bidder, C'mon guys, lay down your prices"...

But if he DOES "Choose" Champ Car, he'll be in Monterry..

If he doesn't, then wherever the other series is After Indy...

Time will tell! (Ulp...sorry to steal your classic rolleyes there Zero! )

[jetsetter]

I hope for the sake of the series they can get over 20 cars on the grid.

[GBoehm]

Kalkhoven might add another car?

[zerO]

UPDATE:

Latest from the Grapevine is that Derrick Walker will definitely field his second car (#15) at Monterrey next month - Mexican sources are suggesting that it will be Rafael Martinez behind the wheel and not Michael Valiante or Jonathan Macri ?!

Here's how the line-up scenario looks like now:

1. FORSYTHE - #1 - Paul Tracy
2. FORSYTHE - #3 - Rodofo Lavin
3. FORSYTHE - #7 - Patrick Carpentier
4. NEWMAN/HAAS - #2 - Sebastien Bourdais
5. NEWMAN/HAAS - #6 - Bruno Junqueira
6. WALKER - #5 - Mario Haberfeld
7. WALKER - #15 - Rafael Martinez or Michael Valiante or Jonathan Macri
8. HERDEZ - #4 - Ryan Hunter-Reay
9. HERDEZ - #55 - Mario Dominguez
10. COYNE - #11 - Oriol Servia
11. COYNE - #19 - Tarso Marques, Tomas Enge, Michael Keohane and/or Jaime Melo
12. KALKHOVEN - #12 - Jimmy Vasser
13. KALKHOVEN - #21 - Roberto Gonzalez
14. GENTILOZZI - #8 - Alex Tagliani
15. GENTILOZZI - #17 - Nelson Philippe
16. RUSSO - #9 - Michel Jourdain
17. RUSSO - #10 - AJ Allmendinger
18. BACHELART - #24 - Alex Sperafico
19. BACHELART - #34 - Justin Wilson
20. FITTIPALDI - #20 - Gaston Mazzacane

Possibles:

21. FITTIPALDI - #23 - Ricardo Sperafico
22. KALKHOVEN - #22 - Josh Hunt and/or Christian Murchison
23. HEMELGARN - #18 - Townsend Bell or Richie Hearn

btw, for the updated picturesque version go to www.champcarfan.com and click on the "Line-up" thingy ?!

zerO

[BootsOntheSide]

Can you please stop updating this list after every minute rumour? The season's started, and I can'tudnerstand how anyone who couldn't get on the grid despite having 6 months to prepare a deal is going to manage it now, consdiering that they'll've missed a race, and all the other championships are underway.

[Cowboy]

Here's a question for anyone who can answer it, why doesn't Spike TV list anything to do with Champ Car? It is 1 day away from the first race and there is no mention on their entire site other than if you actually look at their schedule at race time. This is a bit weird, anyone have any thoughts?

[Cowboy]

Here's another question, what is Chrisitan Fitipaldi doin this year? Is he back in Nascar this year or is he a possible candidate for a seat with Uncle Emmo? {if he feilds a team}

[macdaddy]

I, for one, don't really care. Chalk Christian up in the "Alumni" category as an under-achiever on a top-rate team.

[Cowboy]

Fair enough.

[macdaddy]

Just "my opinion", Cowboy!

[Cowboy]

I just wonder if racing for family pride would be worth more to him than racing for Newman-Haas. I always figured he had more in him than he ever showed. But then again, he has already cracked out once and failed to prove he had what it takes to stay in Champ Car. And really, this series needs drivers who "want" to win, not "need" to win to fill a resume. Damn, now I just changed my whole point of veiw.

[codename_47]

Originally posted by BootsOntheSide
Can you please stop updating this list after every minute rumour? The season's started, and I can'tudnerstand how anyone who couldn't get on the grid despite having 6 months to prepare a deal is going to manage it now, consdiering that they'll've missed a race, and all the other championships are underway.

True enough, but you're forgetting the annoyingly long gap between Long Beach and Monterry, and those four weeks may be a last chance saloon for anyone wanting to join the grid...

As I say, "Last chance saloon" 4 more weeks to try and get a deal finalised, if it isn't happening by then, it ain't going to happen at all!

[gttouring]

ican't wait for the season now that it IS for real.

[stmookeyj033]

Originally posted by zerO
UPDATE:

Latest from the Grapevine is that Derrick Walker will definitely field his second car (#15) at Monterrey next month - Mexican sources are suggesting that it will be Rafael Martinez behind the wheel and not Michael Valiante or Jonathan Macri ?!

Would I be right in assuming that if Martinez gets the drive, it would be a one off for the Mexican audience, or would it be for the remainder of the season?

[Omega99]

I don't know anything about MArtinez, so I can't comment, but I sure think Valiante has waited long enough and deserves a ride.

Does anyone know what he'll be up to if he doesn't land a ride in champ cars this year? (ie, another year in Atlantics, or something)

[3state]

it's certainly an incredible turn-around from a month ago. I certainly was one who thought that with the departure of Fernandez and Rahal, the series simply wouldn't be able to field a grid. I'm glad to be proven wrong. For all their mistakes initially, the 3 amigos certainly appear to have moved the proverbial mountain. I'm looking forward to the start of the season tomorrow, and given that Salo and Manning are unfortunately no longer in the series, I'll be barracking for Wilson. Go son!

While I still think the series is far from out of the woods and should it hopefully survive till next year there will be the matter of IRL commencing it's road-racing. Ultimately there needs to be one series...

But for the time being, I'm gald that my favourite series has survived and I hope it goes from strength to strength.

[carsten66]

AR1 rumors update: sounds good...

Hemelgarn to Champ Car!
"This rumor is upgraded to 'strong' today. We spotted young Canadian hot shoe Michael Valiante meeting with Kevin Kalkhoven last night. Rumor on the street is that Valiante has the inside track for the Hemelgarn Racing seat. Valiante is supposedly meeting with Hemelgarn this morning in Long beach and is close to signing a deal with Champ Car to run the remainder of the season starting with Monterrey. One of the issues being discussed is whether Hemelgarn has the right engineering staff in place to work with Valiante since the team has no experience with the Lola or any recent road racing experience..."

A 5th Mexican for Monterrey
"We are hearing that Luis Diaz is also in the running for the 2nd Walker seat for Monterrey. In fact he may be the front runner at this point, but stay tuned...

Here in Mexico the latest rumor is the possibility that Rafael Martinez will drive in the Monterrey race. Rafael Martinez runs in the Mustang Cup (Mustang Cup is the most important stock car series in Mexico, like it's name says they run Mustang cars), he runs for the Ford Credit team. Ford Credit is the financial company that works with Ford of Mexico to give credit for future car owners. Rafael has been the champion of this series two times in a row, and he is from Monterrey. Ford Credit team is the one interested in having him in the Champ Car race in Monterrey. The manager of Ford Credit Team Jose Rivera says that they have already talked with Walker Racing and they have agreed to run Rafael Martinez in a second car , the only thing missing is the contract with a main sponsor. He says they are working with a big company. They will announce in a few days if he will run or not..."

[zerO]

UPDATE:

According to all the latest "kaka" from the Grapevine most likely we will see a 20 car grid at Monterrey and possibly throughout the rest of season... a second Walker entry and one from Emmo are all but done, a second car from Emmo and the Hemelgarn thingy appear to be longshots, but who knows ?? - 22 cars would be nice, too.

The funniest thing that has happened few days ago is that Foyt's #14 got UN-retired and now belongs to Eric Bachelart's Conquest team (Alex Sperafico)... hihihaha... about time AJ got erased from CART annals ?!

Here's how the line-up scenario looks like now:

1. FORSYTHE - #1 - Paul Tracy
2. FORSYTHE - #3 - Rodofo Lavin
3. FORSYTHE - #7 - Patrick Carpentier
4. NEWMAN/HAAS - #2 - Sebastien Bourdais
5. NEWMAN/HAAS - #6 - Bruno Junqueira
6. WALKER - #5 - Mario Haberfeld
7. WALKER - #15 - Rafael Martinez or Luis Diaz or Michael Valiante or Jonathan Macri
8. HERDEZ - #4 - Ryan Hunter-Reay
9. HERDEZ - #55 - Mario Dominguez
10. COYNE - #11 - Oriol Servia
11. COYNE - #19 - Tarso Marques, Tomas Enge, Michael Keohane and/or Jaime Melo
12. KALKHOVEN - #12 - Jimmy Vasser
13. KALKHOVEN - #21 - Roberto Gonzalez
14. GENTILOZZI - #8 - Alex Tagliani
15. GENTILOZZI - #17 - Nelson Philippe
16. RUSSO - #9 - Michel Jourdain
17. RUSSO - #10 - AJ Allmendinger
18. BACHELART - #14 - Alex Sperafico
19. BACHELART - #34 - Justin Wilson
20. FITTIPALDI - #20 - Gaston Mazzacane

Possibles:

21. FITTIPALDI - #23 - Ricardo Sperafico or Christian Fittipaldi
22. KALKHOVEN - #22 - Josh Hunt, Christian Murchison and/or Townsend Bell
23. HEMELGARN - #18 - Michael Valiante or Townsend Bell or Richie Hearn

btw, for the updated picturesque version go to www.champcarfan.com and click on the "Line-up" thingy ?!

zerO

[corkholio]

My apologies to zerO, it turns out that he was right all along - he was indeed right about there being a Mo Nunn car at Long Beach.

[zerO]

Originally posted by corkholio
My apologies to zerO, it turns out that he was right all along - he was indeed right about there being a Mo Nunn car at Long Beach.

Yeah, yeah, yeah... too bad that there was a Foyt car as well

zerO

[Tim Northcutt]

NOTE:

Robin Miller reported last night on "Wind Tunnel" that Lee Kunzman (a principal player with Hemelgarn Racing) was at Long Beach last weekend, and when Robin asked him about whether or not Hemelgarn would run in OWRS, Kunzman said it was "better than 50/50" that they would join the Series....

[Muzza]

Kunzman find himself in an interesting position: whomever Hemelgarn decides to side with, it will be paid to race, whether in the IRL or Champ Car...

[Amar7605]

I bet that TG is fighting tooth-and-nail to keep Himelgarn around. After all, the press made a big stink about CART teams leaving for the IRL, but it seems to me that a bigger story would be how some of the smaller IRL teams are being bumped out and leaving. I mean, Mi-Jack Conquest left, and now Himelgarn could. Maybe some of the other teams like Kelly racing could leave next year.

C'mom - is the Indy 500 really that important to win nowadays? It has lost its prestiege over the years.

[racinthestreets]

C'mom - is the Indy 500 really that important to win nowadays? It has lost its prestiege over the years.

It has not lost the purse though, and it is still the 500. The history of the 500 has not lost any prestige IMO. Long live CCWS.