2012 IndyCar silly season

[cds_uk]

I guessed she was about to announce a full time/part time ride somewhere, i was just curious as to weather any of you guys knew who with, also who are her sponsors likely to be, its to obvious to link her to Go Daddy isn't it? Anyway, i have always had a soft spot for Katherine, hardly a world beater i know but she is more than competent and very quick indeed on occasion, add to that she has always come across as a lovely girl so couldn't be more pleased for her.

[Down F0rce]

Looks like Conway will be confirmed at Foyt shortly.

[DanicaFan]

Originally Posted by Down F0rce

Looks like Conway will be confirmed at Foyt shortly.

He already is. This should give the team better results on the road/streets. Since thats about all the tracks that are left, it probably makes sense to put a better road course driver in the #14 car.

[DanicaFan]

I will first list the confirmed drivers and teams and then a list of speculations. Feel free to add any new developments or updates here too.

Target Chip Ganassi Racing - (Honda Engines) Scott Dixon, Dario Franchitti, G2(satellite team) - Graham Rahal, Charlie Kimball

Team Penske -(Chevrolet Engines) Helio Castroneves, Ryan Briscoe, Will Power

Andretti Autosport - (Chevrolet Engines) Marco Andretti, Ryan Hunter-Reay

Panther Racing -(Chevrolet Engines) JR Hildebrand

Sam Schmidt Racing -(Honda Engines) Simon Pagenaud

HVM Racing -(Lotus Engines) Simona De Silvestro

Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing - Josef Newgarden

AJ Foyt Racing -(Honda Engines) Mike Conway

KV Racing Technology -(Chevrolet Engines) Tony Kanaan

Ed Carpenter Racing - Ed Carpenter

Bryan Herta Autosport -(Lotus Engines) Alex Tagliani


Teams with unconfirmed drivers at this time are..

Dreyer & Reinbold Racing -(Lotus Engines) Rumor has Katerine Legge driving for them with Truecar.com as the sponsor.

Dale Coyne Racing - Hopes to return with 2 full-time cars. James Jakes & Sebastien Bourdais highly probable.

Michael Shank Racing -(Lotus Engines) Plans unknown.

Conquest Racing -(Lotus Engines) Plans unknown.

Dragon Racing -(Chevrolet Engines) Plans unknown.

[DanicaFan]

There are quite a few drivers still in the hunt...

Justin Wilson - Could be back with Dreyer & Reinbold, he is sought after pretty strong rite now.
Oriol Servia
James Hinchcliffe
Ana Beatriz
Pippa Mann
Paul Tracy
Vitor Meira
Tomas Scheckter
Jay Howard
EJ Viso
Sebastian Saavedra
Takuma Sato
Townsend Bell

[DanicaFan]

Also Ryan Briscoe will be bearing the #2 on his car next season, not the #6.

[JagtechOhio]

Methinks Rahal Racing is not on your list, and they are rumored to be hot after Honda engines and Sato as their driver.

Merry Xmas

[Jacques Rabbit]

James Hinchcliffe confirmed today in the GoDaddy.com car for AA. Good for him, I suppose.

I know he's one of the "personalities," but he's also so fake.

He was the one throwing so much hate toward the IRL and the Indy 500 and the reunification when it was convenient to him. Then his job prospects changed and he needed to go over to the other side, and suddenly he loves oval racing and the Indy 500 and is buddies with all these drivers he used to poke fun of and driving for owners he used to be angry with.

He's allowed to have whatever opinions he wants, but he's taken both sides depending on what his job prospects were. When it helped him to win the support of the Champ Car community, he was throwing the hate. When he needed to impress the IRL side to advance his career, he does a full 180°.

I let things slide with reunification; I'm fine if drivers said "let's put this all in the past" but when the series unified, Hinchcliffe didn't. He was right to Facebook or Twitter or wherever making comments about how awful reunification was (and I'm not saying I agree or disagree). It was totally okay for him to make those comments and have that opinion...

...until you see he was just saying that out of bitterness that he didn't have a ride in the new merged series, and as soon as he could, he was off in Indy Lights.

The guy will say anything depending on who his audience is. It's all about getting ahead, and he does it by putting on his fake little act and winning everyone over as "let's make him the face of the sport!"

Yep, the face of the sport that spent years trashing the Indy 500, only to change his opinion when he had no other option but to race in it.

Oh well, good for him.

[W.A Trichlorostyrene]

Well, Hinch did a great job commentating in CCWS in 2007, but I didn't know he was such a CCWS die-hard fan

I do like him TBH, he seems to be a nice guy. I didn't know he's had these comments, but I fail to have any hard feeling it, it feels like everyone and his dog has been bashing the IRL one moment in his life. Remember Paul "I'll never drive any of these crapwagons" Tracy?

Are any of his IRL/500 related quotes still to be found somewhere on the net BTW? Just curious.

Glad he got the drive anyway.

[Jacques Rabbit]

Yeah, he's certainly not the only one, but I guess he just comes across as really fake to me...like he as just trying to appease the CCWS die-hards when he wanted a career in CCWS (and even the year after when he was in Atlantics after CCWS ceased), and then when his job took him to Indy, he started to say entirely different things. He just seems like he'll say anything depending on what kind of audience he has, and that irks me.

The comments were either on his Facebook or Twitter. You would have to dig back to February 2008 when they merged for the ones about the merge, and then even further for ones pre-merge. This is assuming he hasn't gone back and deleted them. Wish I could provide concrete quotes for you.

He is a funny guy and a good personality, though. Not convinced he's the next champion given he could never get it done in Atlantics despite his vast experience over weakening fields, but...hey. He did well last year.

[mountainstar]

Originally Posted by Jacques Rabbit

Yeah, he's certainly not the only one, but I guess he just comes across as really fake to me...like he as just trying to appease the CCWS die-hards when he wanted a career in CCWS (and even the year after when he was in Atlantics after CCWS ceased), and then when his job took him to Indy, he started to say entirely different things. He just seems like he'll say anything depending on what kind of audience he has, and that irks me.

The comments were either on his Facebook or Twitter. You would have to dig back to February 2008 when they merged for the ones about the merge, and then even further for ones pre-merge. This is assuming he hasn't gone back and deleted them. Wish I could provide concrete quotes for you.

He is a funny guy and a good personality, though. Not convinced he's the next champion given he could never get it done in Atlantics despite his vast experience over weakening fields, but...hey. He did well last year.

You don't have to waste your time digging all that up as he was firmly in the Champcar camp and it doesn't really matter what people's opinions were 5 or 6 years ago about this or that anyways in terms of exact quotes.

A lot of people back then on the CCWS side were really into his podcasts and commentary and big supporters of his. Honestly I never really paid anything but superficial attention to him, wasn't a fan, wasn't an anti fan, just never thought him as interesting as he seemed to think he was.

[Paradise City]

I remember 'dinger bashing NASCAR as well.

I don't really expect drivers to hold true to old opinions, stay in poverty/obscurity if madame fortune beckons. It's not an easy game to be making a living out of in the best of times, it'd be saintly to refuse opportunities at stardom.

[jondownunder]

Originally Posted by Jacques Rabbit

He is a funny guy and a good personality, though. Not convinced he's the next champion given he could never get it done in Atlantics despite his vast experience over weakening fields, but...hey. He did well last year.

This is pretty much my opinion of him. I thought he was brilliant at doing commentary, but he never struck me as anything truly special as a driver during Atlantics and Indy Lights. Frankly he should have done more in those five seasons. As such his IndyCar season was way better than I expected and genuinely impressive, but I guess time will tell if he can prove he's a championship contending driver.

[Jacques Rabbit]

Originally Posted by Paradise City

I remember 'dinger bashing NASCAR as well.

I don't really expect drivers to hold true to old opinions, stay in poverty/obscurity if madame fortune beckons. It's not an easy game to be making a living out of in the best of times, it'd be saintly to refuse opportunities at stardom.

Oh, I completely agree. I don't think Hinchcliffe should be blacklisted or only eligible to race in CCWS. He's obviously done what he needed to do to line up a top ride, and you have to give him credit for sticking around so long even when he's not been a champion in Atlantics or Indy Lights when he really had the experience, equipment, and weak fields to seal the deal. He's doing something right.

I just bring it up as a reason why I'm not as high on him as the "face of the sport" as many other fans are, but it's certainly nothing against his driving or his getting a new ride.

I've always liked the Hélio Castroneves approach. He said in his CART days he wouldn't insult the other series because he never knew when he'd have to race in them. Now, I can write a dissertation on why I'm not a fan of Mr. Castroneves, but I always respected that at the very least. But hey, Hinch was young, the IRL was a joke at the time, the merge was a bit messy (to be fair any merge would have been), so good for him being able to find a drive and all that.

[Jacques Rabbit]

AFS Racing
Ordered a car, probably a rotation of Schmidt drivers (Cunningham, Plowman, Tung, etc).

A.J. Foyt Enterprises (Honda)
14. Mike Conway
Still working on a second car; could be a part-time effort with Bertrand Baguette.

Andretti Autosport (Chevrolet)
26. Marco Andretti
27?. James Hinchcliffe
28. Ryan Hunter-Reay
Fourth car not likely.

Bryan Herta Autosport (Lotus)
x. Alex Tagliani

Chip Ganassi Racing (Honda)
9. Scott Dixon
10. Dario Franchitti
38. Graham Rahal
83. Charlie Kimball
Had been rumors of a fifth car for Takuma Sato, but not strong ones.

Conquest Racing (Lotus)
They insist their LMP2 effort is in addition to their IndyCar one, but I'm less than convinced. Ride-buyers like Esteban Guerrieri (who is actually talented), Gustavo Yacamán (who is not), etc. will flock to this ride if it exists; could easily be a rotation of many.

Dale Coyne Racing
Possibility of a Justin Wilson/Bill Pappas reunion at DCR in the 19 as Sébastien Bourdais opts to run for the WEC. James Jakes expected to return, but seat still open to others. Had heard Jay Howard's name here, Katherine Legge as well. Either way, Brits all around for them more likely than not.

Davey Hamilton Racing
Nothing concrete here, but some type of limited schedule with Brandon Wagner is talked about from time-to-time.

Dragon Racing
They ordered a car. Nothing else to say.

Dreyer & Reinbold Racing (Lotus)
Believed to be Katherine Legge in the second car with TrueCar sponsorship. Justin Wilson may return to the first car; they want him back. If he goes to Coyne, no idea, but I suspect Lotus could have a say and try to fit James Rossiter in (pure speculation there; I know he is looking for an Indy ride though but never heard where).

Ed Carpenter Racing
20. Ed Carpenter

HVM Racing (Lotus)
78. Simona de Silvestro
Second car for Jean Alesi at the Indianapolis 500 possible.

KV Racing Technology (Chevrolet)
11?. Tony Kanaan
59?. E.J. Viso
Third car will either be Esteban Guerrieri or a European driver.

MSR Indy (Lotus)
No word on who will drive the 60 car; could be Justin Wilson, but doesn't seem probable. They want someone with experience.

Panther Racing (Chevrolet)
4. J.R. Hildebrand
Working on second car; Ana Beatriz, Pippa Mann, and Oriol Servià all linked to it.

Team Penske (Chevrolet)
2. Ryan Briscoe
3. Hélio Castroneves
12. Will Power

RLL Racing (Honda)
Takuma Sato is a leading candidate. Also talking with Oriol Servià. Jay Howard has a ride, #66, with Service Central sponsorship. No word if full-time or part-time, but apparently it has to do with RLL.

Sam Schmidt Motorsports (Honda)
77. Simon Pagenaud
May run a second car of rotating drivers, at least part-time, but they may just use another team (i.e. AFS or Dragon) to do that.

Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing
67. Josef Newgarden