Opening Round Entry List.

[bblocker68]

From Indycar.com:

Opening round entry list
Twenty-six cars have been entered for the season-opening GAINSCO Auto Insurance Indy 300 on March 29 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Only two other opening-round IndyCar Series races have had more entrants. Nine cars are entered from teams transitioning from the Champ Car World Series.

http://www.indycar.com/news/2008/homestead/2008_homestead_ics_entrylist.pdf?utm_source=indyca r&utm_medium=outsideLink&utm_content=http://www.indycar.com/news/2008/homestead/2008_homestead_ics_entrylist.pdf&utm_campaign=speedRead

Interesting to see Ernesto Viso as an official entrant for HVM Racing!

[nanders]

Milka doesn't count, right?

[Breeze]

North American Open Wheel Racing, where the drivers are 26.9% American, 3.8% Canadian and 0% Mexican.

[SoCalPVguy]

From Indycar.com:

Opening round entry list
Twenty-six cars have been entered for the season-opening GAINSCO Auto Insurance Indy 300 on March 29 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

http://www.indycar.com/news/2008/homestead/2008_homestead_ics_entrylist.pdf?utm_source=indyca r&utm_medium=outsideLink&utm_content=http://www.indycar.com/news/2008/homestead/2008_homestead_ics_entrylist.pdf&utm_campaign=speedRead




26 cars ???

Where's Skid Marx ???? hey Skid- I have a hat that you'll like for lunch !!!!

[Breeze]

26 cars ???

Where's Skid Marx ???? hey Skid- I have a hat that you'll like for lunch !!!!
Not so fast SoCal, the flag hasn't dropped yet! ;)

[Mark in Oshawa]

Realistically, if people had a better economy to work with and a certain weasel didn't fold his tent (Gerry Forsythe, step right up) we would have 28 or maybe even 30 cars. That said, CART even its best salad days in the late 80's and early 90's averaged about 26 to 30 cars. 26 cars to start the season is NOT a bad thing.......just not the ideal.

[ChampUSfan]

Milka doesn't count, right?

Milka will be behind the wheel of the car #23 for the Homestead round. After that race there will be a driver change with Townsend Bell in the car for the follwing race.

Milka will compete in 11 races while Townsend Bell in 7. Both will compete the Indy500.

[F1boat]

26 cars to me sounds great. Even F-1 has 22. 26 cars is solid and a great promise. I can't wait to see where are NHL compared to TGR, AGR and Penske. It seems that we will have a great season!

[VkmSpouge]

26 cars is promising. Hopefully the number of entrants will only increase throughout the year.

[Skid Marx]

Not so fast SoCal, the flag hasn't dropped yet! ;)

Thanks, Breeze, exactly what I was about to say. They can have as many cars ENTERED for a race as you like; I believe I specifically said I would eat my hat if the twIRL had more than 24 cars START a race. That means actually take the green flag, not be entered, not practice, not qualify, but actually start the race. Since Milka will probably wreck before she even gets to the green flag, and some of the CCWS teams are so short of parts that a mishap in qualifying could put them out of action, I wouldn't count my chickens just yet.

[V12]

North American Open Wheel Racing, where the drivers are 26.9% American, 3.8% Canadian and 0% Mexican.

It's what you get for having an internationally-recognised sporting category. For example the English Premier League (football) has something like 20% English players, and that number doesn't rise much for the British Isles as a whole. NASCAR may gobble everything else up domestically, but few people outside the continent could care less, certainly more people in Europe pay far more attention to US open wheel racing than NASCAR, despite it's troubles over the past decade or so.

Duno and Mutoh aside, and possibly Moraes but I don't know enough about him to comment, I can't spot any non-North Americans in there on sponsorship and connections alone. It's certainly the best field I've seen for a US single-seater race in terms of quantity AND quality since 2001.

It might not be perfect, but it's one hell of a good starting point. Can't wait till the weekend!!

[F1boat]

It's what you get for having an internationally-recognised sporting category. For example the English Premier League (football) has something like 20% English players

And it is still the best soccer league in the world :)
Sorry about the OT. ;)

[F1boat]

Thanks, Breeze, exactly what I was about to say. They can have as many cars ENTERED for a race as you like; I believe I specifically said I would eat my hat if the twIRL had more than 24 cars START a race. That means actually take the green flag, not be entered, not practice, not qualify, but actually start the race. Since Milka will probably wreck before she even gets to the green flag, and some of the CCWS teams are so short of parts that a mishap in qualifying could put them out of action, I wouldn't count my chickens just yet.

Skid, if a team is short of parts and wants to race is it not easier to skip qualifying? I am sure that I have seen drivers without time at the back of the grid.

[Dr. Krogshöj]

I'm not going to whine any more about former CCWS drivers, but for god's sake, why doesn't Tomas Scheckter have a full time ride?

Did the owners of Vision Racing (this is the politically correct way to put it) go mad that they choose AJ Foyt IV and Ed Carpenter instead of one of the best oval racers in the series?

[gofastandwynn]

I'm not going to whine any more about former CCWS drivers, but for god's sake, why doesn't Tomas Scheckter have a full time ride?

Did the owners of Vision Racing (this is the politically correct way to put it) go mad that they choose AJ Foyt IV and Ed Carpenter instead of one of the best oval racers in the series?

Tomas is with Jay Penske's team, and to quote Rick Mears, a "part time ride with Penske is better than a full time ride with some"...

[VkmSpouge]

They can have as many cars ENTERED for a race as you like; I believe I specifically said I would eat my hat if the twIRL had more than 24 cars START a race. That means actually take the green flag, not be entered, not practice, not qualify, but actually start the race.

If you want to be specific you said:


The day the IRL has 24 cars start any race other than Indy, I'll eat my hat!

This means you're going to need 3 of those 26 not to make the start to avoid the hat eating. Now I will agree that is entirely possible for reasons you've stated, I wouldn't take some of those cars as guaranteed until they're taking the green flag but it maybe wise to have some ketchup or BBQ sauce on standby ;)

[Dr. Krogshöj]

Tomas is with Jay Penske's team, and to quote Rick Mears, a "part time ride with Penske is better than a full time ride with some"...

Interesting. I saw Tomas' name on indycar.com and was stunned that he wasn't on the Homestead entry list. Now I read the news item about Luzco Dragon Racing. So we'll se Tomas this year after all, but three races doesn't seem very much, and I think Rick Mears was talking about a part time ride with ROGER Penske.