20+ car ChampCar GRID Shaping Up ?!?!

[Kicking-back]

Originally posted by stmookeyj033
(And subsequently editted out by macdaddy)

Bit racist there.

[Amar7605]

Yeah I know. Cut the racist . This is suppossed to be a family-friendly forum

- Please self-censor the entire word, not select bits.
- macdaddy.

[Tim Northcutt]

Originally posted by Superunknown
owners are where they are to have a successful business entity as a team, it's up to series management to provide a promising and enticing avenue for these owners to field their teams.

and rahal's still a *)*@#$#@, but I've known that for some time now, so no surprise.

Whatever trips your trigger....

I'm sure Mr. Rahal isn't losing any sleep over your own personal thoughts about him....

[Svenko]

my friend from moscow tells me that sergey zlobin has signed with walker with gazprom backing. the deal is suppose to start in portland.

[Amar7605]

That would be cool to see a Russian in the series. I don't think that that has happened before. Maybe Champ Cars can race in Moscow or St Petersburg, if they are able to build a track there!

[JohnSSC]

Oh puhleeze! That rumor was all over the F1 forum awhile back - seems Gazprom has been linked multiple times to no effect in the rumor mill to all sorts of folks.

i think that except for some oone-off type ventures (in Mexico for example) the field will stabilize at 20 cars. Advertising budgets are pretty much committed by this time of the year and actually, they (advertisers) will be soon making plans for next year.

[carsten66]

Gazprom was in heavy trouble, something like Russia's version of Enron, and is now in the phase of restructuring under a new management... that's on of the reasons while the Minardi F1 Team lost Gazprom's sponsorship...

[drewdawg727]

so how many cars are planned to race in monterrey then o ye knowledges and wisdoms of CART?

[Amar7605]

www.champcarfan.com. Click on Line Up. It will show you what cars are entered in the series, and the potential cars that could show up in Monterrey.

[Superunknown]

Originally posted by Tim Northcutt
Whatever trips your trigger....

I'm sure Mr. Rahal isn't losing any sleep over your own personal thoughts about him....

I know he's not. But if I choose to dislike the guy, that's my perogative.

[macdaddy]

I've gotta side with Superunknown on this one...
If everybody lost sleep over things said here, I feel really badly for Nelson Philippe. MGF would be a headcase, and TGF would be suicidal!

[cos]

Firman has quit the Nissan World Series - any rumours he'll make a late start to CCWS flying around?

[Kicking-back]

Well, you've just started the rumour, so maybe!

[Superunknown]

if he's got $, if he doesnt, he's no different than a plethora of other deserving drivers w/o the opportunity

[camcartfan]

Where does Firman's money come from?

[zerO]

UPDATE:

Latest from the Grapevine re: Walker's second car = Rafael Martinez will be a Monterrey only excursion, and afterwards a permanent driver for that seat will be found (hopefully)... the Hemelgarn thingy may happen as of Milwaukee (after Ron is through with Indy)...

...and, believe it or not, the "Mo NUNN to Return" rumor from last year is resurfacing again - not biting it yet, though...

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 and/or Luis Diaz or Ralph Firman
8. HERDEZ - #4 - Ryan Hunter-Reay
9. HERDEZ - #55 - Mario Dominguez
10. COYNE - #11 - Oriol Servia
11. COYNE - #19 - Tarso Marques and/or Jaime Melo or Ralph Firman or Tomas Enge
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 or Ricardo Sperafico or Christian Fittipaldi

Possibles:

21. KALKHOVEN - #22 - Josh Hunt, Christian Murchison, Seung Yin Lee, Townsend Bell, Jaime Melo, and/or Michael Valiante
22. 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

[Marcel ten Caat]

Ralph Firman left Gabord this weekend to be with Racing for Holland as they prepare for the 24 hours of Le Mans.

Apparently his departure wasn't really a friendly one. Might be a case of 'to be continued'.

Only sponsor Ralph has is his dad.

[Marcel ten Caat]

from Crash.net

The day's biggest story came earlier in the day, however, when Ralph Firman decided not to continue the weekend with the Gabord Reyco squad. The British driver left the circuit this morning, after telling the team that he didn't feel happy in the car. He had finished the previous day's practice sessions in 15th place overall - and was also due to test Jan Lammers' Racing for Holland Dome at Le Mans, having signed to contest the 24 Hours with the Dutchman in June.

[zerO]

Worth noting: Firman's co-driver at Racing for Holland happens to be Justin Wilson (besides Coronel) ?!

zerO

[zerO]

UPDATE:

Latest from the Grapevine is that we might see another new team enter CCWS sometime this year: FORSYTHE-LABERLE - apparently Gerry Forsythe has "leased" 2 old Reynard tubs to Andreas Laberle and should AL find sponsorship $$$ neccessary for the team to operate it will become a joint venture.

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 and/or Luis Diaz or Ralph Firman
8. HERDEZ - #4 - Ryan Hunter-Reay
9. HERDEZ - #55 - Mario Dominguez
10. COYNE - #11 - Oriol Servia
11. COYNE - #19 - Tarso Marques and/or Jaime Melo or Ralph Firman or Tomas Enge
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 or Ricardo Sperafico or Christian Fittipaldi

Possibles:

21. KALKHOVEN - #22 - Josh Hunt, Christian Murchison, Seung Yin Lee, Townsend Bell, Jaime Melo, and/or Michael Valiante
22. HEMELGARN - #18 - Michael Valiante or Townsend Bell or Richie Hearn
23. FORSYTHE/LABERLE - #24 - Townsend Bell or Jonathan Macri or Jaime Melo or Ralph Firman

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

zerO

[codename_47]

Well, it's better than him just hoarding the cars and letting them sit there doing nothing....he might as well get them out there to help his series...

Still, as everyone else I guess....believe it when I see it!

[Mags]

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

He's lucky to be ALIVE after that bonehead move in NASCAR when he started unstrapping himself after he crashed when the field was still under full green last year.. nice looking dude but you would think his uncle could have coached him more. Talk about a waste of a seat for years... did he ever actually WIN a Cart race?

[Superunknown]

Originally posted by Stranger
from Crash.net

hey marcel

how come you're not in #f1?

[Mags]

Originally posted by Superunknown
hey marcel

how come you're not in #f1?

We need a place that shows our races... LIVE..everywhere!!!!

[JohnSSC]

Christian may not have been a rookie sensation in NASCAR, but he was not a "waste of a seat." Emmo never ran NASCAR so I am not sure how much he could have helped Christian.

Over his career Christian posted some solid results in both F1 and CART and showed up every time to race rather than circulate.