LA Time Takes Note

[racinthestreets]

Good ink everywhere you look these days.LA Times

[Liz]

"We've only had the series for 18 months," Kalkhoven said. "Imagine where we'll be in another 18 months."

Yes, just imagine! I have heard rumours similar to what Vasser has said here; he knows a lot of those guys and I wonder if he's onto something. I hope he is.

And I agree that the Grid Girl Contest is silly and they ought to be working harder on driver recognition.

[Snrub]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Vasser

"There are some very significant owners looking at coming back in," he said. "I would bet everything I own that there will be a few more from that side come over, and we'll have 22 to 24 cars. It's only a matter of time."

Jimmy sounds pretty definate! Liz, can you give us some details on the rumours you've heard?

[norman-normal]

On wind tunnel, Dave D said that Chip G is giving a return, a lot of consideration. He seems to have an engine problem.

[rustyfan]

Originally Posted by Snrub

Jimmy sounds pretty definate! Liz, can you give us some details on the rumours you've heard?

Robin Miller included a piece about this in his latest column at the SpeedTV website:

The paddock talk was that Roger Penske is worried about Chip Ganassi going back to Champ Car and was going to have a talk with the ol Chipster. But Ganassi, who hasn't won an IRL race in two years, denied any interest. "That was Jimmy Vasser saying I was coming back," said Ganassi. "I'm not going anywhere, I'm staying right here." Of course he also told some other people he was exploring his "best option" for 2006.

[Pete Fenelon]

Originally Posted by norman-normal

On wind tunnel, Dave D said that Chip G is giving a return, a lot of consideration. He seems to have an engine problem.

Chip seems to have had more than an engine problem. CGR has underperformed horribly in IRL this year - which is particularly odd when you consider that they're doing well in Busch and GA. On talent and budget and all-round team competence, they should be taking the fight to AGR, but something has failed to gel in the CGR IRL team and it's been embarrassing watching them fumble.

I would love to see them back in ChampCar; Chip seems to feel more at home in that environment.

[Flatspot]

This has gone way off topic and may be worthy of a new thread but...

Ganassi told me to my face he wasn't going to the IRL. 2 weeks later he said he may run in both series. Guess where he was exclusively the next spring? Floyd plays things close to the vest and isn't above denying his plans and considerations. On this one I speak from personal experience.

If I had to make a bet on who may be the first back over the fence I'd bet on Rahal. He's proven he's willing to move around, CART, F1, IRL, ALMS, etc. Not that it means much but, Letterman has made some snide remarks concerning the IRL management on his show recently too. I beleieve Rahal/Letterman ordered some Atlantic's for next year and if they win the championship there, there is only one place to spend the $2mm bonus.

[Liz]

I haven't heard anything other than what y'all have heard; however, I will be in Montreal this weekend and will keep my eyes open. It'll be interesting to see who might be around the paddock this weekend.

Hazarding a guess, it might be comforting for certain people from Another Series to know that the guy who owns the series also owns the engines. No more being whipsawed by manufacturers.

[Snrub]

Other than bringing sponsors who would spend money on either series, I don't think that either US OW series would benefit from Ganassi's involvement in 2006.

In a way I'd like to see Ganassi come back, have the added benefits but him not compete. On the other hand, CC needs more competitive teams to make things more interesting.

[macdaddy]

Hopefully his budget would include enough $ to rebuild the fire damage done to a bridge.

[The Snout]

The simple question for Chip may be does he want to get paid by Toyota to run mid to back of pack in the IRL. Or does her want to put in a bit of work and find the money to run up front in Champ Car.

I also find it ironic that Penske is having a word to Chip about not leaving the IRL ship when Penske was the first to leave CART at end of 2001.

[Flatspot]

I don't know if that kind of money exists anywhere.