As you mention her: Has anybody an idea when the obvious highlight of every season will arrive? This year's Swimsuit Illustrated?

I'm glad he's got a drive. Shame he hasn't got a top car yet again. Hopefully D&R give him a quick enough car.

Oh yes. By your avatar I can tell you're a big fan of that. Can't wait.

Maybe she'll do a joint shoot with Michael.

Andretti or Schumacher?

Thanks. Yeah, that's not too hot is it

Andretti, obviously. You think there'd be a market for Schumacher in a swimsuit?

One of their cars, the #19, has a full season sponsor, it just needs a driver. The sponsor for the #18, Z-Line, followed Wilson to DRR, so that car is either gone, a part-time, or Coyne has something up his sleeve. Conquest's #34 is also a confirmed car looking for a driver.

So, Mutoh, Carpenter, Scheckter, Rahal, Servia, Lloyd, Viso, Phillippe, Foyt IV, and Moraes. Those are the most notable names without a ride I can think of. Pantano, de Silvestro, Bourdais, and Edwards are the other noticeable drivers looking for a ride according to the grape vine. Wow.

Btw, any news on Bryan Herta's team? They had an alliance with Vision.

Screw the swimsuit, I'm waiting to see Chip in a mankini...

The fact that Michael is married to ex-Playboy Playmate of the Year, Jodi Ann Patterson, that could be a most interesting photo session.

I'd rather see Mario on a contemporary swimsuit than Michael - be it Schumacher, Andretti or Corleone!

More exciting Danica news:

http://www.indystar.com/article/20100202/S...ets-CSI-NY-role

Well Justin can use his talent to do great on the road courses, while D&R at least seem to do decent on ovals, which sounds like a step up to me.

Wilson's talking about the championship.

"I believe that we will be very competitive and my aim is to win the championship," he said. "I know it may seem steep, but I feel that we have a very good chance and I'm ready to win some races."

Dont think thats gonna happen in that car, I'm afraid.

Randy Bernard speaks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yk1CwirDaOw

Could it be possible that Andretti runs her because she placed 5th in the Championship, the highest of the team's drivers? No, it must be just for the publicity value.

The question is, though, does anyone think she could win the championship if she was in a Penske or Ganassi machine? Personally, I don't think so. She is a solid driver, and will probably rack up a few more wins before her career is over in Indy (saying Andretti can get her the car), but she is not a world beater.

I didn't say that, I'm just saying that Wilson, Tagliani, Tracy etc. are better drivers who have less good rides. Or Buddy Rice who has no ride at all. If Danica wasn't very good, she wouldn't have publicity value. But being American and a highly marketable woman, she'll walk through obstacles other drivers will find insurmountable. To an extent Ryan Hunter-Reay's at Andretti for the same reasons -- he's American and he's the public face of the Izod racing advertisements. He might be a little quicker than Danica, but I don't think he's shown himself to be better than the likes of Townsend Bell, Graham Rahal or Jonathan Summerton, none of whom has a full-time ride this year.

I'd say it's doubtful.
She's not a winner, and to place 5th in series as weak as the irl is top to bottom in cars and drivers is not much to write home about.
I mean, what's her winning percentage? 1 in 100, or worse? If she were a horse with her record she would be at the glue factory...
It's about the benjamins, and only about the benjamins, same reason she is getting a shot at NASCAR.

I swear Champ Car did something *very* similar years ago where an episode of CSI (or some other show of that ilk) was set against one of the street races as backdrop.

Video of Ryan Bernard announced as Indycar CEO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3p90jpauBVE

Dale Coyne set to rival Ganassi and Newman/Haas for Rahal

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/81223

What's going on at N/H/L anyway? A month ago it seemed that their package was solid and it was going to add a third car, Mutoh, in addition to Rahal and Lloyd. But now, it seems that they're scaling back to one car, for Mutoh only (!). The team seems like a total mess . Will they even make the grid in Brazil? It saddens me deeply to see this proud team struggle so much...

According to Murphy the Bear, the scurrilous rumor is that Lanigan was a partner solely because of Newman's involvement and that he and the Haas family aren't even on speaking terms.

I don't know, they have moved from the media radar completely. I don't know if they've lost McDonald's sponsorship or what else could have happened. Having already seen Rahal's team gone up in smoke (in IndyCars, since I don't really think ALMS is pure racing), I'm concerned that Newman/Haas is heading on a downward slope. Let's not forget that its sponsors expected championship success each year in Champ Cars, today that's quite remote.

From Patrick Dorsey at the Indy Star and his article on new IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard:

http://www.indystar.com/article/20100203/S...ces-its-new-CEO

Oh well, at least she's not stuck playing the 'corpse'

Reading that, I'm cautiously optimistic. He seems to have an air of common sense about him.

Enjoy a couple of laughs as Robin Miller gives Randy "Bronco" Bernard 33) suggestions/warnings/facts about his new job. "Bronco" is the moniker Robin has chosen, I'm guessing that it will stick.

http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/miller-33-for-bronco/

Interestingly, the 'corspe' is being played Antonio Sabato Jr., who is the son of Grand Prix's Nino Barlini

Dallara has shown their chassis which doesn't look to amazing. I am wondering if there are more renderings someplace else. Can't wait for Chicago next week. Swift is still in the game which makes me happy for some reason unknown. IRL needs to shake up the racing world to bring people back. An evolutionary design isn't going to do it IMO.

I was going to go see the unveiling on Wednesday, but just found out this morning that it is open to the press corps only.

I've seen three Dallara concepts, including the yellow one shown on Autosport. There's a very nice one that looks more similar to champ cars of the past decade, and one that's more radical than either of the other two. The thing I don't like about the yellow one is that the sidepod looks like it could act as a launching ramp if one car spins 90 degrees and is collected by another car.

I liked the more radical light red one. Protects wheels from incidental contact. Looks very different to anything else racing. Looks a little chunky though. Yellow one is to evolutionary and that is the same with the dark red one. I would put the dark red one second since it looks a little more advanced. I'm hoping the car will be someplace in Chicago Auto Show all weekend. It will give me a solid reason to go

Robin Miller's latest speedtv mailbag:

http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/ind...ers-mailbag-25/

Sato and Moraes with KV!!!

Popular tickets of Indy Sao Paulo 300 already sold out

Tickets at R$ 100 = USD 60.

SpeedTV's Marshall Pruett's chilling take on Barnhart's approach to the Delta Wing concept. USAC/CART II, anyone?

http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/pru...no-to-kee-rock/

Hopefully the new CEO will listen to the owners and fire Barnhart since the owners don't like him according to rumors I have heard. It may also be the reason Brian is trying to scuttle the "Delta Wing".

http://www.racer.com/swift-reveals-its-ind...article/163343/

Swift reveal thier designs.

I actaully quite like the middle one. Even if it is just an enlarged version of thier Nippon car.

This "delta wing" concept is such a let down. There's nothing remotely delta wing about the designs! It seems to be a "design a futuristic Indycar" competition.

Well, lets wait til the end of the week before we see the 'Official' Delta Wing Design shall we?

@Red Stick: Marshall Pruett certainly has got his back up with this one. If the true situation is anything like he describes, we're all doomed. Its a good job that i quite enjoy NASCAR, because thats all thats going to be on.

What I feel is a major let down is that we have four chassis builders vying to be the "chosen one". The let down? Why only have to choose one? Why couldn't IndyCar announce the parameters of a new design, let the builders give their best shot based on those rules, then let the teams decide which of the four they want to use? They have four companies wanting to be a part of their series and they will close the door on three of them. Oldtimer moment here, so my apologies - there was a time when "spec car" wasn't part of a racer's vocabulary. Let the teams decide what route they want to go with which chassis. If their choice is wrong, they work harder to develop the car into a winner. I remember Team Penske going three seasons without an IndyCar win because of choices in chassis, engine and tires. These choices should be a part of a top flight series, not deciding who is best positioned politically to get the contract for the next spec car.

Yup. It's the one and only CSI episode I have watched. It was so full of "artistic license" it made me wonder if the rest of the show was trustworthy.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0534804/
http://www.tv.com/csi-miami/grand-prix/epi...37/summary.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Prix_(CSI:_Miami)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxS55mhAyvw

So very, very, VERY true.

Sadly, it's only going to get a lot worse before it gets better. Beyond IRL we're looking at the introduction of that god awful 'world engine' concept which is apparently getting pushed forward with its introduction this year in the new S2000 WRC cars and it's headed for F1. Ugh.

Sadly the IRL is not strong enough. Theres only a finite amount of money being generated by this lame duck, so spreading it thinly between manufacturers just wont work. Same with Engines. Yes, i would love to see it back to a multi engined/chassis'ed series. But i dont think that it is the direction that Indy can afford.

That of course is what's disturbing--there's no reason to think the situation is not exactly as he describes. I'd be interested to see if Miller writes anything about the topic this week.

I suppose there's an "economies of scale" argument to be made--18 to 20 cars divided among 4 manufacturers isn't profitable for the manufacturers. Although it seems we could at least have two.

Points well taken red stick and Peat - I guess that my mind set anymore, with this series, is that maybe I'd rather see it die than to continue on this pathetic path. I've loved these cars since I was old enough to say "car" and this is merely a ghostly shadow of its rich past. Even last season, I was extremely optimistic about the future of IndyCar, but they can't seem to get out of their own way. When you have Graham Rahal rideless less than five weeks before the start of the season..... well that says a lot, doesn't it? God I hope I'm wrong and eating my words soon. They need something to turn the tide in their favor.. and soon.

When the economy picks up, IndyCar will also pick up. We've hit the trough and it's only upwards from here. Tony George is gone - things are bound to get better.