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Michael Andretti is taking a new role as strategist for Danica Patrick’s team.

This new role comes after the spot was left vacant by Kyle Moyer who will now call races for for Marco Andretti.

I think this new role will be able to teach Danica Patrick new things and techniques rather than take things away from her which could lead to trouble for the team. With more than 40 victories I believe Andretti has good ideas on how to come up with new schemes and ideas to attack Patrick’s weaknesses such as racing on road/street courses which she has failed to do well on pretty much her whole IRL career. Adding some more wins would help also.

“As a strategist, you just have to try to anticipate what is going to happen and be a little bit smarter than everybody you’re racing against,” Andretti said.  “This will be a new challenge for sure, but I’m looking forward to working more closely with Danica.” (Indycar.com)

I believe this will be a good move for the AGR team, but we know last year there was some turmoil within the team due mostly, at least to my knowledge, for some of Patricks actions during races. Andretti’s new position will enable him to work closer like he said but also keep her more level-headed as well and even more focused.

photo: www.Grand-am.com

Well, by this time I am sure everyone knows that Buddy Rice will not be returning to Dreyer and Reinbold Racing.  D&R signed Mike Conway of Britain last week.  Curt Cavin of the Indy Star stated here that Robbie Buhl made it clear that Buddy Rice will not be returning to D&R.  This was a surprise to all since Dad’s Root Beer had announced last year that they would be sponsoring D&R in the 2009 season.  However, not all is lost.  Buddy Rice had a fantastic drive this past weekend at the Rolex 24 hours of Daytona, driving for Brumos Porsche.  He lead all through the late night early morning hours.  Buddy Rice has joined an elite group that have won both the Indianapolis 500 and the Rolex 24. After a strong drive this previous weekend, hopefully sponsors out there will step forward and help put Buddy in a car for the 2009 IndyCar season.   

Photo from IndyCar.com

Well not only The Power of Penske, but Power to Penske…  I know, sounded lame…sorry.  It is reported however that Will Power will be on deck at Penske Racing if Helio can’t run this season due to his pending trial.  He will be in the car during the off-season testing according to IndyCar.com  I would have honestly chosen Ryan Hunter-Reay but who am I to argue with Roger Penske.  Their is no doubt in my mind that The Captain knows what he is doing.  Everyone doubted Briscoe when Penske picked him up after his abysmal season with Target Chip Ganassi in 2005, but who can doubt the season that he had in 2008 with 3 wins.   We already know Will Power is a hell of a road course driver.  I myself am anxious to see him this year on the ovals.    After all, with a name like Will Power, how can you lose…

Wow! Who would have thought that the 2008 IndyCar season would be as eventful as memorable as it turned out to be. It will definitely go down in history as one to remember. From the last minute Champ Car merger weeks before the season opener at Homestead Miami Speedway all the way through Helio Castroneves drive from last place to first place at the season finale at Chicagoland Speedway. This year has also been a year of firsts. Graham Rahal went on to become the youngest winner in open wheel history with his first IndyCar Series start on the Streets of St. Petersburg. Danica Patrick went on to be the first female in open wheel history to win an event, doing so at Twin Ring Motegi when she passed Helio Castroneves with just a few laps left in her 50th IndyCar Series start and Ana Beatriz became the first woman in the Firestone Indy Lights to win an event at Nashville Superspeedway. It is going to be tough to top the eventful history making 2008 season.

Due to tough economic times for both teams, Chip Ganassi Racing and Dale Earnhardt Incorporated have decided to merge for the upcoming 2009 season. Both are having sponsorship troubles.

What came to much surprise was that Dodge Motorsports was a key supporter for the merge. Many thought since there are two years left on Ganassi’s deal with Dodge that problems would most likely surface since both teams would have to come to a common ground on several different things when it comes to contract issues. I personally thought this would lead to much speculation since the economic times have come around to affect everyone and anyone in some sort of way. However, rare support has come from Mike Delahanty, the senior manager of Dodge Motorsports.

“Number one, we want all of our business partners to be healthy like we want to be healthy,” said Delahanty. “Under these unprecedented times there are business solutions that no one ever thought possible.” (ESPN.com)

I believe that sponsorship trouble with Ganassi might have to do with Dario Franchitti’s NASCAR meltdown last year. As race fans, we know that performance and sponsorship come hand-in-hand. With that said, I think the problems they had last year with Franchitti’s performance caused them financial problems that are starting to linger outside of last season.

I think this is something we are going to see more of due to the economic crisis in this country. This is because the number one goal of all these different sports leagues, NASCAR, IRL, NFL, NBA and etc is to make money. It accounts for all those involved from the executives to the athletes themselves.

With racing being a small market compared to other sports, I believe finanacial trouble is going to merge racing from a Florida freeway to a narrow dirt road somewhere on the North Carolina countryside. Hopefully it’s later rather than sooner.