As part of the summary of the 2008 Homestead race I noted a link that mentioned the financial woes of Franck Perera’s sponsor Opes Prime. Those troubles have now caught up with the driver.
Jaime Camara didn't take the express route to the IndyCar Series, but three years of seasoning in Firestone Indy Lights will serve him well straight away.With 3 wins in 42 starts Camara – yet another Brazilian – was good but not great in his years in the series formerly known as Indy Pro, having a career best characterized as hard-charging but accident prone. If I were a betting man I would say this isn’t the last time this sort of thing will happen in 2008, as drivers like Wade Cunningham and Jeff Simmons are jumping back into the Indy Lights pool to be at the track and at the ready should any more current IndyCar series drivers run out of sponsorship cash like Perera did.
Conquest Racing announced that Camara will drive the No. 34 Dallara/Honda/Firestone for the remainder of the season, beginning with the Road Runner Turbo Indy 300 at Kansas Speedway this weekend. It also announced an extension to the sponsorship program with Sangari.
Conquest Racing owner Eric Bachelart said the loss of sponsors Opes Prime, which recently went into receivership, and ARES necessitated the change. Franck Perera competed in three races, with a high of sixth place on the streets of Long Beach (Calif.) last weekend.
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And as for Fronkensteen, we hardly knew ya. All we're left with is Vitor Meira's prophetic words: "Look how fast are you now, dude."
i feel bad for him. he was one of my favorite transition drivers..he's got talent.
Ohhhh....and he's already gone from the side bar...it's sad.
Already, people are saying that Camara's got ten times the cash and half the talent of Perera. Give the guy a chance first, jeez...
...Sorry about Franck. Hopefully, he can find a way to creep back in via FIL and grab a seat in 2009.
Unfortunetly, the CC teams have brought with them the same problems that were afflicting CC....ye ole merry go round in the pilot seat.
Just goes to show you some things don't change, merger or not. If you got the cash, you got the ride.
Dude-
I worked hard (for like 30 seconds) to come up with "Fronkensteen"!!!!
Jamie "Z-28" Camara won't hold a candle. Let the naming begin....
PD- good point...
What is the Suprise ???
I thought we all knew that Conquest operated on driver's paychecks ? (and so does Dale Coyne)
but instead of criticizing Jaime , he spent 3 years in the indy pro series has 3 wins and 2 poles. and has experiance in OVALS & Road/Street circuits, unlike Franck.
what the League and Series need is Hemelgarn back with 2 full time cars, Aj Foyt with a 2nd full time car and Rahal-letterman with a 2nd full time car.
ss minnow,
Howza 'bout IROC, as in Jaime "IROC" Camera?
I mean, let's AT LEAST move it into the 1980's :^)