Now THIS is efficiency. In answering a question today the intrepid Curt Cavin dropped at least five new storylines - all in a single paragraph.
Question: I've heard rumors that Milka Duno has signed with D&R again to do ovals while Darren Manning handles road and street courses. Can you confirm this? Also what is the chance of Dale Coyne rolling out a second car from Indy on out and what happened to Tomas Shecckter? I thought he had some money lined up. (Chris, Scottsburg, Ind.)Let's recap:
Answer: Dennis Reinbold told me that Milka has not signed, but they are hoping she will for nine to 11 races this season. He was happy with the job Darren Manning did for the team, and Darren is expected to be at Long Beach and probably other races. As for Coyne, he's trying for a second car. As for Scheckter, Team 3G co-owner Greg Beck told me they expect to run him in Long Beach but the money has not yet been received. As we all should know by now, nothing is a done deal until checks clear. One more bit of information: Scott Sharp was trying to put together a deal with Panther Racing for Indy, but talks have apparently broke off.
(MORE from Ask The Expert)
1. Milka not signed, but is possibly returning to D&R.
2. Darren Manning is now expected to be at Long Beach for D&R.
3. Dale Coyne still trying for second car (presumably for Bruno Junqueira).
4. Tomas Scheckter still not confirmed for Team 3G.
5. Scott Sharp is trying to get to Indy, possibly with Panther Racing.
Holy mother of Cronkite!
I really didn't think Sharp would last long in ALMS after he lost all of his competition. I expect De Ferran to be back as well
I left this comment elsewhere but does anyone know of places you can catch a race online after it broadcast?
Flirty Curty should do some stories on any or all of those topics.
re #3: not necessarily...
as for the rest, like Calvin said, ain't nothing confirmed until the cheque clears.
(O.T.: I've been lmao at these word verifications lately!)
Kohl: Scott Sharp might WANT to come back to the IRL since his MUCH OLDER, Aussie team mate is the FASTER Patron Acura P1 driver!!!
Also, DeFerran might come back to the IRL, however it will be as an OWNER!!!. Gil & Acura are a solid partnership in the ALMS...
... besides Audi will be back & Porsche & others too. Acura will use '09 to prove out their concepts (& see if a diesel will have to be considered for a LeMans effort (the 24 Hr. race & in ALMS...)
Indy's on the early end of the ALMS's "spring layoff" which consists of 13 weeks that contain only one race (it's the period between Long Beach next weekend and Lime Rock in mid-July). That race happens to be during "Bump Weekend", but even so, it'd be relatively easy for an ALMS driver to put together a 1-race deal to do the 500, as long as they're quick enough to get into the show on the first qualifying weekend. I think that's why Sharpie might come back, not because of lack of competition or the fact that he gets dusted by his teammate every time out. Those ingredients mean that he (and by extension, his big-deal sponsor) get a lot of headlines for winning lots of races. The associated news stories don't focus too much on the fact that Brabs is The Man on that team.
More shooting from my uninformed hip here, but I think a Milka/Manning split at D&R similar to the Milka/Townsend split last year is a pretty easy lay-up. You want to cash her check, bolt lots of downforce on the car to keep her out of the wall on ovals, put somebody non-embarrassing in the car for the road courses, and everybody goes home happy.
Bingo on that Milka/Manning ride-share, SpeedGeek.