Last summer much was made about Gil de Ferran - excuse me, 2003 Indianapolis 500 Champion Gil de Ferran - as he spoke of shuttering his ALMS venture and moving towards assembling an IndyCar team. Names of drivers like Rahal and Dixon were frantically churned through the rumor mill as possible drivers even though the team hadn't so much as a single Dallara for anyone to pilot. At Indy much was also made of de Ferran hanging around with F1's Takuma Sato, but as the year drew to it's close there was still no team, no IRL equipment purchased, and certainly no verified reports of signed drivers for de Ferran.

Well, finally de Ferran has a team. It's not exactly his own, but...

Steve Luczo and Jay Penske, co-owners of Luczo Dragon Racing, and Gil de Ferran, owner of de Ferran Motorsports and former Indy 500 winner, have merged their two businesses to create a new cutting edge motorsport venture that will leverage technology and science to compete at the highest levels of the IZOD IndyCar Series, it was announced today.

De Ferran, the 2003 Indy 500 winner and two-time IndyCar champion, will serve as co-owner, President and Managing Partner of Luczo Dragon Racing/de Ferran Motorsports.

Tony Johns says pairing guys with Penske ties is a recipe for success, but I just want to note that while these gentlemen have every right to be impressed with themselves it would be incredible helpful if they could check their egos at the door and come up with a team name that isn't so freaking long? Sheesh. (And I know "Penske" isn't in the name, but "Dragon" is because that was the name of one of Jay's other business ventures, and perhaps also because his father threatened to cut him out of the will if Jay thought the universe was big enough for another race team named "Penske".)

But this should make this team better, and in terms of driver news the press release explicitly states that Rafa Matos is still the guy for...uh, do we call them LDRdFM? (Obscure musical reference: anyone else think that acronym looks like the result of Lords of Acid merging with KMFDM? Is that just me? OK, then excuse me while I remove my Doc Martens.)

Right now, we are running one car with Raphael Matos, but are working hard on expanding our program as this will increase our ability to improve and to extend our resources. We hope to have those details ironed out very soon.

So Rafa's their man while they are "working hard" so that he might soon have a teammate. Could it be Sato? Well, my ability to conjugate Portuguese verbs leaves much to be desired, but Brazil's Grande Premio indicated Sato either will be signing or has signed with...KV Racing Technologies? OK, show of hands - who saw that coming? I think the same article indicates Mario Moraes will also be returning, but again none of this has been confirmed.

Meanwhile, in recent days KV Racing was conducting a test...with EJ Viso. Hey, why not - right? I say get a guy that speaks Japanese, a guy that speaks Portuguese, and a guy that speaks Spanish and let 'em all throw broken English at each other. Besides, they all speak "Speed", right?

Finally, speaking of guys who speak "Speed" and "English" proficiently, "Captain America" JR Hildebrand has also been testing for the currently driver-less Dale Coyne Racing. Coyne made an announcement that the team now has sponsorship from Boy Scouts of America, so from a promotional standpoint Hildebrand definitely falls under the heading of "synergy". And as those that saw him in Firestone Indy Lights have seen he's a really good driver, so that helps as well.

And yes, I'll soon get around to discussing actual drivers who have actually been signed to actual contracts once there's a break from talking about Delta Wings and Danicas and Dragons and such.

As Dale noted a few weeks ago, it's that special time of year for drivers to start shuffling around and making plans for next season. Looking to 2010 the uncertainty is even swirling around a former series champion like Dan Wheldon, who according to random speculation has already worn out his welcome with Panther Racing in his first season. A driver with as many wins as Dan came at a steep price for Panther, but aside from a 2nd place finish at Indy (and in truth, if you're going to have one podium finish the money involved makes that the place to get it) there hasn't been a lot of Return On Investment in the Wheldon contract other than that chortle-inducing "Do you think I'm your mother!" commercial.

Panther's sponsorship arrangements with the U.S. National Guard and others put them in a rare position of being able to actually select a driver entirely on merit, and presumably with Wheldon they thought they were getting the best available driver. He was certainly the one with the most wins available. However, with the IndyCar series schedule taking a right turn towards a majority of road and street courses, Dan's actual value as a driver - while still above average - looks to have declined almost as much as the Nielsen ratings for IndyCar races.

This is not meant as any offense to Dan who over the years has demonstrated ample skill and tire-thumping bravery, nor to Panther Racing who have made a successful career out of doing more with less, but any honest assessment can see this relationship ain't working for either of them. When the winless Vitor Meira years are looked upon as the good 'ol days you know the results are not meeting mutual expectations.

They don't ask me about these things, but if Panther Racing is going to continue with their National Guard sponsorship I'd like to suggest they take a long look at finding a talented young American to drive that car. Not to open a up a xenophobic can of worms here, but if the sponsor is a branch of the American military service it can come across as just a bit odd to ask a non-citizen to represent them. It's not inherently wrong, but it does run the risk of confusing the marketing message a touch.

So which young American does your humble host think Panther should zero in on for 2010? Well, Graham Rahal appears to have a good thing going with N/H/L, Marco Andretti probably wouldn't leave the family business just yet, Ryan Hunter-Reay is still under contract with Vision Racing, Ed Carpenter is...not going anywhere, and Danica Patrick is WAY outta their price range. Fortunately, there is one young American who's smart, personable, immensely talented on both road and street courses, and fits the National Guard demographic. He's even got an all-American name like "J.R.".


Oh, and his current team busts out this little "Captain America" doll after he wins.

Yes, I'm talking about the 2009 Firestone Indy Lights champion, JR Hildebrand, who just became the first American to win that series title in 7 years. Again, I have nothing against foreign drivers (foreign drivers are FUN-tastic!), but this sponsorship and this team - who once featured an enormous American flag on their IndyCar - seem to be a little more focused on their American-ness than most others. If they can successfully develop a guy like Sam Hornish Jr into an ICS champion then they could do wonders developing the skills of JR, who might already a better road racer than Sam has ever been.

Just sayin' some things make too much sense. Quite frankly, Hildebrand looks like a special driver who shouldn't have to suffer the same career stall as many other former FIL champions. And as for Wheldon, I suppose in a perfect world he'd get back together with Tony Kanaan at AGR someday. But this is quite the imperfect world, is isn't it?

(Photo: TrackSide Online)