2006 IRL car count

UPDATE #3 This Indy Star article outlines the low IRL car count, especially for the 2006 Indy 500 where 33 is just a number. The continued split is destroying open wheel racing. Honda did a tremendous disservice to open wheel racing by agreeing to continue providing engines to the IRL. By doing so they ensured the split would continue. 11/23/05 This SPEEDTV.com article paints a much more gloomy picture of the Panther Racing situation. "We've never, ever laid anyone off before but when you don't have any income what else can you do?," said Mike Griffin, one of the five co-owners of the Indianapolis-based team. "We wanted to be up front and honest about our situation. It's not like we shut things down, it's just that we don't have an operating budget at the moment.

"With our situation with Pennzoil, there's simply not enough cash to sustain 50 people and right now there's nothing for them to do anyway. We understand the consequences of letting guys go because they've got to look out for their families so we know they're out looking for jobs.

"We've still got 23 people on the payroll and, hopefully, we'll be calling people up to come back in a few weeks if one of our sponsorship deals comes through."

Panther Racing has been sponsored by Pennzoil since 1998 but that contract, estimated to be worth $4 million, expired two months ago so the principals of Panther have been scrambling to find money.

"We're looking at several options," said Griffin, whose group is thought to be talking with Pat Patrick and the sons of Jonathan Byrd about keeping Panther alive. "We've got five sponsorship deals in the hopper and several people have inquired about buying the place. The people we're talking to want us to stay in the IRL and, obviously, our druthers would be to keep going in the series we love.

"This has always been a family deal and we want to keep it going. But you can't do anything without money."

11/21/05 Hearing that the recent Panther Racing layoffs were their usual post-season pink slips. They are expecting to be back with only one car in 2006 as they kept Chief Engineer Andy Brown and most of their core guys. 11/17/05 The 2006 IRL grid looks surprisingly small at this stage. What’s even more alarming, it will take 20 to 21 more cars to hit the 33 mark at Indy.

Early IRL Silly Season List
Penske 2 cars / Helio Castroneves and Sam Hornish
Rahal Letterman 2 cars / Danica Patrick and Buddy Rice (Meira rumored gone)
AGR 4 cars / Tony Kanaan, Dario Franchitti, Bryan Herta, Marco Andretti or Vitor Meira (Wheldon F1 or Ganassi)
Cheever 0 cars / (Red Bull and $4-5million gone)
Aguri/Fernandez 2 cars /Scott Sharp's sponsor Delphi is bankrupt, Matsuura is gone and Aguri is gone to F1. Fernandez is doing some NASCAR)
Target Ganassi 2 cars / Scott Dixon and Ryan Briscoe (or Wheldon)
Panther Racing 0 or 1 cars (Pennzoil pulled the plug, reduced to Assoc. sponsor, Rockstar is gone, announcement will be forthcoming)
Dreyer & Reinbold 1 car (giving the benefit, their struggling for $$$)
Vision Racing 1 car / Ed Carpenter
Ethanol 1 car / Paul Dana
AJ Foyt 0 or 1 car (Foyt IV off to NASCAR)

Total: 15 cars. Eighteen more to get to 33 for Indy. And no additional 2 cars from Champ Car and Newman/Haas.