One until we can all breathe a little easier but remain frustrated at the difficulty.
One until to field is filled.
One until 33 entries for the Indianapolis 500.
Sage Karam was confirmed as a development driver for Chip Ganassi Racing and will drive on loan the #22 Dreyer & Reinbold Kingdom Racing Chevrolet, a partnership between Dennis Reinbold and Davey Hamilton.
On last night's edition of Trackside with Curt Cavin and Kevin Lee, Cavin said Carlos Huertas will run ovals in the 2014 season after it was initially thought he would just compete on road and street courses and Pippa Mann will return to Indianapolis in a third Dale Coyne Racing entry. Cavin said to expect the Mann announcement on Thursday.
Huertas and Karam boost the 2014 Indianapolis 500 rookie class to six joining Kurt Busch, Martin Plowman, Mikhail Aleshin and Jack Hawksworth. Karam finished third last year in the Freedom 100 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
These two additions bring the Indianapolis 500 entry list to 32.
The 23 cars that took part at Barber, Plowman (24), Busch (25), Karam (26), Mann (27), Buddy Lazier (28), Jacques Villeneuve (29), JR Hildebrand (30), Alex Tagliani (31) and Townsend Bell (32).
Where does the 33rd entry come from?
Stefan Wilson's super-duper, secret Indianapolis-based team is still an option. Reportedly Tristan Vautier, James Davison, Jay Howard and James Jakes are all still working on programs for the month of May?
Who fields the 33rd entry?
Currently there are 18 Hondas and 14 Chevrolets entered and I think Honda said 18 is there max so that means no second Herta entry, no sixth Andretti (so John has to look elsewhere), no third RLLR (they learned from the Michel Jourdain, Jr. experience) and no third Foyt (although it's Foyt and I wouldn't rule him out for anything).
Ganassi loaned Karam out so they aren't fielding an additional car. Penkse isn't fielding a fourth (it would be nice if AJ Allmendinger surprises the hell out of us though but that won't happen).
That leaves the full-time teams of KV (who is already running a third car) and Ed Carpenter Racing (who is already running a second car) and the Indianapolis one-offs Lazier Partners Racing and D&R/K. It was rumored not too long ago D&R would run a second car out of their shop but that report died out. I'm not sure Lazier has any additional parts for a second car.
Panther sold their equipment and are a skeleton of a team. Fan Force United sold their car to Lazier last year. Michael Shank sold his car after that whole situation was poorly handled.
They are going to find someone to field that 33rd car but I tweeted this last night.
The biggest disappointment is two series that had 35 combined full-time cars merged and 6 years later can't get to 33 for one race. #IndyCar
— ForTheLoveofIndy (@4TheLoveOfIndy) April 29, 2014
It just seems like IndyCar, the engine manufactures are content with just filling the field. The current specifications and rules are putting the series and everyone in a corner when it comes to not only filling the field but having a plethora of entries trying to bump their way in.
When Honda announced they were going to run a twin-turbo engine in 2014, why did IndyCar immediately make it illegal to run a single-turbo charged engine? They made how many engines obsolete that were only two years old? The same goes for not grandfathering the previous IR-03/05 chassis. Instead of trying to squeeze everyone dry by making everyone run DW12 chassis with the current engine specifications, allow for some wiggle room and maybe we see another half a dozen entries and getting 33 entries isn't a painful, fearful process that is current is and has been for too damn long.
Maybe a few teams would still be alive if the rulebook was a little bit more open. Maybe a few teams from sports cars or Indy Lights or USAC would be a little more interested in running a one-off if the rulebook was a little bit more open. I don't know but I can tell you the era of an ironclad rulebook saying you have to run this, this and that fails to bring in Indianapolis one-offs that are direly needed and direly wanted.
