Well, the season is over. Now we patiently wait for 2006 amidst the sea of rumors and speculations and hearsay. This is a time when a reporter needs to fill content for 4 months and quite often there is little substantial content to fill. So, let’s start rumors and whatnot. Nothing too wrong with that, as long as the rumor is clearly stated in the article or told by the reporter. Wild rumors can even be fun, as we have seen in the past. They just need to be taken with a grain of salt before being digested.

The good news in the case of Champ Car is that very little negative can come out of this off-season. Unlike years past, all the delays were cause for concern. Every new ChampCar story seemed to have a negative spin on it, even when it was the schedule being announced or team joining the series. This year, the series has its feet firmly planted on the ground. The schedule is out, the teams are set (not necessarily the drivers, but that’s part of the fun), and the broadcast schedule is out. It’s an off-season when fun questions and debates will take place, as opposed to doomed versus staying alive debates take place. Oh sure, you’ll have a few reporters who will mark down the negatives, like Korea, for example. But that’s just because as reporters, they can’t pretend a product is perfect. That’s not, by definition, the job of the reporter. He needs to bring questions to the table. She needs to look past the spindoctors and report what she sees. Even when there’s little negative to write about, reporters will find it. It’s their way of “reporting”.

I wonder how much money AGR is throwing at DaMatta? The whole thing makes little sense to me. There are plenty of good drivers out there and Andrettti goes for DaMatta? By the looks of it, he’s trying to recreate CART in 2000 with Dario, Brian , possibly Cristiano and Tony. And if it’s true that they are offering less money to Wheldon than they pay Dario, then I hope he does leave. Simply because he comes off as the type who would whine and pout and leave a team based on being a baby about it.
And Wheldon might go to Chip, who would switch to Honda. Why doesn’t Toyota just pull out now? It looks like they might be fielding just one team next year? Come on, save yourself and get out. If Roger switches, then your operation in the IRL officially ceases to exist. And what’s Carpentier doing next year?
A good friend of mine handed the 2006 Vanderbilt Cup to Justin Wilson, claiming not only he’s the best, but that Bourdais’ downfall will be his lack of motivation. Interesting theory.