




Danica Patrick, who races for the Honda-powered Andretti-Green IRL team, has spoken of wanting to make the jump to the world's premier form of motorsport, Formula 1. Later this year, according to Honda F1 CEO Nick Fry, the team is going to give her that chance. Danica will be put into Honda's Earth Dreams F1 car in November, probably at the Barcelona or Jerez tracks in Spain, for a full-scale test. Said Fry, "We will put her into our car after the season at the latest and see how quick she is."
The recent record of IndyCar drivers succeeding on the other side of the pond is mixed. It's still too early to tell with Sebastian Bourdais at Toro Rosso, though he appears to be handling things well enough. Jacques Villeneuve did well, but Michael Andretti did not. Scott Dixon, the 2003 IRL champ and 2008 Indy 500 winner tested with Williams-BMW in 2004, but didn't get a seat. Danica's already won a place in U.S. racing history. We'll find out in November if she's fast enough to do it in Europe, as well.




"In anything like this there are winners and losers and all the Champ Car teams were the losers." These are the words of Paul Stoddart, the racing team chief who campaigned his Minardi team last year in Champ Cars and previously in Formula One. Stoddart's words echo those of departed multiple champion Sebastien Bourdais; Minardi is just one of the Champ Car teams that won't be making the switch to IRL next season following the merger between Indy and Champ Cars.
In fact, most of the major teams from the Champ Car World Series won't be making the jump. As we reported earlier, Forsythe can't afford the reinvestment. Neither can Walker Racing. Newman Haas Lanigan Racing will, however, while former Champ Car co-owner Kevin Kalkhoven will give it a shot, but, like Stoddart, is also looking for a way into Formula One. With the former Minardi F1 team, now known as Toro Rosso, up for sale, and Super Aguri looking not long for this world, they may have a chance. Where that leaves Champ Cars, on the other hand, is looking like little more than a footnote in American racing history as this "merger of equals" is shaping up to be about as equal as the one that dissolved between Daimler-Benz and Chrysler.

At several points in the last thirteen years since American open-wheel racing split, the two parties have tried to come to an agreement that would allow them to reunite, but none have yielded fruit. Carl Haas is tired of waiting, and has announced that deal or no deal, he's taking his team to the IndyCar Series by 2009.
Haas is co-owner of Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, the most dominant team in Champ Cars. With Sebastien Bourdais driving, the team took the title the past four years running, for a total of eight championships – second only to Penske Racing, which also defected to the IRL in 2005. The next most successful team, Chip Ganassi Racing, moved to IndyCars in 2002.
The news is a further blow to the dying Champ Cars series, which was recently snubbed by rising star Rafa Matos who refused a $2 million grant from Champ Cars in favor of IndyCars. The major obstacle keeping the two series from rejoining has reportedly been Indy boss Tony George's insistence on controlling the combined series, but with the Champ Car World Series barely limping towards the finish line, George is rumored to have made another offer to Champ Car executives to "merge". Once Haas is gone, there may be nothing left for George to take over.
