There has been some driver movement among some of the IndyCar teams in preparation for the 2020 season, The latest news is that Sebastien Bourdais has left Dale Coyne Racing with Vassar-Sullivan and the IndyCar series all together and will be driving for JDC-Miller Motorsports in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The 40-year-old Frenchman has been in open wheeled racing since 2003, driving in the ChampCar World Series and the IndyCar Championships. He drove in his first Indy 500 race in 2005. With ChampCar he was the series’ all-time race-winning leader with 31 victories. In IndyCar full time since 2011, he has 6 wins. 2019 was the first year the Bourdais did not win at least one race during the series year. Coyne said a sponsorship deal fell through. Coyne said he expected last year’s Indy 500 Rookie of the Year Santino Ferrucci to become the team’s lead driver, but Ferrucci has not officially signed with the team for the 2020 season. Right now Coyne has no drivers listed for his team.
Ed Carpenter Racing has not yet filled the last open seat of his three car team. Spencer Pigot was first announced to be returning to ECR for 2020, but on November 15, ECR told the media the Pigot wouldn’t be back with the team in 2020. 19-year-old Dutch rookie Rinus VeeKay will drive the complete series and the team hopes that he can approach the impact that Colton Herta had on IndyCar racing in 2019.
Arrow-McLaren is honoring James Hinchcliffe’s contract. He will make sponsorship appearances and be a team media spokesperson on race weekends — that is unless he finds other opportunities such as signing to drive for another team. Hinch is signed to drive a Honda engine and Dale Coyne is signed to employ Honda engines in his race cars. Maybe they could wind up together.
AJ Foyt Racing Enterprises has yet to announce any drivers for their two cars in 2020. It’s been rumored that Tony Kanaan, who drove for the team in 2019, may just compete at the Indy 500 in 2020 although not necessarily with Foyt Racing.
There is still a long time before the 2020 IndyCar racing schedule starts on March 15 in St. Petersburg FL so there will be a lot more news, and with Penske taking over the whole thing that will be an even bigger change so stay tuned.
Colts get Lassoed by the Texans
The Indianapolis Colts dropped to 6-5 after last Thursday night’s loss to the Houston Texans. Reserve running back Jonathan Williams rushed for his second 100 yard game in a row and scored his first NFL touchdown but for the rest it was fairly dismal. There was no passing game to speak of. Even TY Hilton dropped a couple. Jacoby Brissett accounted for 128 passing yards. Pass blocking was ineffective. Defensively only Darius Leonard was a threat to the Texan offense. So it’s back to the drawing board for Frank Reich and the rest of the coaching staff. Sunday we face the surging Tennessee Titans at home. This is a different team than the one we faced earlier in the year with Ryan Tannehill as quarterback and playing like a comeback player of the year candidate and running back Derrick Henry ripping through opponent defenses. So it’s gonna be a tough game!
snicewanger@gamail.com