Silly Season Roundup: November 18, 2010

A muddy IZOD IndyCar Series silly season picture for 2011 has begun to clear up, as big names begin to sign contracts, or at least line them up, with major teams.

Since the future appears bright, with Chevrolet and Lotus joining the fray in 2012, it's easy to forget that IndyCar has another season of spec racing ahead of it, and plenty of driver contracts to be signed along the way. But just this week, we saw the confirmation of two drivers returning to their teams from 2010, and another setting up a ride with an old friend for 2011.

Justin Wilson announced his return to the No. 22 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Dallara-Honda for 2011 last Thursday, turning down offers from a handful of other teams. He'll continue a relationship that yielded an 11th-place points finish in 2010 and shone on the road and street courses all year.

Meanwhile, E.J. Viso confirmed to Yahoo! Sports Argentina that he will remain in IndyCar next season, likely returning to KV Racing Technology as the team's relationship with Lotus expands. Previously, team owner Jimmy Vasser had suggested to SpeedTV.com that the team's driver lineup would remain the same in 2011 as in 2010, although this year was a hellish season for the team that saw a plethora of wrecks.

For those who like to speculate, the article also mentioned Takuma Sato as a KVRT driver, but not Mario Moraes. Lotus has also confirmed full-time sponsorship commitment of only two cars for next year.

Meanwhile, Tony Kanaan and Gil de Ferran are a few steps closer to working together next season. Kanaan recently spent time in a de Ferran Dragon Racing car, with the intent on critiquing the team's engineering progress thus far. But de Ferran's previous driver, Raphael Matos, just finished the second of a two-year deal, and the ever-popular Kanaan is heading to Brazil, his and de Ferran's home country, to seek out sponsors. The 2003 Indianapolis 500 winner is adamant that he will employ the 2004 IndyCar champion next season.

ICONIC Committee Announced

The ICONIC (Innovative, Competitive, Open-Wheel, New, Industry-Relevant, Cost-Effective) Committee, IZOD IndyCar Series chairman Randy Bernard's committee for the 2012 IndyCar formula, was formally filled out this afternoon. Led by William Looney III, a retired 4-star Air Force General, the group is comprised of seven members, six of whom were selected by Bernard and one of whom was selected by a paddock-wide vote.

The six members chosen today were Brian Barnhardt, Tony Cotman, Eddie Gossage, Rick Long, Tony Purnell, and Neil Ressler. The seventh, Gil de Ferran, was chosen weeks ago as the owners' representative to the group.

While three of the newly-announced names (Barnhardt, Cotman, and Gossage) should be somewhat familiar to the modern IndyCar fan, the other three may not be so easily recognized. In fact, only Long has any prior IndyCar experience; he began developing engines in 1973 with the Turbo Offy program and has also worked on engines for Buick, Chevrolet, Cosworth, and Judd. He now works for Speedway Engine Development Inc., which builds engines for Firestone Indy Lights and several USAC teams.

Purnell and Ressler are former employees of the Ford Motor Company, both of whom have experience with the former Jaguar Formula 1 team. Purnell was the founder of Pi Research, a globally recognized electronics company that was purchased by Ford in 1999, while Ressler served a multitude of different roles for the company.

The committee will help decide the future of the sport, including which new formula teams will utilize, as well as whether or not it should act on a recommendation to wait until 2013 to implement the new cars.

Among the chassis manufacturers looking to score the exclusive contract are established organizations Dallara, Lola, and Swift, as well as new endeavors BAT and DeltaWing. Engine companies in discussions include Honda, Fiat (perhaps through its Alfa Romeo brand), and Volkswagen AG (through either the Volkswagen, Audi, or Porsche brand). Firestone will continue to supply tires exclusively to the series.

IndyCar Season Preview: de Ferran Luczo Dragon Racing

Raphael Matos won the 2009 IZOD IndyCar Series rookie of the year award, following his 2008 Firestone Indy Lights and 2007 Atlantic Championship titles, in a Luczo Dragon Racing car last year. The season was a modest success for both, as Matos kept his trophy streak alive and Luczo Dragon proved reasonably competitive in their first full-time IndyCar season. Matos even had a shot at winning the Indianapolis 500 before a crash in turn one ended his day.

Despite a hard crash at St. Petersburg (that launched a spectator out of a porta-john outside of the retaining wall) and three other DNFs in his first seven races, Matos completed all of the last ten races on the schedule in 2009, and scored eight top-10s on the year. His best finish was a sixth place run at Milwaukee. While he did not approach his 2008 Indy Lights success, he still managed to establish himself as a consistent driver who could bring the car home in one piece.

This season, however, more will be expected out of Matos and the team. Luczo Dragon Racing merged with former sports car team de Ferran Motorsports, and former Indianapolis 500 winner and two-time CART champion Gil de Ferran will now be Matos' driver coach. De Ferran, who nearly won the American Le Mans Series championship last year as an owner/driver, will attempt to move his Brazilian countryman up the ranks.

The team also has a better sponsorship package this year, with Hewlett-Packard, McAfee, and Bell Micro all signed on. As part of the HP deal, Davey Hamilton (who has carried their sponsorship for a few years now) will run a limited schedule for the team in a second car. That will allow the team to gain even more information at Indianapolis, Texas, and another oval to be announced, information that will hopefully make Matos' car even faster at those tracks. Hamilton will also attempt to complete a race at Texas for the first time since a career-threatening crash in 2001 that required 21 operations to reconstruct his feet. (Coincidentally, Hamilton's car will carry No. 21 this year.)

Anything short of a top 10 in points for Matos and DFLDR this year will be a disappointment, especially considering that all parties involved have seen some success in the past few years. Matos should score his first top five finish this season, at the very least, and score more top-10s, although a win might require a little luck.