Space
Provided By
The Auto Channel

Credits
Contact Us
Back Home

NASCAR
Image Gallery

Callahan's
Racing Art

---

Indy Lights News and Notes

The other vital part of the Indy Lights title championship package, however, is PPG Industries, which joined the series in 1989. The company stepped up to to presenting sponsor status in 1991 and joined Firestone in the co-title role in 1994. Now sharing the title with Dayton, PPG is preparing for its 10th season with Indy Lights in 1998.

"Indy Lights continues to be a major part of our marketing matrix," said Mike Sack, Director of Sports Marketing for PPG Industries. "It is great to know that Bridgestone/Firestone has decided to continue its Indy Lights support with Dayton because our sponsorship partnership is one of the main reasons we stick with the program. It is easy to do business in Indy Lights, and the Bridgestone/Firestone/Dayton people are a great retail partner. They understand our goals and we have a good idea of what they are trying to achieve with their programs. It is a great relationship."

"Working with PPG has been one of the highlights of our involvement in Indy Lights," said Joe Barbieri, Dayton Motorsports Project Manager. "We have been able to build a great relationship with PPG and look forward to making it even better in the next several years. You couldn't ask for a better sponsorship partner than PPG."

THE BOYS IN BRAZIL

Indy Lights President Roger Bailey and CART Vice President of Competition J. Kirk Russell were in Brazil last week primarily to look at the Autodromo Internacional de Curitiba circuit in that Brazilian city.

"It is a great facility and is as good as any of the top new tracks here such as Homestead and California," Bailey said. "It is race ready, and there is no question we could run here tomorrow if that was the case."

The Curitiba road course is 2.3-miles in length and features 11 turns with the longest straight stretching for just over 600 yards. The pit and paddock complex features 30 modern, two-car garages with "Homestead-style" entertainment and viewing areas located on top.

Bailey and Russell were guests of a Brazilian business group interested in hosting one or two Indy Lights races in their country. The local Curitiba government alsom made it clear they could supply some backing for a race in their city, and Bailey was impressed with the support extended by the Curitiba locals and the Brazilian press.

"We were taking a walking tour of the track and our host said we had to go back to the pit area to see a 'few people' interested in meeting us," Bailey said. "When we got there, about 75 people - most of them press - were waiting and we conducted a full-in press conference. We knew Indy Lights was popular in South America, but in Brazil we seem to be on par even with the Indy car guys. The fact that we regularly had race winners this year from Brazil may have a lot to do with it."

Brazilians Tony Kanaan (Marlboro/Davene/Brahma/MTV Lola), Helio Castro-Neves (Marlboro/Kibon/Brahma/MTV Lola) and Cristiano da Matta (Medley Industria Farmaceutica Lola) combined for eight wins in 13 Indy Lights races this year and swept the top-three championship positions, respectively.

"At this point, it is too early to say when we will be able to race in Brazil, if we run one or two events there or if any races would be championship or non-points events," Bailey said. "That would all have to be worked out in the near future, but the interest in great on the Brazilian end and we at Indy Lights would love to race there."

DORRICOTT'S DRIVERS DRILLS

Veteran Indy Lights entrants Dorricott Racing recenly put a dozen prospective drivers through their paces during a pair of tests at Firebird Raceway near Phoenix, Arizona, and Buttonwillow in California. The first run was conducted at Firebird on November 10th and 11th and included Marcos Gueiros (Mexican Formula 3000), Rino Mastronardi (Barber Dodge Pro Series), Tim Moser (ARCA Supercar Stock Cars), Oswaldo Negri (Indy Lights), Philipp Peter (German GT2/Touring Car) and Bryan Selby (Barber Dodge Pro Series).

The Buttonwillow test was conducted on November 22 to offer a second chance to drivers who missed the first session because of the Grand Prix of Macau. This group included Dutch driver Tom Coronel (1997 Japanese Formula 3 Champion), Englishman Ralph Firman (Japan Formula Nippon), Englishman Gareth Rees (1996 British Formula 3 Champion), Spanish driver, Oriol Servia (8th place 1997 French Formula 3 Championship), and Peter, who returned for a second run.

"This is a group of very talented young drivers that would do very well in any racing series," said team owner Bob Dorricott Sr., who observed th sessions along with former Indy car driver and motorcycle World Champion Eddie Lawson. Lawson has been assisting Dorricott as the team continues its driver search during winter testing.

INDY REGENCY READY

Third year Indy Lights driver Rodolfo Lavin Jr. will be back for a second season with Sal Incandela's Indy Regency Racing team in the Corona/America Battery Lola. The team has also signed Japanese veteran Shigeaki Hattori who brings EPSON sponsorship with him after running with Lucas Place Motorsports in 1997. The team left the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend for Texas and a test at the Big Springs road course on December 3 and 4. They will follow with a test session in Florida at both Homestead and Sebring prior to Christmas.

LUCAS DRIVERS IN PLACE

Ohio-based Lucas Place Motorsports has announced that Americans Brian Cunningham of Lexington, Kentucky, and Geoff Boss of Narragansett, Rhode Island will pilot the team's pair of Indy Lights Lolas in 1998. The second-year team will also receive support from Crane and Shovel Sales, a Cleveland-based distributor of Manitowoc cranes, in the coming year. Manitowoc has also been a long-time supporter of the Tasman Motorsports Group.

"We are very excited about the potential of our two drivers for the upcoming season," said team co-owner Eric Place. "I feel that we should be in position to win races and be championship contenders this year. Last season, being our first, was a difficult development year, but I think that we can learn a lot from our experiences and build from there. It definitely makes us feel good to know that we will continue to have support from LCI and Exide Electronics with us througout 1998."

After running the 1997 opener in Miami with Brian Stewart Racing, Cunningham competed in the last three races of the season for Lucas Place with a seventh place finish at Laguna Seca as his best result. His most impressive run was in the Fontana finale, however, where he led 10 laps and challenged for the lead all day before crashing while battling for the lead with Casey Mears and David Empringham.

Boss, a top Barber Dodge competitor before moving to Indy Lights this past season, earned a third place finish at Detroit as his best finish during his rookie 1997 campaign with Team Medlin.

The team begins a full testing schedule this week at Firebird and Phoenix International Raceway. Both drivers will run for four days on the Firebird road course and two days on the one-mile Phoenix oval.

ANDY BOSS CONQUEST

While Geoff Boss has signed with Lucas Place, his brother Andy Boss has signed with Eric Bachelart's Conquest team for the 1998 Indy Lights season. Andy Boss ran Barber Dodge in 1997, but has a pair of Indy Lights races to his credit when he ran the opening rounds of the 1996 championship with Team Medlin. Sponsorship comes from Cross Pens and Boarder Patrol and Bachelart's long-time backer MI-Jack.

The team has already run six days of total testing on the Gingerman road course in Michigan and the Firebird and Phoenix tracks in Arizona. Next up is a trip to Florida on December 8 for two days at Homestead and two more at Sebring during that week.

Engineer Craig Perkins, who was with Conquest in the latter half od 1997, will handle the Boss entry while Bachelart has also signed former Lola Indy car engineer Mike Wright to oversee a second Lola that was acquired from David DeSilva at the end of the season. A second driver has not been named, however, and Bachelart reports that his promising 1997 pilot Christophe Tinseau has encountered sponsor trouble.

"We are really looking forward to running Andy and we are happy to have enough time to test," Bachelart said. "But it doesn't look promising for Christophe (Tinseau) which is bad for him and bad for me. We worked well together in 1997, and it is a shame to lose all that we have done. It would be nice if something could be done, but it does not look good at this time."

Tinseau recorded a season's best finish of third with Conquest at Trois-Rivieres in 1997.

By Indy Lights PR

Member of the Internet Link Exchange