Champ Car refuges hit Sebring

Today was the first test for former Champ Car teams with their new IRL-mounts. Six newly appointed IRL drivers took to the Sebring short-course and logged a total of 276 laps.

Conveniently, the IRL-regulars happened to test Sebring about two-weeks ago, leaving the door wide open for silly comparisons and other premature conclusions to be drawn concerning any of the following:

• The ability of ex-Champ Car teams to adapt to a new engine/chassis combo.
• Which squad has employed a driver able to adapt quickly to a new car?
• Which IRL team(s) posted slower lap times than Champ Car squads who have had less than a month to prep a full-blown IRL program?
• How slow is Milka Duno, really?
• Did Newman/Haas/Lanigan just skip the test to polish up their NCAA brackets?

Feel free to deduce your own answers to the above questions. Here are the official times:


Sebring Open Test - Round 1 -3/6/08 (combined results for Indy Car regulars)


Sebring Open Test - Round 2- 3/19/08 (Champ Car ex-pats)

For those too lazy to open both files for comparison (lets face it, I would be):

Will Power had the fastest time among the IRL newbies (52.9685; 113.501 mph). That would place him fifth among the regulars. Milka Duno was two-seconds slower than her nearest IRL colleague. (She did log a quicker time than Conquest's Enrique Bernoldi, but he only managed four laps today).

Ex-Champ Car teams get one more test day at Sebring, followed by two on the Homestead oval, then the season opener. Word on the street is Newman/Haas/Lanigan will make up for lost testing time by shaking their cars down at an SCCA autocross on the South Side of Chicago. Dude, your prepped 240Z is fucked.

Malcolm in the back

Ridebuyer's new favorite actor-turned racing driver Frankie Muniz turned in the 14th quickest time (of 20 cars) in the Atlantic Series' open test this week at Laguna Seca. Full results are here.

Muniz will run the entire Atlantic season with PCM, although their schedule is filled with question marks since the series was supposed to run jointly with Champ Car at events that have been cancelled since the IRL's coup of Champ Car. But regardless, wherever the Atlantic Series races, Muniz will be there.

Muniz joins the illustrious list of Hollywood talent to venture into the world of professional racing. Here is the Ridebuyer-abridged list of actors who have all turned a wheel in anger.

"A-List" celebrities who have donned the helmet include: James Dean, James Garner, Paul Newman and perhaps most famously Steve McQueen.

"B-Listers" include: Patrick Dempsey, Jason Priestley and Craig T. Nelson (Dauber was occasionally his tire-changer).

"C-Listers" include: our man Frankie, Lorenzo Lamas (for those glorious two-months when he ran S2000), and Danny Bonaduce*

*To Ridebuyer's knowledge he has never driven a racing car, nor shown any interest, but we will include him regardless.