Why is that so hard to believe? Right now, by my count, they have 35 confirmed car/driver combinations already and also 9 TBA's.

Throw in one car from Rahal/Letterman, Team 3G, and another Dreyer & Reinbold car. They'll all be there for sure in some way or another. That's 38. I believe there were 37 last year, so I don't think I'm crazy.

Sorry if I offend anyone here; I happen to like the Indianapolis 500.

There will be at least 43 entries this year. I can't wait! I like the Indy 500 too and really don't care if someone gets offended.

I too love the Indy 500 and if this deal will amp up interest in 500 qualifying I guess I'm for it but I also believe there are some things that shouldn't be tampered with. If it works out, fine. If not there may be additional damage to an already shaky situation.

It isn't the golf course that blocks any views.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's nice and all. What does your diatribe have to do with whether 40 cars/drivers are going to be at Indy this year? Like I said, 38 cars/drivers are pretty much for certain going to be there to qualify already. And we're still 5 weeks out from the beginning of practice. The least I can see that will make an attempt to qualify is 39.

I would guess Ana Beatriz in the DRR #23
Richard Antinucci in the Team 3G #98
Oriol Servia may be back in the RLR #17, the car will be there for sure, not sure of the driver, though.
And there's several others that may throw out another car for someone on Bump Day. It always happens. Though they have one less weekend to qualify this year, I don't see why it would affect it if the car is safely qualified into the field on Saturday.

I will bump this thread when 40 cars/drivers hit the track at Indy in May. I'm curious though, what is your prediction of the car count?

I figure they'll fill the field, Foyt might run a second car, John Andretti is doing the Petty deal again this yr but with his cousin and I'm sure DRR will field 4 cars. Would be shocked if there was any real bumping, hasn't been for a while..... When I was little we went every year for bump day as a family, it was awesome, now I won't even turn the TV or radio on to the Indy 500 or any part of it. Little 500 on Saturday night and who knows sunday, just not wasting effort on Indy anymore but will hope that Davey and Sarah have good days....

Don't care how many make weight's are "entered"

Penske or Ganassi will win.

Richie, your Pom Pom's are showing

Well, that's true I think it's definitely Penske or Ganassi for the win. I wish that would change, but that's the problem with engine leases and certain team's getting favorable engine parts and pieces.

Pom pom's eh. So I should just join everybody else on the "everything sucks and isn't as good as it use to be bandwagon?" No thanks.

Here are the 34 drivers/cars confirmed for Indy so far.
06 / 06T Hideki Mutoh
2 / 2T Rafael Matos
3 / 3T Helio Castroneves (W)
4 / 4T Dan Wheldon (W)
5 / 5T Takumo Sato (R)
6 / 6T Ryan Briscoe
7 / 7T Danica Patrick
8 / 8T EJ Viso
9 / 9T Scott Dixon (W)
10 / 10T Dario Franchitti (W)
11 / 11T Tony Kanaan
12 / 12T Will Power
14 / 14T Vitor Meira
15 / 15T Paul Tracy
18 / 18T Milka Duno
19 / 19T Alex Lloyd
20 / 20T Ed Carpenter
21 / 21T Davey Hamilton
22 / 22T Justin Wilson
24 / 24T Mike Conway
26 / 26T Marco Andretti
29 / 29T Sebastian Savvadra (R)
32 / 32T Mario Moraes
33 / 33T Bruno Junqueria
34 / 34T Mario Romancinni (R)
35 / 35T Bertrand Baguette (R)
37 / 37T Ryan Hunter-Reay
41 / 41T AJ Foyt IV
43 / 43T John Andretti
66 / 66T Jay Howard (R)
67 / 67T Sarah Fisher
77 / 77T Alex Tagliani
78 / 78T Simona De Silvestro (R)
99 / 99T Townsend Bell

TBA's
02 / 02T Newman/Haas/Lanigan. Graham Rahal most likely will be in this ride for Kansas, Indy, and beyond.
16 / 16T TBA
17 / 17T Rahal Letterman Racing will have a car.
23 / 23T Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. Ana Beatriz drove this car in Brazil.
27 / 27T TBA
70 / 70T TBA
79 / 79T TBA
91 Hemelgarn Racing will roll out their old car for Buddy Lazier once again.
95 / 95T Byrd Brothers Racing
98 / 98T Team 3G Racing Richard Antinucci had the ride last year.

Also, Tomas Scheckter will end up somewhere and Robby Gordon might end up working with Derrick Walker.

We'll just have to wait and see how it turns out, though. I'm going to be there every day throughout the month and I'm going to enjoy myself. Crazy concept, I know.

---------- Post added at 01:46 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:31 PM ----------

Furthermore, I don't like this new qualifying format. It's ridiculous and too gimicky. Just line them up and qualify. If 33 qualify on Saturday, so what? Just bump them out on Sunday. I miss the strategy of trying to decide whether to wave off a lap or accept the run. That was pretty nerve-racking for the teams back then. Let's go back to that.

Now, where's my pom poms?

This guys opinion carries no weight. He is the same guy who was on here a month or so ago claiming Simona De Silvestro is the second coming AJ Foyt.

I see where 24 cars are within a second and half of each other in practice which doesn't mean much. I know that Danica is in the top 10 in points after two races and Simona hasn't even finished on the lead lap yet.