There are 26 full season IRL teams participating at Homestead-Miami this weekend.
Twenty-five will take the green tomorrow night as the Graham Rahal entry was withdrawn after a practice crash on Tuesday.

You can see the starting grid at www.indycar.com ; Scott Dixon won the pole.

These 26 regular season teams will go to Indy .... need 7 more for the 33 car starting field -

These 7 drivers are either already confirmed for an "Indy only" entry for '08 ... or , are close to a deal.

1- Sarah Fisher
2- Max Papis
3- Townsend Bell
4- Jon Herb
5- Al Unser Jr.:thumb
6- Davey Hamilton
7- Stephan Gregoire

There's the field of 33 perhaps , but no "bumping" yet ... Who could be missing ?

8- ________________
9- ________________
10-________________
11-________________
12-________________


Paul Gray :greenflag: www.paulgray28.com

didnt robby gordon already verbally commit to doing the 500 and the 600??

Jimmy Kite

I got a 1990 ranger, affectionately named the "thunderbolt grease slapper" I would be willing to enter it. It's not much to look at, but it's scary slow.:greenflag: In all seriousness, there is a month before practice starts, I think (hope) Tony will make sure there are enough teams/cars to not have bump day a joke.

Some teams have extra cars that are used as backups. Once their regular cars are in the show some of those would be available for a driver that can bring a one race sponsorship. Might add a car or two to the mix.

It's sad that between the two series, they still have to scrape the bottom of the barrel to get 33 participants. It just shows one how dire the situation was in ChampCar. Not to say that the IRL was in financial paradise.

In years past IRL only had 18 regulars and still found a way to bump one or two cars each year.

This year I am expecting around 40 cars



Is it even possible to do a double anymore with the change in starting time

OK, so the "traditional" field at Indy is 33 cars. But in this day of high prices and lousy economic times, in addition to fewer Indy entrants, does 33 have to be the "sacred" number?

Maybe Indy needs to cut the field to 28 or 24 - if you want to see bumping, that's one way to make it happen....Or they could change it from a spec series(Dallara/Honda) to a series where teams could choose to build or buy cars, as they saw fit.

Let's face it, for the most part, cars that qualify 24th to 33rd(in speed) are, for the most part, field fillers, not competitive racers. And I'm not demeaning their efforts to race at Indy - I'm just recognizing them for what they are.....And less cars should earn a few more bucks for the teams that do end up in the race....

But that's just my opinion - but some folks think that tradition is very important.

Of course, for the most part, you are correct. But, on occasion, one of those backmarkers puts on quite a show. Scott Goodyear coming from 33rd and last in '92 to give Al Unser Jr. the race of his life to the checkered flag is one of the most compelling finishes in the history of the 500.

For me, 33 is a must. That's my standard for continuing to order my seats. I don't particularly agree with shrinking the field in order create an artificial bump day, either. With economic times the way they are, especially in openwheel racing, sending anyone home is a sin. They depend on that Indy money to stay above water. I would rather not see bumping at all if it means one of the better financed teams pulling out a back up car and knocking one of the smaller/poorer teams out of the show. Until they can get this sport's ship righted, they need to be very careful how they treat their lower budget competitors.

Less than 33 at Indy would be the symbolic "nail in the coffin" for Indy car racing.