Dreyer & Reinbold Racing and Vision Racing may not have the resources to compete with the heavyweight teams in the IndyCar Series but, on the track, they more than held their own during 2007.
Led by a resurgent Buddy Rice, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing's #15 Dallara finished ninth in the championship - its highest finish in the point standings since team co-owner Robbie Buhl finished eighth in 2000.
"Buddy did a great job and put us in ninth place in the points for the season," team co-owner Dennis Reinbold said, "The off-season has started so we will begin to work on those things we can improve on."
Rice, one of 16 drivers to record a top five finish, had three such results in 2007, matching Buhl's 2001 performance. He also earned more than $1 million this season, one of twelve drivers to earn more than six figures in race winnings.
"We finished ninth in the points which is good compared to where I finished the last couple of years," Rice said. "We just hope to improve for next year."
Vision Racing, which expanded to a three-car effort, also had a solid season with driver Tomas Scheckter finishing tenth in points, matching his 2002 performance, while team-mate AJ Foyt IV recorded his first top-five finish. Ed Carpenter nearly joined the pair in the top five with a best finish of sixth. Combined, the three regular drivers plus Davey Hamilton recorded 21 top ten finishes in 52 starts.
Meanwhile, AJ Foyt Racing's Darren Manning recorded the best finish for the famed #14 car since 2002 with a 13th-place finish in the points. Manning also had more top five finishes - with two - than the team did from 2003-2006.
"I'm really looking forward to next year when we can capitalise on all the work Darren and our ABC Supply team has done this past season," Foyt wrote in his
USA Today column, "There were frustrating times, but there were a lot of good times too. We knew this would be a building year and it has been. Now I understand his English - well, most of it - and he understands my Texan, so I believe we can come out swinging in 2008."
