IndyCar News

Two-time Indy 500 winner, Al Unser Jr., put on a huge light display outside his Albuquerque home to help cheer up his sick daughter Cody over the festive holiday.

Ever wondered what an IRL driver wanted for Christmas? Eddie Cheever, Mark Dishmore, Sarah Fisher, Stephan Gregoire, Buddy Lazier, Greg Ray and Jeret Schroeder let us in on their Christmas lists.

A cold, wet, bumpy Florida airfield in December may not be the ideal place to test a brand new Champ Car but despite the conditions, which conspired to ruin most of day one and nearly all of day two, Christian Fittipaldi felt he had "learned a lot" about the new 2001 Lola-Toyota that he will camp

Friends paid tribute to former Indianapolis 500 and USAC open-wheel standout Stan Fox, who suffered fatal injuries in a traffic accident on Dec. 18 while visiting friends and attending races in New Zealand.

It seems Dick Simon will just never slow down, having retired as an Indy-car driver after the 1988 season, the IRL team owner decided to take up offshore powerboat racing - with potentially disastrous consequences.

Gil de Ferran's championship season was topped off with a first selection to the premier All-America Auto Racing Team.

Determined to start its CART career on the right foot, Sigma Autosport has laid the foundations of an all-new facility for its first season.

Two-time CART series champion Alex Zanardi will join Mo Nunn Racing next season as the team expands to a two-car operation for its second year of competition.

The 2001 Grand Prix of Miami, the debut of the Indy Racing Northern Light Series in South Florida, will be sponsored by luxury car manufacturer Infiniti.

Former Reynard and Lola designer Bruce Ashmore will line up with the Players' Forsythe CART team next season, having been head-hunted to strengthen its engineering capability.

Having dominated the Japanese domestic scene this season, Tora Takagi graduates to Champcars determined not to make the same mistakes he made when the big time last beckoned.

Three of the most talked about CART deals this winter all hinge on whether finance can be found for a second car.

It seems as though the extra financial strains put on by running 13 races instead of nine as was the case in 2000 have already taken their toll as front running Indy Racing Northern Light Series team AJ Foyt Enterprises announced that they would be scaling down their 2001 challenge to a singleton

Despite the championship-winning form of Ford's latest Champcar engine, another of its customers has opted for rivals Toyota next season.

Having proudly announced Cristiano da Matta in its second car last week, Newman-Haas Racing finds itself in hot water over the departure of the Brazilian's predecessor.

As has been widely expected for some time, both Cristiano da Matta and Toyota will be linking up with Newman-Haas Racing next season.

The new, 13-race, Indy Racing League calendar provides not just an enlarged challenge for drivers and teams, but also takes in all corners of the USA.

1. Gil De Ferran BRA Reynard-Honda Team Penske 30.255secs. 2. Michael Andretti USA Lola-Ford Newman-Haas 30.550secs. 3. Christian Fittipaldi BRA Lola-Ford Newman-Haas 30.553secs. 4. Helio Castroneves BRA Reynard-Honda Team Penske 30.561secs.

Team Zakspeed Forsythe Racing became the second new outfit to announce their entry into the CART Fed-Ex Championship this weekend when team boss Peter Zakowski confirmed an exciting new partnership with Gerald Forsythe.

Adrian Fernandez finally confirmed yesterday that he is to run his own team of Reynard-Honda's in the 2001 CART Fed-Ex Championship even though he is in contention to win this year's CART title with current employer Pat Patrick.

Marlboro Team Penske driver Gil De Ferran wrote his name in the record books on Saturday as he took his Reynard-Honda around the two-mile Fontana Superspeedway at an average speed of 241.428 mph for a best lap of 30.255 seconds and his fifth pole position of the 2000 season.

Mark Blundell has another mountain to climb on Sunday in the final round of this year's Fed-Ex Championship if he is to sign off his PacWest career with a victory after he could only manage 21st position on the grid.

'PPI Motorsports driver Oriol Servia has become the latest CART rookie to come under scrutiny from the series organisers after the Spaniard became embroiled in several debatable incidents during the last round of the Fed-Ex series at Surfers Paradise.

John Della Penna's Champcar outfit has suffered a crushing blow with the announcement that Toyota will not supply it with engines next season.