IndyCar News

Kelley Racing has announced two deals that will shape its future for the next four Indy Racing League seasons, tying up both a title sponsor and engine deal for the foreseeable future.

Coors Light will continue its affiliation with Indy Racing League championship team Hemelgarn Racing and driver Buddy Lazier, committing to the primary sponsorship role for the 2002 season.

Toyota Motor Sales USA has signed Kelley Racing as its first Indy Racing League team, as the Japanese marque prepares for its inaugural season of IRL competition in 2003.

Legendary CART chief steward Wally Dallenbach will be back on the job in 2002, while last year's chief steward Chris Kneifel moves to managing new projects for the organisation.

Whereas the current economic funk has put paid to the hopes of many aspiring team owners in both CART and NASCAR there has been no shortage of ambitious new teams aiming for a place on the substantially cheaper, but no less competitive Indy Racing League grid and with the arrival of the new 'Lead

Veteran Chilean Eliseo Salazar has earned himself a third season of Indy Racing League action with AJ Foyt Enterprises after securing finances from the National Bank of Chile and is set to join Donnie Beechler in a two car Foyt team for the 2002 IRL season.

If preparation time is the key to success then Sinden Racing Service and its newly appointed driver Ed Carpenter have already got a jump on their Infiniti Pro Series rivals after they became the first driver/team combination to firm up their plans for the inaugural Pro Series campaign in 2002.

With precious few seats remaining unclaimed for the 2002 CART FedEx Championship season the identity of Scott Dixon's teammate at PacWest is virtually the last piece of the silly-season jigsaw yet to be put in place. So will it be Oriol, Big Mo or No Show???

The driver/engineer combination that took the 1999 Indy Racing League crown will once again work together in 2002 with the news that Kelley Racing had hired engineer Thomas Knapp to work with the team's new signing Greg Ray in an all out bid to capture the 2002 Indy Racing League crown.

Team Motorola and driver Michael Andretti got their 2002 testing season underway Monday at Sebring International Raceway. Over the two-day test, Team Motorola completed 277 trouble free miles on the 1.65-mile road course with a fast time of 51.5 seconds.

Conquest Racing , the Indianapolis-based IRL team, and Mi-Jack Products, a manufacturer of specialised cranes based in suburban Chicago, have reached an agreement to form Mi-Jack/Conquest Racing to compete in the full Indy Racing League season in 2002.

Adri?n Fern?ndez will take his first laps behind the wheel of the team's new Honda/Lola package this week as Fern?ndez Racing resumes its pre-season testing program with a two-day outing at Sebring International Raceway in Sebring, Fla., beginning today, January 23rd.

Christian Fittipaldi completed the second day of testing Newman/Haas Racing's 2002 Toyota-powered Lola chassis on the 1.65-mile road course at Sebring International Raceway yesterday and was happy with the progress of the car since the initial test on Jan. 11.

Lincoln Electric, the world leader in welding technology and products, has been named the Official Welder of the Indy Racing League and a sponsor of the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race in a five-year agreement announced Jan. 21 by Speedway and Indy Racing officials.

David Pook, the 30-year-old son of Championship Auto Racing Teams President and CEO Christopher R.

David Pook, son of newly appointed CART President and CEO Chris Pook, is recovering in a Phoenix hospital and has had his condition upgraded from critical to fair.

CART FedEx Series team Sigma Autosport have been dealt a hefty blow ahead of their second year of competition with the news that the team's technical director and co-founder Dave Luff, has left the organisation he helped onto the Champ Car grid along with Dave Wieringa and Paul Cherry.

With 50 days remaining before the first practice session of the 2002 CART FedEx Championship Series at Fundidora Park in Monterrey, Mexico, virtually every team is now focused on testing their 2002 machinery.

The Simple Green CART Safety Team became the first recipients of the American Auto Racing Writers and Broadcasters Association (AARWBA) Photographic Committee's "Straight Shooter" Award at last weekend's 32nd Annual AARWBA Awards Banquet in Pomona, Calif.

Target Chip Ganassi Racing announced today that Bruno Junqueira will team with Kenny Brack for the 2002 CART FedEx Championship series.

David Pook, the 30-year-old son of CART president Chris Pook, has been injured in a private testing accident at Phoenix International Raceway.

Long-time Indy Racing League entrant and motorsports equipment supplier Sinden Racing Service has confirmed that it will field a car in the 2002 Indy Racing Infiniti Pro Series.

ABC Sports , the network of the Indy Racing League and home of the prestigious Indianapolis 500, announced Jan. 14 that veteran broadcaster Bob Jenkins has been promoted to host of its coverage of the Indianapolis 500 and the IRL.

Driver Dario Franchitti and the #27 Team KOOL Green crew opened their off-season testing program on January 10th-11th at Sebring International Raceway.