By Roger Diez
Nevada Appeal Motorsports Columnist
The gap between racing seasons that loomed so large in November has flown by. We're only two weeks away from the green flag on the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, the kickoff of the 2009 racing season. As usual, the ranks of the sports car racing regulars will be swelled by NASCAR and IndyCar stars.
At last week's "Roar before the 24" test session, a number of familiar names were aboard unfamiliar cars. As I mentioned earlier, Sprint Cup Champ Jimmie Johnson will be co-driving the Gainsco/Stallings Pontiac-powered Riley Daytona Prototype along with former Champ Car titlist Jimmy Vasser and last season's runners-up for the Grand Am championship, Jon Fogarty and Alex Gurney. A.J. Allmendinger, who was just announced as the driver of the No.19 Gillett-Evernham Cup car, will co-drive a Michael Shank Racing Ford-powered Riley prototype, and IndyCar driver Ryan Hunter-Reay is aboard a second Shank entry.
Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates also has two entries, both Riley chassis with Lexus power. Juan Pablo Montoya will join Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas in one car, and IndyCar champ Scott Dixon is paired with Dario Franchitti, who is moving from Cup back to IndyCar for the 2009 season.
Casey Mears will be teammates with Danica Patrick in the Childress-Howard Pontiac/Crawford, and Ryan Briscoe will co-drive Penske Racing's Porsche-powered Riley. The Orbit Racing BMW/Riley will see IndyCar alumnus Darren Manning onboard along with Kyle Petty in the first of several rumored Grand-Am races this coming season. In the GT category, Mad Max Papis, a sometime road course specialist for NASCAR and a former Champ Car and IndyCar driver, is at the wheel of a Mastercar-Coast 2 Costa Racing Ferrari. As the race draws closer, I'm sure that other familiar names will appear on entry lists.
- A few names that won't show up at Daytona are those of Joey Logano, Matt Crafton, and Ron Hornaday. That's because all three of those drivers will be at the other end of the country for the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown at Irwindale Speedway in Southern California. Logano won the race last year and went on to score his first win in the NASCAR Nationwide series. This year he has some big shoes to fill as he takes over the Gibbs Racing No. 20 car that was vacated by Tony Stewart. Logano will face the top stars of the NASCAR Camping World series and Whelen All-American series in a two-day festival of speed, televised live on SPEED TV Jan. 23-24 at 7 pm.
In addition to Hornaday and Crafton, Logano will have to contend with a number of other hungry drivers if he wants to win the event for a second year. One of those is Gibbs teammate Mark Davis, who made his debut in Craftsman Trucks and the Nationwide series in 2008, and plans to run three series this year.
Also on the entry list are 2008 Camping World West champ Eric Holmes, Camping World East hot shoe Eddie MacDonald, Whelen All-American national champions Peyton Sellers and Greg Pursely, Canadian Tire Series champ Scott Steckley, NASCAR Mexico series champion Antonio Perez, and 2008 Camping World East titlist Matt Kobyluck, who also won the 2006 Toyota All-Star Showdown.
The field will be rounded out with other developmental series champions and rookies of the year. A lot of hungry drivers, all looking to move up to the big time, will make for some hard, exciting racing.
- Speaking of moving up, Brendan Gaughan, a Nevada resident and longtime Craftsman Truck series regular, is joining Rusty Wallace Racing for 2009, driving the No. 62 car in the Nationwide Series. Gaughan is taking over the car formerly driven by David Stremme as No. 64, and will contest the Raybestos Rookie of the Year title.
The number change is in honor of Gaughan's family racing background, including eight Truck series victories for the Orleans Racing Team. Gaughan's RWR Nationwide effort will be partially sponsored by the Las Vegas-based South Point Hotel & Spa. The full sponsor lineup for 2009 will be announced at a later date.
Gaughan's move is a reunion of sorts, as he drove the Penske No. 77 Cup car in 2004 as teammate Wallace's number two.