APRIL 5, 2007

Indy 500 struggles for entries

Entries for the Indianapolis 500 close when the US Postal Service delivers the last applications mailed with an April 4 postmark (possibly some time next year) and at the moment there are 27 entries - although seven of them have no drivers yet assigned. There seems to be little chance of reaching the traditional level of 33 starters.

The 27 entries include five from Andretti Green Racing, four from Tony George's Vision Racing, three from AJ Foyt Enterprises and a third entry for Penske, although there has been no word at all about who might drive the car - if it runs at all.

The six other entries without nominated drivers are from Vision (1), Foyt (2), Beck Motorsports (2) and Indy Pro Series team Sam Schmidt Motorsports.

It is interesting to note that there are no entries at all from Cheever and Fernandez Racing both of which might have been expected to file entries this year, even if they cannot raise the funding for full Indy Racing League programmes.