Rookie Status

[HopHead]

Any idea how they will determine rookie status this season? Will long time CC drivers that are new to IndyCar be rookies?

Regardless how they determine it for the season, this year's battle for rookie of the year at the Indy 500 should be awesome. Especially after last year's less than steller rookie class.

[Ren Butler]

Any idea how they will determine rookie status this season? Will long time CC drivers that are new to IndyCar be rookies?

If they haven't changed the rule in the IRL, the CART drivers will NOT be series rookies.

Of course, they can still qualify as rookies at the Indy 500 if they haven't previously qualified for the race.

[Indy500fanatic]

Any idea how they will determine rookie status this season? Will long time CC drivers that are new to IndyCar be rookies?

Regardless how they determine it for the season, this year's battle for rookie of the year at the Indy 500 should be awesome. Especially after last year's less than steller rookie class.

Yes if you havent run the Speedway, regardless of what you've accomplished in ow racing, your a rookie. The 'series' is something different.

Otherwise, a lot of drivers havent been to the Speedway in a number of years so a lot of 'refreshers' will be in order.

[Ydawg]

The "rookies" at Indy this year will likely include:

Hideki Mutoh, Graham Rahal, Justin Wilson, Oriol Servia,
Will Power, Franck Perera, Alex Lloyd, Jay Howard,
Pablo Donoso, and Al Unser III. That, in itself is a really solid
rookie class - plus I'm sure there will be a couple more
(Viso, Moraes, ? etc.).
We may have 1/3 of the field rookies!

[Ydawg]

So - out of that field of Indy "rookies", I'd have to say that
Justin Wilson is the favorite for rookie of the year based on
his open wheel experience level and the team he is with.

[lotuspoweredbyford]

The "rookies" at Indy this year will likely include:

Hideki Mutoh, Graham Rahal, Justin Wilson, Oriol Servia,
Will Power, Franck Perera, Alex Lloyd, Jay Howard,
Pablo Donoso, and Al Unser III. That, in itself is a really solid
rookie class - plus I'm sure there will be a couple more
(Viso, Moraes, ? etc.).
We may have 1/3 of the field rookies!

Could be a couple of very good rookies this year, better than last year's class.

It's too bad Giebler didn't stick though, he's got some skills.

[Mack Too]

Who knows, what I am wondering about though, is rookie status at IMS, in the past they had grandfathered/accepted CART drivers at Indy and only required a "refresher" run, but few CCWS drivers have even run on ovals, so ROP could not only be interesting, but busy as well. I suspect if time could be found after Motegi and Kansas, there will be a special test session at IMS.

[SoHoosier]

This is what I found, unless the rules have changed...which is possible:

5.8 What is the IRL's definition of a rookie?
For the purposes of rookie testing, a "rookie" is a driver who has never:
started an IRL race, or has little or no experience in three other racing series that the IRL recoginzes as being equivalent in skills necessary: Formula 1, CART, and NASCAR Winston Cup. All drivers designated as rookies under this rule are required to pass a testing program prior to being entered in an IRL event.

However, for the purposes of awarding the Rookie of the Year award, a different standard applies: All drivers are considered rookies (regardless of prior experience in other racing series) up to and including the first season in which they make two IRL starts. After that season, they are considered veterans and are no longer eligible for the Rookie of the Year award.

[lotuspoweredbyford]

So how was RHR Rookie of the Year then, when he was a CART winner??

[drdisque]

The "two starts" rule was quietly abandoned last year when it looked like we weren't going to get any rookies (also when it looked like PJ Chesson would have a full season deal in order to prevent Milka from winning it).

However, since they did recogize RHR as a rookie last year (also to prevent Milka from winning it), I expect every CC driver except PT (if he races), Servia, and Junquiera to be given "rookie" status. All three of those drivers have over 70 CART/CC starts so calling them a "rookie" is a bit of a stretch. It's a bit more reasonable to consider someone like Will Power or Justin Wilson who each have between 30 and 40 CC starts a rookie.

[Ydawg]

Who knows, what I am wondering about though, is rookie status at IMS, in the past they had grandfathered/accepted CART drivers at Indy and only required a "refresher" run, but few CCWS drivers have even run on ovals, so ROP could not only be interesting, but busy as well. I suspect if time could be found after Motegi and Kansas, there will be a special test session at IMS.

I bet you are right about "rookie orientation". All of the Champcar teams
should be running either "refresher" or rookie tests. Basically, they'd
get an extra day or two or testing in. *Finally*, Sunday and Monday
will be interesting.

[doitagain]

Does this make Opening Day at IMS more interesting?

[Mack Too]

Very, a good thing again.