With Dario Franchitti's retirement, the talk of the off-season has quickly shifted to "Who will replace him" in the coveted Ganassi/Target #10. If talk stays with 'available' drivers, there's a pretty good list going: Justin Wilson, Josef Newgarden, Oriol Servia, Ryan Briscoe, Alex Tagliani, and Simona de Silvestro. Any one of those would be a great story, but talk has expanded to Formula 1 pilots Paul di Resta and Sergio Perez. With Chip's track record of surprising us with unknown talent, the answer could lie still elsewhere.
Which is kind of disappointing. It's a little disappointing, in fact, every time a talented, worthy driver gets called up to Indycar from the feeder system. Not for him/her, but because some other talented, proven driver continues to go rideless. Recall that guys like Paul Tracy, AJ Allmendinger, Townsend Bell, Bruno Junquiera, and Buddy Rice have sat on the sidelines for most of the past few years (note the Champ Car Champion and Indy 500 winner in that list).
I rush to point out that it's not that I don't think Josef Newgarden, JR Hildebrand, Tristan Vautier, or Carlos Munoz have earned or deserve their drives. I'm just disappointed that someone I've been a fan of for a long time doesn't get the chance to be more successful.
So, Chip, please, pick one of those guys from the first list for the #10.
Though, I suppose if he doesn't, he's just as likely to bring us the next Alex Zanardi or Juan Pablo Montoya. Which would be all right, too.
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