Ganassi trying to steal Hunter-Reay from Champ Car

First Chip Ganassi moved his entire team to the IRL and left Champ Car worse off for it. Then he stole Darren Manning from Champ Car for 2004. Next Toyota runner Chip Ganassi tried to buy Ford's Cosworth, some say as a front man for Tony George, and lost, reportedly to Champ Car's Kevin Kalkhoven and Gerald Forsythe. Now, according to this SPEED TV article, Chip Ganassi is after Ryan Hunter-Reay to be his third driver in the IRL but the 23-year-old rookie isn’t sure where he’ll be in 2005. "I'm a road racer at heart and I’d like to stay with this team but I don’t know what’s going to happen at this moment," said Hunter-Reay, who scored his 2nd Champ Car win at Milwaukee this year. "I’ve been offered a good ride in the IRL but with Chevy gone, two Japanese manufacturers and Toyota heading for NASCAR I don’t know what’s going on there. I know whatever I do I want to make the next step and contend for wins every race and not fifth or sixth place." Hunter-Reay recently signed with CSS and would like to try F-1 some day. [Editor's Note: We expect hell to freeze over before Ryan Hunter-Reay races in the IRL. The talent pull isn't deep enough in the useless IPS series so Chip has to go to the vastly superior Champ Car series to get drivers.]