I almost danced for joy when I read the report on the Autosport website earlier today that Dario Franchitti is to return to IndyCar racing with Chip Ganassi’s team.

I never really understood his move to NASCAR and while I wished him the best, I am overjoyed to see that he is returning to open wheel racing.

So how about Juan Pablo Montoya coming back to run in a third Ganassi car? Or A.J. Allmendinger and Scott Speed in a Red Bull sponsored IRL team alongside a returning Sebastian Bourdais?.  - Ah…  I can only dream.

Last Thursday when I first heard of the passing of Phil Hill, the first American to win the F1 World Championship, I posted a quick note of appreciation on my personal blog, in which I said I’d write a fuller tribute later.

I’ve sat down to write that entry here on The Speed Blog at least three times over the weekend since, and never managed to get it to say what I wanted.  As usual in cases like this I went of and did some research, checking out Phil Hill’s official website, his wikipedia entry,  obituaries, a variety of F1 history sites, and pulled various reference books off my book case.  They all told the same basic story of dry facts about the man’s career, but little about the man himself.

Part way through the weekend I realized that my “memories” of Phil Hill were all retrocative, based on what I’d read or heard. I was only 3 years-old when we bacame World Champion, and I really didn’t become fully aware of Grand Prix racing till I was around 6 or 7. I recall that I did have a toy model of his famous shark-nose Ferrari and often raced it against my model Vanwalls. Lotus’s and others in my living room GPs. But that was about it.

Phil Hill is one of those icons that while being around during a large portion of my own life, is in some ways a figure from history. I never got to see him race, either in person, or on TV. His is a name I became familiar with through the printed word and photographs of an era I never knew.

Others can honor his memory and achievements better than I.

All I can add is rest in peace Mr. Hill - your place in auto-racing history will never be forgotten and every time I see a picture of you at speed in that beautiful Ferrari, it will always bring back some of my most cherished childhood memories.

In the last month seven more drivers qualified to be included in the overall SPEED BLOG RANKINGS which rate drivers from NASCAR, Formula One, IndyCar, NHRA Drag Racing and World Rally against each other’s relative performances.

World Rally ace Mikko Hirvonen stays on the top again this month, while for the first time this year a NASCAR driver, Kyle Busch, breaks into the Top 10.

The Top 10 at the end of July are:

1. Mikko Hirvonen (Rally)
2. Sebastian Loeb (Rally)
3. Scott Dixon (IndyCar)
4. Helio Castroneves (IndyCar)
5. Tony Schumacher (NHRA)
6. Lewis Hamilton (F1)
7. Feliepe Massa (F1)
8. Kimi Raikkonnen (F1)
9. Robert Kubica (F1)
10. Kyle Busch (NASCAR)

There’s been a lot said and written since last week’s announcment of Tony Stewart’s departure from Joe Gibbs Racing at the end of the season to take on part ownership of the Haas Racing team. The main question seems to be why would he go from a team that has given him two NASCAR championships, to one that has only a single top 10 finish in the last five years?

Several answers have been discussed:

(1) He wanted to get back to being a Chevy driver - A good point. He always seemed like a reluctant spokesperson for Toyota after JGR made the switch this year. In post-race interviews he rarely mentioned the make of his car, and the TV commercials he did often featured a Chevy. - His dirt-track teams still raced Chevys. Chevy bought him his IndyCar and NASCAR titles.- He’s a Chevy guy.

(2) Stewart-Haas will be a Hendrick’s satellite team which means he’ll be a quasi team-mate with his good buddy, and frequent drafting partner, Dale Earnhardt Jr. - Also true.

(3) It was a good business move. - Also true if we are to believe that Stewart was basically given 50% ownership of Haas without having to spend a single $ of his own money.

(4) He’s getting older and wants to seque into NASCAR team ownership. - Again I think this is one of the factors,  and maybe the main consideration. But I believe that its only a partial answer. There’s something else to consider..

The Indy 500.

Indiana native Stewart has never made a secret of the fact that his biggest ambition was to race in, and win, the Indy 500. Depite all his other achievements it’s something he’s never managed to pull off.

So why not try and win it as an owner? If I things pan out the way I think they will, I’d guess that the 2012 Indy 500 will feature an Stewart-Haas entry (maybe with a Chevy engine). In fact I think he’ll go even further.

Stewart is above all things a racer. He will race anything, anywhere. He is also passionate and knowledgable about the sport on many different levels. I don’t beieve that Tony Stewart wants to stay in NASCAR and emulate Richard Petty and Dale Eranhardt (or even Jeff Gordon) as a multiple champion.

I believe he wants to be a Chip Gannasi, or a Roger Penske. A winning owner in NASCAR, IndyCar, maybe Sports Cars as well, plus Sprint cars; along with being a track owner and promoter.

Another point to consider is that Haas may not be one of the most sucessful teams at the moment, but it is one of the mpst technolgically advanced. It’s facilities (like its full scale wind tunnel) are used by many teams from other series (including F1 teams). What better way to make connections and build releationships among leading teams and engineering talent around which to build a first class race organization?

I think this “shock” move is the first step in a well calculated and thought out strategy to become the first driver to win IndyCar and NASCAR championships as both a driver - and owner.

At the half-way point of the season 135 different drivers from Formula One, Indycar, NASCAR, NHRA drag racing, and the World Rally Championship have qualified to be included in The Speed Blog driver rankings.

World Rally driver Mikko Hirvonen maintains the top spot for another month, but the gap to second placed Indycar racer Scott Dixon is closing fast.

Here’s the Top 10 standings at the end of June.

1. Mikko Hirvonen (WRC)
2. Scott Dixon (IRL)
3. Sebastian Loeb (WRC)
4. Helio Castroneves (IRL)
5. Robert Kubica (F1)
6. Fellipe Massa (F1)
7. Dan Wheldon (IRL)
8. Kimi Raikkonen (F1)
9. Tony Schumacher (NHRA)
10. Chris Atkinson (WRC)

Kyle Busch is the top ranked NASCAR driver at #13 on the list.