Mid-Season Changes
Following Paul Dana's death in a crash before the first race, Rahal-Letterman hired Jeff Simmons to drive the #17 car two races later at Motegi. Following an Indy 500 where both Hemelgarn cars crashed into each other and finished in the last two positions, Hemelgarn Racing, which had been running full-time with P. J. Chesson, ceased operations. After the Kansas Speedway race, Cheever Racing ceased operations due to lack of sponsorship and Foyt Enterprises replaced Felipe Giaffone with Jeff Bucknum. Dreyer & Reinbold Racing also announced that Ryan Briscoe, who drove their car to a third place at Watkins Glen, would drive their car in the remaining short oval and road course races instead of Buddy Lazier and that Sarah Fisher would race the car at the remaining 1.5-mile (2.4 km) tracks, Kentucky and Chicagoland. Marty Roth returned to the series after crashing in Indy 500 practice and missing the race to drive his own Roth Racing machine in the final 3 oval races of the season (Michigan, Kentucky, and Chicagoland).
Read more about this topic: 2006 Indy Car Series Season