Paul Tracy is the Indycar champ at age 24 and Nelson Piquet's second career as a racer begins with him being the Indycar rookie of the year. Not bad, not bad at all.
If I was Mario Andretti, I'd be keen on racing in 1994 after coming so lose to the 1993 title, particularly after he was so strong during the season in terms of both results and consistency. Michael is gonna go into Formula One on a high, having won three times and landed on the podium five other times in a single season.
If I'm reading this right, in 1994 Rahal and Fittipaldi will be teammates, while Bryan herta will join Paul Tracy and Al Unser Jr and Team Penske, while Bettenhausen is sorta becoming the Penske B-Team for Stefan Johansson, Scott Sharp and Tony Bettenhausen Jr. Robby Gordon is going to go race for Derrick Walker, presumably next to Willy T. Ribbs. Vision will have Scott Pruett and Eric Bernard full time and Robbie Stanley on the oval races and some road courses. Nelson Piquet and Mauricio Gugelmin will be driving for Ganassi (good pair, that one). Mansell will be somewhere in Indycar in 1994, and PacWest and King are merging. (I don't get this one - PacWest has cash to burn and doesn't need what King has, and here Kenny Bernstein is probably still enthusiastic about Indycar, particularly if he's now an owner of the series as well as his team.)
Tracy got his wake-up call to drive maturely, and sacrificed a few OTL wins for a PPG cup. At 25 years old, he's still young enough to put in a couple more years and do F1 for awhile.
Piquet was a turbo-era master, and while his injuries have diminished his skill, he can still perform. Expect him to last another few years in IndyCar to help bankroll his personal life and business interests.
Mario Andretti did come close, but he's retiring on a high. Winning Indy and the series evolving have made him content with hanging up his helmet full-time. He may run at Indy, he may not.
I'll be posting my '94 rosters after I knock out the last F1 update, and do some research on who I want where in F1. SimTek and Pacific are still going to happen, though I'm not sure who I want where.
Regarding KingPacWest, the merger is out of foresight. More money will be on the table, but costs for results will increase. Teams with stakes in tracks earn more of the winnings, so mergers and combined-team expansions are going to happen in the next couple of years. KingPacWest will be looking at getting their feet in as many doors as possible, taking the Andretti route with Pocono and upgrading an existing facility in exchange for some of the take.
I plan on writing brief interludes with Senna, Schumacher, Hill, Hakkinen, Berger, Alboreto, Wendlinger, the Andrettis, Honda, Rahal, Unser, Tracy, Mansell, the Georges, Stokkan, and Ueberroth.
Anyone with driver preference insights please post your thoughts on IndyCar driver numbers. The "number draft" will be decided by IndyCar championships, wins, then starts, with wealthier drivers lacking at the statistical end can buy out those with a high seed that do not care.
So, a driver like Mansell would have to work with someone near the front to purchase rights to the number five, should he choose. I don't know whether or not to include Michael Andretti in this draft, and am leaning not to. Curently, I'm thinking Rahal would take 8, (he is highest on the list if I recall,) then Unser takes 3, Fittipaldi takes 2 or 20, and have no clue on Sullivan, who will be the only other active champion. Expect Tracy to take 12 as his permanent number. I just don't want to assign random numbers if someone has info that a driver really identified with a certain number.