With the first three rounds of the Grand American road racing series behind us, it may be time to look at who is the big dogs right now - and who needs help.

On top of the pack right now sits four teams - Ganassi, Suntrust, Howard-Boss and Doran Lista. These teams are proving their ability. The first three rounds - two of which were rather full of contact - have hurt Ganassi. Homestead showed their dominance, and the brilliance of the Riley chassis - but a driving mistake by Luis Diaz put one car out of contention, and Max Papis and Jan Magnussen's banging match was the end of both Doran Lista's car and that of the lead Ganassi team. The Rolex 24 was a storming debut, blasting the 2003 DP pole by almost five seconds - but reliability bit them hard. Suntrust didn't fare well here either. Howard-Boss, however, proved reliability, even in the face of Tony Stewart, who is a rather aggressive driver. Losing the win in the final half-hour was heartbreak, but hours upon hours of leading showed the brand-new Crawford chassis is competitive. Doran Lista blew its good qualifying on a naming technicality, but things got back to normal, and their performance at a very wet Rolex was very admirable. Their performance at Homestead was impressive - staying in the fight even when hot shoe Scott Pruett ran away from other opposition. While their racing was commendable, Jan Magnussen's conduct, as above stated, was not as intelligent.

Suntrust must be on cloud nine, as lots of people thought they would be a while to win #1. Phoenix was even bumpier a race than Homestead, but it didn't get insane like Homestead. Suntrust has been consistent, much like Howard-Boss. The driving of Wayne Taylor and Max Angelelli is a big plus.

Of the rest, Brumos is fairing well, despite the power disadvantage of being the only six-cylinder cars in the field and the relative age of the Fabcar chassis. It doesn't seem to be slowing them. They are consistent, and the team has been doing well. Last years champions, Bell Motorsports, went from ultimate high to rock bottom very quickly - from a surprise win at the Rolex to a first lap spin by Forest Barber and a dismal race overall at Homestead. Consistency will pay for these guys, but one wonders if gentleman driver Barber is a good match for proven pro Terry Borcheller. I think they work well, but some others have disagreed with me.

G&W Motorsports took delivery of their new Doran-BMW just in time for Homestead and they did well, benefiting from the problems ahead much like Howard-Boss. The cars hard-earned podium at Homestead proved the car has potential. The team's old BMW-powered Picchio is still out there, but lack of development is really limiting its potential. PAP Parts is also in a bit of a quandary - BMW power is more than sufficient, but the Fabcar chassis is somewhat un-competitive right now. Shane Lewis rather stupid and very insulting comments about Oswaldo Negri Jr. and his driving were also inappropriate, especially for Shane who is usually known as a good guy. If Fabcar develops its chassis, than both Brumos and PAP Parts will pick up the pace.

The teams running the Canadian Multimatic chassis are rather frustrated, as the car has been a bit troublesome, not to mention off the pace. Speedsource, Essex Motorsports and Mears Motor Coach are off the pace, no question, but once again it is the simple matter of development. But Phoenix showed the Multimatics aren't ready to be written off yet.

Spirit of Daytona has done well with their Crawford-Pontiac combination, and their drivers are good. These guys haven't won yet, but I'd wager they will win at least one by then end of the season. Max Crawford is serious about his vision of the champion DP and the car came out of the box in very good shape.

Chase finally got its program off the ground at Homestead, with Jon Leavy and Johnny Miller debuting the Chase DP. It finished, which is admirable for its first time running in race conditions. Leavy is still committed to the car, despite Silverstone Racing Services and Odyssey looking elsewhere. The car may very well get going well. And in good paint it rivals the Crawford cars for the title of the best looking car, but that's just my humble opinion. :)

GT is rather closer. The class grew in prestige with the arrival of Prototype Technology Group from the American Le Mans Series and brand new BMW M3s. They didn't fare well at the Rolex, but then few teams had it easy there. Homestead and Phoenix both showed that the Bavarian by way of Virginia machines are the class of the GT field. But Phoenix showed another fact - Porsche is far from gone here, and Maserati is only going to get faster. Gunnar Racing took the fight to PTG at Phoenix, and Scuderia Ferrari of Washington is hard at work developing and advancing the speed of the Maserati Trofeo Lights.

Outside of those, I was one of the ones who expected Auto Assets to fight the Beemers, but it hasn't happened yet. Might still though - one never knows, do they.

Honda of America Racing Team (HART for short) brought their newly developed NSX to Phoenix and made sure the establishment knew that the screaming mid-engine Japanese supercar is coming for the jugulars of the German cars. The NSX adds a lot of spice to the GT field, and is a more than welcome addition to the series.

SGS is Porsche dominated, which is little surprise. But Corvette has made inroads, as Baughman Racing has kept the American cars there, and Powell Motorsport will fight alongside them at Mont Tremblant. The main fight is between the Nonnamaker cars, TPC Racing and AASCO. AASCO was whacked for little violations at both Daytona and Homestead. At Homestead starting dead last didn't phase them - David Murry's skill was part of the reason they won the SGS class there.

With regards to new cars, rumors are all over the place. Fords Mustang GT-R concept car must have had some meaning, even thought its not quite legal for Grand-Am. The Prep 2 GT rules - essentially many different cars built on either front of back-halved cars or full tube frames - looks like it's first runners will appear in 2004. Sabre Engineering has announced a project based on Toyota's Camry Solara coupe, and there is a rumor that there is a Prep 2 version of Mazda's RX-8 in the works as well.

According to Riley Technologies, they've just sold two new chassis. Doran has also announced sales. Who these cars will be owned by is still a mystery, and as anyone can imagine the rumors are all over the map. But many clues have pointed to an IRL team, but few people are sure. Other rumors have put ALMS runners Intersport and stock car supremos Hendrick Motorsports as the buyers. Only one thing is for sure, well find out sometime soon.

Ken May, the editor of racingfanatics.com, also dropped a rumor that an Italian team is looking at the Rolex series. I have begun to think this may be a factory effort by Picchio, as they're the only European maker to have a Grand-American legal chassis design. And their show car being Maserati-powered raises more hints.

But chinks have appeared in the rules. At the front of this is Grand-American's sealing of who can build DPs to run. This has smacked Sabre (whose project was showing promise) and Terry Rohr, who has invested mass amounts of time and money on his DP project. Personally, locking out come cars even though they meet every letter of the rules makes little sense to me. From the rumors, it doesn't make much sense to Terry Rohr either. And the use of Porsches flat-6 GT3-R engine as the horsepower baseline is drawing flak too, as everyone other than Brumos runs V8s from Toyota, BMW and Pontiac. Many people have said using the Pontiac engine as the baseline would make sense. (And I agree.)

What is even more odd is the disjointed rumors about ACT-UK and their DP project. I don't know much about it at this point, but what I've heard sounded very interesting. I hope Grand American lets these guys, along with Rohr and Sabre, into the ranks of DP constructors.

There may be a few bumps, but overall Grand American is thriving. I'm enjoying what seems to be its best-ever season, and I hope anyone who reads this is also enjoying the great racing this series has to offer.

Got comments on this article? Agree or don't agree with Brent? Discuss it on the message board!