[Onlydirt]

Good for Rico! bad for us...lol

[racephoto1]

I knew this was coming in September, along with Bell heading south too.Bell already won there. It's a shame that Indy doesn't give them a shot. Oh, I know some fool, to be polite, will say that these guys don't have rear engine experience. Kurt Busch didn't, and he finished fifth at Indy. It has NOTHING to do with rear engine experience at Indy, it has everything to do with CASH! NASCRAP will at least give the guys with talent a shot.

[Danny Burton]

Originally Posted by jjones752 Even before that it was really Ken Schrader that started the trend.

Hey Jim. Before Schrader there was Foyt, the Unsers, McCluskey, Hurtubise, others. Before them was Paul Goldsmith. Before him was the likes of Walt Faulkner. Before...oh never mind.

The point is, or may be, that once upon a time, open wheelers drove cars with fenders and their fendered cousins drove open wheel cars. (Google NASCAR's open wheel division--which didn't last long).

A few such as Rufus, drove both.

[jjones752]

All true Danny, but I was thinking of the "Modern Era"; back then if you were a shoe, you ran Midgets, Sprint Cars, Champ Cars, Stock Cars and if you were a REAL shoe you ran TransAm and Can-Am or Le Mans. If you were Parnelli you threw in Baja. In this age of specialization people make a big deal when Kurt Busch runs Indy but those guys went back & forth all the time, not to mention the Allisons, Cale Yarbrough & LeRoy Yarborough. I don't think anybody wrote articles about "losing" Gary B. to NASCAR when he drove Matadors for Roger...

[chop]

Other then the 500, do you care about Indy car racing? The road races are a bore. Single file racing around some temp race track. With no one watching, in person or on tv. Plus most have to pay to race. I think they are making the right pick to go to nascar.

[team3521]

Originally Posted by jjones752 All true Danny, but I was thinking of the "Modern Era"; back then if you were a shoe, you ran Midgets, Sprint Cars, Champ Cars, Stock Cars and if you were a REAL shoe you ran TransAm and Can-Am or Le Mans. If you were Parnelli you threw in Baja. In this age of specialization people make a big deal when Kurt Busch runs Indy but those guys went back & forth all the time, not to mention the Allisons, Cale Yarbrough & LeRoy Yarborough. I don't think anybody wrote articles about "losing" Gary B. to NASCAR when he drove Matadors for Roger...

This is SPOT on!
But the difference between then and now is greed! Way more of it!
I would drive for free if I had my expenses paid. Most owners now don't pay to drive but collect to drive.
And if the truth was told, I'm sure Kurt brought a pretty nice chunk of change with him for Indy last year. Maybe from a sponsor, but there was money involved no doubt!

[team3521]

Originally Posted by chop Other then the 500, do you care about Indy car racing? The road races are a bore. Single file racing around some temp race track. With no one watching, in person or on tv. Plus most have to pay to race. I think they are making the right pick to go to nascar.

The Indy 500 is the only race that matters!

[duel]

I have given up on American open wheel drivers going to run Indy Cars. Thankful I have witnessed usac races from the early 70's on. It is what it is. In my opinion Tony George gave it one hell of shot to get sprint and midget guys a shot at the speedway. He got ran out and it looks an awful lot like cart these days again. I hope Rico does well what ever he races.

[DAD]

I had a Dream

USAC takes the Silver cars out and gets them plated Gold again and finds a Two and a Half Mile track not doing too much at the moment and host their own 500 mile race for front engine cars.

I would be one of the first in line to buy a ticket. NASCAR and Taxi Cabs need some good old fashioned American Competition from the Open Wheel Gang again. We shot ourselves in the foot with the Divorce and all of that foreign crapp and NASCAR took advantage of it. Maybe if we could get the cost of a big car down to $1000,000.00 or so we could fund a few teams to race on BIG TRACKS. Some of these racers would also then have another option

Can anyone that has ever seen the Roadsters race at Indy say that they enjoy the new cars as much. As close as we get today would be the Silver Crown cars at Du Quoin or Springfield.

Honest Dad himself

[mc/rider]

Since 1965 there have been tremendous strides in safety and mechanical innovations.It would be interesting to see a roadster class developed to todays standards