Originally Posted by jonboat15:
I liked the IRL deal. Grass roots racers had a chance at The 500. That is what American TV viewers wanted and still want to see....Grass roots racers in the Big One, The 500. Not Penelope Pitstop with the checkbook.
Because Racin Gardner and Dr. Jack Teeth Miller were names fans could get behind.....the point is those types are going to exist regardless of who's running the show.
But back to grass roots, if anything the split made it tougher. You got what you wanted for a brief time, but it wasn't long term. With the weakening of the series financially there are less people willing to take a chance on a one off, no more older chassis and engines laying around to purchase. You hope you can get your hands on a Dallara, maybe Honda or Chevy have an open lease, and pony up at minimum a cool million for the one race.
Originally Posted by jonboat15:
I like The 500 , but that's the only Indy car race that I'll watch.
Now I'm waiting for that brickyard dude to come on here and tell me that I'm not a real American because I don't like progress.
Well, it is a bit tough for me to take people seriously when they'd rather burn everything down around them just to get what they want rather than work with what they have in hopes of building something stronger with the potential to maintain or get more of what they want if the cards fall in their direction.
That whole 500 or bust, screw the rest, mentality is exactly what Gurney, Penske, and Patrick, etc. set out to end. A stronger series means an even stronger 500. But, I guess some would rather have a series no one gives a rat's rear about as long as they get 33 American heroes, over half of which the rest of world has never heard of, layin' it all out on da line for da fans(never mind that they aren't layin' out on da line for the fans as much as they are layin' out on da line for their own bank account).