[ISF]

An American kid, Josef Newgarden, wins the Indy Car Championship. Congrats to him! It's not really surprising given who he drives for and the tech and resource advantage Penske enjoys year after year. All that aside it's great to see an American from Hendersonville, Tennessee win the championship.

Thanks to Sarah Fisher for being the first to put Newgarden in an Indy Car! You still ROCK Sarah.

The final race deciding the championship wasn't all that exciting and it was disappointing to hear Will Power openly declare that his teams' race strategy was to make it as tough on Dixon as possible. But, it is what it is in today's world of Indy Car racing.

While watching this race at Sonoma unfold I couldn't help but yearn to see Newgarden strap his ass into a full house Silver Crown car and drive it into turn #1 sideways at 150+ MPH like we saw the boys do a couple of weeks ago at Du Quoin. It'll never happen, but we can dream, can't we?

And lets not forget that Newgarden was Bryan Clauson's teammate at the 2012 Indianapolis 500!

[Brickyard]

Disappointing that they would make it tough on Dixon? You do realize that there were three of those Penske guys with a legit shot, you better damned believe they should have been making it tough on him.

But, are you sure JNew will be accepted? I mean, he was one of those limp wristed twisty drivers in Europe before going a year in Lights and he does spell his name all German like....Josef, kind of hard for me to pronounce.......or at least that's what I've been told here. LOL

[Tony74]

I thought that was a pretty good race, Simon going on a 4 stop strategy and driving hard passing cars using the whole track and some dirt. Good to see Newgarden pick up the Championship

[ISF]

I'm not sure the spirit of competition extends to a teammate of the champion having one mission in the race, and it's not winning. Spirit of competition is probably not Mr. Penske's prime objective. What surprised me is that Power freely and openly admitted he was directed to make his only objective in the race be to run interference for Newgarden. So it goes in big time open wheel racing in 2017. I don't remember ol' Dan dealing with that stuff way back when. LOL!

Personally, I don't care the least where these guys come from or how they spell their names if they've got the stones and the moxie to strap into a dirt car of any kind and drive it like they mean it. I suspect there are legions of race fan's out there that feel the same way.

[btg1963]

In the post race, Robin Miller made the comment that one of the best things for the series would be to refer to the champ as "Joe Newgarden from Tennessee". He isn't wrong! Lol

[ISF]

As the story goes and was told yesterday after the race was over Joey from Tennessee could't cut the mustard over in Europe where the real racing takes place. LOL! Usually those guys that can't keep it going over in Europe (or those that have had some Indy Car success here and want to cash in on NASCAR's money train) come back to the States and give NASCAR a try only to wash out of that deal, too.

If only the powers that be at the time had heeded ol' Dan's call for unity and prosperity. All this horrible bigoted nationalism in open wheel racing would be nothing more than a distant afterthought. LOL!

[ronmil]

It was a pretty good race. The last few Indy 500s have been fantastic, Pocono was as well and the attendance is really on the uptick. Will be interesting to see how the competition between Chevy and Honda plays out in 2018 with both makes having the same body kits.
My biggest disappointment yesterday was when I played back the Formula One race in Singapore and saw Sebastian Vettel take himself and the other Ferrari out of the race before they even got past the end of the pit lane.

[Brickyard]

Originally Posted by ISF I'm not sure the spirit of competition extends to a teammate of the champion having one mission in the race, and it's not winning. Spirit of competition is probably not Mr. Penske's prime objective. What surprised me is that Power freely and openly admitted he was directed to make his only objective in the race be to run interference for Newgarden. So it goes in big time open wheel racing in 2017. I don't remember ol' Dan dealing with that stuff way back when. LOL! Personally, I don't care the least where these guys come from or how they spell their names if they've got the stones and the moxie to strap into a dirt car of any kind and drive it like they mean it. I suspect there are legions of race fan's out there that feel the same way.

I'll kick your spirit of competition any day of the week because I want to win, I'm going to do it within the guidelines, and I could care less about your noble idea of spirit. The fact of the matter is two Penske drivers were within 35 points of the other Penske driver with Dixon the creamy filling of that cookie. Even though Power was still within the points spread it was going to take a monumental screw up on the part of those other four for him to have a chance. Penske told them it was their championship to go for and Pags did all he could by winning the race as Newgarden listened to advice and backed off. You can cry all you want but Dixon isn't a guy that you give an inch to....you don't ever let him in the mix. You better believe that the strategy was set up to keep him at bay and let the cards fall among the stacked deck. If Power pushes the issue, causes an accident, or causes a situation to allow Dixon ahead of Newgarden then Penske has lost it all.

It takes moxie and stones to step into any race car on any race course. 90% of the rest of the world is pushing toward open wheel and sports cars. They could honestly give three ***** less about slinging dirt at Eldora. The only reason any of those folks have entertained NASCAR when in the states is because of the paycheck, plain and simple.

[Brickyard]

Originally Posted by ISF As the story goes and was told yesterday after the race was over Joey from Tennessee could't cut the mustard over in Europe where the real racing takes place. LOL! Usually those guys that can't keep it going over in Europe (or those that have had some Indy Car success here and want to cash in on NASCAR's money train) come back to the States and give NASCAR a try only to wash out of that deal, too. If only the powers that be at the time had heeded ol' Dan's call for unity and prosperity. All this horrible bigoted nationalism in open wheel racing would be nothing more than a distant afterthought. LOL!

Who pray tell, other than Juan Pablo Montoya, has left directly from Europe for full time NASCAR? I want to hear this one.

The fact is if you want to develop into an open wheel driver the best place to go is Europe, although the MRTI series is getting much better under Dan Anderson's leadership. What it does is set up up for a path into F1, ala Rossi, sports cars, and IndyCar. You also have to take the ladder results with a bit of a grain of salt being that drivers develop at different rates and the equipment is not equal. Josef finished 18th in GP3 in 2010. The top four that season included Estaban Guitterez(who might be in a full time ride next year), current DTM driver and on the short list of wanted by IndyCar teams Robert Wickens, and oh a certain one Mr. Alexander Rossi.

That same 18th place Josef then proceeded to wax the 2011 edition of Indy Lights and then proceeded to take lower funded rides to places they should have never been over the course of five seasons. When you're placing Sarah Fisher's equipment in the top 7 in points and Ed Carpenter's car in 4th in the standings post reunification that's a statement on the talent you possess.

You can laugh all you want, but Dan was right, and the same issues as these guys have in going the Cup it will be the other way around if a Cup driver or dirt slinger comes this direction...hence why teams aren't going after them. It's much easier to turn a road racer into an oval racer in this form of racing than vice versa and I don't care how many Daytona 500's and 4 Crown Nationals you've won you're going to have your ass handed to you when going up against former and current F1, LMP1, LMP2, GTLM, etc. drivers in this series. These are high level drivers they are getting post reunification. There are only so many factory rides in sports cars and 20 seats in F1, these drivers have to go somewhere for a living and a chance to win.

[ISF]

I really and truly don't give a fat rats ass what 90% of the world cares about in regards to motor sports. It doesn't matter to me in the least. I like what I like and there ain't any of it going on over in Portugal. I'm also bettin' that no one connected with Eldora give a fat rats ass what the rest of the world is paying attention to. They are just about to finish up a season where they had record crowds for both of their 2 biggest events! LOL!

You won't ever kick me, or my spirit of competition 'cause I ain't in the business, and have no plans along those lines, so save all your pseudo ambitious sanctimony for someone that cares. LOL!!

As far as moxie and stones are concerned, I wish more of those left and right boys that actually have them raced at places in cars that I much prefer to watch and enjoy, but they won't. I can't prove it either way but I'd be willing bet a Euro or two the vast majority of the European trained drivers prolly don't have what it takes to sling it sideways into #3 at a buck fifty without lifting on the Springfield Mile.