[Wingman]

Any thoughts on the incident between Marco vs TK?

It seems to me that Michael is allways trying to protect his son.

When Dario and Marco had the incident a year or two ago. If you heard the interview. Michael was all over Dario.

It seems like the drivers had one groove sunday when marco went underneath. TK had one groove and that was the area everybody crashed.

My personal opinion. I think TK should move on and take Briscoes ride.
AGR just seems like a mess.

[dirtnonwingfan]

If Marco's name was Smith, he certainly wouldn't still be in that ride. It is a shame to see someone who obviously has a great deal of talent but no apparent respect for his fellow drivers. The real shame is that he caused Sarah to be taken out also. To cap it off, all he did was whine about the rear wing adjustment he got on his last pit stop when he was interviewed after the race. Does someone have to get seriously injured (or worse) before anything is done?

Frank Daigh

He races like his daddy and grandpa. No one else matters but ME.

[RichC]

First off,

Michael IS trying to protect his son. That's what fathers do. Just because his kid is a race car driver doesn't remove him from being a dad. I can't fault Michael one bit for what he said on TV right after TK's crash. While he didn't come out and blame his son, he wasn't exactly overflowing in exonerating Marco from blame.

The absolute wrong place/venue to give your kid a kick in the butt is through the media. Who really knows what goes on behind closed doors. For all we know Michael could be ripping him a new backside privately but backing him publicly. To me, that's the correct way to handle the situation.

[Dwight Clock]

Originally Posted by RichC First off, Michael IS trying to protect his son. That's what fathers do. Just because his kid is a race car driver doesn't remove him from being a dad. I can't fault Michael one bit for what he said on TV right after TK's crash. While he didn't come out and blame his son, he wasn't exactly overflowing in exonerating Marco from blame. The absolute wrong place/venue to give your kid a kick in the butt is through the media. Who really knows what goes on behind closed doors. For all we know Michael could be ripping him a new backside privately but backing him publicly. To me, that's the correct way to handle the situation.

Agreed. And as for TK, no matter how right he may be, dissing the bosses son publicly is not good for job security.

[ThrottleHead]

Hey Dwight, while I normally would agree, here however I do disagree. Maybe these discussions have went on in private and needed to be voiced in public. And as far as job security goes, without TK, AGR is flat screwed. End of story. Franchiti did it.... nothing wrong with TK doing it now IMO.

[Wingman]

When the penske ride was left open by hornish wasnt TK considered?

I would protect my kid as well. I just dont know if AGR is the best spot for TK.

[Dick Monahan]

I announced the NEMA midget races for 25 years. Every once in a while a kid came along who caused a lot of complaints. Invariably, those kids turned out to be good drivers. My impression is that a talented, aggressive , fast driver can learn to be smooth. But, if you don't have those talents up front, you're never giong to be a good one.

I always hate to criticize a driver, because I've never done it. But, I think a driver with TK's experience should have been able to cope with that situation. After all, he'd just been passed on the outside!

However, I'm still never going to be a fan of those cars. They are too touchy, and too hard to save once they get a little sideways. In general, I find that when the track & car allow flatfooting through the turns, the show is uninteresting.

[Boston41]

Originally Posted by Dwight Clock Agreed. And as for TK, no matter how right he may be, dissing the bosses son publicly is not good for job security.

Not that anybody is untouchable in this series, I would imagine there are some other quality teams that would love to have TK behind the wheel should he find himself out of work... perhaps openwheel will fall victim to another tinbound emigrant!

So although I agree not good for job security, I would say its not the worst thing for the sport! :-)

[dirtnonwingfan]

Sunday's Parade magazine had an interview with Helio Castroneves. I found one quote especially interesting and relevant to this thread.
"You can't use your car as a weapon to scare another guy into backing off. We all have our bad days, but you can't use yur bad day to make the other guy miserable. Male, female, American, European-a driver is a driver. I don't think of them as the enemy. Afterward we can go out and have a drink."

Frank Daigh