Indianapolis 500
 

35 entries and only 14 Americans and you can't even tell if some of them are American with the way they spell their names and prance around on the camera like a bunch of San Francisco fruit loops. None of them nancies have any dirt experience because they are skeered to saddle up the beast.

Tony George should have buried CART and Chump Car, Chimp Car, whatever it was at the end of it's death bed stay and kicked old I Get My Way Roger Pimpske to the curb. The next thing he should have done was taken the wings off, put the engine back in the front where it rightfully resides, taken all those tuity fruity limp wrist twisties off the schedule and added those dirt bullrings back to the schedule.

It's a crying shame that we can't see our heroes run the hallowed grounds no more. Penske, Cheap Ganassi, and some of those other so called owner want nothing but to go after those Frenchies, South Americans, and Australians with their funny walk and talk and their tendency to be skeered of anything resembling an oval.

Give them a field and season full of real hardcore American drivers like Swanson, Grant, Windom, T-Mez, The People's Champ, Ballou, etc and they'll have those stands packed like never before and the TV ratings will be through the roof.

One of those guys has driven at Winchester, Salem, Indy Mile, Duquion, Springfield... and sat on the pole twice at Indy...

Is this a serious post? I can't tell because I would struggle to define anyone willing to drive a car at 240 mph into a turn with 9 degrees of banking a "nancy."

I get it if you want to cheer for the Americans and dirt racers, but I for one enjoy the fact that the greatest spectacle in racing gathers many drivers and fans from around the globe. The racing has been fantastic over the past few years at the 500, and I don't find myself worrying about the driver's home country (that they don't choose when born, by the way) when they're slicing it up at 240 for the Borg Worner trophy.

Hoping for another great 500 this year!

Now, I guess I'm going to prance away from my keyboard and change my name to Nancy.

It must be May! The annual bashing of the 500 begins.

Re: Indianapolis 500
 

I'm guessing Ernest T here has a secret crush on Helio Castroneves.:5::5::5:

Jerry

Re: Indianapolis 500
 

Can hardly wait for ol' Brickyard to trot out those White Papers again and set the OP straight once and for all. :5::8:

Obviously 94, I think someone is trying make fun of those of us who would like to see more opportunities for the guy's we watch race every weekend. It was a fairly entertaining read however.

Only 34 drivers after Fittipaldi broke both his legs. Maybe someone else will come in.

Originally Posted by flagboy55:
Obviously 94, I think someone is trying make fun of those of us who would like to see more opportunities for the guy's we watch race every weekend. It was a fairly entertaining read however.

Yeah you're right. I believe I just let my irrational annoyance get in the way when I began reading and missed the sarcasm. I just always get bummed out reading the same material he's mocking around this time of year. I get rooting for our dirt drivers when they're entered. Each year BC was in it I was wearing his shirt for that year on race day. I just don't understand letting the lack of those drivers interfere with one's enjoyment of such a great event. The racing has been so competitive and entertaining over the past few years.

I, too, would like to see more dirt drivers get opportunities at Indy. However, i won't let their absence take from my enjoyment of watching my favorite event of the year. Nothing compares to the goosebumps of them screaming by on lap 1 for me.

Re: Indianapolis 500
 

I went to 3 sprint car races this weekend and the stands were far from full. In fact 2 of the shows the crowds were weak, and these guys are going to fill IMS? I saw Jack Hewitt and Steve Kinser run the 500. I bought a ticket for $20 and sat anywhere I wanted. I will be rooting for Chris Windom on Carb Day.

Re: Indianapolis 500
 

Originally Posted by ISF:
Can hardly wait for ol' Brickyard to trot out those White Papers again and set the OP straight once and for all. :5::8:

I think he's already here. He just decided to start the circus on his own.

Re: Indianapolis 500
 

I started watching races at Winchester in 1945. I saw many of the drivers at this high bank track go on to race the 500. Such as Charlie Van Acker, Hal Robson, Duane Carter,Spider Webb,Troy Ruttman,Mack Hellings,George Lynch,Cecil Green,Lee Wallard,Myron Fohr,Jerry Hoyt,Jackie Holmes,Duke Dinsmore,Mike Nazaruk,Andy Linden,Gene Force,Bill Mackey,Joe James,Jimmy Reece,Jimmy Daywalt,Larry Crockett,Pat OConnor, and the list goes on and on. The feeder system at this time was the midget, sprint car drivers.
Some were more adapt at the changes from the dirt big cars and the roadsters to come. But they were all my race driving hero's. While in Indianapolis in the 50's, I worked at a clothing store, Jacob's, downtown and Reece was a regular customer of our store. I would see Daywalt at the bars on the south side of town.
Times sure have changed. Money always wins because the cream of the crop navigates to it. Back in the 40's and 50's you would have 70, 80 plus entries. Most were not going to win but it afforded a driver a chance to compete in the 500. Good for them.
We up to 35 entries for this 500. And money is still the driving force for this race.

Re: Indianapolis 500
 

I may not be able to show my face at IMS after mentioning that Erik Jones was one of Ganassi's drivers. I was wrong. Erik is the NASCAR driver. Ed Jones is the Indy Car driver. As Steve Martin would say. EXCUUUUUSE ME! :3:

Re: Indianapolis 500
 

Is this guy serious? He is calling out and shaming Roger Pimpske and Cheap Ganassi, two of the all time greatest owners in Indy Car and for that matter, auto racing history. Hey.....he forgot to mention Michael Andretti, too. Just wait...if these owners, and others ever step aside, we may not have 33 cars in the Indy 500 field.

Dirtis4Racing, were you at Kokomo last night? 4 of your hardcore American drivers were racing in front of probably 500 fans. For Indy, as you say, I'm sure these drivers will pack that stands like never before and bring record TV ratings through the roof.

Let's see....Indy car tried Chicagoland, Kentucky Speedway, Richmond, New Hampshire, Atlanta and lord knows how many other ovals. Phoenix had 8,000 fans this year, with Silver Crown cars.

Hope your model works. Let's see you fund it. :15:

Re: Indianapolis 500
 

Tongue-in-cheek xenophobia. Easily mistaken for head-up-ass xenophobia.

Re: Indianapolis 500
 

Shoot all them dang un-American drivers makes it even better when a good ole boy from the usa wins. Plus I like listening to the foreign guys whine about reckless driving when a perfectly sweet pass was put on them courtesy of good ole American gonads.
Todays 500 is still a much watch even if you don't like the progress its made. Nothing will ever again be what Indy was in the mid to late 60's. You had the combo of great drivers along with great garage engineering.

Re: Indianapolis 500
 

'You can't tell that their from America because they act like they are from San Francisco...'

Well... umm.. so much to say but I'll leave it at, our school systems are failing us.

Re: Indianapolis 500
 

Originally Posted by Tony74:
One of those guys has driven at Winchester, Salem, Indy Mile, Duquion, Springfield... and sat on the pole twice at Indy...

Ed Carpenter, right?

My fiancé and I are on vacation and we were talking racing on the way here... mind you she wasn’t around when I was racing so she hates the racing talk, but we were talking how things change. Times have changed. Indy requires money and the foreigners have it. It sucks but that’s just how it works. I’m not old enough to remember the good ole days but I sure wish I was. I grew up in Indy my dads shop was on Gasoline Alley, but yet I’ve never been to a 500. I guess I grew up listening to the stories of old and just think now days it’s not how it should be but that doesn’t mean I don’t support it. It’s got a long Rich history and I will support it. I don’t go but that’s thanks to work. However I will listen and watch and enjoy. Americans or not it’s still the Indy 500 and nothing can ever take that away.

Re: Indianapolis 500
 

Originally Posted by DirtIs4Racing:
35 entries and only 14 Americans and you can't even tell if some of them are American with the way they spell their names and prance around on the camera like a bunch of San Francisco fruit loops. None of them nancies have any dirt experience because they are skeered to saddle up the beast.

Tony George should have buried CART and Chump Car, Chimp Car, whatever it was at the end of it's death bed stay and kicked old I Get My Way Roger Pimpske to the curb. The next thing he should have done was taken the wings off, put the engine back in the front where it rightfully resides, taken all those tuity fruity limp wrist twisties off the schedule and added those dirt bullrings back to the schedule.

It's a crying shame that we can't see our heroes run the hallowed grounds no more. Penske, Cheap Ganassi, and some of those other so called owner want nothing but to go after those Frenchies, South Americans, and Australians with their funny walk and talk and their tendency to be skeered of anything resembling an oval.

Give them a field and season full of real hardcore American drivers like Swanson, Grant, Windom, T-Mez, The People's Champ, Ballou, etc and they'll have those stands packed like never before and the TV ratings will be through the roof.

First post on the forum at that.

I cannot wait for your last one.

Re: Indianapolis 500
 

I'll be at the Real 500, The Little 500 and at least a dozen of them guys should be at Indy and aren't.

I'm going to Carb Day to root on Chris Windom in the Indy Lites race, which is normally the best race of all of them at at the speedway. Glad there is another dirt guy, like BC did in previous years, to keep me interested in going to SPEEDWAY. Good luck Big Daddy! Also going to check out Daredevil Brewery which should be a worth while stop.

Everyone wants to be in the Indy 500, but it seems only a couple want to do what it takes to get there. Did Jeff Gordon or Tony Stewart go from USAC to Cup? Or did they spend time in the feeder series first? You know the answer.

Bryan Clauson, Jay Drake and now Windom are doing what it takes to get there- racing in Indy Lites. Wanna see more of them? Get them in Indy Lites. Even though KTj is (possibly) the best open-wheel dirt track driver right now, there's no way I'd put him in an IndyCar.

Wanna see one of these guys have a chance to WIN the 500? Well, that's gonna take a full time ride, and with that predicate, road racing experience. Again, get in Indy Lites (for more than the Freedom 100). They might even need a season in Pro Mazda before Lites (Oh, the horror =:O ).

I'd like to see it happen, but at this point no one seems to want to put in the work required. So, I'll be cheering on "Team America", Andretti Autosports, and their 4 full time American drivers.

P.S. We do have Davey Hamilton Jr. and Chad Boat trying to break in to Lites, so there IS hope.

One more thing! The bashing of Roger Penske grinds my gears- the guy is the epitome of a racer! Anyone who doesn't see that is missing the obvious. Who gave Jason Leffler a ride in the 500? Yep, Penske. Who kicked Juan Montoya out of his ride to hand it over to "The Great White Hope", American Josef Newgarden? Yep, Penske again. I could go on, but that'll suffice.

Re: Indianapolis 500
 

Originally Posted by chrismattlin:
So, I'll be cheering on "Team America", Andretti Autosports, and their 4 full time American drivers.

Team America: Powered by... Honda.

Re: Indianapolis 500
 

Originally Posted by chrismattlin:
Everyone wants to be in the Indy 500, but it seems only a couple want to do what it takes to get there. Did Jeff Gordon or Tony Stewart go from USAC to Cup? Or did they spend time in the feeder series first? You know the answer.

Bryan Clauson, Jay Drake and now Windom are doing what it takes to get there- racing in Indy Lites. Wanna see more of them? Get them in Indy Lites. Even though KTj is (possibly) the best open-wheel dirt track driver right now, there's no way I'd put him in an IndyCar.

Wanna see one of these guys have a chance to WIN the 500? Well, that's gonna take a full time ride, and with that predicate, road racing experience. Again, get in Indy Lites (for more than the Freedom 100). They might even need a season in Pro Mazda before Lites (Oh, the horror =:O ).

I'd like to see it happen, but at this point no one seems to want to put in the work required. So, I'll be cheering on "Team America", Andretti Autosports, and their 4 full time American drivers.

P.S. We do have Davey Hamilton Jr. and Chad Boat trying to break in to Lites, so there IS hope.

Work, or money? It costs a boat load of money to fund a ride in those series, money which may be wasted when you win the championship, only to find out that you you need to bring twice as much to take the next step on the ladder.

I'm sure that if those guys could get a ride on merit they would take the shot. But when the car owner says, "Sure I got a seat, you got a million bucks?", I think it's really hard to see that path as viable.

It is what it is, but making it in Indycar is as much about your marketing savvy as it is about your ability to wheel a race car. To me that makes about as much sense as giving guys NHL roster spots based on their calculus scores.

Re: Indianapolis 500
 

Originally Posted by hoosier race fan:
Team America: Powered by... Honda.

You mean the Honda Indycar engines built in America as opposed to the Chevrolet Indycar engines built by Ilmor Engineering in England?

.

Or like most of the winning midgets using Toyota’s??

Re: Indianapolis 500
 

Originally Posted by BrentTFunk:
I went to 3 sprint car races this weekend and the stands were far from full. In fact 2 of the shows the crowds were weak, and these guys are going to fill IMS? I saw Jack Hewitt and Steve Kinser run the 500. I bought a ticket for $20 and sat anywhere I wanted. I will be rooting for Chris Windom on Carb Day.

I too saw Steve & Jack race the 500 way back in '97 & '98. In '97 anyone could have walked in for free and watched Steve finish 14th from most any stand in the place, including the Penthouse sections, on the Tuesday after Memorial Day due to the rainout's on Sunday and Monday. If you paid $20.00 you got ripped off.

Not sure where "anywhere I wanted" seats actually are but an Andrew Jackson wouldn't have bought you an , E, B or A-Stand Penthouse seat to watch ol' Jack finish 12th back in '98, that's for sure. Security checks those tickets pretty closely before you ever get near the Penthouse seating areas. Unless of course it's a 3 day rainout circumstance like in '97, in which case it was possible to set most anywhere as long as no one shows up with a ticket for the seat you're setting in.

Originally Posted by chrismattlin:
One more thing! The bashing of Roger Penske grinds my gears- the guy is the epitome of a racer! Anyone who doesn't see that is missing the obvious. Who gave Jason Leffler a ride in the 500? Yep, Penske. Who kicked Juan Montoya out of his ride to hand it over to "The Great White Hope", American Josef Newgarden? Yep, Penske again. I could go on, but that'll suffice.

Yes RP has done alot for
his self. And 80% were for
his self and built a powerful business. Much were thru connections evolved thru using small teams sponsors ect. Then the small team struggles
for dollars. Using other people has a reason. How many people on here remember Dirt cars were in the points for Indy Cars. The glory days. Then drivers from other countries came and ran the
Indy 500 and within a week went back home. Some came next year, but alot did not. Any idea who got the dirt cars thrown out. There are so many true storys like this that possible your thoughts would be different. The great thing is he never went away and always were dress great. Don't tuck your shirt in. Bye, bye. There 2 different lists.

Lynn

Re: Indianapolis 500
 

And here we go, the same old 60 year old argument.... :15:
Has this guy bothered to check out the Indy Lights entry list for the Freedom 100 with Windom and Hamilton Jr. on it? Wait a minute, does Hamilton Jr. count because he hasn't run that much dirt, or that much of his racing has been in a winged pavement sprint car???
If he thinks these guys (current IndyCar drivers) are Nancy's just because they haven't turned a lap at Kokomo or Gas City well, it just shows the mentality of the individual.... If he thinks Kannan and Helio aren't true badasses in a race car well he hasn't been watching the last 15-20 years...
I was excited when Jay Drake, Dolanski, BC and now with Windom and Davey H. Jr. I hope they do well and arrive with a good 500 ride or more.... As someone earlier alluded to, if any of these guys really wanted to make it to the Speedway, they would have taken a rear engine approach to their careers like Ryan Hunter-Reay, Rossi, Newgarden, Rahal, Marco, Pigot, Kimball, Kaiser, Hilderbrand, Danica or Daly. But then he would have never heard of them because they never ran Kokomo and this guy would still be pissed off! :5::5:

I for one would like to see almost any current Indycar driver try dirt!! TK, RHR, JNew, Will Power, hell any of them! I think most would do okay, but I think hanging the tail out at Bloomington, LPS, or Kokomo would be new to most of them. I would pay good money to see this!

Originally Posted by ISF:
I too saw Steve & Jack race the 500 way back in '97 & '98. In '97 anyone could have walked in for free and watched Steve finish 14th from most any stand in the place, including the Penthouse sections, on the Tuesday after Memorial Day due to the rainout's on Sunday and Monday. If you paid $20.00 you got ripped off.

Not sure where "anywhere I wanted" seats actually are but an Andrew Jackson wouldn't have bought you an , E, B or A-Stand Penthouse seat to watch ol' Jack finish 12th back in '98, that's for sure. Security checks those tickets pretty closely before you ever get near the Penthouse seating areas. Unless of course it's a 3 day rainout circumstance like in '97, in which case it was possible to set most anywhere as long as no one shows up with a ticket for the seat you're setting in.

I was there that day alao. Terrible crowd, but the race went on just the same. Hated to see Steve's day end right in front of me.

Re: Indianapolis 500
 

n

Re: Indianapolis 500
 

Originally Posted by ISF:
Can hardly wait for ol' Brickyard to trot out those White Papers again and set the OP straight once and for all. :5::8:

Don't need to, it pretty much stands on it's own being that it accomplished what it set forth to do. The one thing he left out was the Emergency Idiot Grandson Clause.....but as they say, hind sight is 20/20.


Dan would've eaten your breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Then of course you'd turn around and blame Penske for taking your ham omlet on the morning of 1964, a full four years before he showed up as a team owner.

If one thing is certain, it's that you are an amusing individual.