The latest Idiocy from 16th and Georgetown
 

I can't believe the new Pole Day procedure!

From 11am Saturday, May 22nd, until 4pm, teams will have a shot at all the spots on the grid. Then until 6pm that day, a psuedo Firestone Fast 6 will have at it.

At the 4pm cutoff, the 9 fastest cars will compete for the pole!

Indy qualifying used to be special, now it'sjust stupid. I'm sure there will be some that will crow about this, but this does nothing to bring back the magic of pole day and how special the last couple of hours or the first two hours used to be.

I know something needs to be done, but this????

What's next, a 25 lap B main instead of bump day?

Re: The latest Idiocy from 16th and Georgetown
 

It shouldn't surprise you at all.

Re: The latest Idiocy from 16th and Georgetown
 

Originally Posted by B99:
I can't believe the new Pole Day procedure!

From 11am Saturday, May 22nd, until 4pm, teams will have a shot at all the spots on the grid. Then until 6pm that day, a psuedo Firestone Fast 6 will have at it.

At the 4pm cutoff, the 9 fastest cars will compete for the pole!

Indy qualifying used to be special, now it'sjust stupid. I'm sure there will be some that will crow about this, but this does nothing to bring back the magic of pole day and how special the last couple of hours or the first two hours used to be.

I know something needs to be done, but this????

What's next, a 25 lap B main instead of bump day?

They will need more than 33 cars to show up before thay can consider running a B main :31:

Re: The latest Idiocy from 16th and Georgetown
 

Originally Posted by Bostonian:
They will need more than 33 cars to show up before thay can consider running a B main :31:

They are probably going to have 40 car/driver combinations attempting to qualify this year. So, that's a good thing.

Re: The latest Idiocy from 16th and Georgetown
 

Look at it this way, atleast the last car on the track (when the gun goes off) won't be tring to bump into 9th place. No negative comments from me for a while. I love everything to do with Indy. Its real simple to me, this new guy has to try things at indy. Indy is his single biggest crowd of the year. He will have more buts in the stands and people watching on TV. On this day he has to try to hook fans for the rest of the season. We all know he is going to make mistakes, thats part of the learning process. 1 of the biggest things he did in the PBR was made sure the fans knew who the riders were. In this senario, you are going to take 9 drivers and put them in a 2hour spotlight. Hopefully we can get 1 or 2 unsposored teamsin this group. Also several fans are going to tune in from 3-4 to see which drivers will be in the top 9. Just tring to think positive here.

Re: The latest Idiocy from 16th and Georgetown
 

Man, I just don't know. I will be there this year, and most likely next year; largely for the 100 year anniversary. Not sure about after that, though. I understand all about change, and all; but I just don't know about the manipulation that these sports marketers do. That said, the idea of a "B" Main does intrigue me. . . .

Re: The latest Idiocy from 16th and Georgetown
 

Originally Posted by :
Man, I just don't know. I will be there this year, and most likely next year

I've been thinking long and hard about making the trip this year. This stupid qualifying procedure has settled it for me- I'm done with the Speedway.

Re: The latest Idiocy from 16th and Georgetown
 

Haven't been to the Speedway since I figured out that the IRL could care less about giving the USAC guys a fair chance, I'll go to Little 500 the night before and see much better and more exciting racing.

Re: The latest Idiocy from 16th and Georgetown
 

I assume the Little 500 at least has the good sense to keep it's format and no try something this dumb.

The sad fact is that unless you crash them head on into each other, many of the IRL drivers do not draw a crowd and won't. Randy Bernard is asking a lot of the right questions, the problem is that those in certain positions keep coming up with the wrong answers.

You want to 'gimmick' pole day how about this....

Sat
Practice 9-10
Qualifications 1030-12noon
12-1 no activity
1-4 Practice Only
4-7:30 or 8 qualifications.

Better yet, bring in some temporary lighting and run for the Pole FRIDAY NIGHT.

Re: The latest Idiocy from 16th and Georgetown
 

If they want to change the show for the fans, how about making the track easier to see acrossed? How much money can the golf course generate after expenses?

Re: The latest Idiocy from 16th and Georgetown
 

Originally Posted by aussiemidgetfan:
HAHAHAHAHA. Pull the other one!

Why is that so hard to believe? Right now, by my count, they have 35 confirmed car/driver combinations already and also 9 TBA's.

Throw in one car from Rahal/Letterman, Team 3G, and another Dreyer & Reinbold car. They'll all be there for sure in some way or another. That's 38. I believe there were 37 last year, so I don't think I'm crazy.

Sorry if I offend anyone here; I happen to like the Indianapolis 500.

Re: The latest Idiocy from 16th and Georgetown
 

Originally Posted by aussiemidgetfan:
HAHAHAHAHA. Pull the other one!

There will be at least 43 entries this year. I can't wait! I like the Indy 500 too and really don't care if someone gets offended.

Re: The latest Idiocy from 16th and Georgetown
 

I too love the Indy 500 and if this deal will amp up interest in 500 qualifying I guess I'm for it but I also believe there are some things that shouldn't be tampered with. If it works out, fine. If not there may be additional damage to an already shaky situation.

Re: The latest Idiocy from 16th and Georgetown
 

Originally Posted by bherzog513:
If they want to change the show for the fans, how about making the track easier to see acrossed? How much money can the golf course generate after expenses?

It isn't the golf course that blocks any views.

Re: The latest Idiocy from 16th and Georgetown
 

Originally Posted by aussiemidgetfan:
Why? Well I can give you several reasons:
-Global Economy is still in the toilet
-Tony George is gone so there are no tonybux lying around to pay for some of the entries
-Lack of interest (less and less people care about the Indy 500 each year)

And I'm sure if I had more time I could give you more. The reality is the Indianapolis 500 died in 1996 and hasn't recovered. It won't for as long as the race exists for a spec series and certainly not whilst the cars qualify and race slower than they did in the 1980s!

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's nice and all. What does your diatribe have to do with whether 40 cars/drivers are going to be at Indy this year? Like I said, 38 cars/drivers are pretty much for certain going to be there to qualify already. And we're still 5 weeks out from the beginning of practice. The least I can see that will make an attempt to qualify is 39.

I would guess Ana Beatriz in the DRR #23
Richard Antinucci in the Team 3G #98
Oriol Servia may be back in the RLR #17, the car will be there for sure, not sure of the driver, though.
And there's several others that may throw out another car for someone on Bump Day. It always happens. Though they have one less weekend to qualify this year, I don't see why it would affect it if the car is safely qualified into the field on Saturday.

I will bump this thread when 40 cars/drivers hit the track at Indy in May. I'm curious though, what is your prediction of the car count?

Re: The latest Idiocy from 16th and Georgetown
 

I figure they'll fill the field, Foyt might run a second car, John Andretti is doing the Petty deal again this yr but with his cousin and I'm sure DRR will field 4 cars. Would be shocked if there was any real bumping, hasn't been for a while..... When I was little we went every year for bump day as a family, it was awesome, now I won't even turn the TV or radio on to the Indy 500 or any part of it. Little 500 on Saturday night and who knows sunday, just not wasting effort on Indy anymore but will hope that Davey and Sarah have good days....

Re: The latest Idiocy from 16th and Georgetown
 

Don't care how many make weight's are "entered"

Penske or Ganassi will win.

Richie, your Pom Pom's are showing :32:

Re: The latest Idiocy from 16th and Georgetown
 

Originally Posted by Hubie:
Don't care how many make weight's are "entered"

Penske or Ganassi will win.

Richie, your Pom Pom's are showing :32:

Well, that's true I think it's definitely Penske or Ganassi for the win. I wish that would change, but that's the problem with engine leases and certain team's getting favorable engine parts and pieces.

Pom pom's eh. So I should just join everybody else on the "everything sucks and isn't as good as it use to be bandwagon?" No thanks.

Here are the 34 drivers/cars confirmed for Indy so far.
06 / 06T Hideki Mutoh
2 / 2T Rafael Matos
3 / 3T Helio Castroneves (W)
4 / 4T Dan Wheldon (W)
5 / 5T Takumo Sato (R)
6 / 6T Ryan Briscoe
7 / 7T Danica Patrick
8 / 8T EJ Viso
9 / 9T Scott Dixon (W)
10 / 10T Dario Franchitti (W)
11 / 11T Tony Kanaan
12 / 12T Will Power
14 / 14T Vitor Meira
15 / 15T Paul Tracy
18 / 18T Milka Duno
19 / 19T Alex Lloyd
20 / 20T Ed Carpenter
21 / 21T Davey Hamilton
22 / 22T Justin Wilson
24 / 24T Mike Conway
26 / 26T Marco Andretti
29 / 29T Sebastian Savvadra (R)
32 / 32T Mario Moraes
33 / 33T Bruno Junqueria
34 / 34T Mario Romancinni (R)
35 / 35T Bertrand Baguette (R)
37 / 37T Ryan Hunter-Reay
41 / 41T AJ Foyt IV
43 / 43T John Andretti
66 / 66T Jay Howard (R)
67 / 67T Sarah Fisher
77 / 77T Alex Tagliani
78 / 78T Simona De Silvestro (R)
99 / 99T Townsend Bell

TBA's
02 / 02T Newman/Haas/Lanigan. Graham Rahal most likely will be in this ride for Kansas, Indy, and beyond.
16 / 16T TBA
17 / 17T Rahal Letterman Racing will have a car.
23 / 23T Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. Ana Beatriz drove this car in Brazil.
27 / 27T TBA
70 / 70T TBA
79 / 79T TBA
91 Hemelgarn Racing will roll out their old car for Buddy Lazier once again.
95 / 95T Byrd Brothers Racing
98 / 98T Team 3G Racing Richard Antinucci had the ride last year.

Also, Tomas Scheckter will end up somewhere and Robby Gordon might end up working with Derrick Walker.

We'll just have to wait and see how it turns out, though. I'm going to be there every day throughout the month and I'm going to enjoy myself. Crazy concept, I know. ;)

---------- Post added at 01:46 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:31 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Hubie:
Don't care how many make weight's are "entered"

Penske or Ganassi will win.

Richie, your Pom Pom's are showing :32:

Furthermore, I don't like this new qualifying format. It's ridiculous and too gimicky. Just line them up and qualify. If 33 qualify on Saturday, so what? Just bump them out on Sunday. I miss the strategy of trying to decide whether to wave off a lap or accept the run. That was pretty nerve-racking for the teams back then. Let's go back to that.

Now, where's my pom poms? :3:

Re: The latest Idiocy from 16th and Georgetown
 

Originally Posted by aussiemidgetfan:
33 or maybe 34. It's about image and the vanity of the Hulman-George family won't allow less than 33 starters even if they fund 10 of them out of their own pocket.

This guys opinion carries no weight. He is the same guy who was on here a month or so ago claiming Simona De Silvestro is the second coming AJ Foyt.

Re: The latest Idiocy from 16th and Georgetown
 

Originally Posted by aussiemidgetfan:
You seeing the hiding she's giving Danica this weekend so far?

I see where 24 cars are within a second and half of each other in practice which doesn't mean much. I know that Danica is in the top 10 in points after two races and Simona hasn't even finished on the lead lap yet.

Re: The latest Idiocy from 16th and Georgetown
 

Maybe he meant AJ Foyt IV.....lol

Re: The latest Idiocy from 16th and Georgetown
 

Originally Posted by aussiemidgetfan:
Oh yeah I compared her against Quattro. :15:

I know you all want her to fail because she's Swiss and better than Danica but deal with the facts.

Her debut race in Indycar, the Brazil street race. She outqualified Danica. Yes she had technical problems but they weren't unexpected/

Second race, St Pete. She outqualified Danica again. She outraced her too until she got punted by Rahal.

This is a girl in her debut season who is already showing up a lot of big names and she is hardly in a competitive car. If you ranked the teams HVM would have to be near the bottom yet she is doing some amazing things in that sled. You can slag Sim off as much as you like but on raw talent alone she kills the other women in that series and most of the men too.

First you compare her to AJ FOYT now it's wahnica. There is NO WAY IN HELL you can compare this girl or pretty much ANY IRL driver with AJ FOYT in his prime. Sorry but no way, no how. And the only person in the last few years you could compare to a young, up and coming AJ Foyt was Tony Stewart. So she might be better than Danica, so what? Most in the IRl are better than Danica. Just another ride-buying-no-one-you've-heard-of-before-IRL driver........ Maybe some day she'll outrun Danica at the end of a road race, whoopeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, neither one of them will win! LOL

Re: The latest Idiocy from 16th and Georgetown
 

Originally Posted by B99:
I can't believe the new Pole Day procedure!

From 11am Saturday, May 22nd, until 4pm, teams will have a shot at all the spots on the grid. Then until 6pm that day, a psuedo Firestone Fast 6 will have at it.

At the 4pm cutoff, the 9 fastest cars will compete for the pole!

Indy qualifying used to be special, now it'sjust stupid. I'm sure there will be some that will crow about this, but this does nothing to bring back the magic of pole day and how special the last couple of hours or the first two hours used to be.

I know something needs to be done, but this????

What's next, a 25 lap B main instead of bump day?

I am not doubting you on this but where did you read or hear this? I didn't see anything on IRL or Indy web site. I might be over looking it.
Thanks.

REH

Re: The latest Idiocy from 16th and Georgetown
 

Originally Posted by :
...and certain team's getting favorable engine parts...

The engines are sealed and are given to the teams by a lottery draw. So that really doesn't happen.

Re: The latest Idiocy from 16th and Georgetown
 

Originally Posted by REH24:
I am not doubting you on this but where did you read or hear this? I didn't see anything on IRL or Indy web site. I might be over looking it.
Thanks.

REH

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dl...TS0107/4100343

Re: The latest Idiocy from 16th and Georgetown
 

Originally Posted by aussiemidgetfan:
33 or maybe 34. It's about image and the vanity of the Hulman-George family won't allow less than 33 starters even if they fund 10 of them out of their own pocket.

You come across as such an open wheel "expert" on here. You obviously don't follow it that close. Those purse strings have been cut so pretty sure 10 cars won't be funded by the league. There will be around 40 cars this year.

I think the new format could be alright. Will just have to see how it plays out.

Re: The latest Idiocy from 16th and Georgetown
 

http://aowrtheotherside.blogspot.com...on-update.html

http://www.indystar.com/article/2010...aves-Dixon-hot