Road to Indy Ladder Bologna
 

"The American drivers are spanking the foreign drivers up and down the ladder series! From USf2000, Star Mazda and FIL. unfortunately it stops there ."


Exactly! It stops there because it's an effin' car club!! Of course the American drivers are spanking them because they've got old fashioned dirt sprint experience. These poor kids got sucked into this ladder ******** and now the blind are leading the blind. Thank you so much Target, Roger Penske, Verizon, and IZOD for ******* up the sport I love. I love it when you come to Indianapolis and spend your money, but other than that, you can take your ******** class of this 'rich man's sport' and shove it up your ass. I wish the people of Indianapolis could sue Penske for stealing the name "Indy"car. This garbage has NOTHING to do with Indianapolis or Indiana anymore. "Road to Indy" my ass! It's the "Road to Car Club Spec Racing Hell"

Re: Road to Indy Ladder Bologna
 

Deannalynn........my sentiments exactly!!!!!.....I love you!!!!!!!:6:

Re: Road to Indy Ladder Bologna
 

Quit holding back. Tell us how you really feel.:18:

Re: Road to Indy Ladder Bologna
 

I posted the following in another forum, where some Linda Willareth chic claims to work down the hall from RB. This is not an anti-RB rant. I love everything about racing, even the circus aspect, which RB seems pretty good at. :


Wow. I never thought I'd see the day where fenders would rule the racing world. In creating this ladder bologna, all that happened was that Indycar became a stepping stone to get to NASCAR. Do me a favor, Linda, will ya? Can you go knock on RB's door and ask him to scrap this recent 'ladders' garbage? Any sponsors who wanna ride the coattails of the next Tony Stewart need to go down the street to the USAC office. That's where you find your American drivers. With or without the cameras broadcasting, USAC circle track racing has always been the gold standard proving ground for young talent. Your die hard racers and fans who helped build this proving ground see the ladders as a glorified car club and don't give a rat's ass about who's running in it American or otherwise. I love RBs promotional skills, but he needs a quality product to promote. To get that quality back, Indy needs to get back to the basics.

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wish you'd show some passion once in a while deannalynn....lol I went back to Indy for time trials this year, first time I had been there since they started shutting out real racers again (about the same time Penske and "Cheap" Gannassi came back) and to be honest didn't even know most of the teams and drivers. Had to use a fan guide as did the other 3 with me, 3 of us are HUGE race fans, the 4th was my dad who likes fishing alot more than racing...lol To be honest if I had not been given 8 free tickets I wouldn't have went.........

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I'd love to find out how I can transition my passion into a job. I'd like to think that life in a trailer with no curtains wasn't all for nothing. My parents moved to Indy in 1980 because this was the place to be for racers. We sacrificed things like cars, curtains, vacations, and more for sprint cars 'cause racing was all they wanted to do (until about 1990). The closest my dad ever got to an Indy car was fueling for Spike Gilhausen at Pocono, whoopdy friggin do. I'd like to think it wasn't all for nothing, though. They say everything happens for a reason. Right now I'm pretty much a loose cannon and hoping someone out there can steer me in the right direction. I know there are people that leave the sport every day when they finally run out of money, forever doomed to 'other side' of the gate. I wonder if somebody would read a book about those guys. I could call it "A 101 Ways to Fail at Racing". Any takers? lol! I type 50 wpm and have a Bachelor's Degree. I have all my shots and I don't bite (very hard). I'm a medical laboratory technician by trade, but better suited for writing.

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Hell yes I would read that book....better yet, I could star in that book. I still haven't given up yet, but I have decided that unless one of these powerball tickets hits good I'm probably about done with the driving aspect of racing. Can't afford to keep a car running after 5 years of fighting with the midget I own now. I have driven for several owners trying to sell their cars..In fact I have performed myself out of more rides than I care to count. I have 3 wins and several podiums in less than 40 sprint/midget starts, I have only torn up a shock and 2 radius rods. Thought thats what car owners wanted...hahaha..I kinda have a reputation that if your car won't sell I can give a good enough run to convince someone to buy it....just not enough people around here selling cars for me to have any rides available lately..hahaha

Let me know if you need a chapter for your book... I would be more than happy to tell my "how not to become a racedriver" story..

Heck, maybe we could sell enough copies that I could buy an engine...hahaha


And I completely feel how you feel regarding the ladder system...Everybody on this website knows that guys like Stanbrough, Darland, East, Kevin Swindell, Dave Steele, etc etc should be in a seat in the Indycar series but unfortunately their uncles don't own a huge Brazilian corporation to fund a team so I guess we should all just hope and pray that Clauson can impress enough people to take one more step up that ladder without having to bring millions of dollars to a second tier team.

Re: Road to Indy Ladder Bologna
 

And now I'm cracking up about this Josef Newgarden kid. Is it true he doesn't have any dirt track experience? Wont that make him the next Danica Patrick? If they keep grooming karters for Indy, why will anybody bother looking at coming to Indiana for racing experience? Our tracks wont be littered with broken dreams of Indy anymore. I don't know, maybe this is a good thing?

On the other hand, the Indianapolis 500 is still an oval track race....... for now.......

Re: Road to Indy Ladder Bologna
 

So the only way to learn how to drive is by running dirt? Sorry, can’t take it that far. Hornish was a pretty damn good IndyCar driver without dirt experience. The key to me isn’t that they ALL drive dirt, it’s that the ones that do come up that way have a shot too. The main thing for Americans coming up is that they need help in getting in the door. They are working to take some of those barriers down (going to be hard to do). Hopefully at some point, teams can attract their own sponsorship again and then hire on talent. That’s the issue. Newgarden is an American so I’d like to see him do well (I’d like see BC beat him b/c I see him race all the time). Not all drivers have to come from dirt. Way back when that was the only way to do it.

Honesly, I don’t want drivers ONLY coming to IN for racing experience to move on. I want those racing here, because they love sprint cars, to in-turn get a chance.

Re: Road to Indy Ladder Bologna
 

Yeah, the more I learn about the current state of racing, the less I'm worried about our dirt tracks. The loss of Warsaw still saddens me. I added to my last post that the Indy 500 is still an oval for now, so oval track experience still counts for something. I think I'll stop worrying so much about whether people are going to want to come here and just be happy that I am where I am and can see a great show in Indiana just about any night of the week (barring rain). I'll probably be much more happy quiet on here by adopting a more selfish attitude ;) I need to get busy finding other chics to race me and cars for the powder puff races, anyway :)

Thanks for setting me straight, IOW!!! I am grateful to Bill Gardner every time I login for making this forum and keeping it awesome!

I'm gradually accepting the fact that our old star making machine that spit out Stewart, Kahne, Gordon, Newman to make a few is now just an artifact. Remember what Indiana Jones used to say about artifacts? "It belongs in a museum!"

Re: Road to Indy Ladder Bologna
 

To be fair, Kahne was far on his way before he went to Nascar, and Newman has stated numerous times he never wanted Indy, he wanted Daytona. Which is fine, to each their own.

There hasn't been a ladder system in years, but I will say this, people can bash the WKA and karting all they want, but look where all the guys are coming from. If the schedule is a lot of road courses, could Levi Jones run them, sure, but probably not worth a damn for a while. Not at least to the likes of Franchitti, Power, and Dixon. The ladder system works, because it entices people to try to get to the next level.

We can scream and hollar all we want, but I thought TV was supposed to put WoO on the map years ago with all the new "nascar" tracks getting dirt tracks? How'd that turn out, do they even run at Texas anymore? Vegas became a joke, and the racing at Charlotte really isn't all that good. All these big sponsors were supposed to come in, and start swooping up drivers left and right. That surely didn't happen, but it did change the scope of it.

Sprint cars are sprint cars, and a guy by the name of John Heidenriech said it best a while back on ESPN SpeedWorld (also another deal that was promised to bring drivers to the "big leagues"), he said something very profound. "Why can't a Silver Crown Car be the pennacle of racing?" It's the same thing. The way some think about Indy is the way I think about Kokomo, Eldora, and Haubstadt. Every last driver that has raced there in a sprint car is someone I look up to, why? Because they're racing something I would cut you know what off to race on a weekly basis at those places. Sprint cars, midgets, and Silver Crown is my pennacle, always has been and always will be.

Sure, it's dry going to Indy, but unless you have road course experience, it's not going to happen. You can't be competitive at Indy without "buying" a ride due to the fact if you don't have an engineer worth a darn, you aren't getting in the show, and you're not going to be competitive. Look at Swindell back in the 80's. Tried a few times, and never made it because of what he was in. But he's one of the best sprint car drivers ever. Racing is racing, and to knock Randy Bernard on trying to get "our guys and girls" to the next level, that's just stupid. He's done more for the good of IndyCar than TG did in 15 or so years running it into the ground. They didn't build Rome overnight, and they can't fix what's broke overnight. But damn, they are on a REALLY good start.

Re: Road to Indy Ladder Bologna
 

Auto Racing ebbs and flows like anything else....strong today...not so much tomorrow.

Indy car racing is on an upswing right now. They are doing many things to encourage the growth of the "local" racer. Randy Benard is doing a great job in my opinion.

I refuse to downgrade the quality of drivers driving any racecar on the basis of their financial status or country of origin.

If you can drive you can drive...period.

I personally believe that we will see more of the dirt/USAC guys have a chance to run in the Indy Car series.

As far as getting a career in motorsports....if that is what you want, go get it.

Re: Road to Indy Ladder Bologna
 

A perfect post

That's why all the Foreign drivers are in Indy car because that is all those guys race over seas is road courses!

Those great days of us Sprint car guys getting a chance died after JJ and Hewitt ran at Indy!

The Sprint car Guys that was fortunate to move up chose NASCAR why more money more racing you can't blame them for that!

There are many who choose that route Jeff Gordon, Ryan Newman, Kasey Khane,Tony Stewart, JJ Yeley as recently Cole Whitt, Brad Sweet, and before them Bryan Clauson!

Bryan was picked up early in his career by a team that goes Indy or NASCAR and he went NASCAR. Was he giving the choice I don't know but he went NASCAR if he chose that great choice more money more racing more fans!

I am glad he is now in Indy Car Lights as He has The very best team to drive for so he has a REALLY good shot at becoming a full time Indy Car guy as many of Sam's former drivers have moved up!

I hope he does make it! Good luck BC!

I asked Sam Schmidt where he and others look mostly for up coming racers to hire and he told me road course racing! That sucked hearing that but it is what it is!

So I guess us that want to race Indy car need to sell out our Sprint cars and race road courses!

I would love to run at Indy It's been my dream all my life but I will keep my Sprint Car cause I love it and will do it as long as I possibly can!

Danny 24

Re: Road to Indy Ladder Bologna
 

Yep, gotta trade in your American sprint car for an old European race car in the new ladders deal. :14: Dallara is coming to town, though, so Indianapolis can say they make Indycars again. I wonder what Smokey Yunick would say.

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Indy cars should run on ovals, period. They were ALWAYS an oval series up untill the time CART was formed and the need for road racing "ride buyers" became strong. EVERY major US road racing series has failed while the main oval series (NASCAR) has grown. Yes i know NASCAR runs ovals, but only 2 out of how many races? and mainly to be in those markets where the tracks are, build an oval in New York area and watch how fast the Glen loses it's date...... Do away with road courses and you do away with the need for foreign born road racers, most of whom have never won on a large scale. Sad that a couple of the drivers, including Princess Sparkle Pony NEVER won at lower levels. Winning should be a requirement to climbing the "ladder". Let's be honest, most of these current "drivers" would have never been allowed at INDY before the CART-USAC split..... And don't even go there on an oval driver learning road courses, oval drivers have learned to RACE and they can much easier learn road courses than road course drivers can learn how to RACE side by side cleanly. Simple evidence is Mario Andretti but you can throw in Foyt and a few others and current drivers like BC and Levi would PROVE that they could run on any track but they will never get a fair chance(kind of like a couple ex-USAC drivers in NASCAR who have won on road courses). Sorry but the simple fact of the matter is unless an oval tracker brings money then no ride because the snobs that are INDY owners think that a winning USAC star is far beneath them and prefer a pretty face attached to a non-winner instead of a RACER.

Re: Road to Indy Ladder Bologna
 

You have some good points Racerdog45, but that statement is just not true. USAC ran on road courses in Japan and Argentina to name a couple in the 60's. Colorado also. USAC stocks ran several road course races at places Phoenix, IRP, and some others. Rodger Ward won a sports car race on a RC in a MIDGET. And I forgot USAC's F5000 series that ran on all road courses. Remember Brian Redman as USAC F5000 champ?

Re: Road to Indy Ladder Bologna
 

Roger Penske has reigned supreme over the American open-wheel world for over 30 years now. Nobody stands up to him. Tony George tried to and look what happened to him. As I understand it, Penske came into power with a handful of others with the formation of CART after the 1978 USAC plane crash. It was at this time racing became more about money than anything. I got this off of wikepedia, and it's the same story my parents have told me.

"1978 plane crash

On April 23, 1978, eight key members of the USAC, plus the pilot, were killed when their 10-seat Piper Navajo Chieftain crashed during a thunderstorm 25 miles southeast of Indianapolis.[3]

Killed were:

Ray Marquette, USAC's vice-president of public affairs and a former sportswriter for The Indianapolis Star
Frank Delroy, chairman of the USAC technical committee
Shim Malone, starter for USAC races and head of its midget racer division
Judy Phillips, graphic artist and publication director of USAC's newsletter
Stan Worley, chief registrar
Ross Teeguarden, assistant technical chairman
Don Peabody, head of the sprint division
Dr. Bruce White, assistant staff doctor
Don Mullendore, owner and pilot of the plane.

The effect on the USAC, and for open-wheel racing in the United States, was devastating, especially since it closely followed the death of Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Tony Hulman."

Re: Road to Indy Ladder Bologna
 

True but still was mainly an OVAL track series with cars built as such, and they still ran dirt back then. As far as F5000 goes, they failed, as did/has Can am and Trans AM several different times, along with the orginal IMSA, USAC's version of can am (USRRC I think) CART, the follow ups to CART and so on. Sorry but the vast majority of AMERICAN race fans want AMERICAN drivers (and American cars), drivers they have watched come up thru the ranks. Which is why no matter what people say or do untill the folks at INDY get it thru their heads that they need a stronger AMERICAN presence and more ovals than road courses INDY will NEVER climb above a niche sport whereas NASCAR stays strong, even in down times. It's sad when Princess Sparkle Pony who NEVER won in her life untill a fluke win in IRL (with a huge wieght break, notice she hasn't since won she lost that advantage) and Marco(1 win) and Graham Rahal(1 win) are hailed as stars whent there are much better drivers/racers like BC. I like road racing, but as F1 or a true road race series, INDY cars should not be a series where there are as many ( and now MORE!) road races as oval..... this is JMHO and I am sure there are those who will disagree, but again I'd say a much larger group will agree, and has by voting to NOT go to INDY and NOT watch those boring road races on TV....

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USAC taking the dirt tracks off the Championship Trail was the beginning of the end for our sprintcar & midget heroes path to "The 500". It's never been the same since & never will be. SAD!

Sprint cars are sprint cars, and a guy by the name of John Heidenriech said it best a while back on ESPN SpeedWorld (also another deal that was promised to bring drivers to the "big leagues"), he said something very profound. "Why can't a Silver Crown Car be the pennacle of racing?"

This isn't a bad point. What says a Dave Darland or Levi Jones has to run te Indy 500 in order to be considered successful? I understand wanting to see these guys on the big stage in fact I'm there with you, but to me, someone who can claim a USAC national championship is just as successful as someone who can say I'm a NASCAR champ, or indycar, etc. It's like a world series champ and super bowl champ. They are the best at what they do.
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Ladder system? Road to Indy? Road to Nascar? Makes no difference to me. Apparently a lot see midgets/sprints as a "path" I see it as a Destination! :31::6: