In regards to ride buying, blame NASCAR for distorting the views on this. The boom of NASCAR presented us with fully sponsored teams needing talented drivers. So people began to think "if I'm good enough, there's a team out there for me". Now as the economy is tanking, drivers like Gilliland, Kvapil, and Yeley (all very talented drivers) are finding out what the rest of the racing world knows: racers have to bring sponsorship to the table in order to race. PERIOD. Maybe this reality check could be the one good thing to come from the recession.

Oh, and Tony G is a spoiled brat who deserves to kicked to the curb. Yes, he gave short track guys a shot at the big league. But by funding it out of his own pocket, he was only feeding the "free ride" myth. The only things he did was 1.) eliminate innovation from the speedway 2.) killed the interest in Indycar racing. For that, he deserves the boot.