Originally Posted by sprinter25:
OK, so the "traditional" field at Indy is 33 cars. But in this day of high prices and lousy economic times, in addition to fewer Indy entrants, does 33 have to be the "sacred" number?
Maybe Indy needs to cut the field to 28 or 24 - if you want to see bumping, that's one way to make it happen....Or they could change it from a spec series(Dallara/Honda) to a series where teams could choose to build or buy cars, as they saw fit.
Let's face it, for the most part, cars that qualify 24th to 33rd(in speed) are, for the most part, field fillers, not competitive racers. And I'm not demeaning their efforts to race at Indy - I'm just recognizing them for what they are.....
But that's just my opinion - but some folks think that tradition is very important.
Of course, for the most part, you are correct. But, on occasion, one of those backmarkers puts on quite a show. Scott Goodyear coming from 33rd and last in '92 to give Al Unser Jr. the race of his life to the checkered flag is one of the most compelling finishes in the history of the 500.