I read were Stanton Barrett is going to try to get into the Indy 500..Before everyone starts ripping him a new one on how little time he has in a indy car, lets be glad there might be a guy in the race that at least is from the USA!! :2:

He's running the whole Indycar season...finished 12th at St. Petersburg, but not so hot at Long Beach and Kansas. Very slow today, but it was his first time ever at the Speedway in an Indycar so we'll cut him a break...good rookie crop this year.

This is the former Greg Beck team owned by Beck and Cary Agajanian along with Mike Curb ; now joined in ownership by Stanton Barrett and Steve Sudler , is known as 3G Racing.

There is a wealth of knowledge and experience among this group and now with former USAC Technical Director - Owen Snyder as Chief Mechanic.
Owen is a two time "500" winning chief mechanic in his previous associations with Al Unser , Jr. ( '92 ) and Eddie Cheever ( '98 ).

Of this year's 5 rookies , Stanton was last out on the day , in the final hour. Stanton turned 26 laps with his best at 207.522 as he completed phase 1 of the Rookie Orientation Program.

This is not their usual "500" only effort. This team continues to build for the entire season.
Stanton will be fine at Indy under the watchful eyes of Beck and Snyder !


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I look for good things out of this, should be fun to see how Stanton does with some good equipment for once.

Owen worked with Steve Kinser as well in 1997.

I believe Owen is Steve Kinser's brother-in-law.

I'm thinkin' Dave Darland, Tracy Hines or Jerry Cooooons, Jr. would look better in this effort.
Hell, I'd even return to the 500 for that....

I was wondering does anybody who knows how to drive one these cars jump in first. Then tells a mechanic what to change then test the car again and when it's finally right ask Stanton to jump in and try to build up to some lightening speeds.

Seems like if you are not an engineer or don't have the time in the car:

1) You don't know what it's suppose to feel like.

2) You don't know what to suggest for changes or motor tuning, wing angle, camber/caster and the million other adjustments after the practice session and,

3) You don't even know the lines or have the inate feeling to drive the car around Indy.

4) To drive from the seat of your pants without proper knowledge or experience seems like a waste of time.

But if you do it correctly, with the right testing and personnel, I think most people could get one of these cars up to speed and look quite decent.

It just seems if you have a very defined driver develpment plan anybody can get better, but if you are winging
it and taking chances you are waisting, time, money, expensive chassis and engines not to mention tires.

If done correctly and you have the funds engineers, motors, tuners and chassis people you can make somebody good and maybe even a winner...lol!


Larry "O" and that speech was fun...thankyou very much...lol!

My Dad and ex uncle are 2 of the 3 full timers on Stantons team.
Rick Hurford is my Dad, he's the one recently quoted in the Indy Star about the team being old and the they're waiting for the kids to get out of school at 3:30. Beck's kid was helping, but isn't anymore. Stantons doing great! No crashes, and he's learning. This is the first time he's ever gone this fast in a car before.
Funny, I hear a lot about Owen, but nothing about my Dad when he was pit crew leader in '97 with Arie at the 500. They took the pole AND won the race....to me, that's something to talk about. He's been on a team for every 500 since 1988. He's been on Tom Sneva's team(remember when he stuck in the wall on the straight on the parade lap!) to Cheevers rookie year, A.J. Foyt, Treadway, so many drivers, so many more teams. Those guys have serious experience....I would want team "AARP" as my pit guys any day!
The old man can still move, he's barely aged.

---------- Post added at 11:13 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:10 AM ----------

Oh yeah, my Dad says Stanton's doing great and he's learning fast.
But more imortantly, the 500 car is set up really well and even though the lap times have not been over 220, he says the car still has plenty left in it...so we'll se what SB can do with it. Give him a chance, and more seat time, and everyone will be impressed.

...or maybe not....

Or maybe so.Give the man a fair chance getting seat time and laps under his belt.He may start 33rd and finish 33rd but hes going to do it and I would give anything to start last and finish last in the spectacle myself.