You guys know all about it and hate it so much and throw guys under the bus for it right!

Well almost everyone likes Bryan Clauson right! I bet you won't throw him under the bus for the same reason. He will be driving for Sam Schmidt Motorsports in the Indy Lights Freedom 100.

Because of a sponsorship that's the same as a buy ride folks someone is paying for it!

I will not disclose who it is cause, I don't know if its known publicy Only people that I know that knows is Sam, Bryan Clauson tne sponsor and me!

I wish you best of luck Bryan your with the best team in the Indy Lights series I will see ya in the pits at Indy!

Danny

I think there are a lot of people who still live by the fantasy all it takes to make it to the Indy 500 (or the higher echelons of most types of motorsports) is a driver with talent and a car owner who believes in him/her. The fact is racing has become many times more expensive than it is possible to offset by purse money earned, with NASCAR and F1 as possible exceptions. Sure, you have drivers who literally bought themselves there. But quite a few are guys that just find a way to make things happen. In open wheel you have guys like Justin Grant who moved to where the team is, works in the shop and does just about everything else, just so he can race. Robert Ballou, who works on the car, sweeps the shop and drives the hauler all over this half of the country, just so he can drive. Guys like Bryan Clauson, Jerry Coons, Tracy Hines and Dave Darland who race a punishing schedule of 100 races or more, just to continue getting the chance to drive straight at walls and fences @ 100mph. Or someone like Daron Clayton who basically ran out of money, but has time and time again came up with creative ways to add more to his shoestring budget. Racing 500 miles away from home, knowing he's one broken part away from being done. Trying to win a sponsorship from the website of a heartburn medication. Tell me that isn't thinking outside the box. Bottom line is, it takes a special kind of individual to do this for a living and not get discouraged. An average human being would.

So, sure, there are buy a rides. But for every one who is getting his chance without really deserving, there are two or three who have made sacrifices that nobody really knows about or could even understand. For every millionaire's kid, there's a Clauson, who has beat his skull in at Eldora, broken his neck and given up most of his teenage years, just to become an overnight success. Mainly using other people's money. But if you're a sponsor, why wouldn't you back a guy like this? Or in the case of the USAC Scholarship, anybody who can outdrive a guy like BC (or Levi Jones) over the course of a year.

Buy a ride's been the norm in the IRL fro a long time now, but at least there's a guy in charge now who thinks a little different and may help the tide change. It'll take time, though.

"You guys know all about it and hate it so much and throw guys under the bus for it right!"

not completely right.
its the combination of ride buying by "racers" that the AMERICAN race fan has never heard of.....leaving those AMERICAN drivers that SHOULD be in the show because of a lifetime of hard work, outside wishing and looking in. and the fans not nearly as interested anymore.
why do you think nascar looked so appealing for so long? and still does.

All things being equal BC should have already done his tour of duty in Indy Lights and would be setting his sights on the big race along with Levi, Windom and some of the other cream of the short track crop.

Why didn't Peyton Manning not need a buy-a-tryout? Why didn't Joey Votto need a buy-a-spring training? I can't help but think that if the NFL was run by the IndyCar bosses of a few years ago Jim Sorgi would be the Colts starting QB if he should show them the money and Manning would be in the Arena Football League making peanuts.

If I can get off work I will go to the Freedom 100 to root for Bryan Clauson. I am hoping he has a huge cheering section and hope Brandon Wagner does as well. Hopefully Randy will see this and use his influence and power of persuasion. I won't worry what the IndyCar owners think because, like Eddie Gossage says, they don't listen to the fans anyway.

Not completely right!

I am one of the AMERICAN drivers that wants to race there and I have worked my ass off If you knew anything about me you would know this!

You don't know these other drivers because they race on their home land like we do here and we don't follow their racing careers, they must work hard and have the same dream to Win the Greatest Spectacle in Racing the Indy 500!

If they can find the funding to come here and race good for them It takes money to race and if teams don't have sponsors cars sit even if the best driver ever is available. Remember they have to make the field and 33 spots to fill may the best man or women of any race win a spot in the race!

Don't get me wrong I would love it if they were all grass root American racers and we all know their names but it is what it is nothing we can do about it so why sit and complain about this every year it's just plain stupid to do!

Now you bashers have something to do!

Rear-engine cars suck no matter who's in them.

Now that's an educated statement Throwback racing!

Here’s another thing that needs to be kept in mind. How many guys running sprint cars have access to speak with million dollar sponsors? Sponsors on the dirt track level don’t have the funds to sponsor an IndyCar. Years ago a “smaller sponsor” could still help get to Indy, it can’t now. Take Big Game Tree Stands in WoO (using that since that series goes coast to coast), you think they would have the funds to sponsor an IndyCar if they wanted to? Not likely. Drivers that deal with sponsors on a smaller scale don’t have access to speak with those sponsors that can make a difference. So unless it becomes much cheaper or teams start finding more of their own money and then hiring, it’s going to be hard. If RB can keep things moving in the right direction, then maybe the latter will happen more. There is actual hope that might happen with him in charge, there was no hope before. Your driving should be your resume, but it’s not like that anymore. I don’t like it, but a driver either works hard to come up with something or they don’t move up. At least IndyCar now sees that it’s important to have short track guys again.

A foreign driver in many cases has more access to speak with those high dollar sponsors. Also, they can race much cheaper in the US than overseas so the money goes further. I read today that the money Dragon is getting for Tung is allowing them to run a second car which Scott Speed will drive. So do you take money from China and run two cars or take no money and run 0 cars? Hate it that those are the rules, but it is what it is. Personally, I just ignore those drivers I don’t care about. Speed I’m interested in seeing how he does, Tung I’m not because I don’t know anything about him…can’t relate to where he came from racing-wise (has nothing to do with where he is from). The key for fan is to be able to say, I saw that driver run X the last 3 years, now I want to follow them to see how they do. That’s how Nascar is for me. To me, that’s not racing. But I do check periodically to see how the guys I follow are doing. I can’t watch the whole thing because it bores me. Then only thing that has me check in are the drivers.

I would say that anyone who thinks one country can stand on their own anymore is completely ignorant. Not saying I like that fact, but it is what it is.

Scott Speed, whom I thought would be blacklisted from major racing (another issue), is only where he is because of Austria and getting a second chance because of China.

This ridiculous business of calling someone a foreigner in a country built on immigration is absurd. Then these same people call Nascar fans rednecks?

I don't see anyone bashing foreigner James Hinchcliffe who has a Canadian financial adviser backing him?

I think you guys really want Indycar to be an Indiana only business, but it is a little bigger then that.

I'm sure after reading these posts that those sponsors you need to get an Indy Car ride will be knocking your door down.