HKamp, I'll correct you, Ed Carpenter. As for the gold crown , or whatever you called them, it was doomed to failure, at least for USAC. It went as I knew it would go. I told people when it started , if it worked, NASCRAP would swallow it up, if it failed,USAC's fault . To depend on one or two people (France and Chitwood) for the survival of your series is not the most intelligent thing I've ever heard of either.

I could write about this topic forever, in the end it just came down to poor planning, because if the planning had been done right, it would still be here.

Don't think carpenter ever won a usac sprint championship. What year did he win it?

Yes...you are correct. Tony Stewart was the last USAC Sprint Car champ to get a full season Indy Car ride. I forgot about him. Even with that said, that is what...2 drivers in the last 40 years? Not good odds that as a short track champion you are going to get an opportunity in Indy Car..

Carpenter may have not won the title, but he drove dirt and pavement, and won the James/O'Conner race at Salem.Everyone else went south, where they pay you to drive, unlike Indy, where you pay them to drive.

I have a question. .. what happened to the USAC "scholarship" program that sent BC to the 500 a couple years ago? Seems to me that they said that the USAC champ would go to the 500 the following spring every year.

That was a program spear headed by Randy Bernard. When he was removed as CEO of IndyCar, the scholarship went away.

That was an Indy CAR program spear headed by Randy Bernard. When he was removed as CEO of IndyCar, the scholarship went away.

I agree that money buys a lot of the rides at Indy and many of the drivers there have no business being there. On the other hand if you think there isn't any skill at Indy then you and I were watching different versions of this years Indy 500. I thought it was a great race from start to finish and I think a great job has been done to bring fans back to IMS.

Sad to say it but, you need deep pockets to get a ride down south too. Ask BS III what it's cost him and his sponsors for the few rides he's had down there. I believe a seat for the Daytona Nationwide race will cost around $65K plus any needed repairs. It's sad to watch races where 1/2 the drivers have zero chance of winning and it's not because of the equipment. Unless you own the car, I don't think there's any form of racing where you don't need to bring $$ to drive. Even if it's tires and fuel. Can someone even make a living running USAC anymore? etc.

would have worked better if NASCAR had built dirt miles in the infield of all their tracks and left the cars alone