By May I'm sure Patrick and Dario will have had so much of their fill of fender racing they will be chomping at the bit to get back in a Dallara.

Who Cares! When They Get Back To Midgets And Sprint Car Driver Racing Indy Most American Open Wheel Fans Could Care Less!!!!!!

You're right Duke and I don't understand why these car owners and management can't see that.

This is a popular belief of people that wish there was only two types of racing Open wheel and closed wheel.

This is so wrong and is like saying Cup and DP are the same because they are closed wheel

Not all open wheel fans are sprint car fans and not all closed wheel fans are NASCAR fans

Most open wheel fans do care and the 500 will have more people in attendance then USAC National Sprints or Midgets will for the for the ENTIRE season

Half the field is American. Which is a shock in itself because the FIRST boarding race school is about to open. The thing most people do not relize is these Forgein drivers are better educatated in marketing and the way the car works which gives them the advantage in talking to engineers and sponsers then the majority of natural born drivers.

Face it the way to Indy is through through Carts on road courses

But some people are never happy and will never be happy and always remembers how great things were and refuse to see how great things are or can be and that hurts the sport more then not having dirt track racers at Indy

What Hurts Racing At Indy Is That You Don't Know The Drivers Or There Names Till They Show Up At Indy With There Check Books! Try This Take All The Open Wheel Drivers That Went To Nascar And Add 20 More Like Dave Darland The Jones's Tracy Hines (ect) And You Would Pack The Place Like The Good Old Days! Can You Remember When The First Day Of Time Trials Where PackED? I Can! No I'am Not Happy! BeEN Going There Since 1946! Seen A Lot Of Changes But When It Become All Rear Engine Cars And Rich Guys Buying Rides Its Went To Hell! Been There!

The top quality rides are still not bought by people with check books they are bought by talent and SOME of the second teir seats are there because of someones check book got opened but that is the same as it is in almost every series and most of those second teir seats would not be there if noone opened up the wallet because some one needs to foot the bill


You could never be more incorrect about not knowing the drivers until they show up. I know plenty of the drivers before they sit in their first indy car because I am race fan and follow several different series all over the globe not just the narrow version of what is in front of me.

90% of Indy car drivers were succesful in open wheel rear engined cars on circits you have never cared to learn about before they ever got to the IRL

If you want technoligy that stopped 40 years ago then watch NASCAR if you want to watch a fluid series with a car that is constantly evolving that is has some of the top engineers designing some of the fastest and safest race cars in America then watch the IRL

SUPERDUKE should know better... :kookoo

If you are driving Midgets and/or Sprints and you want to make it to Indy , you'll at least need a grandstand ticket and maybe a mapquest !
Midgets / Sprints need not apply .... it's a different day !
Go to Europe ( as did Danica , Graham Rahal and many others ) , drive Formula Ford , Formula Renault , GP1 , etc. , achieve some status through accomplishments and get noticed. Return to America and tout your resume. Associate in the corporate world as you'll need some money as "ride buying" is always a viable option.

And , while we are on the subject - "NEWS FLASH" ... Karts to Quarter Midgets to Mini Sprints to 600's to full Midgets , Sprints .... it will no longer pave your road to NASCAR ! The open wheel exodus to NASCAR is over !

A lot of youngsters today are coming up just like Gordon , Stewart , Kahne , Yeley ... driving the cars and series as they did and hoping it all leads to NASCAR. Not gonna happen ! ( that dog no longer hunts ! ).

Study the path of Joey Logano. Yes , he competed in Quarter Midgets at ages 6 , 7 , 8 ...
but what followed made the difference ! Bandoleros , Legends , ASA , Hooters Pro Cup , Busch East.

Late Models. Pavement. Richard Childress will tell you that the scouts are looking at those showing great promise in Late Models... taxi cabs on pavement.

Dario , Carpentier , Hornish , Allmendinger , Villeneuve ... forget it ; not helping to open any doors from open wheel. Anybody in Charlotte and Mooresville will tell you !!

Brian Clauson may have made it in under the wire ... and he would tell you that he is under tremendous pressure to perform and attract sponsor interest. I wish him great fortune in all that lies ahead! ( I like Brian ... raced with him at Mt. Lawn in Regional Midgets a couple times ).

More like Joey Logano .... that's the latest trend. More like him. Believe it !

Paul Gray :greenflag: www.paulgray28.com

Aint there technicallly about ten teams that only run the 500 namely Johnathan Byrd and a few others? Also Backups will be qualified and if nothing goes wrong with the main car, They will probably run.

I also think some of the exedus crew will be looking to return as a couple have already been bumped out of Napcar due to lack of sponsorship and a few poor performances or not making the races to begin with.



I was pretty impressed they managed 24-25 teams for this openener. Vs the 12-14 either could usually muster for the split series. A couple of teams didn't even make it to the track as they were having problems getting all the stuff together to run the dillara/honda so early after the merger. The teams that made it already had a jump before the announcement. and a couple teams folded, At least for 08

We may be moving on up! and besides, This first year is a reaquaintence of two already diminished series.

Chuck, looking forward to the days a few new motors and chassis are introduced. It don't mean much to some but I would love to see FORD, Chevy and others. Even Mopar get involved.

Jonathan Byrd ( as in the Indiana "Jonathan Byrd Cafeteria 's ) sold out a number of years ago.

Ron Hemelgarn ( Hemelgarn Racing - Indianapolis ) is looking ... needs the money but has a car last driven in '07 by Richie Hearn.

PDM Racing - Indianapolis ; Owner Paul Diatlovich lives for the "500" ! Like Hemelgarn , has a car ... needs all the money. Jimmy Kite failed to make the field in '07.

Just to name a few and the last of a dying breed !

BTW - Both Hemelgarn and Diatlovich are the owners of "parked" New Generation Pavement Silver Crown cars. ( ...both pushed to the back of their shops and as one said , "wouldn't make a good boat anchor" ).

Paul Gray :greenflag: www.paulgray28.com

one the silver crown cars were junk to begin with, two 33 is the number i dont care what anyone says, its always been 33 should always be 33. i went for the first time last year and it was the most excited id ever been to go to a race, anywhere anytime. Ive been to eldora for the world 100, been to terre haute for the hut hundred, been to the coke 600, been to talladega been to alot of "big" but its still the INDIANAPOLIS 500 mile race. THEY CALL IT THE GREATEST SPECTACLE IN RACING FOR A REASON. three, would i be more interested in the irl if there were more usac guys o hell yes, guys that ive seen in a car before, you want to convince me that your one of the best in the world hop on the cushion in a dirt car either no fenders or even with fenders. dont get me wrong, i love the irl ive been waiting for the meger for 5 years, but it just annoys me that the irl got away from what it was meant to do, this about it 10 years ago you look at the entry list of an irl event you see names like: Tony Stewart, Billy Boat, JJ Yeley, Jason Leffler, Jack Hewitt, Davey Hamilton, hell Steve Kinser got to run the 500. jmo