To be fair, Kahne was far on his way before he went to Nascar, and Newman has stated numerous times he never wanted Indy, he wanted Daytona. Which is fine, to each their own.

There hasn't been a ladder system in years, but I will say this, people can bash the WKA and karting all they want, but look where all the guys are coming from. If the schedule is a lot of road courses, could Levi Jones run them, sure, but probably not worth a damn for a while. Not at least to the likes of Franchitti, Power, and Dixon. The ladder system works, because it entices people to try to get to the next level.

We can scream and hollar all we want, but I thought TV was supposed to put WoO on the map years ago with all the new "nascar" tracks getting dirt tracks? How'd that turn out, do they even run at Texas anymore? Vegas became a joke, and the racing at Charlotte really isn't all that good. All these big sponsors were supposed to come in, and start swooping up drivers left and right. That surely didn't happen, but it did change the scope of it.

Sprint cars are sprint cars, and a guy by the name of John Heidenriech said it best a while back on ESPN SpeedWorld (also another deal that was promised to bring drivers to the "big leagues"), he said something very profound. "Why can't a Silver Crown Car be the pennacle of racing?" It's the same thing. The way some think about Indy is the way I think about Kokomo, Eldora, and Haubstadt. Every last driver that has raced there in a sprint car is someone I look up to, why? Because they're racing something I would cut you know what off to race on a weekly basis at those places. Sprint cars, midgets, and Silver Crown is my pennacle, always has been and always will be.

Sure, it's dry going to Indy, but unless you have road course experience, it's not going to happen. You can't be competitive at Indy without "buying" a ride due to the fact if you don't have an engineer worth a darn, you aren't getting in the show, and you're not going to be competitive. Look at Swindell back in the 80's. Tried a few times, and never made it because of what he was in. But he's one of the best sprint car drivers ever. Racing is racing, and to knock Randy Bernard on trying to get "our guys and girls" to the next level, that's just stupid. He's done more for the good of IndyCar than TG did in 15 or so years running it into the ground. They didn't build Rome overnight, and they can't fix what's broke overnight. But damn, they are on a REALLY good start.

Auto Racing ebbs and flows like anything else....strong today...not so much tomorrow.

Indy car racing is on an upswing right now. They are doing many things to encourage the growth of the "local" racer. Randy Benard is doing a great job in my opinion.

I refuse to downgrade the quality of drivers driving any racecar on the basis of their financial status or country of origin.

If you can drive you can drive...period.

I personally believe that we will see more of the dirt/USAC guys have a chance to run in the Indy Car series.

As far as getting a career in motorsports....if that is what you want, go get it.

A perfect post

That's why all the Foreign drivers are in Indy car because that is all those guys race over seas is road courses!

Those great days of us Sprint car guys getting a chance died after JJ and Hewitt ran at Indy!

The Sprint car Guys that was fortunate to move up chose NASCAR why more money more racing you can't blame them for that!

There are many who choose that route Jeff Gordon, Ryan Newman, Kasey Khane,Tony Stewart, JJ Yeley as recently Cole Whitt, Brad Sweet, and before them Bryan Clauson!

Bryan was picked up early in his career by a team that goes Indy or NASCAR and he went NASCAR. Was he giving the choice I don't know but he went NASCAR if he chose that great choice more money more racing more fans!

I am glad he is now in Indy Car Lights as He has The very best team to drive for so he has a REALLY good shot at becoming a full time Indy Car guy as many of Sam's former drivers have moved up!

I hope he does make it! Good luck BC!

I asked Sam Schmidt where he and others look mostly for up coming racers to hire and he told me road course racing! That sucked hearing that but it is what it is!

So I guess us that want to race Indy car need to sell out our Sprint cars and race road courses!

I would love to run at Indy It's been my dream all my life but I will keep my Sprint Car cause I love it and will do it as long as I possibly can!

Danny 24

Yep, gotta trade in your American sprint car for an old European race car in the new ladders deal. Dallara is coming to town, though, so Indianapolis can say they make Indycars again. I wonder what Smokey Yunick would say.

Indy cars should run on ovals, period. They were ALWAYS an oval series up untill the time CART was formed and the need for road racing "ride buyers" became strong. EVERY major US road racing series has failed while the main oval series (NASCAR) has grown. Yes i know NASCAR runs ovals, but only 2 out of how many races? and mainly to be in those markets where the tracks are, build an oval in New York area and watch how fast the Glen loses it's date...... Do away with road courses and you do away with the need for foreign born road racers, most of whom have never won on a large scale. Sad that a couple of the drivers, including Princess Sparkle Pony NEVER won at lower levels. Winning should be a requirement to climbing the "ladder". Let's be honest, most of these current "drivers" would have never been allowed at INDY before the CART-USAC split..... And don't even go there on an oval driver learning road courses, oval drivers have learned to RACE and they can much easier learn road courses than road course drivers can learn how to RACE side by side cleanly. Simple evidence is Mario Andretti but you can throw in Foyt and a few others and current drivers like BC and Levi would PROVE that they could run on any track but they will never get a fair chance(kind of like a couple ex-USAC drivers in NASCAR who have won on road courses). Sorry but the simple fact of the matter is unless an oval tracker brings money then no ride because the snobs that are INDY owners think that a winning USAC star is far beneath them and prefer a pretty face attached to a non-winner instead of a RACER.

You have some good points Racerdog45, but that statement is just not true. USAC ran on road courses in Japan and Argentina to name a couple in the 60's. Colorado also. USAC stocks ran several road course races at places Phoenix, IRP, and some others. Rodger Ward won a sports car race on a RC in a MIDGET. And I forgot USAC's F5000 series that ran on all road courses. Remember Brian Redman as USAC F5000 champ?

Roger Penske has reigned supreme over the American open-wheel world for over 30 years now. Nobody stands up to him. Tony George tried to and look what happened to him. As I understand it, Penske came into power with a handful of others with the formation of CART after the 1978 USAC plane crash. It was at this time racing became more about money than anything. I got this off of wikepedia, and it's the same story my parents have told me.

"1978 plane crash

On April 23, 1978, eight key members of the USAC, plus the pilot, were killed when their 10-seat Piper Navajo Chieftain crashed during a thunderstorm 25 miles southeast of Indianapolis.[3]

Killed were:

Ray Marquette, USAC's vice-president of public affairs and a former sportswriter for The Indianapolis Star
Frank Delroy, chairman of the USAC technical committee
Shim Malone, starter for USAC races and head of its midget racer division
Judy Phillips, graphic artist and publication director of USAC's newsletter
Stan Worley, chief registrar
Ross Teeguarden, assistant technical chairman
Don Peabody, head of the sprint division
Dr. Bruce White, assistant staff doctor
Don Mullendore, owner and pilot of the plane.

The effect on the USAC, and for open-wheel racing in the United States, was devastating, especially since it closely followed the death of Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Tony Hulman."

True but still was mainly an OVAL track series with cars built as such, and they still ran dirt back then. As far as F5000 goes, they failed, as did/has Can am and Trans AM several different times, along with the orginal IMSA, USAC's version of can am (USRRC I think) CART, the follow ups to CART and so on. Sorry but the vast majority of AMERICAN race fans want AMERICAN drivers (and American cars), drivers they have watched come up thru the ranks. Which is why no matter what people say or do untill the folks at INDY get it thru their heads that they need a stronger AMERICAN presence and more ovals than road courses INDY will NEVER climb above a niche sport whereas NASCAR stays strong, even in down times. It's sad when Princess Sparkle Pony who NEVER won in her life untill a fluke win in IRL (with a huge wieght break, notice she hasn't since won she lost that advantage) and Marco(1 win) and Graham Rahal(1 win) are hailed as stars whent there are much better drivers/racers like BC. I like road racing, but as F1 or a true road race series, INDY cars should not be a series where there are as many ( and now MORE!) road races as oval..... this is JMHO and I am sure there are those who will disagree, but again I'd say a much larger group will agree, and has by voting to NOT go to INDY and NOT watch those boring road races on TV....

USAC taking the dirt tracks off the Championship Trail was the beginning of the end for our sprintcar & midget heroes path to "The 500". It's never been the same since & never will be. SAD!

Sprint cars are sprint cars, and a guy by the name of John Heidenriech said it best a while back on ESPN SpeedWorld (also another deal that was promised to bring drivers to the "big leagues"), he said something very profound. "Why can't a Silver Crown Car be the pennacle of racing?"

This isn't a bad point. What says a Dave Darland or Levi Jones has to run te Indy 500 in order to be considered successful? I understand wanting to see these guys on the big stage in fact I'm there with you, but to me, someone who can claim a USAC national championship is just as successful as someone who can say I'm a NASCAR champ, or indycar, etc. It's like a world series champ and super bowl champ. They are the best at what they do.
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