Nicely said, the safety that the IndyCar Series has created is great. TK and Vitor only having minimal injuries after impact with the wall like that is amazing. I also think your right about the fans. They just want to complain about something. I thought it was a good race with the storyline changing multiple times during the race. My take on the issue with best drivers in the world goes like this. All great drivers make mistakes (did anyone see Lewis Hamilton stuff it in the wall during qualifications this weekend?). I sat in turn 4 at Indy and the wrecks during the "500" were very similar to what happened Friday at the Hoosier Hundred. The drivers would try to pass on the outside and get in the grey area and it looked like the car would not turn no matter how much you slowed the car down. This happened to Levi at the Indy mile and it happened to Davey and RHR and other good drivers at the "500". These are all good drivers who made mistakes. As for the rent-a-ride deal it is dumb to put that against the IRL because I would hate to see how much of this is going on in our beloved sprint car racing.

And the fact that Plymouth, Chrysler, Buick, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, and AMC are gone out of NASCAR and have been replace with the COT and Toyota's.

Indycar has had foreign made engines before (Benz, Mercedes, Mercedes-Benz, Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Pugeot). We also have had foreign car makes before; those listed above as well as March, Lola, Reynard, McLaren, Lotus, Cooper and Dallara. The huge difference is those makes were accepted alot more than in NASCAR, although rear engine cars are still looked at as being a bad thing.

Anyone have any photos from Indy in 1997 of # 44 One Call Car of Steve Kinser?

You probably can still get photos of Kinser and the #44 at the IMS Photo Shop.

REH

Nope but I still got an autographed hat from that

Steve, Billy Boat, and Jack Hewitt getting to race in the 500 was the only good thing to come out of the IRL mess...

You will be hard pressed to find fault with the safety of the IRL but you can find fault in the way that good drivers cant get a ride because they dont have enough money to bring to the deal. So this brings up another problem if I own a car and want to run the 500 but I cant afford it what do I do. Sad to say you take the money and put a driver in it that would not be your first,second, or third choice. The cost of racing top level racing is big time expensive.

It is sad, but my point is its going on in all forms of motor sports and it doesn't look like its going to change anytime soon. Buddy Lazir in IndyCar Hud Cone in sprint cars and JJ Yeley in nascar all deserve a good ride. But none of these guys have the $$$ to pay for a top of the line ride and I guess we as fans are just going to need to deal with it.

I had a thought what if the people here on IOW took up a cause to get there favorite driver in a ride. We could take a poll. And for your vote to count you would have to pay 100.00 then the driver that wins the poll gets a ride in a car. I know I as an owner of a pavement SC car I would do it so I am sure you would not have any problems getting a car owner to take the deal. The rules would have to be it would have to be a driver that does not currently have a ride in the Division that is choosen. There are other details that would have to be worked out but it could be done.