[openwheelKT]

Originally Posted by cecil98 767, Travis Gregg was a local sprint car driver (mainly Lawrenceburg Speedway) in the late 90's and early 2000's that somehow wound up with a one year deal to drive in the Infinity Pro Series with Sam Schmidt Motorsports. Immediately, Travis, qualified up front and consistantly ran up front. I believe he even won one. However, at the end of his deal? Never heard from again. He showed he was capable of the beating the foreign road racers but that wasn't good enough. He's gone.

He actually won 3 races in '05. He's run at least one race every year since....even ran two last year. I never could figure out after winning 3 races why he didn't return. Schmidt has had Lucas Oil on the #7 car for about 5 years so he's always had some sponsor money. That car has won the championship several times, but never with the same driver. Travis showed he can win, but if it's not good enough...what are you going to do?

The ONLY way a guy can make it is to get an Indy Lights ride and keep it for a few years to show what he can do. Davey Hamilton has started a team with Brandon Wagner driving. Nobody is going to hire a driver straight from dirt to run the series....just won't happen. I'm hoping that Chad Boat gets a chance at Lights. Hoping Billy has some connections to give him a chance. He has showed he can drive and works on the car....doesn't just drive it. Not saying he is the only one who deserves a chance, but he may be the only one who gets a shot right now.

The problem with Indy now is a team can't afford to show up for a one off without money. You can't build your own car and engine....you have to have the money up front for the car and engine. Before you could build your own stuff based on the money you had. The stuff may not have been the same level as the big teams, but it could still get you in the race. You can't do that anymore. That's why you don't see 60 teams show up anymore. Rich Vogler proved short track guys can make the race. Pretty much sat in an IndyCar once a year and made the race several times. Cars are basically the same today so I think it can still be done....there just aren't seats. If there is a seat, you have to bring money to it because the team can't run without it. Vicious circle.

[Gregg]

Originally Posted by 767 for all of you guys whining :crying: about non american drivers, show me 1 USAC guy in the last five years that were outwardly saying their goal was to race an indy car. All i ever hear or see in usac anymore is nascar nascar nascar. Why would a sponsor want to give these kids money for Indy if they are constantly talking about charlotte. It would be refreshing to see a driver step up and say there goal is to race an indy car. O wait what am I thinking none of these guys are from Indiana anymore. They learn about Indy off of TV and word of mouth.

The only driver out there that may race Indy Cars is Chad Boat and even they are probably keeping their options open. The under 21 sprint car set never saw A. J., Rick, and Al win one Indy 500 much less four Indy 500s, they never saw the golden years when most of the field were short trackers, never saw A. J., Mario and Parnelli raced against Jimmy, Jackie and Graham plus Lee Roy and Cale. What these under 21s have seen is, Tony S finding a better way, JJ Yeley get jacked around for years, Billy Boat with his opportunities getting fewer and fewer and Kasey Kahne getting dumped by Rahal in favor of Princess Danica. Even Travis Gregg, who tried to come up the "right" way and collect some wins along the way found a dead end and no interested suitors. No wonder none the under 21s have Indy Cars as their goal.

[Seadog]

I guess I am just thankful that IndyCar was formed at all. At least the USAC guys got to spend a couple years in IndyCar. Champcar/CART never even gave our heroes a sniff. Beats a big fat goose egg, right?

I guess the bottom line is - to each his/her own. If you want to attend races or watch IndyCar on TV then do it. If not then don't. Personally nothing is more thrilling than the Indy 500 and the Little 500. We are lucky to have both on one weekend.:thumb

[SUPERDUKE]

Originally Posted by BuckeyeBullet 40 entries for the 500...:cheers http://www.indy500.com/images/news/2...st_4_20_09.pdf

40 CAR AND 5 DRIVERS!:doh:

[smbpreformance]

Originally Posted by SUPERDUKE 40 CAR AND 5 DRIVERS!

Not sure where you learned to count but at the school I was taught in puts that list of announced drivers at 27

[767]

So in the last 5 years "Like my post said" you guys gave me 1 example. The guy from Lawrenceburge. I think ex usac guys Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon are prime examples that sprint car guys can be good on road courses. Same with the guy in your example. Everyone is right it takes money, yup there is more money in Nascar, but everyone misses my point. Just look at the USAC Midget tour or Sprint car tour (JUST THIS GROUP OF GUYS) show me 1 person talking about indy. I have not herd anyone talk about indy since Yaley or Stewart. When you say there are no drivers with big sponsors..... Cole Whitt has Red Bull.

[cecil98]

Originally Posted by Seadog I guess I am just thankful that IndyCar was formed at all. At least the USAC guys got to spend a couple years in IndyCar. Champcar/CART never even gave our heroes a sniff. Beats a big fat goose egg, right? I guess the bottom line is - to each his/her own. If you want to attend races or watch IndyCar on TV then do it. If not then don't. Personally nothing is more thrilling than the Indy 500 and the Little 500. We are lucky to have both on one weekend.:thumb

I was a huge fan of the IRL concept and mission too, Seadog. It was thrilling to see the smaller new teams competing and, also seeing some of our guys get a shot at the 500. By 2002 I thought they were turning the corner and on their way. I have never seen racing like they were producing in any series anywhere, any time. They should have stayed the course. They also had some tracks that were drawing good crowds and they should've built on that. I still blame that DUMB@SS judge who awarded CART's assets to kalkhoven etc. for $7million less than Tony bid. All that did was allow the war to continue to sap the resources of both sides for several more years. Finally, by the time Champcar threw in their cards, most of their teams were on life support. Even Rahal wasn't as solid as everyone thought. It looks like they're about done also. Now we're down to 22 cars or so between both series. Very sad.

---------- Post added at 05:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:38 PM ----------

Originally Posted by 767 So in the last 5 years "Like my post said" you guys gave me 1 example. The guy from Lawrenceburge. I think ex usac guys Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon are prime examples that sprint car guys can be good on road courses. Same with the guy in your example. Everyone is right it takes money, yup there is more money in Nascar, but everyone misses my point. Just look at the USAC Midget tour or Sprint car tour (JUST THIS GROUP OF GUYS) show me 1 person talking about indy. I have not herd anyone talk about indy since Yaley or Stewart. When you say there are no drivers with big sponsors..... Cole Whitt has Red Bull.

AGAIN! they don't even aspire to it anymore because they know there is no chance of landing a ride. These young drivers today have grown up following the Stewarts, Kahnes and Gordons in Neckcar. No young people have followed the Indy cars for almost a generation. They have had no ties to Indy Cars since the road racing set and the foreigners began taking over the sport in the 80's. Jeff Gordon was arguably America's best driver and he was told by CART car owners to take a hike. Well, he did, and he took a lot of Americas race fans with him. I honestly believe it was Jeff Gordon's success in Neckcar that brought it out of being a southern niche sport and into the living rooms of the entire country. I know there were other contributing factors too (like the 1979 live broadcast of Daytona) but, Jeff pushed them over the hump and into the "mania" phase.