It's getting close to that time of the year again when every body's eyes starts to look to Indianapolis for the greatest spectacle in racing.

Would anybody besides me pay money to watch a bunch of front engined Roadsters or Champ cars race at the Old Speedway again. Things are always better in your memory, but I think it would be neat to watch a bunch of home grown racers racing back at 16th street again. One requirement would be the driver had to race at least 20 sprint and or champ races in the previous year. Can you imagine the sight of 33 front engine race cars with their drivers out in the wind going down that long front stretch at close to 200 mph. Us 1000cc racers call them upright racers no laying down with your feet way out in front. With the strides we have made in safety in the last few years it should be a doable deal.

If you have never seen these old cars at Indy, you sure don't know what you have missed. Like Phoenix to the tenth power. I just don't like watching these new slot cars race each other and I would bet there are a bunch of other people who don't either.

Honest Dad himself

Might be fun to watch but those cars arent built to withstand a crash at the speeds they would be going there.

Stop being so serious John, since this is just a fantasy anyway, it will happen after the Speedway puts in the soft rubber walls, so instead of a crash they just bounce off and keep on going. My addition to this great idea is to make sure there are a few NOVI's in the field just to scare the kids. If they hold their ears for the Indy cars of today wait till they hear a NOVI. Thank God i got to see (& hear) them in their day. Maybe next year we can add NOVI power to the Chevy, Honda, and Lotus at the Speedway, bob

They did back in the day. Speed would not be a whole lot more than on the big tracks of today. It would just be on a bigger track. With all that wind you can just go so fast then you run out of horse power. You might say because of the configuration of the car it has it's own governor built in. About the slickest and fastest roadster belonged to guy named Jim Hurtubise it was powered by a cooler of Millers power plant. Sure did blow USAC's mind. It was plenty fast just not as fast as the lay down cars.

Honest Dad himself

With the "soft" walls, I doubt a crash would be as bad as it was back in the day, and, I have a feeling the drivers would have more respect for the cars they would be driving, rather than having a compound full of them. Bob!

You might not be able to see the Novi race car but you could sure follow it all the way around the race track and know where it was at any time. You could even tell when it blew up. Try that now. Now you need a TV. They could make a car sound like that again but the town of Speedway would probably give them a noise ticket.

Honest Dad himself

I wish everyone could be lucky enough to find "Ralphy the Racer" at Kellys Pub 2 some Monday night during DO's show and hear his story about blowing the bottom out of a Novi at the Speedway one year. I think he told me once that his ears are still ringing. One great idea someone had in the past few years was the Thunder Roadsters, i know they're more like legends cars underneath, but the look is still a classic, and we found out one night at IRP that they can go thru turn one 3 wide (and all 3 came out the other side fine). I'm afraid the roadsters are just a great memory for those of us old enough to have enjoyed them, and a classic thing to see on the throwback day at the Speedway. bob

I hope more people would go than attend sprint races. Plenty of empty seats at the races I went to last weekend. When we can sell out 3000 seats maybe we could sell out Indy.

When the rear engine cars came to Indy USAC started to loose their spot in the pecking order of things. It didn't require a driver of great skill to drive one of the new cars but he did need to be a driver with a great backing (MONEY). The guys with driving skills were no longer needed they just needed a guy who new a guy with a lot of money and had a good line of bull to go with it. It helped if he was too young to shave and available for the lady's.

Smoke was probably the last guy to make it on his skill and maybe just a little help of a rich guy that liked him. A race like this could be the savior of USAC. USAC does not have a top of the line series like it once had in the (Indy 500). When the cart thing started the USAC went down the tubes. I can remember going to watch AJ or Parnelli race just because they also ran the 500 mile race. When you get "Smoke" to race in one of your shows the crowd is just going to be bigger. True race people know the great drivers of today, but without the ultimate race the average Joe just never learns their names and does not build any intrest to see that driver race on the small bull rings.

This could be an all American deal and wouldn't cost an arm and a leg to do. It would also be a great way to spot light some of the tallent we got out there now and maybe keep some of them out of those danged Taxi cab things. It's a shame when a driver who started out to win the Indy 500 ends up going to NASCAR just because that is his only way up the ladder. It is a shame when car counts go down at local tracks because they can't come up with any big name driver to draw in a crowd.

Honest Dad himself

I was too young too see a Novi at the track but my Dad said you could be on the frontstretch with a car on the frontsretch and still hear the novi on the backstretch! I was in Novi Michigan a few years ago in a motel and they had a engine from a Indy car right in the convention center there..I never put the engine and the town in Michigan together till then...