Chris Bell. He's a good shoe!

So dad.....who didn't belong in the 500? You have obviously closely studied and broken down the drivers throughout their careers and worked all of their contracts. What I find as odd is that the one open wheel guy who has actively pursued rides at the 500.....has ran it twice. Why is the mentality that you have to wait for some magical man to come along and pluck you from obscurity; still the "Right" way to so things? Go get your own young fellas..... Don't wait for anyone. That applies even if all you want to do is to be the Paragon champ.

My own team....stealing the best mechanics and engineers and my driver could be anyone of 20 different guys.Santos, Hines, Swansons, Larson etc....Lot of past and present talent I'd like to see.

Leader, I think you were a little harsh on dad, even though his post doesn't really apply to this hypothetical link. He stated what appears to be true. That said, I think the 3 most obvious candidates have already been mentioned in, bell, rico, and Larson. Let's just hope that we get a few more of our guys in the big show!

Anyone who thinks the guys running up front in the 500 didn't earn their ride or are there simply because they are no talent ride buyers are delusional. It took serious stones and incredible talent to do what they were doing. Are there ride buyers? Of course. Hell there are ride buyers at the local tracks these days. Probably better than half of the chili bowl is made up of ride buyers.
As far as the premise of this thread take one of the young hot shoes and get them Pro Mazda and Lights experience then try to put them in the big show.

Leader

I apologize for my remarks. I guess what I was trying to say is Indy Car Racing has evolved. The remarks by Scott Goodyear reflect that fact. The skill sets required to drive an Indy Car today are much different than were required 40 or 50 years ago when Indy and USAC where in their hey days.

The two American Racers in the Indy 500 this year that I can think of Ed Carpenter and Bryan Clauson both came up through Midgets and Sprint car racing have followed a much different path to Indy than than did their fellow competitors. Most of their rear engine pavement racing was done racing on small 1/20th of a mile oval race tracks around the mid west starting at age 5 and usually ending before they reached the age of 15. Their next bit of seat time came in the form of Micro Midgets>>>> Midgets>>> and Sprint cars in the case of Bryan. The same experience holds true for Ed Carpenter with a little bit of Formula racing thrown in for good measure. After his 15th birthday I would guess that 90%+ of Bryans racing experience was achieved on dirt race tracks.

The average Indy Car driver starts out in Cadet Kart racing also at the age of about 5, followed by years of Kart racing culminating in Shifter kart racing as a teenager. From there they move up to various forms of Formula racing on road courses around the country. The good ones with enough backing follow this experience with a few years racing on the continent to further hone their skills with these very delicate and precise handling type of race car.

Good drivers are good drivers period and can adapt quite well to different cars and racing conditions. The racers in the 500 cars are in no doubt almost as good as they can be in their chosen form of racing not counting Formula I racing. So as Scott Goodyear said Racers from the ranks of American Dirt Track racing are indeed out of their element when trying to perform on the level of an Indy Car racers today. Fans of Indy car racing are also a different breed today and not at all related to the typical Saturday night Dirt Track Fan. They enjoy road course racing and fast oval pavement racing but most of them have very little if any interest in dirt oval racing.

There is however a form of high caliber racing that does require drivers with the ability to control very high powered race cars that tend to always be just a little on the loose side and require a driver capable of driving with his feet and butt as well as with his hands and eyes. These people still place more value in driving ability under these conditions than the wallet thickness of the driver that they are pursuing>>>>unfortunately for us dirt oval fans that racing group in known as NASCAR. It seems we have our limits set at Winged Outlaw Sprint cars and half of us can not even bring ourselves to say that they are truly Sprint Car Racers.

Picking a driver to compete in Indy Car racing from the list of the many very talented Drivers we watch every Saturday night racing in Midgets and Sprint Cars is "Rather Naive". Now picking out the ones that go on to fame and fortune racing in NASCAR that is a tough one.

Honest Dad himself

CFH Racing w/ Bobby Santos.

CFH racing was my sentimental fave anyway but I think this month proved they could handle the work load. (Helio voice) For certain my team would be them.

My driver would have to be a Hoosier. So many great shoes... but either DD or Shane Hollingsworth would likely be my first call.
Dave because of the obvious but also the picture of him and others standing at the fence watching IRL practice stuck w/ me. Shane because of the family friendship connection and the throwback to the early Mini-Indy days racing quarters w/ Ed Carpenter.

Go Robert Ballou. You said that it was for fun so that is my favorite. Hopefully that he will be able to keep his head on his shoulder and win the usac points and have a chance to live the dream that all drivers have. Go madman. You could only imagine what that race would be like. Lol

I would go with Ganassi, and why not go with Kyle Larson who already works for the man anway? An alternative might be Kasey Kahne. For no more time than he actually races open wheel, he is amazing. And just to stir things a little, how about giving Danica another shot? Do any of you guys that actually drive open wheel believe she could be a winner if she would push it whenever she has a chance. I have never driven an open wheel racer at 200 mph plus, so I am only asking. Fun question. Thanks for posting it.

For nostalgia reasons, I would partner with Wilke Racers, paint the car all white with a big red #7 and hire the one and only all time winningest USAC sprint car driver Dave Darland.