Got A Favorite For The '500'?

[cabinetman]

I'm favoring Marco Andretti. That would make Dad and Gramps very happy.

.

[tommyt654]

Dario or the kid that wrecked last lap leading last yr.

[TB Roye]

One of the Andretti cars. I watch both days of qualifying. What a sad sight no body in the stands. Until the Idiots who run Indy Car go back to the roots and get the drivers out of the Midget and Sprint cars, the ones who run on the local tracks they will never develope the following they used to have. I think the guys who were there in the sixties and Seventies who came out of those ranks proved that you don't have to be a road racer to drive rear engine cars. I am talking about Foyt, the Unsers, Rutherford and Rick Mears (he raced off road vehicles). I have been going to races there since the 50's and this years looked bad only 33 cars entered so every body gets in no matter how slow. They should have given the engine manufactures more lead time so there would be more engines and other equipment. Now I have nothing against the foreign driver they are good but outside of the top 5 or 6 foreigners and the 6 Americans, who are these other drivers? I know a lot of them bring money and that why they have rides but it sure doesn't help the sport.

The NASCAR All Star Race last night was boring and the stands there were not full either. The good part of the race unless you were a Jimmy Johnson fan was watching Jr. and AJ come from the back of the pack and watching them in the Qualifying race. It used to be you didn't have to over hype the races they built and had their own excitement. I will watch the 500 and have a toast to the ghosts with my old racing buddies and maybe go next year. We will have our traditional Bar B Que Sunday evening and watch the 600 in the back yard.

Both series should look very closely at ways to make the races more appealing. NASCAR stop going to these 1 1/2 mile cookie cutter tracks. Indy Car get back on the Ovals with America drivers from the local Sprint and Midget tracks. Indy car would have been much better off with Ken Schrader, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Kasey Kahne, Ryan Newman and AJ Almadinger (where did he get the AJ from?) Sam Hornish, and a couple of guys in Nationwide who come from dirt tracks. Rant off


Tom

[cabinetman]

One of the Andretti cars. I watch both days of qualifying. What a sad sight no body in the stands.
Tom

I can't believe the cost to go to these races. Gate charges, paddock passes are expensive. If you haven't read about the F1 Circuit of Americas parking and seat costs...read this. No wonder the stands are empty.

.

[TB Roye]

F1 is a rip off both to the fans and organizers. All the money goes to Esclone

[parnelli]

Indy Car get back on the Ovals with America drivers from the local Sprint and Midget tracks.

And I would suggest that this is what Tony tried to do with creating the IRL, and in doing so put open wheel racing in the states on a path to irrelevance.

[gerti]

F1 is a rip off both to the fans and organizers. All the money goes to Esclone

It's a big business. And I much rather watch F1 than open-wheel oval racing, which is a recipe for disaster.

[mpc]

I can probably think of only a handful of drivers in IRL these days... and I used to be an avid open wheel fan back in the CART days. I always went to the Long Beach Grand Prix - all three days. Ever since Tony George decided to "take his ball away from the other kids and go somewhere else because they wouldn't let him be in charge on the playground" open wheel in the US has been dying. With most of the races the last few years on stupid cable channels that nobody carries it is easy to see why there's almost no sponsor money, especially for the teams without big names.

I can't get interested in spec racing which is what open wheel has become. Oh sure, this year they finally decided to have more than one engine manufacturer but that's too little, too late. NASCAR is trying to be a spec series too, unfortunately. Whenever the track owners/promoters have to resort to contrivances like this year's NASCAR All-Star race had you know things are bad.

Back to the original question: who do I think will will win the 500? A Penske driver... probably Will Power though I'd like to see Helio get another one - he at least is fun to watch unlike so many of today's "I gotta thank sponsor a, b, c, d, e, f, g..." automatons.

mpc

[TB Roye]

We used to take bets on who would have to interview AJ Foyt after he dropped out or was involved in wreck. Started listening to the race in 1952. my first sports hero was Vuky saw him every week in the Midget races here in Sacramento. Can still remember where I was and what I was doing when he was killed. Tony George got coned into spending 120 mil. upgrading the speedway for F1 and paid up wards of 20 mil. a year to have it.

Tom

[cabinetman]

Now I have nothing against the foreign driver they are good but outside of the top 5 or 6 foreigners and the 6 Americans, who are these other drivers? I know a lot of them bring money and that why they have rides but it sure doesn't help the sport.
Tom

+1. I'm with ya on this. Some of these drivers are really out of the blue. Most likely they are ones that have some experience, but bring money to the team. For years, it's been about money.

.

[Knottscott]

I wouldn't mind seeing Marco Andretti or Graham Rahal win for nostalgia sake, but I also wouldn't mind seeing JR Hildebrand redeem himself from wrecking while in the lead on the 4th turn last year.

Indy racing is starting to read like Formula 1....there's a whole bunch of names I don't recognize and can't pronounce properly....how can you care who wins if you don't know who's racing? It's really too bad that Indy Car has come to this....the cars are great, but who are these people?

[Lonnie in Orlando]

It's a shame, I haven't been following the drivers and cars for this year's race.

My best memories of the 500 were listening to it on the RADIO when I was a teenager in Kentucky in the early 60's. "The Greatest Spectical in Racing." I knew all of the drivers. Firestone was the tire. Offenhauser was the engine of choice. I felt like I was watching it first hand.

I lived in Indianapolis for a couple of years in the mid 70's. Indy residents were passionate about the race. AJ Foyt was a cult hero in Indy and all over the US. I went to one 500 while I lived there. Not uncommon ... the last couple of laps were rained out. Saw Smokey Yunick wrenching on a car and snuffing out a little engine fire with his shop rag during trials. Side note - I regret not meeting him and going to his garage in Daytona years later while it was still open.

- Lonnie

[Pappy]

...only 33 cars entered so every body gets in no matter how slow. Tom

That is one helluva footnote for what was once "the greatest spectacle in motor racing".

Like many, I remember listening to and watching the Mears, Unsers, Foyt, Ruby and the other legends. There was an uproar from the fans when foreign drivers were allowed to compete.

Lots of great moments through the years as well as some controversy. Only one driver in history refused the traditional milk in the winner's circle, because part of his sponsorship was the Florida Orange Juice Assn. Then there was the 'Whosh-mobile', Granatelli's turbine that Mario would have driven to the widest victory lead ever had a $2 bearing not failed. It was so heavily restricted the next year that it was even competitive.

[gerti]

There was an uproar from the fans when foreign drivers were allowed to compete.

Foreign drivers have always been a part of the 500. Four of the first six Indianapolis 500 winners were non-US drivers, and there have been many through the years. In the 50's the 500 was part of the F1 championship, and saw drivers like Alberto Ascari in a Ferrari in 1952. JimClark, Graham Hill, and others followed. Later we saw Emerson Fittipaldi, Teo Fabi, Arie Luyendyk, Nigel Mansell...

[Knottscott]

Foreign drivers have always been a part of the 500. Four of the first six Indianapolis 500 winners were non-US drivers, and there have been many through the years. In the 50's the 500 was part of the F1 championship, and saw drivers like Alberto Ascari in a Ferrari in 1952. JimClark, Graham Hill, and others followed. Later we saw Emerson Fittipaldi, Teo Fabi, Arie Luyendyk, Nigel Mansell...

My concern isn't so much about having foreign drivers in the race, it's having such a large percentage of foreign drivers, most of whom I'm not familiar with. I think the promoters would be wise to have more American drivers and more recognizable drivers.