Indy 500 is a joke

[bak189]

Hey Slim, at 62 years old......you don't know what old is......give it another 10 years and I will talk to you again..........


My first Indy 1956.......Ah, the good old days............

[Gwillard]

Cale Yarborough had one top ten, two crashes, and a mechanical failure at Indy. Heck, I'd claim that record.
Tim Richmond was a supermod champ who made one trip to Indy where he finished 9th and was Rookie of the Year in 1980. He then went to stock cars where he flourished.
Juan Pablo Montoya has 1 Sprint Cup win and when asked he will admit it took him three full seasons to get comfortable in a stock car.
In todays racing world there is so much difference between the handling of an F1 or Indy car and a stock car that at best somebody very good in one may do mediocre in the other if he/she is lucky. Today the sprints and midgets handle more like a stock car than they do an F1 or Indy car. That is why you see guys like Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman, and Kasey Kahne running NASCAR instead of IRL. That is also why Tony made a perfect transition from IRL to NASCAR compared to others who have attempted it in recent years.

[aircap]

I thought it was weird when Kenny Bernstein wanted to put Steve Kinser in an Indy car. Steve figured out it wasn't his cup of tea real fast.

[Seldom Seen Slim]

Bak, don't read this post (I guess that's the best way to warn you).

Better than just going to the races -- my dad worked for Premier Industrial from about '64 on -- and Premier supplied the fasteners from a garage they kept in the Gasoline Alley rows.  All the 8-line "Supertanium" fasteners you could want -- free.  Well, talk about a kid's dream -- Dad also got, as a perk from the job -- passes so he and I and my cousin got into Gasoline Alley during qualifying weekends.  We walked through the garages and could talk to the racers and watch the cars being worked on and wow, was it ever great.  I remember Andy Granatelli having his crew fire up the Novi -- and once running he started pouring can after can of STP into the engine.  I remember that after they started the engine and ran it for a few minutes -- they shut it down and he ordered the "warm up"plugs pulled and lapping plugs installed, and when the car came back in from a few laps -- "Alright, qualifying plugs".  And each of those plugs, used for a few minutes or so each -- went directly into the trash.

And on and on.  Well, Bak, once I catch up to you in my ever-increasing age -- let's swap stories.

[Elmo Rodge]

I still miss sitting at the kitchen table or out in the garage listening to the race on the radio and keeping lap charts.  Wayno

[bak189]

That's great Slim, that must have been great to get into Gasoline Alley......some people have all the luck.

No, I spend all my time in the Grandstands, .................................................................................

But when I was racing sidecars in Europe back in the 1960's ....I did get the inside line to the F-1 paddocks for many years.....lots of great memories..............................................................

[saltfever]

It was a sad year. Did you see the grandstands? I have never see so many empty seats especially on the front straight! Blame it on the economy or the politics of IRL-Champ Cars, but attendance was the lowest I have ever seen. Entire sections in the turns were empty. 

While I love any form of racing, it has always been "ingenuity in action" that really kept my interest.
The drive to mediocrity is killing me. "Cookie cutter" copies are justified as a need for safety, cost reduction, or increased competitiveness. For me the competition was the technology, not a 1 second gap at the finish line! A former race could have 3 or 4 different engines and 5 or 6 different car chassis. It wouldn't bother me at all to see a desmodromic valved, compound supercharged,V-12, on 50% nitro, 4 wheel drive, lapping everybody. Promotors want competition as close as possible. Supposedly a "drivers race" is more interesting for most people. One engine, one chassis, and make sure no technical innovation gives anyone an unfair advantage. Even F1 has removed the KERS requirement for next year. Racing was supposed to "improved the breed" . . . instead it has turned into base-line entertainment. YMMV

[Ron Gibson]

Credit to Kent.

You want to see a 10 second Indy race?  Throw a hand full of Skittles.............................

Ron

[PorkPie]

some nice memories on Indy, also....

in the 90's, when I worked in Indiana I found out that I could be on the Indy weekend in Indiana - but this was 4 days before the race.

Where the heck you could get a ticket to this time. so I asked the son of the vice president of the company (he was some years younger than me). He said only, "I will take care"...ok.....Friday afternoon he stopped at my office...said something to me....wished me all the best.....and I was thinking this could be though.....

it was tough to explain the lady that I have to pick up my ticket by Tony George..........

But I made it into his office...."So, you are the German guy who like to see the 500....here is your ticket...by the way, you can do me a favor...I got here some Germans - there English is very short....can you take care for them....best you wear this....so you look more official,,,"....and he gave me a black sweater with a hood and the letters Security on the front and the 500 sign on the back....I still wear this thing at the salt.....

Unfortunately the race was very short due rain in this year....it was stopped after some 15 laps and restart Monday...was there again...but again it was very short by more rain...so at last they finished the race on Tuesday....on this day I was on the plane for some business meetings in German....bad luck....

But I had a great time, especially walking with this bunch of Geman visitors through the garages and the "pits" along the starting line....my ticket....it was more a "walking anywhere pass" opened nearly every gate........

Years later I was again there to watch the Nascar 400 race......

[gearheadeh]

Pork pie....You are 1 lucky dude.

[DallasV]

I was only 3 years old in 1970, but I recognize about 5 times more names in the '70 starting grid than 2010. And I would much rather watch this race than the 2010 race.

Al Unser
P.J. Colt/Ford   170.220

Johnny Rutherford
Eagle/Offy   170.210

A.J. Foyt (W)
Coyote/Ford   170.000

Roger McCluskey
Scorpion/Ford   169.210

Mark Donohue
Lola/Ford                169.910

Art Pollard
Kingfish/Offy   168.590

Bobby Unser (W)
Eagle/Ford   168.500

Mario Andretti (W)
McNamara/Ford   168.200

Jim Malloy
Gerhardt/Offy   167.890

George Snider
Coyote/Ford   167.660

Dan Gurney
Eagle/Offy   166.860

Mike Mosley
Eagle/Offy   166.650

Lee Roy Yarbrough
Vollstedt/Ford   166.550

Bruce Walkup
Mongoose/Offy   166.450

Rick Muther (R)
Hawk II/Offy   165.650

Peter Revson
McLaren/Offy   167.940

Gordon Johncock
Gerhardt/Ford   167.010

Joe Leonard
P.J. Colt/Ford   166.890

Carl Williams
McLaren/Offy   166.590

Gary Bettenhausen
Gerhardt/Offy   166.450

George Follmer
Hawk III/Ford   166.050

Mel Kenyon
Coyote/Offy   165.900

Donnie Allison (R)
Eagle/Ford   165.660

Wally Dallenbach
Eagle/Ford   165.600

Lloyd Ruby
Mongoose/Offy   168.890

Jack Brabham
Brabham/Offy   166.390

Ronnie Bucknum
Morris/Ford   166.130

Greg Weld (R)
Gerhardt/Offy   166.120

Jerry Grant
Eagle/Offy   165.980

Bill Vukovich II
Brabham/Offy   165.750

Dick Simon (R)
Vollstedt/Ford   165.540

Sam Sessions
Vollstedt/Ford   165.370

Jim McElreath
Coyote/Ford   166.820

[doug odom]

Dallas, You are spot on. That was what I was trying to say but didn't do a good job of it. Those were racers and not known because they were married to some movie star or for dancing with one.

[saltfever]

Just look at that chassis and engine line-up. Eagle, Coyote, Scorpion, Lola, McLaren, Brabham, Offy, Ford. What great diversity in technology, all shooting for a common  goal. I won’t belittle any driver, either former or current. Running 200+ for 500 miles, and in traffic, is so far beyond my capability they all get my respect. Reducing technology to a common denominator is sad. 

[johnneilson]

It is referred to as "commie racing".
It has happened to so many forms of racing, karts, some scca classes, IRL and of course nascar.

Ingenuity and thinking is frowned upon, no more fist fights on the front staight away, just filling out protest forms. So boring.

I really liked CIK/european karting, the rules were limits of displacement, port timing and a carb size. You can do anything inside of those parameters, you could tell who did the homework on each particular track.

John

[panic]

Anyone hear any comments about the engine - like "does it have an engine?", "what engine?"

I didn't - but lots of "what magazine will you be doing bikini cover photos for next week?"