Landracing Forum
Humor -- stories, links, etc -- may not be right for kids to read! => THE place for (what you think is) funny stuff. => Topic started by: doug odom on May 31, 2010, 12:25:00 PM
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What has happened to the Indy 500 race? Watching yesterday I realized I had no idea who more than half of the drivers were. Where are all the real race drivers? When a Brazilian fashion supermodel that I never heard of can make the race and finish 21st in what use to be the biggest race in the world it is sad.
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Dougie, she may be RALLY talented :evil:
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Hmm,, if I could fit in one of those cars,,, does that mean I could drive too ?????
Charles
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Doug, the good ole days are gone, We grew up with Kuzma, Kurtis, and the many hard core build it in the back yard dirt midget and sprint cars from the past. They earned their way to the 500 by guts and talent. 50 or more cars trying for a spot in the 33 car field. Todays world doesn't offer that today. It's all big business with megi shops and lots of high priced staff. Drag racing is going the same way.
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Nascar too :-( :-( :-( :-( :-(
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If you did come up with something new and unique if would probably be illegal because it doesn't meet spec.
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What has happened to the Indy 500 race? Watching yesterday I realized I had no idea who more than half of the drivers were. Where are all the real race drivers? When a Brazilian fashion supermodel that I never heard of can make the race and finish 21st in what use to be the biggest race in the world it is sad.
To address your comment about a "Brazilian fashion model", Ana Beatriz is a racer, not a model. She started in karts at 9 and has competed in open wheel racing ever since. She also has two wins in the Indy Lights series. Of the four women in the race, three of them earned their way by winning races in other open wheel cars. Ana in Indy lights, Sarah in sprints & midgets, and Simona in Toyota Atlantic (she KICKED ASS!).
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Google Ana Beatriz. I didn't make it up! Remember the guy that won could not even get competitive in the nascar nationwide series. He won Indy twice.
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Doug, it's a different ana Beatriz. There are 2 of 'em. :cheers: Wayno
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Doug, You looked at the wrong link. Here is the correct link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bia_Figueiredo As for Dario not being competitive in NASCAR, all the open wheel guys that have tried NASCAR only a few have been marginally successful, like AJ, Mario, PJ and Dan Gurney. Just as I don’t think a NASCAR driver would be good in Indy car. I think the last real attempts by NASCAR drivers at Indy were by Cale Yarbrough and Tim Richmond. The two were mediocre at best, but in the NASCAR series they dominated.
Since the unification of the two series, this year’s race was better than the previous ones. But still has a long way to go to get the luster back. Tony
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I came in during the race. Of the eight minutes I watched . . . .eight minutes were commercials.
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"smoke" :? :-o
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"smoke" :? :-o
There is no doubt that Smoke is a great diver (one of my favorite). But his Indy career, 3 wins in 5 years wont qualify him for the Indy hall of fame. His championship year he only had one win. This is the opposite of Montoya, great in Indy cars and F1 and a few wins in NASCAR.
In my opinion all the professional series are so specialized now that drivers tend to be pigeon holed into a series. The days of guys like AJ and PJ jumping into any type of car and winning are gone. Just take a look at Indy 500 winner and F1 champion Jacques Villeneve, he had a tough time qualifying for NASCAR truck races before finally giving up. Tony
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I would be a little more interesting if were not so PC.. Same Chassis...Same engines for all...
At least NECKCAR has different decals and MHRA has different body/chassis manufacturers
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I attended my first Indy 500 in 1961 - and the last one in 1968. I saw the last of the Offy roadsters and the first of the rear-engine cars (Jack Brabham's Lola). I saw Andy Granatelli's Novi and the turbine car and all the great stuff of that era.
Sure is different now. I had to search around a while this morning to see when the race would be held - and found it happened yesterday. Nothing about it on the newscasts that I heard.
Heard? Oh, that brings back a fond memory -- 33 cars coming at me (sitting near the finish line) for the first time ever - and with not much difficulty I could pick out the Novi. Wow -- that engine was LOUD! Now all the cars are muffled by the turbos. Ah, getting old means I've got lots of good memories to keep me going.
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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............
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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.
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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.
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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.
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I still miss sitting at the kitchen table or out in the garage listening to the race on the radio and keeping lap charts. :lol: Wayno
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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..............................................................
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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. :cry:
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. :wink: 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
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Credit to Kent.
You want to see a 10 second Indy race? Throw a hand full of Skittles.............................
Ron
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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.......... :roll: :roll:
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......
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Pork pie....You are 1 lucky dude. :-D
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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
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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.
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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.
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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
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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?"
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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?"
Because they all run the same engine. All engines are built by Honda and leased to the race teams. Can you imagine other forms of racing done the same way?
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Yes -- not only can I imagine another racing body doing the "spec engine" thing -- it' is being done in one of the major motorcycle racing classes. I think it's a Honda engine in SuperStock - or something -- but yup, they've got the identical engines.
I think.
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nowdays,
it is all BORING
the engine thing today is no different than way back when every entrant was MILLER powered.
or just like as above when there were only DOHC Fords and Offy ( miller)powered setups.
most of what we see today is because they need a SPONSOR,
and an engine maker stepped up.
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Of course, this is why I and others love LSR. There are no cookie-cutter cars or bikes on the dirt or the salt. Variety is the norm - viva la difference! Where else can you see Briggs & Stratton motors on nitro, diesel V16's, helo turbines, flat Henrys in Camaros, or what have you in one place?
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Of course, this is why I and others love LSR. There are no cookie-cutter cars or bikes on the dirt or the salt. Variety is the norm - viva la difference! Where else can you see Briggs & Stratton motors on nitro, diesel V16's, helo turbines, flat Henrys in Camaros, or what have you in one place?
X2.......not forgetting the concrete, pavement, and ice.... Maxton, Loring, Goliad, Mojave and Sweden.....and even the highest level LSR teams operating at a fraction of those high $ corporate sponsorships.....
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Who won? Can we pronounce their name? Do I ask too many questions?
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I "DVRd" it but I have to finish the last 4 episodes of Trailer Park Boys before I watch it.
Smitty
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I "DVRd" it but I have to finish the last 4 episodes of Trailer Park Boys before I watch it.
Smitty
Thats funny...
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It was better when the tires where thin and the drivers where not.