It was a threat - until Tony George crapped on it. Then you get into BIG money. I doubt it ever happens. I've been saying this for 10 years on FC, and more intensely the last 4-5 years: In the USA, you are competing with nascar, NHRA, NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, COLLEGE sports, plus smart phones, video games, video on demand, movie theatres, theme parks, restaurants, cable television in every home, more concerts than ever, plus things I forgot. I very seriously doubt Indycar comes even remotely close to being what we all remember, as much as we would all love that. Do you remember when we grew up with horse racing, boxing and indy racing? And hardly anything else? Only if you are 50+, but that's where we are. Indycar racing went the exact same way boxing did, and there used to be terrific horse racing venues all over the USA, but no longer.
Piece of cake!!! I already have a product that will absorb the energy of a front impact and reduce the g's the driver feels.....lessening his chance of injury and brain trauma. It is almost complete and if the tests go well....it will be ready for patents. Hence my reason for wanting the rules turned back. Like others in this world, I am not doing this out of the kindness of my heart. I am in this for the $$$$$$. Resume rants gentlemen!!
I'm pretty sure most of you've heard this but Brad Keselowski ran some test laps at RA in Simon's car yesterday. Haven't seen any laptimes but I'm curious if this will go anywhere.
Wouldn't read too much into it other than "The 2" wanting to give one of Penske's real racing cars a try. It's not as if he's going to pull a Montoya and jump over to Indy Car any time soon and lose out on all those t-shirt and trinket sales. BHW
Curious if you were Roger Penske how long would you keep 41 year old Castroneves? See chart to help you make your decision. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Practice for next weeks Indy/Pirelli Challenge race at RA....Not my favorite series now(I loved CART back in the 1990's) but good racing is good racing!! I love the Pirelli sportscar challenge. They need to stop chopping down trees not near the track at Road America!!!! https://www.facebook.com/indycar/videos/10153596556285848/
Penske is incredibly loyal, so I think Helio will have to really slide in performance to get axed (Roger has already said he wants to keep Helio in a car at the 500 even after his full season career is over). remember, not only did Al Jr not win a race for penske in his last FOUR (!) years with Penske, he was also apparently a raging alcoholic (and possibly cokehead) during that time, and Penske kept him.
Did anybody here read the book "Beast" the story about the 1994 pushrod Ilmor-Mercedes? I've been meaning to pick it up. Curious if anyone has read it.
yes. great book. quick read. very much worth it. oddly I enjoyed the idea/development part of the book more than the race recap part. it's a real "cloak and dagger" type story until they got to the Speedway
Would you? (give up the $$$) I wouldn't. Until Helio decides he's had enough, he is a smart guy, when he sees a drop in performance, he'll retire. Just like Al Sr, and make trips to Indy. Penske axed Kurt Busch immediately after Kurt went whacko on Dr. Jerry Punch. I did, I loved it. I agree with you, how they got the parts made without anyone knowing is by far the best parts. I could go into more detail, but I don't want to wreck the book for those that have not read it yet.
Penske didn't fire him, Shell Oil fired him (seriously...Shell told Penske they'd pull ALL their sponsorship from Penske Racing if Kurt didn't go)
Pissed a lot of people off, but I loved the creative interpretation of the rules. Beginning of the end of CART and the Indy 500 IMHO. This Monster 1000 HP Penske-Mercedes IndyCar Was One Of The Most Dominant Race Cars Ever
Here's a possible proposal to make IndyCar a little more interesting...I haven't thought through the pros / cons, so weigh in here, I think it warrants discussion. What if IndyCar adopted the current F1 engine spec (e.g., 1.6L V6 single-turbo, 15,000rpm limit)? Chassis could remain Dallara (although PLEASE make it look more like the IL-15 than the current aberration they are running). I realize cost could be a primary concern, but there was a proposed "low cost" engine spec for F1...and I'd suggest eliminating ERS. What that might mean for a company like Honda or Cosworth...interesting, but again, not sure of the pros / cons here.
Meanwhile, Road America has sold 100,000 tickets...meaning over 4 days there will be at least one day, Sunday(I'd guess), where over 25,000 will be there. That beats Weathertech/ALMS/et al by more than a little. RA was reportedly scrambling to create more camping sites for this weekend. Good for RA, but I'm puzzled by the huge number.
I was up there today and the crowd was pretty good for a Friday(weather was perfect). I posted some photos on the Chicago Regional events thread.... I mainly went for the Pirelli Sports car Challenge to be honest, but Indy was not to bad. I think they sound better then the new F1 engines wich really are a let down.
It's great seeing Indy back at Road America! The lap record I think is just under a 1:40 done in the early 2000's. I'm curious to see how close they get. They ran 1:42s in testing.
Per Marshall Pruett twitter feed: ‏@marshallpruett 1m1 minute ago Next year's @roadamerica @IndyCar race will be held on June 25th. How awesome. Track CEO just said it was the biggest crowd ever seen here.
That was a great race at a great track - posted my fastest speed ever in my Scud there a few years ago at the National Meet - I'm sure heat seeker was there
