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Any see this story? Good to see INDYCAR and the Road to Indy embrace karting a bit.
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Any see this story? Good to see INDYCAR and the Road to Indy embrace karting a bit. -
yeah, this is good. USF2000 tests are a pretty cheap prize (probably costs less than $5k) but goes a long way to getting good young karters involved in the Road to Indy ladder rather than trying to go overseas or jumping in a stock car. -
I am very skeptical to see any INDYCAR or MRTI funding going into karting.The karting scene in my opinion at this point is toxic, filled with greed, crooks and promoters thriving on self-interest. There are too many splinter groups, sanctioning bodies/series, agendas, tires and motor formulas for karting to get back to where it was 3-12 years ago when it was strong.
When a young karter leaves karting for formula car racing; karting promoters and owners aren't pleased.It's becomes less revenue for them to pull from.
In the past two years, cheating in the form of tire doping and treatments has made the sport almost impossible for the ethical team/drivers to win.The winner of the USF2000 test prize could be the best cheater maybe, or maybe not?
Successful karting skills do not necessarily translate into OW formula skills. Many successful karters failed miserably behind the wheel in a Skip Barber car or during the SB shootout when they couldn't cheat or buy the fastest engine.
I feel nobody should get a INDYCAR/MRTI look unless they succeed in Skip Barber series or another credible OW formula series first.
Most of the successful American drivers in the MRTI program were somewhat successful karters but not too heavy into the karting scene.Comment
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GTRacer,
I think the people at INDYCAR know that karting is very fragmented and their goal (the way I understand it) is to be inclusive with all karting groups and sanctioning bodies. I've actually spoken with them on several occassions about it.
It will never be a perfect system, but at some point INDYCAR has to invest in their future with driver development. I think they're starting to do that with the formation of the Mazda Road to Indy and now this announcement with the Rock Island Grand Prix.
From what I understand, this is one of a handful of announcements they have coming in the next few weeks. It will be exciting to see what they've done.Comment
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Just as long as IndyCar doesn't try and "fix" karting. The sport hasn't recovered from before when Rahal and Herta "fixed" it.Comment
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Many successful college football players have failed miserably when they got to the NFL. Does that mean the NFL should stop drafting college football players?Originally posted by GTRacer View PostComment
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Woot woot!! I live 25 minutes from RI. Anyone need a place to crash?Comment
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I agree that karting in the US is pretty pathetic and terribly organized.Originally posted by GTRacer View Post
I also agree that not all karting skills translate to formula car skills. There is definitely overlap, but some of the skills are mutually exclusive to either side.
I don't feel the kids successful in the MRTI program now are successful because they left karting early, and I don't really like to see kids jumping to skip barber at 11 or 12 years old. I don't really think it's helpful for the sport and I question the sanity of it. I never mean to bash anyone specifically but have you raced with 14 year olds on a road course at 130mph in a formula car? I'll say overall some kids have impressed me a lot but in the end I'd feel more comfortable racing against adults. I'm guessing there is some small advantage to stuffing your kid in car as soon as possible, and I'm sure that parents that have big dreams feel the pressure to move their kids up, but should it really be like this? I wish skip barber would institute a minimum age, maybe 15 for the school and 16 for the series, but just like karting promoters loose money when kids move up, skip barber MAKES that money, and thus I doubt this will change unless something big happens!
Another reason the kids are moving up without that much karting experience is actually a refelction of the broken karting model. If national level karting costs so much with new imported chassis, engines, tuners and coaches for many hundreds a day, etc. etc. why not just start running skip barber or something comparable sooner for not that much more? So the kids that can afford that take their money up, the ones that can't afford it can only afford to keep racing at the local and regional karting levels, and the national karting scene is kinda dead huh...
The kids that are successful in skip barber are successful in part because they spent the most money, just like karting. Look at the scholarship winners... do you know what their budget is?? If you can only afford karting on a budget, and only a few days in the skippy car before the shootout it's pretty tough to compete with the kids how have what... 20, 30, 40, 50 plus days in the car already??? along with private coaching, etc. etc. Don't get me wrong, I think a lot of these kids are great racers with lots of potential, but clearly they are there because of their money... or I guess you could say they were the best of the guys loaded with money....
MRTI is a great program but its not the solution to the whole ladder problem... it is still a pretty weak and broken system even with it...Comment
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