Short Track vs Road Racing drivers

[Chris Paff]

Im sick and tired of all you guys complaining that there is not enough short track drivers in the Irl.. I could care less.. Ive never really seen any of those guys in person other than in richmond and nazareth.. And i bet most people that watch Nascar or that are not from the mid west are in the same boat. I just care if they are qualified and american.. You guys upset that Hornish got a ride ahead of Yeley? If you remember Yeley had a ride in 1998 and 2000.. Granted the 2000 ride was a crappy ride.. but the 1998 ride had all the support of Team Menard the dominate team from that era and he didnt do anything to grant this greatness you guys claim.. Please get off of this kick and root for qualified americans.. Rick Mears didnt come from short tracks either.. You guys need to get off this..

[Lucky161]

And I am sick and tired of hearing people like you p&m about anyone that wants more short trackers. Have a little patience. You have won. It's only a matter of time before they are ALL gone. We are after all down to Sara at this time. Kite and Boat will possibly get some rides here and there, but they won't be top quality rides and not likely to turn into fulltime rides.

[cmjc80]

Re: Short Track vs Road Racing drivers

Originally posted by Chris Paff
If you remember Yeley had a ride in 1998 and 2000.. Granted the 2000 ride was a crappy ride.. but the 1998 ride had all the support of Team Menard the dominate team from that era and he didnt do anything to grant this greatness you guys claim..

Do a little homework before you make a statement like that. The only support he got from Menard were the stickers on the side of the car. Yeley drove for Sinden Racing and his ride was nothing more than a token car to keep boat anchor Infiniti engine in the IRL.

[gofastturnleft]

I'm not sure that I ever heard a single person who supported Yeley say anything negative about Hornish. If so it was a rare instance.

If you don't like short trackers or don't care if you get to see any then you should be thrilled with what you are watching. Myself, I see it as a simple fact that we aren't seeing a cross section of the best talent available. We had that in the past when the field was made up of former Trans Am, USAC, SCCA, Supermodified and Motocross champions among others.

Hey I understand your beef though - if we want to watch past USAC or Outlaw champs at Indy all we need to do is watch in August - Stewart, Newman, Blaney and Gordon are looking strong running in the top ten right now.

Once more with feeling -

[Maynard111]

Re: Short Track vs Road Racing drivers

Originally posted by Chris Paff
Im sick and tired of all you guys complaining that there is not enough short track drivers in the Irl.. I could care less.. Ive never really seen any of those guys in person other than in richmond and nazareth.. And i bet most people that watch Nascar or that are not from the mid west are in the same boat. I just care if they are qualified and american.. You guys upset that Hornish got a ride ahead of Yeley? If you remember Yeley had a ride in 1998 and 2000.. Granted the 2000 ride was a crappy ride.. but the 1998 ride had all the support of Team Menard the dominate team from that era and he didnt do anything to grant this greatness you guys claim.. Please get off of this kick and root for qualified americans.. Rick Mears didnt come from short tracks either.. You guys need to get off this..

What IndyCar racing needs right now is more well run, well funded teams to be able to field qualified American drivers.

Personally I would like to see a few of the more capable short trackers get a shot. However what these short trackers need is to set their sights on IndyCar and then proceed in a direction that will get them to their destination.

Rick Mears came from off-road racing (as did Robby Gordon) an even more niche sport than sprinters.

FWIW Derek Daly has stated that any racing driver, even if he/she only intends to race ovals, can benefit from some road racing instruction to help with driving skills. However Derek also stated that short track racing teaches close quarters "RACING" (Derek's emphasis) better than any Road Course experience. His conclusion is that a well rounded driver will want to experience as many different situations as possible.

[sf-indy-fan]

Originally posted by gofastturnleft
I'm not sure that I ever heard a single person who supported Yeley say anything negative about Hornish. If so it was a rare instance.

I recall in the 2000-2001 off season several people here saying that Sam should have stuck with PDM instead of signing with Panther.

[Lucky161]

Actually Rick Mears started on ovals.

[stockblock]

I think most were talking about oval drivers rather then street racers. Many who supported short track oval guys have no problem with Wardy even if he was not a true short tracker or a American. What they want is drivers who appreciate INDY and want to drive ovals not guys who come to this series from Cart then start complaining that it needs to be a 50/50 split because they the driver prefers and misses street racing. After all who wants to go watch a performer who is disinterested in what he does.

[R_Mears_Fan]

Originally posted by Lucky161
Actually Rick Mears started on ovals.

I had no idea desert biking involved ovals.

[Professor Joe]

Re: Short Track vs Road Racing drivers

Originally posted by Chris Paff
Ive never really seen any of those guys in person other than in richmond and nazareth..

Obviously statements made from an informed position....

[Kaaveh]

The only people qualified to drive IndyCars are IndyCar drivers...nuff said.

[ramdacf]

I would like to see some of the short track guys in IRL cars as well. What bothers me, however, is that many of the short-track
posters seem to despise the IRL as much (or almost as much) as some of the CART fans because their favorite short track guys aren't in the mix. And they seem to have a lot of excuses as to why their guys didn't make it, or haven't made it. And, they seem to think running Indy is the birthright of short-track drivers, but any one else is sort of underserving. Finally, the short-track proponents seem to think that putting their favorites in the cars will fix ratings, improve attendance, etc., etc., etc all by magic or something.

Maybe I'm all wrong about this or painting with too broad of a brush, but this is the impression I''ve gotten reading this same stuff for the past year.

Randy

(Who went to a 3/8 mile dirt track to watch sprint cars last Saturday night, watched NASCAR on Sunday, and will watch the IRL next Sunday.)

[BSJracing]

Originally posted by ramdacf
I would like to see some of the short track guys in IRL cars as well. What bothers me, however, is that many of the short-track
posters seem to despise the IRL as much (or almost as much) as some of the CART fans because their favorite short track guys aren't in the mix. And they seem to have a lot of excuses as to why their guys didn't make it, or haven't made it. And, they seem to think running Indy is the birthright of short-track drivers, but any one else is sort of underserving. Finally, the short-track proponents seem to think that putting their favorites in the cars will fix ratings, improve attendance, etc., etc., etc all by magic or something.

Maybe I'm all wrong about this or painting with too broad of a brush, but this is the impression I''ve gotten reading this same stuff for the past year.

Randy

(Who went to a 3/8 mile dirt track to watch sprint cars last Saturday night, watched NASCAR on Sunday, and will watch the IRL next Sunday.)

Randy, with your permission, I'd love to use this as the summary of my position as well

[BlueStang]

If you were an IPS owner, and had a seat to offer JJ, would you, knowing what happened at
KC?

I certainly would not, as their'd be a good chance I'd be stuck with an empty seat come the drop of the flag.

I don't care if you think he's "proved himself" in the bigger cars. So have a few other drivers that have accepted IPS rides (Witherill and Steele, for example). If a driver really wants a ride in the IRL, nobody is "better than" or "deserves" anything. You have to earn it, and sometimes it might not be in the way you feel you deserve, but you have to take the opportunity that is given IF INDYCARS ARE REALLY WHERE YOU WANT TO BE.

Yes, I know he had a USAC gig, and remained loyal to that. But, in doing so, I think he told us all where he REALLY wants to be. It is not in an IndyCar at this time.

I don't have anything against short-trackers, but I tire of the constant "so-and-so deserves" or "some owner should give so-and-so" a seat, when they have shown that they don't REALLY want to be here.

I'd rather have a driver that shows that they DO WANT to be HERE, no matter their background.

Keep in mind, too, that some of those former short-trackers that are in NASCAR now have pretty much said that IndyCars were not where they wanted to go anyway, but I always see their names mentioned as "ones that got away." If they didn't want to be here, let 'em go.

[Lucky161]

"I had no idea desert biking involved ovals."

A special I watched last year about Rick, showed he and Roger at a local dirt track and said it was where they started. Said they won just about everything. They were buggies, but the track was a local dirt track.