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Or for an alternative title: Learn to walk before you run!
Or for yet another title: If Ed Carpenter and J.J. Yeley had a one-on-one match race in identically prepared Indy cars right here right now, Carpenter would win hands down!
One of my biggest hopes for next season is that Ed Carpenter does well. That will send an important message echoing through the USAC ranks.
That contrary to Mr. Yeley's opinion, there is a successful pathway from USAC to IndyCars.
It is the Infiniti Pro Series.
While Yeley is correct in stating that there is a substantial difference between a USAC sprinter and an Indy car, there is also a substantial difference between a USAC sprinter and a NASCAR stock car.
That's why Joe Gibbs is putting Yeley through the A-B-C program. No two bits about it. Yeley is good, but not good enough to jump straight into a full-time NASCAR Cup ride. The A-B-C program will get him adjusted to stock cars at a lower performance level and test his ability and worthiness of a full-time ride in the top level of stock car racing.
Any USAC graduate driver would expect nothing more than that out of a NASCAR team owner. And they should expect nothing more than that out of an IndyCar team owner too.
There is indeed a large gap between USAC cars and IRL cars. That gap is filled by the IPS cars. They get prospective IndyCar drivers used to winged, rear-engine cars on large speedways at a lower performance level and make them better prepared to handle the fastest circuit-racing cars on the planet. J.J. Yeley would most likely have struggled (at least at the start) in an Indy car if he had jumped straight out of the Silver Crown car into it.
The credibility and legitimacy of the Infiniti Pro Series rests on USAC graduates like Ed Carpenter succeeding in IndyCar. That will 2 messages:
1) To USAC drivers who dream of the Indy 500 that the IPS is the way to get there.
2) To IRL team owners that the IPS is a good place to grab drivers from. (Carpenter, Taylor, Fike-maybe)
That will bridge the gap that J.J. Yeley thought was too far.
Or for yet another title: If Ed Carpenter and J.J. Yeley had a one-on-one match race in identically prepared Indy cars right here right now, Carpenter would win hands down!
One of my biggest hopes for next season is that Ed Carpenter does well. That will send an important message echoing through the USAC ranks.
That contrary to Mr. Yeley's opinion, there is a successful pathway from USAC to IndyCars.
It is the Infiniti Pro Series.
While Yeley is correct in stating that there is a substantial difference between a USAC sprinter and an Indy car, there is also a substantial difference between a USAC sprinter and a NASCAR stock car.
That's why Joe Gibbs is putting Yeley through the A-B-C program. No two bits about it. Yeley is good, but not good enough to jump straight into a full-time NASCAR Cup ride. The A-B-C program will get him adjusted to stock cars at a lower performance level and test his ability and worthiness of a full-time ride in the top level of stock car racing.
Any USAC graduate driver would expect nothing more than that out of a NASCAR team owner. And they should expect nothing more than that out of an IndyCar team owner too.
There is indeed a large gap between USAC cars and IRL cars. That gap is filled by the IPS cars. They get prospective IndyCar drivers used to winged, rear-engine cars on large speedways at a lower performance level and make them better prepared to handle the fastest circuit-racing cars on the planet. J.J. Yeley would most likely have struggled (at least at the start) in an Indy car if he had jumped straight out of the Silver Crown car into it.
The credibility and legitimacy of the Infiniti Pro Series rests on USAC graduates like Ed Carpenter succeeding in IndyCar. That will 2 messages:
1) To USAC drivers who dream of the Indy 500 that the IPS is the way to get there.
2) To IRL team owners that the IPS is a good place to grab drivers from. (Carpenter, Taylor, Fike-maybe)
That will bridge the gap that J.J. Yeley thought was too far.
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