Still doesn't quite get it

[IndyJim]

Team Green continues its plans to try and get all three cars to the Brickyard this May. One member of the team, who still doesn't seem to grasp the importance of this "one race", said


"I don't want to compromise our CART program just to do one race (at Indy)," he said. "Everything must be right because farming (Andretti's program out to Panther) is one thing; doing three (IRL) cars in-house is more of a stretch."


Well Paul, why don't you just volunteer to sit the race out, and let Michael and Dario come, and save the strain on your program?

[spook]

Maybe YOU don't get it. TKG (and therefore its drivers) is committed to CART for 2002, which means their PRIMARY objective is to win the championship. THAT's what they have to focus their efforts on.

PT is right - as nice as it might be for them to all run the 500, it only makes sense to do so if it doesn't compromise their efforts for the rest of the season in their primary series.

If asked, Dario and Mikey would likely respond the same way. They have a job to do this season, and that is to win the CART championship, whether you think that's right or not.

[Danny Noonan]

I'd say Paul is just posturing with that statement. I'm sure he would be really disappointed if he doesn't get to run Indy this year. But at the same time, I would agree with him that doing Indy at the expense of huring their CART effort doesn't make sense since they are running the full CART schedule in 2002. Otherwise, what is the point of running in CART?

[Jimmy Hendricks]

I, for one, could care less whether or not Team Green is at Indy. If they would rather be in CART, let em' run into each other there.

[Racewriter]

Originally posted by Jimmy Hendricks:
<STRONG>I, for one, could care less whether or not Team Green is at Indy. If they would rather be in CART, let em' run into each other there.</STRONG>

Yep. I don't see a gun to anyone's head...

[IndyJim]

I think they are studying how much this "compromised" Team Penske's operation from last year as respects their CART effort.

I think Gil won the championship.

[spook]

Originally posted by IndyJim:
<STRONG>I think they are studying how much this "compromised" Team Penske's operation from last year as respects their CART effort.

I think Gil won the championship.</STRONG>

Yes, and Penske also had more money and resources than God to do that. Not all teams, even the best ones, are able or willing to dedicate the resources required to make a serious run at Indy if they are already devoted to a full time CART series.

Don't get me wrong, I hope to see all 3 drivers at Indy this year. If it happens though, it'll be at an enormous cost, financially and otherwise, to the team.

[Heath Hamilton]

Originally posted by spook:
[QB]Maybe YOU don't get it. TKG (and therefore its drivers) is committed to CART for 2002, which means their PRIMARY objective is to win the championship. THAT's what they have to focus their efforts on.

QB]

The Titanic's captains primary objective was to get there faster......ha ha ha...

[Dr. Austin]

Maybe after doing a world class face plant(of the first magnitude) there he is not in such a great hurry to go back. You can still see the miror image of the word "Momo" on Paul's forehead.

And why is this news? Aren't we getting used to CART drivers whingeing about something to do with the 500? However,I do have to defend Paul for the "circus clown" comments.

Don't worry Paul. The CART program won't be such an impediment soon.

[ January 22, 2002: Message edited by: Dr. Austin ]

[dog-ring]

I would think that PT would be more interested in winning the CART championship this year than running Indy considering that it may be his best chance since the level of competition is much lower this year with Penske gone.

[spook]

Originally posted by dog-ring:
<STRONG>I would think that PT would be more interested in winning the CART championship this year than running Indy considering that it may be his best chance since the level of competition is much lower this year with Penske gone.</STRONG>

Give me a break - Penske certainly didn't win by a landslide last year. I can't figure out why people say that the level of competition is so much lower. The last few championship battles have been closer than ever and in 99 and 00 were decided at the finale, for crying out loud. Penske didn't dominate the season.

But to your point, I agree that this year is probably PT's best chance to win - he's in the best shape of his life, and is completely gung-ho about the season. He'll be great fun to watch this year.

[Racemind]

None of this is the main issue.

TKG's biggest problem is that they can't put their sponsor on the sidepod.

[rahalnut]

So what if a driver wants too concentrate on CART? Why do you guys care so much if a CART driver states he doesn't want to jeopardize his season just to run the Indy 500?

[ January 22, 2002: Message edited by: rahalnut ]

[ZenMan]

I think the message here is that if he doesn't want to run Indy, then fine, don't run Indy. I prefer to have people there that want to win Indy. If it's not that important to Paul Tracy, we'll just have to muddle by without him.

[dog-ring]

Originally posted by spook:
<STRONG>

Give me a break - Penske certainly didn't win by a landslide last year. I can't figure out why people say that the level of competition is so much lower. The last few championship battles have been closer than ever and in 99 and 00 were decided at the finale, for crying out loud. Penske didn't dominate the season.

But to your point, I agree that this year is probably PT's best chance to win - he's in the best shape of his life, and is completely gung-ho about the season. He'll be great fun to watch this year.</STRONG>

Spook, Penske finished 1st and 4th last year accumulting 340 points with 2 cars. TKG drivers finished 3rd(Michael Andretti),7th(Dario) and 14th(Paul) accumulating 325 points WITH THREE CARS! So Penske didn't dominate huh? Seems that they dominated TKG by five points and only ran 2 cars

As I said in my earlier post this is Pauls best chance to win the championship since the level of competition has markedly decreased. Heck its everyones best chance to win