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A sad reality

Thursdays news that Gil D/Dragon racing has shut down operations truly sucks. Obvious fan favorite Tony Kanaan is staring a sad reality in the face, with a shaky future following his "mutual" release from Andretti, not to mention the future of 2009 ROY Rafa Matos, assuming Rafa was part of the Dragon plan for this season. The thought of a 500 without Tony is hard to swallow, especially after that great charge from the rear of the field during last years race. The excitement in the crowd was amazing as he collected victim after victim. He may very well assume the role Paul Tracy and Graham Rahal had to endure last year, and that reality is anything but positive for the series. I'm sure everyone on this site is pulling for you Tony.

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Permalink Reply by Squall on February 27, 2011 at 2:08pm

So has Tom Watson, in golf; and he almost won the Open Championship two years ago, at the age of 'ancient'. Mario, meanwhile, was doing 228 mph laps in the infamous March test session at Indianapolis when he hit the piece of Brack's car; he was...63 at the time, wasn't it?

Tired old relics are pretty young, these days.

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Permalink Reply by IndycarAddictus on February 27, 2011 at 8:51pm

The new drivers make their name by beating drivers in the series of the caliber of TK, not by outrunning drivers who after 4 years have one or fewer wins and a handful of podiums to their name (and that is unfortunately a surprisingly large portion of the field.) TK and wheldon are not the drivers that the series needs to be unloading.

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Permalink Reply by Paul on February 27, 2011 at 2:43pm

Respect your opinion. Some merit. I will say this. someone should secure Brian Clauson before Rick Hendrik or Joe Gibbs does. Does Jeff Gordon ring a bell?

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Permalink Reply by 06rctb2zmhh7a on February 27, 2011 at 9:30pm

@ Paul - In order for Clauson to make it in Indy cars, he needs to get as much seat time as possible driving road/street courses, in any type of car possible. If given the right equipment, I don't doubt that he can do well on ovals, but IICS is also running road/street now.

Sooner or later, Clauson will most likely end up in NASCAR anyway. That is where most of the American talent resides these days. Even a backmarker there can make $2 mil/year. Sad but true ......

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Permalink Reply by Paul on February 27, 2011 at 9:49pm

Tend to agree with you Daddy. Indy being a road series, it's easier to hire road racers and teach them ovals. But that is the central issue of the Indy series isn't it. Road vs ovals. That is not going to change anytime soon. Really splits the fan base.

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Permalink Reply by 06rctb2zmhh7a on February 28, 2011 at 3:22am

The reason I came to love Indy Cars in the first place was because of ovals. As they added road courses it became all the better for me, as it became the most unique series in the world - because of the wide diversity of courses offered.

There is no "ovals vs. road courses" conflict with me. I want them both. And I don't want a series that relies on only one or the other. I think most fans agree with me on this.

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Permalink Reply by Squall on February 28, 2011 at 8:44am

Canon.

IndyCar is not a road racing series. Or an oval series, anymore. 50/50 is what it is, no matter how much some people want to paint it out to be otherwise: a challenge to all of them. And if much of the "young American talent" keeps deciding to go to NAS*** in order to "stick to what they know", I'm willing to call them what they are: cowards. The Americans who are entering Randy's new (functional!) ladder system, which is likewise employing the 50/50 diversity in courses? They are the real talent.

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Permalink Reply by icrackedtheaces on February 28, 2011 at 12:34pm

Clauson already tried NASCAR. In 26 starts he had 1 top 5 and 2 top 10's. Average Start:17.3 Average Finish:24.3 Could be the reason he's not there anymore.

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Permalink Reply by Squall on March 2, 2011 at 11:44am

Who was he driving for? Get in a Hendricks car, and you have 50% advantage on breaking in; at least, until NAS*** starts penalizing you for being too talented.