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Topic: Sprint Car Drivers and the IRL
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Page 1 of 1 of 8 replies
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January 25, 2010 at
12:33:18 PM
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Last night on the Speed Report Robin Miller asked several prominent open wheel dirt drivers if they think they will ever make it to The Indy 500, all of them said no. Joey Saldana even said "I don't watch it" and pretty much said he could not even relate to most of the guys who run Indy. Cory Kruseman said about the IRL "it was told that this is for the Americans from sprint car racing, they just forgot to tell us I Guess".
With most open wheel dirt track drivers thinking they will never make it to in Indy does anyone think that their will ever be another open wheel dirt track driver who will succeed in the IRL and who could it be? Also if you could pick a few open wheel drivers to drive in the IRL who would it be?
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January 25, 2010 at
01:11:14 PM
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No, not unless they go fender or bed racing first. I think the real problem is that there are not a lot of American driver. Ask the average sprint fan and they will say Dancia, maybe the Rahal and Andretti kids and I doubt you would here anything else. I know there is Fisher, Hunter-Reay, Carpenter, Lazier and Barrett (even he does some NASCAR stuff) and that is it. I also think the fact that NASCAR has almost twice as many race weekends hurts them a lot as well. I say all this as the only guy I know who watches IRL and F1 and doesn't watch NASCAR.
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January 25, 2010 at
01:48:31 PM
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As long as there are road courses involved you will never see a short track person involved regardless of dirt or asphalt background.
The IRL is sort of like the a rent-a-ride on steroids...bring me the money and perhaps you can buy a ride on one of the lower to middle tier teams with your hope of being noticed by Penske, Gannassi or Andretti in the future and actually get a paycheck.
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January 25, 2010 at
04:08:47 PM
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http://www.speedtv.com/video/popup/63143007001/595223643
Here is the link to the segment.
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January 25, 2010 at
08:29:18 PM
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This has been debated on here since the IRL "dream" quickly faded shortly after the formation of the IRL. To see what it takes to make it to a decent openwheel pavement team (not silver crown, sprints or midgets), read the recent article about Michael Lewis in Sprint Car & Midget, because that's what it takes.
Member of this message board since 1997
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January 26, 2010 at
12:38:50 AM
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I have to respectively disagree with Mr. Saldana in one respect. The quote, "That there's nothing that these guys have devoted their lives to, it's just who they know or how much money they've got." I find it very hard to believe that people like Tony Kanaan, Helio Castroneves, Ryan Briscoe, Will Power and Vitor Meira have not dedicated their lives to the sport of racing. Granted, none of them are American and I believe that it is crucial that more Americans are in IndyCar, yet I do believe that these people and many more have dedicated their lives to racing. I also would love to see people such as Cole Whitt, Chad Boat, Sam Hafertepe Jr. and other young stars get their shot at IndyCar.
As a disclaimer to my post, I am an avid IndyCar fan and have been to Road America for ChampCar races and Indianapolis for the 500. Additionally, I'll wake up early in the morning or stay up late for an F1 race and watch the ALMS and Grand-Am whenever I can and will spend most of this weekend watching the 24 Hrs of Daytona. But, I've attended a countless number of sprint car races over the past few years with 90% of them coming from the pits and an even greater number of nights, working on sprint cars.
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January 26, 2010 at
12:53:35 AM
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yaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwnnnnnn
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January 26, 2010 at
11:32:05 AM
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Reply to:
Posted By: racerk13 on January 26 2010 at 12:38:50 AM
I have to respectively disagree with Mr. Saldana in one respect. The quote, "That there's nothing that these guys have devoted their lives to, it's just who they know or how much money they've got." I find it very hard to believe that people like Tony Kanaan, Helio Castroneves, Ryan Briscoe, Will Power and Vitor Meira have not dedicated their lives to the sport of racing. Granted, none of them are American and I believe that it is crucial that more Americans are in IndyCar, yet I do believe that these people and many more have dedicated their lives to racing. I also would love to see people such as Cole Whitt, Chad Boat, Sam Hafertepe Jr. and other young stars get their shot at IndyCar.
As a disclaimer to my post, I am an avid IndyCar fan and have been to Road America for ChampCar races and Indianapolis for the 500. Additionally, I'll wake up early in the morning or stay up late for an F1 race and watch the ALMS and Grand-Am whenever I can and will spend most of this weekend watching the 24 Hrs of Daytona. But, I've attended a countless number of sprint car races over the past few years with 90% of them coming from the pits and an even greater number of nights, working on sprint cars.
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I am also a big road racing fan. I live minutes from Mid Ohio Sports Car Course and attend a number of road racing events each year. My interest in road racing is why I would like to see sprint car drivers and more Americans in general in the IRL. IRL had been dropping in popularity and one of the main reasons for that is the lack of American drivers in the IRL and also winning in the IRL. The IRL could benefit from some young American talent such as Rickey Stenhouse JR, Cole whit, Lusas Wolfe, Brad Sweet, Alex Gurney and John fogerty.
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January 26, 2010 at
11:37:14 AM
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Reply to:
Posted By: PorschePeteTx on January 25 2010 at 01:48:31 PM
As long as there are road courses involved you will never see a short track person involved regardless of dirt or asphalt background.
The IRL is sort of like the a rent-a-ride on steroids...bring me the money and perhaps you can buy a ride on one of the lower to middle tier teams with your hope of being noticed by Penske, Gannassi or Andretti in the future and actually get a paycheck.
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It is not impossible for a short track racers to learn how to road race, Many have done it before and will do it again.
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