Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

The Indy lite race with Bryan Clauson on the pole is getting ready to start on VS. USAC can still get you to Indy!!

Half the lies they tell about me aren't true. 

Of course, USAC can still get you to Indy. It's just that it will be in July with NASCAR.

No reason to make light or change the subject of Clauson being on the track....right now!

Half the lies they tell about me aren't true. 

Bryan did a good job. Fell back to 12th but hung on, avoided the wrecks and passed a few cars to finish 5th. HUGE wreck with 6 to go and the race unfortunately finished under caution.

If todays indy lights race was any indication of the next crop of drivers, indy car is in more trouble than we thought. 20 laps, or close to it, of a 40 lap race under caution. it didn't seem like they ran more than five laps at a time under green, and most were just one or two if they could even do that. I've seen less squirrels and nuts in the forest.

Did you only watch the second half of the race? They were pretty clean during the first half, and to finish fifth in your first indy lights start, and at IMS to boot, I'd say Clauson could be pretty promising. And that Josef Newgarden could go places as well. Besides, every time there was a caution it took about 5 laps under caution, just two cautions and your already almost 1/4, I think it may have more to do with the short lenght of the race. I do wish they would have red flagged it at the end though. The concert after the race was more exciting than the race itself, Staind and Papa Roach put on a show, and so did the drunk guy standing near me who could barely stand on his feet, lol.

I watched the whole dismal thing. I said it didn't seem like they ran over 5 laps at a time without a yellow. I wasn't far off. The first run was 8 laps, the second was 9 laps, the third was 2 laps and the last was 3 laps. 22 laps out of a 40 lap race was run under yellow. The leader at one time spun out under yellow, all by themselves. Then Jon Beekhuis has the gall to call it a great race. I am sure the reason they didn't red flag the thing and decided to let the laps run out was to just put the thing out of it's misery and get it over with.

The Indy lights races used to be pretty good races with few if any cautions. When the economy was decent a younger driver that wanted to go Indycar racing had to do 2 things...they had to bring a pretty big check to get a ride and they had to display some talent in order to get the ride over somebody else who could bring a big check.

Now with the economy in the crapper, all these guys have to do is bring a big check....thats about it...and pass their orientation. They bring the big check at the beginning of the season and get a deal to run the whole damn year, regardless of how much stuff they tear up they have a contract that says a car will be ready for them the next race. As long as they can keep bringing big checks they can keep racing and moving up each year. Hell Milka Duno brought a check big enough to field a second car for another driver just so she could stay in the way in an Indy car for so many seasons.

Since you don't have to display any talent to have a ride they just unplug their brain and wreck the shit outta cars hoping that the aggression and foolishness will get them in victory lane at least once.

Clauson, on the other hand, looked like a racer today. Very mature, very conservative, clean as a whistle in spite of all the idiots crashing around him all day. He got shuffled back and methodically worked his way back up and was able to drive the car back to the pits after getting a top 5 on the most difficult oval in the country.

Sure, a big check is what got him this ride....but he freakin EARNED that big check by running so well in every form of USAC over the 2010 season. He EARNED that ride based on talent. PERIOD. And he showed today that his talent reaches beyond the Indiana bullrings and fire breathin wheelie poppin sprinters he has grown up driving.

Atta boy BC....you did a hell of a job in the midst of all that chaos today...I just hope somebody with an Indycar team or somebody with a big checkbook noticed what you are capable of today. Thanks for making people aware that midget and sprintcar drivers are as good or better than any rich kid roadracer with lots of rear engine experience on his resume.

Loose is when you hit the wall with the rear of the
car, tight is when you hit the wall with the front of
the car. Horsepower is how fast you hit the wall and
torque is how far you move the wall.

USAC funded Bryan's ride with Sam Schmidt - so don't kid yourself. Yeah, USAC can get you to Indy, but they had to buy the ride for Bryan!

Chuck.....

Actually the money came from Indycar, who awarded a $300,000 indy lights scholarship to the 2010 usac national driver's champion. Indycar wants to rebuild their association with USAC.

I agree with Sprinter25, it still took money to get Bryan the ride whether it came from USAC or Indycar. Not like the car owner called him up out of the blue and said come drive this thing.

It absolutely took money to get Clauson in that car...I said "Sure, a big check is what got him the ride"...but he did earn it. That money was announced at the beginning of the 2010 USAC season and it was there for the overall national drivers champion to have a "scholarship" to be funded in the Indy lights oval races.

Evry person who entered any USAC event had the opportunity to win that scholarship....all they had to do was have 25 races under their belt that season in any of the 3 major USAC series and score more points in those 25 races than anybody else did...

And Clauson did it....could have been Levi Jones, Jerry Coons, Zach Daum, Bobby East, one of the Swanson brothers, Damion Gardner...anybody who races USAC on a nearly fulltime basis...they all knew it was there and they were all shootin for it and BC prevailed....

So hell yes he earned that ride...yes it was still a "bought" ride but he earned the check...and Indycar is where the money came from, not USAC...Indycar is trying to capture a fanbase again by working with USAC...I don't know if their involvement with USAC is going to be enough to get any American sprint car drivers in a full time Indycar ride but its better than the lack of effort over the last several years....

Good luck BC...but for the record I would have been rooting for who ever won this chance whether it was Clauson, Jones Coons or anybody

Loose is when you hit the wall with the rear of the
car, tight is when you hit the wall with the front of
the car. Horsepower is how fast you hit the wall and
torque is how far you move the wall.

It is good to see BC get a chance. He is a talented young man that could go far given the opportunity.

Sprinter's point was that in order to get a usac driver to indy, usac had to buy a ride for one of their drivers. My point was this was not true, as indy car provided the funds to the usac champion. Indycar itself is trying to build that bridge from usac to indy. So we have a reason to get excited, as this relationship may grow. Maybe within the next 10-20 years we'll get to see a sprint boy drink the milk once again.