The 90th Indianapolis 500

[scubasteve87]

Ok, so when I saw that a NASCAR all-star race had a thread and Indy didn't on the week of the big one, I have to admit some dismay. I'm an Indy resident so I'm a little biased, but has the 500 fallen that low?? Anyways, excitement is ratcheting up here in Indy for the race Sunday, which I'll be attending high in turn 4. But my questions are, anyone else going, and who do you think will win it this year if you've been following it? My pick for the victory is Helio Castroneves.

[RacingManiac]

More Spiderman goodness will be cool, but I think Hornish should get one finally, and I will be rooting for Tomas Scheckter to be finally be able to wrap one up, after all the laps he led....

A dream finish is for Marco Andretti to win it on rookie attempt, he did qualify 9th.....and it'd break his oldman's curse as well...

[magracer]

Just read somewhere that Kannan will be using Barichello's helmet colors at Indy, and Barichello will use Kannan's at Monaco. Sweet...

[Rockefella]

Originally Posted by magracer

Just read somewhere that Kannan will be using Barichello's helmet colors at Indy, and Barichello will use Kannan's at Monaco. Sweet...

losers..

[blackcat77]

Originally Posted by scubasteve87

...has the 500 fallen that low?? Anyways, excitement is ratcheting up here in Indy for the race Sunday,

I live in Anderson... I see by your profile that you're 19 years old -- I'm 54 and attended my first race in 1956 and attended every year for a long time. But ever since open-wheel racing in this country split, the Indy 500 has become a joke. You would not believe how truly excited people around here used to be about the month of May...

It used to be there would be a full house for the first day of qualifying and well over a hundred thousand on each following day. The local tv stations would each have a 20-minute segment on the day's events for every day of practice. Upwards of 90 cars would show up to qualify and there would be interesting, unique designs each year like the Novi, the turbine car or even Smokey Yunick's infamous "sidecar."

Now it's little more than a spec series. There were 33 slots to be filled and there were 33 qualifying attempts. The local stations are lucky to give a couple minutes to news from the track, and often what you DO have is shameless shilling more than real news. If you watch channel 13, that stuff with Dave Calabro and Danica Patrick was a perfect example.

Who could have ever imagined that the IMS would have to ADVERTISE in the local papers to get people to come out to the track? Tony George should be ashamed -- in his attempt to corner the market on open-wheelers, he's ruined the greatest race in the world, and even if the two sanctioning bodies can somehow get back together, the chain has been broken. Kids no longer grow up idolizing the drivers. Where are the AJ Foyts, the Eddie Sachs, the Rodger Wards and the Parnelli Jones of today? How can you get excited about some carefully-manicured corporate image?

Well, maybe all this is just the fogey in me coming out, but it really pains me to see what has happened to the race I used to love. Or worse, maybe I just don't care any more. If you ask who I'd like to see win, I'd have to say Michael Andretti, but only because I remember when he was a great driver in a great race that always seemed to come up just short, sort of like his dad. But when the race itself is just a shadow of it's former self, I don't know that winning today would ever be the jewel of a career that it would have been in Michael's heyday...

[scubasteve87]

oh trust me, I remember the good ole' days and i know of the split and all its horrors, i started following it all in 92 when my fav driver won his first, and i remember the stink when roger didn't get a car in in 95, and the ugliness of what TG did to open wheel. I think it could heal in time with a merger, but what can we do but hope? All i know is at IMS, things don't ever go as expected, and i think recovery could be quicker than estimated, especially if, God help us, Danica were to win it...

[Jack_Bauer]

There's no doubt, open wheel racing is in a bit of a mess at the moment. It's a real shame because there are some genuinely talented drivers out there in the States. I'd love to see the likes of Seb Bourdais and Paul Tracey mixing it with Hornish, Castroneves, Wheldon etc. (Heck, there could even be a battle of the women between Danica and Katherine Legge! I'm sure that would get the media a bit more excited). I heard there were rumours over the pond that Tony George is beginning to reconsider his position and start to come round to the idea of a merger. Don't know how true that is, but it'd be good news it it were. Basically the IRL is flagging and dying on its feet, the only thing that keeps the series going each year is the Indy 500.

Does anyone else think that the whole 'Month of May' thing is perhaps part of the problem with the event. It seems a bit of an anachronism to me and is only run for the sake of tradition. I'm sure they don't really need a whole month's worth of practice sessions to set the car up, and I imagine it's hard to keep the media interested with headline after headline about who's quickest on each different day when it doesn't really mean anything. At the end of the day people just want to see some racing. I'm sure they could halve the time spent at Indy and squeeze another race into the schedule in the early part of May.

As for the race, I'm gonna be shamelessly patriotic and go for Dan Wheldon! It would certainly be a hell of an acheivement to win the race 2 years running (has that ever been done before btw?) and is not that likely, but he's got a good starting position and has been driving well so who knows.

[jorismo]

Originally Posted by magracer

Just read somewhere that Kannan will be using Barichello's helmet colors at Indy, and Barichello will use Kannan's at Monaco. Sweet...

Yeah that's true... I saw it on the F1 free practice last night and the commentator mentioned this. Also MS has a brand new red/yellow/orange overall with those stars you can find on his helmet. *UGLY!!!*.

EDIT- There you go...





And attached is a pic from Barrichello's 'new' helmet

[Zytek_Fan]

Originally Posted by jorismo

Yeah that's true... I saw it on the F1 free practice last night and the commentator mentioned this. Also MS has a brand new red/yellow/orange overall with those stars you can find on his helmet. *UGLY!!!*.

MSC always chooses ugly looking helmets

[Matra et Alpine]

Originally Posted by Zytek_Fan

MSC always chooses ugly looking helmets

Appeasing the sponsor is more important than personal looks now

[jorismo]

Originally Posted by Matra et Alpine

Appeasing the sponsor is more important than personal looks now

But what has that got to do with his helmet? I mean he has got this helmet design for ages now... It hasn't been changed, not even by/for sponsors...

[Jack_Bauer]

Originally Posted by jorismo

But what has that got to do with his helmet? I mean he has got this helmet design for ages now... It hasn't been changed, not even by/for sponsors...

Indeed. His helmet design has always represented the colours of the German flag, with not much else on it.

[RacingManiac]

it changed from the originally predominat white backing to Red after Rubens became his teammate. Their original color were somewhat similar....

[Daz27]

Hmmm, that'll learn Schuey for mixing his colours with his whites... surely no sane person would DELIBERATELY design their race suit like that?

[Jack_Bauer]

Yeah, I don't know what it is about the Monaco GP. It's such a big promotional opportunity for all the teams they all get in a frenzy with their sponsors and taste seems to fly out of the window!

After last years successful Star Wars promotion Red Bull Racing are going with a 'Superman Returns' liveried car. I was kinda hoping the mechanics would end up wearing Nomex undercrackers on the outside of their suit Superman stylee but, alas, not to be!

And for the second year running McLaren are sporting Steinmetz diamonds on their cars. Last year they had diamond encrusted helmets for both drivers, this year it's diamond encrusted steering wheels. Oh, and an ice car to boot!