who want it to be all ovals. Do you realize that the number of ovals this year is the same number of RACES (and more than the first two IRL seasons) that the IRL held in it's 3rd year. Just sayin'.
who want it to be all ovals. Do you realize that the number of ovals this year is the same number of RACES (and more than the first two IRL seasons) that the IRL held in it's 3rd year. Just sayin'.
Yes. Thanks.Originally Posted by badart
who want it to be all ovals. Do you realize that the number of ovals this year is the same number of RACES (and more than the first two IRL seasons) that the IRL held in it's 3rd year. Just sayin'.
Some people will do nearly anything in order to be able to not do anything.
Yes I do.Stellar open wheel oval track driver line up you folks have.
Should we bring back Andy Michner???
I remembered him as a pretty good shoe. He's been bashed here so often, I thought my memory had become faulty.
Jack Hewitt, Kinser, Boat -- they all stunk too I guess.
50 - Jason Leffler - Treadway Racing - G-Force/Oldsmobile
Go take a look at the thread about the big question. I just put Boat's, Hamilton's, and Beechler's stats up for their career and compare them to some current drivers.
I didn't use Michener's because he didn't have a long career.
Andy only ran 7 races. Had 2 top 10s and finished 6 of the races. He never crashed, and improved his finishing position over his starting position in all 7 races.
He was an excellent pavement sprint car racer.
You look at Kinser and Hewitt, both of those guys had great careers on dirt, and both of them didn't do as well on pavement. The fact that they both ran Indy is appropriate, but I wouldn't have expected them to be great Indy Car drivers over a long haul. Not that they couldn't have done it.. just wouldn't expect it, given their drives on pavement in cars they were awesome in.
Kinser finished 14th in one start at Indy. Could have been better if he hadn't misjudged where the backmarker was going around him...
Hewitt finished 12th at Indy. He had one other start in an Indy Car at New Hampshire that didn't go too well.
Pretty much.
Funny - measure their careers against some of the 'wundershoes' now - Tomas Scheckter, Vitor, etc. - and they don't look bad at all.
People who bash those guys simply don't know what they're talking about. Silvercrown's post is right on about Kinser and Hewitt, but let's be honest, those guys were running Indy more as a career capper than anything else. I still have my Kinser Indy shirt - signed.
All but one race in Michner's IRL career was done in a Riley and Scott car...
"It was actually fun, because you're back fully driving again in these trucks. Ninety percent of the tracks we go to in the IRL, you're flat-out. I was having to lift off the corners some here." - Buddy Rice
Michner has more top 10's at Indy (in only 1 career start) than Manning, Matsuura, Servia, Foyt IV, Papis, Enge and Duno do combined.Should we bring back Andy Michner???
IRL 2009: "Cars you can't see, driven by drivers you have never heard of, on a network you don't get"
"I'd hire your grandmother, if she brought a budget"- Bankrupt Indy Car team owner Tyler Tadevic, to Curt Cavin in December, on the tough standards he looks for when "hiring" driver talent.
Against some weak competition.
BTW, RW, I bet I saw Andy race in person more times than you ever have. I am a USAC fan (and in fan I mean actually paying my own way and attending races
I'm going home for lunch, I will dig out my 2007 USAC handbook and look up Andy's stats and report back.
"Against some weak competition. "
Indeed...the competition today is world class right...
Against some weak competition.
BTW, RW, I bet I saw Andy race in person more times than you ever have. I am a USAC fan (and in fan I mean actually paying my own way and attending races
Top 20 in points, season 1998.
Brack, Hamilton, Stewart, Sharp, Buddy Lazier.. not a shabby top 5
Ward, Goodyear, Luyendyk, Cheever, Grecko.. Pretty solid through 9 positions
Paul, Gregoire,Boat, Schmidt, Dismore.. Some good names in that tier, too...
R. Unser, Buhl, Tyler, Caulkins, Boesel... little shaky down here.
I would say Andy ran against some decent competition in 5 of his starts.
Kinda funny, he finished just shy of Jack Miller in points that year with 5 starts to the racing dentist's 10.
I really don't think that talent level in the early years of the IRL was that bad, honestly. There were full fields, and that did open the doors for some check cashing wankers.. but the top half 2/3 of the field were fairly stout.
Yes, the past few years, where all you had to do is show up and make the race, showed how competitive those fields were.And, that field didn't have such high quality talent like Jon Herb, Marty Roth, Milka Duno, Roberto "I haven't been to Indy since the early 90's" Moreno and all the other talents that have never won a thing in racing.
Back in 1998, 9 cars actually had to go home, because they didn't qualify.
The spread from fastest to slowest in quals was 7.2 MPH. Check some of the spreads since 2002.
Again, the fact remains that both Michner and Yeley have more top 10's than some of our recent formula car road racing "stars" at Indy... in worse equipment.
Many of the drivers have placed higher than or won over Dario, and Dario has placed higher than or won over Montoya, and Montoya placed higher than or won over everybody in NASCAR
"Each day well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness and every tomorrow a vision of hope. Look well therefore to this one day for it, and it alone, is life"
~ Sanskrit poem attributed to Kalidasa, "Salutation to the Dawn"
Brian's Wish
Maybe in F1 or WRC, now that is world class. The world isn't America.
I'd say at the top, yes. The whole field got a little deeper the other day, in case you didn't notice.
Funny..I recall most of those guys coming over being called hacks by the faithful just prior to the 'merger'...and now they're world beaters...of course, it goes the other way when somebody leaves the IRL...Maybe in F1 or WRC, now that is world class. The world isn't America.
I'd say at the top, yes. The whole field got a little deeper the other day, in case you didn't notice.
Sure, by the haters, not by me.
BTW, I never called Andy Michner a hack, just that he wouldn't be a top driver in the IRL. Heck, I'd argue he wasn't a 'top' driver in USAC.
FYI, Andy had 5 wins in the Sprint Car Series, which is exactly 3 more than Eddie Carpenter had in his 2-3 seasons running USAC. I think Andy raced for well more than a decade in USAC's top divisions.
"FYI, Andy had 5 wins in the Sprint Car Series, which is exactly 3 more than Eddie Carpenter had in his 2-3 seasons running USAC."
Maybe Ed had weaker competition...
He might, after all, he beat some that are in NASCAR or a developement driver for a NASCAR team, perhaps you're right.
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