Surprised none of the usual suspects picked up on this. From pressdog's twitter:
Cavin dropped this during Trackside tonight.Graham meeting with Nascar ... Dun dun daaaaa
Surprised none of the usual suspects picked up on this. From pressdog's twitter:
Cavin dropped this during Trackside tonight.Graham meeting with Nascar ... Dun dun daaaaa
it's ok, the IRL doesn't need the best American drivers
I do not blame Graham for doing what's best for Graham, whatever that is; it's just incredibility stupid that NASCAR is willing to work with him to get a ride when the IRL won't!
Unbelievable. I can't blame him for the state of Indycar, but if Indycar looses him it's the biggest mistake since the split in the sport. Indycar can not let this happen period.
Last edited by doitagain; 02-24-2010 at 05:45 PM.
There is no "I" in team but there is in Chip.
Jimmy Vasser
Wasn't the same said for Hornish? Then Danica (the money she'll demand could easily buyout the 2011 contract as 2012 is an option year). Now Graham? Not surprising, really. Sad - yes, but not surprising.Originally Posted by gbfan
Last edited by doitagain; 02-24-2010 at 05:47 PM.
Amazing, an American driver with all those wins and Championships in the IRL not getting a ride. How can a IRL Champ like him not get a ride. Terrible, to bad his dad does not have a team like Marco.it's ok, the IRL doesn't need the best American drivers
I do not blame Graham for doing what's best for Graham, whatever that is; it's just incredibility stupid that NASCAR is willing to work with him to get a ride when the IRL won't!
This is not good at all. Hopefully this will wake up the irl people i.e. Bernard and belkus. If he goes to nascar....major major loss. He has complained about nascar before but u can't blame him
Definitely smart of NASCAR to go after him. Talk about twisting the knife...
This would be really bad news but would not affect me nearly as much as losing Hornish. That was much worse. And neither of those bother me nearly as much as losing Michigan and/or The Mile.
Bull! Grahm had an offer from Dale Coyne but turned it down. Guess what? If he goes to NASCAR he will be going to the same level team there. All the big name teams have there drivers set. For years! If Grahm really wanted to be in IndyCar he would be there. He just after a fat check and probally could careless what series he races in. Which is fine just be honest. We need drivers who want to be an Indycar driver. We need drivers that do what ever it takes to be in Indycar. What we don't need are people who are not dedicated to the cause. Who go around saying woe is me. Just like I was ask in Bootcamp " how bad do you want it? How bad do you want to be a Sailor in the worlds most powerful Navy"
My question to Grahm is: How bad do you want it? How bad do you want to be an IndyCar driver?
alright my rants over this subject is over.
He's 21 years old, how many championships should he have?
Graham's never done it for me.
When he makes it to lap 100 at Indy I will reevaluate.
Didn't hornish want to go nascar though? But I think graham has no alternatives. I'm sure he doesn't want to be in nascar and would obviously want to be in an indycar. But hey you can't blame him, it was only a matter of time before this would happen if graham didn't find a ics ride.
Hornish had 3 IRL titles and an Indy 500, he had nothing left to prove in the series in his eyes, so he looked towards another challenge.
I respect it
Preached safety and warned of death at Daytona this year and then drove like the Grim Reaper for three hours - Robin Miller talking about Tony Stewart
Absolutly, to get a IRL driver to ride around in 30 place shows how good Jimmy Johnson is. Look at AJR or Scott Speed, go for it Graham, you and Derick Cope can race each other.
I do not know, how many did Senna have at 21?
I highly doubt graham would go to sprint cup right off the bat, I would assume trucks or nationwide. Of course if he did go to nascar
Sums up my thoughts as well..I like Graham but this whole attitude that the IRL must give him a ride etc is crazy. Lots of others go out and get sponsership, yes they might be ride buyers but they want it enough to go out and get it..GR was offered a ride..whats next, we have to start giving out a guarantee that all our favorites will be offered a top 3 ride? Leter GR, enjoy finishing 25th every week and cashing those checks
I'm gonna wiggle it at 'em, you cheap b@st@rd. Be prepared, because when I yank it out, everybody in that audience except my wife is gonna be runnin' for the exits.
Everyone has to be Senna?
But to answer your question, according to Wiki, Senna won a Formula Ford 1600 championship when he was 21
They follow the money- the IRL has none. Its not unbelieveable that they lose good young talents. Its unbelieveable that Indycar has done so poorly for itself that Nascar has all the money now. That's what ticks me off.
What has Graham done in the IRL or ChampCar that qualifies him as one of the best American drivers in the series?
Won a race?
I think everyone needs to breathe. He's meeting with some people. You would to if the clock was ticking and nothing was finalized. Let's see what happens come Sao Paolo, and then we can panic.
EDIT: Just noticed this emoticon, and even though it has nothing to do with the thread, I just had to throw it in here! :gator
not too tough to be a top American driver in the series when there is only 3 or 4 American drivers.
If he is not in the series by the opener, it is a major hit to the series especially in light of all the ride buying announced in the last 2 days.
All Roads Lead to Indy...
Take out the name "Graham" and insert "Danica" or "Marco", its the same thing.
Do you want American drivers or not? Do you want potential fans to grow the sport with or not?
Last edited by DamonG19; 02-23-2010 at 10:46 PM.
Pretty darn pathetic
It's been discused in a lot of other threads lately, but the fact of the matter is this:
The IRL is now a series that few American drivers want to drive in. If you ask any young American driver what the one race is that they want to win, I would be willing to bet 95% say the Daytona 500.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: The IRL and the Indy 500 need American drivers a hell of a lot more than American drivers need the IRL & the Indy 500. Sad, but true.
One would think the logical choice is to make significant changes to the series so that it can become a desireable destination for both American drivers and fans... you know, give the customer what they want. But that would just make too much sense.
Here's hoping that Bernard has more sense than all the idiots open wheel racing has seen in the last 20 years.
57 Racetracks Down
Yes, all three have one race win to their credit. But, Danica and Marco have both had the lead in the Indy 500 in the final 10 laps.
Everyone acts like Graham is a sponsor's dream. I disagree. Why? Because the only truly significant television air time a sponsor gets is in the Indianapolis 500. Marco has been in the hunt at Indy more than a couple times. Obviously the cameras find Danica's car a ton at Indy. But it's hard to find Graham's car at all, especially after lap 60 when he's out of it already.
Too tough on the kid after only two races at the Speedway? Maybe so. But he's had more chances than most ever will. And it's hard to argue that at Indy he's done less than most with more than most.
He did qualify in the 2nd row at Indy, had 5 top 5's (tied with Danica and TK for most of the non-Penske/Ganassi cars) and won 2 poles last year, the talent is definitely there, Indy failures not withstanding
Right now there is Danica and Marco and RHR occasionally. I would take Graham over all three of those so yes is one of the Best American racers in the league. It looks like that most weeks that it will only be Danica and Marco as the only Americans in the league. So the competition to be the best american in the league is not an overwhelming competition right now.
Pretty sad when we know we can fill the field with drivers who have little to no Indycar experience and only am in the field because they brought checks, but a well spoken, very talented American who can make people watch the series again if he is promoted correctly is about to go to a series he has no major interest in and is going to speak to them because the series that desperately needs him does not have a ride for him because all of these drivers' checks have cleared. I have witnessed this for so long in this series and I accepted it, but now I feel after this week this whole situation depresses me.
I want Americans in this series, I want to root for the home team....all these ride buyers just sickens me, I find it pathetic. It just makes me all depressed what this series is becoming....
So I was watching this Jay Leno sidewalk interview he does and he asked someone what does the DC in Washington DC stand for.....her response...."Da Capital"....God I love this country!
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