The statement that’s not 100% fact is that Marco’s line did not force RHR down on to the apron. That’s open for debate. To my eye, Marco left RHR about one car width plus 2 inches of space down there, i.e. a pretty narrow gap given that they were going about 218 mph at the time. How come Marco couldn’t have given RHR a car width plus a foot or two, like most other drivers respectfully do when racing side by side? Expecting a driver that’s beneath you on the track to be able to either A) thread the needle like that or B) abruptly lift, when there are other cars running right behind him who may then run into the back of him (or at the very least, lifting will unsettle the car, possibly causing a spin)…both of those scenarios are pretty presumptuous on Marco’s part. RHR instead (and remember, this is blink of an eye type stuff) tried to edge as far down the bank as possible, misjudged by a foot (again, remember, going 218 mph or so; this is not exactly easy stuff to do at those speeds), and wound up taking them both out. Marco gets at least part of the blame, in my book, for forcing the issue so emphatically.

Well, one driver agrees with you. I guess that means that the other 20 do as well. I can’t argue with that logic…

We officially have input from one driver and so far 100% interpret the event in the same manner as I do.

As for Marco making the MOST “voluntary” out-of town PR visits… he’s the only AGR driver with the LEAST STABLE sponsorship TK & Danica have got strong deals. Its the least he can do for Dad running him.

You said George did a hatchet piece on Marco. He’s just telling like it is, bro. Maybe you need to go read the article again. I don’t think he has an axe to grind with Marco. He just tells it like he sees em. Settle down dude.

I’ll just close with this: given the fact that George (though the same could be said for me, or Jeff Iannucci, or Meesh, or Chris Estrada, or Pressdog, or…) is a blogger with a site that may occasionally air bits of news but is largely a non-professional (no slam on you or any of the rest of us, George, just a simple fact in that none of us is actually getting paid) writing outlet, does that mean that he can’t air his opinion? George addressed this nicely in his Oct. 26th post, but given your post, I think it bears asking again.

I don’t know Marco personally but have encountered him at the track and have not been very impressed with his behavior. He was aloof, rude and disinterested. This was my observation. I don’t think he is a terrible driver but he isn’t great and certainly doesn’t deserve a top ride. I don’t expect anything to change since he is driving for his father. Again this is my opinion.

Maybe for those folks who know him personally he is very different all I know is what I have experienced. I hope he succeeds and maybe his friends (like you Scott) can encourage him to show his true self to the rest of us.

What I find particularly amusing are the kid gloves used to handle the popular Rahal. If Graham trashes his teammate nobody cares… probably because his teammate wasn’t TK or Danica. When Marco snaps a half shaft it’s emblematic of his season and worthy of comment in a hatchet piece… when Graham does the same thing it is obviously just a youthful mistake. When Marco gets too close to a Hunter-Reay or Moraes he’s impatient, right? Then what is Graham when he piles his car into the wall in 4 two years in a row because he doesn’t have the brains to wait until he has a safe opportunity to complete the pass?

And seriously, your comment about Marco taking both himself and Hunter-Reay out at Texas just cements the fact that you are showing bias and blind eye toward reality and knowledge. First of all.. there were 6 laps left no move for position at that point can possibly be a sign of impatience. Second of all, no driver besides RHR will ever watch a replay of that crash and put any blame on Marco. Go back and watch the video and watch where RHR puts his left side tires. I want you to explain to me how a driver can maintain control of an indycar when he puts his tire more than 12″ off of a 24 degree bank. Two things happened when he did that… he lost almost all contact between his tires and the asphalt and he lost almost all of his downforce by opening up a relatively massive gap between the undertray and the track. It did not matter whether Marco was 2″ to his outside or 20′. Once RHR made his left side tires smoke by driving them off the bank he was destined for the outside wall.

There is a reality distortion field that runs rampant among race fans. It is as popular to dislike and smear Marco today as it was for race fans to smear his immigrant grandfather. It doesn’t matter that Marco was closer to beating both TK and Rahal in the points than Dixon was to beating Dario…. Marco is going to be remembered as barely squeaking out an 8th place points finish. Nevermind the reality that his average finishing position was both more consistent and closer to the front than that of either TK or Rahal… Marco is the one who will be remembered for falling into oblivion and his diminished results. Don’t let fact or reality get in your way.

My favorite part is how you capped this piece off with outstanding anecdotes about Marco’s off track personality. I’d like to counter your anecdotes with an interesting factoid. Over the course of 2009 there is one AGR driver who made double digit voluntary appearances for out of town sponsor events and trade show autograph sessions. Meanwhile the one driver who speaks little English tallied up fewer than 4 such events and the two top billed (and always available to their fans) combined for a whopping ZERO non-contractual events that required jumping on a plane for a day or two to benefit the race team.

As I’ve said, I find most of your posts to be intelligent and thought provoking, but not this one. It is obvious that he hasn’t been gracious enough to appease you with an actual conversation, so I wonder how it is that you seem to be an expert on how he sees himself in his own mind? Further, how is it that you judge him for failing to live up to that very same fictitious level of self-assigned legendary performance that you attributed to him?

Perhaps the problem is that your personal bias allows you to measure Marco with a different stick than you use to measure others in the series. Obviously TK has been granted a pass from having his 2009 performance measured with the same stick that was used to define Marco’s performance as wallowing in mediocrity. It makes me truly interested in how Helio’s performance over the past season would measure up on the George Phillips-O-Meter. For now I will assume that he will get the same pass as he receives elsewhere despite his diminished performance on an outstanding team and further revelations of his egomanaical behavior.