Comments on: The Week Of May http://oilpressure.wordpress.com/2009/12/16/the-week-of-may/ Speed is Life Mon, 20 May 2013 14:31:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: AZZO45 http://oilpressure.wordpress.com/2009/12/16/the-week-of-may/#comment-2003 Sat, 19 Dec 2009 16:30:11 +0000 http://oilpressure.wordpress.com/2009/12/16/the-week-of-may/#comment-2003 In 2000, Montoya & Ganassi had switched to LOLA chassis & TOYOTA motors when HONDA & FORD REYNARDS were the combo to have :idea:

Obviously Ganassi was looking for that Unfair Advantage. Chip went to Lola as Reynard got bogged down with F1 & by the end of 2000 Toyota was scaring the crap out of Honda :!:

]]> By: Trick Dickle http://oilpressure.wordpress.com/2009/12/16/the-week-of-may/#comment-1984 Thu, 17 Dec 2009 21:38:50 +0000 http://oilpressure.wordpress.com/2009/12/16/the-week-of-may/#comment-1984 Mr. Phillips,

Juan Pablo’s 2000 season featured 7 poles and 3 wins. Its not like he was “struggling”. Sure his points finish was not up to snuff. But that had more to do with bad racing luck (and a few uncharacteristic driver errors as he was already looking towards his F1 career) then how competitive he was in 2000.

He dominated in 1999 though as a pure rookie.

Sure he and Ganassi’s ability to get the 2000 Panoz up to speed at Indy (when they had no experience with the package) was impressive. But again that shows the professionalism and funding that the team had too. Plus back then, pre-season testing at Indy was allowed and Chip’s group tested at Indy A LOT in March and April gearing up for May in 2000. Vasser was also a big help to the whole organization and guys like Tom Anderson and Andy Graves also did a nice job getting things in order quickly. And it showed how “racer-friendly” the IRL package was (which TCGR commented on many times during the month that year). It wasn’t a “rubicks cube” they were trying to figure out. Just a formula-car on a oval. Which is what they were used to.

]]> By: GUY http://oilpressure.wordpress.com/2009/12/16/the-week-of-may/#comment-1983 Thu, 17 Dec 2009 20:20:03 +0000 http://oilpressure.wordpress.com/2009/12/16/the-week-of-may/#comment-1983 Shortening the 500 to 2 days unfortunately makes sense, interest on the national is waning and budgets for teams, league and speedway are paltry at best. In tough times you’ve got to make tough decisions and IMS and the IRL are having to make a lot of those decisions as we speak, money seems to be the driving force behind these changes and I’m sure we can all relate to that. As far as Juan Montoya goes, the dude’s a BADASS in any car on any continent, he is easily one of the most natural open wheel ovals racers I’ve ever seen (7 oval wins in 2 years+1 Indy 500). He would have contended for the 2000 CART title if his Toyota RV8E engines didn’t consistently spew proprietary engine parts all over the race track. Robin Miller calls Montoya “the throttle psycho” cause once the throttles flat he ain’t liftin’ no matter what happens next!

]]> By: oilpressure http://oilpressure.wordpress.com/2009/12/16/the-week-of-may/#comment-1979 Thu, 17 Dec 2009 14:02:03 +0000 http://oilpressure.wordpress.com/2009/12/16/the-week-of-may/#comment-1979 A note on Montoya in 2000 – That was his and Ganassi’s first-ever experience with the IRL car. No matter how well-funded and experienced you are, there is usually some time involved to come to grips with a new chassis. To get that car up to speed and dominate in that short period of time, showed his talents were special. As far as Montoya kicking evryone’s butt in CART that season; while he won the CART championship in 1999, Montoya finished ninth in the CART standings in 2000.

I do agree with you on Lazier and Brack. Lazier was always in horrible equipment in CART and Brack finished fourth in the CART standings in 2000 and second in 2001.

Sorry to be “The Corrector”, but the Montoya statement was too off-base to let it go.

]]> By: Trick Dickle http://oilpressure.wordpress.com/2009/12/16/the-week-of-may/#comment-1977 Thu, 17 Dec 2009 03:09:10 +0000 http://oilpressure.wordpress.com/2009/12/16/the-week-of-may/#comment-1977 “So, no matter how you cut it, he covered the field that day and showed the mighty IRL that they were NO WHERE as good as they thought they were.”

No, it showed that a world-class talent in the best funded and most experienced ride in the field, could win the Indy 500. Which we see at almost every Indy 500, in ANY other year.

I don’t know what you are talking about with “IRL was not as good as they thought they were” stuff. Montoya kicked everybody’s ass in CART back then too, remember. Its not like Mark Blundell or Tora Takagi came over with their teams and won the race.

And, BTW, Scotty Dixon led most of the laps 2 years ago in his Indy 500 win with the same team that Montoya raced for. Against all of the “big boy teams”.

Buddy Lazier, Eddie Cheever and Kenny Brack all DESERVE to be Indy 500 winners. They showed up and raced and got to the checkard flag first in their given years. They have nothing to apologize for. And Buddy Lazier more then proved his merits as a racer, in both the 2005 Indy 500 and just qualifying for the 2008 Indy 500. Money and race teams matter BIG TIME in racing and especially modern-day Indy Car Racing. Lazier could run with ANYONE at Indy in a equally-prepared/engineered/financed car in his prime. So could have Brack.

]]> By: H. B. Donnelly http://oilpressure.wordpress.com/2009/12/16/the-week-of-may/#comment-1976 Thu, 17 Dec 2009 02:49:45 +0000 http://oilpressure.wordpress.com/2009/12/16/the-week-of-may/#comment-1976 One word: Television! I see TV as the reason pole day (and every other day) crowds have diminished so much. Someone from Chicago or Cincinnati or Louisville who really wants to see who wins the pole has no further to go than their living room. I think VERSUS should cut their qualifying coverage to a wrap up show at 6PM…which, of course, will never happen. I understand that qualifying was fully televised before the split, but I think the crowds stayed at 6-figures because the cars were still setting records.

Let’s just be glad that we haven’t gotten so made-for-TV that we’re holding 50-lap qualifying heats (*cough*Daytona*cough*).

]]> By: tim nothhelfer http://oilpressure.wordpress.com/2009/12/16/the-week-of-may/#comment-1975 Thu, 17 Dec 2009 01:20:15 +0000 http://oilpressure.wordpress.com/2009/12/16/the-week-of-may/#comment-1975 I think when there is a need and demand from the competition to develop setups for new cars the schedule will change to accommodate.
The series must change to rehabilitate IICS to relevance.
While the IICS may be in a painful stage of resurgence, NASCAR is already well into it’s own decline of un-sustainability. They just don’t believe it yet.

]]> By: Leigh O'Gorman http://oilpressure.wordpress.com/2009/12/16/the-week-of-may/#comment-1974 Wed, 16 Dec 2009 21:40:28 +0000 http://oilpressure.wordpress.com/2009/12/16/the-week-of-may/#comment-1974 I like it to be honest. The shorter build-up time focuses the news on the 500 rather than having the event dragged over four weeks – which in this day and age is far, far too long.

Add to that, the fact that Kansas is now looking like the very end of April / start of May; it only leaves two weeks between that race and the start of qualifying.
Add to that, the week before qualifying begins can now effectively be utilised as a media build-up to the 500 – prior to that the three/four week gap would be too long.

People get forgetful nowadays and this new schedule reflects that – the old tradition was fantastic, but if the IRL is to rebuild itself and focus on younger generations, then maybe this is the way forward.
As momentum moves, I don’t see why a new tradition cannot be created.

]]> By: Chris Estrada http://oilpressure.wordpress.com/2009/12/16/the-week-of-may/#comment-1973 Wed, 16 Dec 2009 18:31:00 +0000 http://oilpressure.wordpress.com/2009/12/16/the-week-of-may/#comment-1973 Rules of the Internet:

No. 13 — Anything you say can be turned into something else.

No. 26 — Any topic can be turned into something totally unrelated.

http://www.rulesoftheinternet.com/index.php5?title=Actual_rules

]]> By: The Speedgeek http://oilpressure.wordpress.com/2009/12/16/the-week-of-may/#comment-1972 Wed, 16 Dec 2009 17:32:38 +0000 http://oilpressure.wordpress.com/2009/12/16/the-week-of-may/#comment-1972 I’ve got expanded thoughts on the matter over at my place today (yeah, two posts in one week! Call the Pulitzer and the Guinness folks!), but the main thing that I don’t care for is the effective elimination of second-week deals. Plus, SEVEN days of practice leading up to Pole Day? Who needs that?

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