As for Lazier & Rice… at least INDY 500 CHAMPION could be added to their names & add a bullet point to the TV broadcast (having TWO additional former winners in the field)

In your previous post you tell me to be more pi$$ed @ Penske & Ganassi for their hiring practices. Well sorry… but you seem to ENDORSE it for all the other owners so why be angry @ Roger & Chip Its continuing the status quo that has not exactly HELPED Indycar racing Speedgeek.

One could argue that you & the owners are not wrong, ya gotta do what a team owner has gotta do, eh??? Just like all the ALMS teams CAN NOT logically hire some unknown driver… they must hire an established sports car driver from Europe or Asia… its the LOGICAL thing to do

FF to last month when Corvette Racing decided to test Graham Rahal He’s an OW guy, very little SC experience, its risky & a big gamble…… ugh what…. HOLY SHNIKES that kid kicked maximum A$$… + he’s American (driving America’s sports car…) Rahal now has one helluva back up if the N/H/L ride is only a rumor. Plus Corvette can promote their new midwestern racer.

You call me upset (or grumpy) I call my self a DREAMER. Looking to cheer for that next unknown North American star Call me crazy for dreaming FAZZT & Tags would give that unknown a shot (like Player’s helped Tags…) Nope they (& other teams) will just RECYCLE

Every race series has TALENTED GUYS (& now girls)… but its meaningless when those TALENTS are driving sub-par equipment. Newman Haas & Forsythe were head & shoulders above your 8-10 guys. Only when AJA was PT’s team mate did these teams have FOUR of the “8-10″. That leaves 4-6 to beat in a “spec series”.

As for PROMOTION… you are correct its not the sole job of the teams. It has (& SHOULD) be a group effort between the teams & the series Indycar need to PROMOTE & KEEP their star drivers… the other big US series has done this. Indycar shouldn’t be a “ladder” series back to F1 or numerous other race series.

As for Bruno… he has crashed several times @ Indy. Where is this magical guarantee that Tags & FAZZT will have an uneventful month of May @ Indy I understand your economic points… however 1/3rd of the 500 field filled with Junqueria types is thrilling to about a thousand diehard “Gear-heads” that are ALREADY IICS FANS

The ROAD to INDY has to start being more than a marketing slogan Speed Wish it was starting with Tags & FAZZT… but I also understand why it is NOT (in this specific case…)

I’m aware that there were a couple of limited avenues for people to spout off about “wrongs” back in 1992, but I haven’t had the time to sort through my giant boxes of On Track magazines to see if that’s what happened back then. Maybe this weekend…but probably not. I don’t think that my finding one or two letters to the editor in June 1992 will really prove anything.

I know that CART in 2002-2005 were not the strongest in the series’ history. You can feel free to put as many asterisks by Bruno’s and Sebastien’s names for winning races and championships (in Bourdais’ case) against limited talent, but the fact of the matter is that the top 8-10 guys in that series were still pretty quality drivers. To finish 2nd out of 8 good guys, even if it’s in top line equipment…that’s not something that every race car driver in the world can do. You’ve got to be well above average to do that.

I know that “rookie” doesn’t always equal “wrecked race car in Turn 1″, but it stands to reason that a steady, experienced hand like Bruno’s is less likely to crumple a car in the south sort chute than somebody who is just learning their way around the Speedway. It is not Alex Tagliani and his co-owners’ job to promote the League as a whole by bringing in new talent (as you are implying), it’s their job to make sure that the team survives until the end of the year and beyond. The best way to do that is to make sure that you get a second car into the 500 (with its $200k payday for finishing last, all the better if you can do better than that), instead of rolling the dice with a new guy and possibly winding up with no second car in the show and a $500k repair bill for a destroyed car. Again, Alex and company are not in the market to swing for the fences with a hot, young talent, they need to put a second car in the show. They are playing the percentages.

If you want to throw stones at somebody for not promoting new talent when they are more than financially capable of doing so, go yell at Chip or Roger.

As a fan I have every right to voice my opinions… I’m not a Kool-Aid drinker & a clapping circus seal I think Bruno seems like a nice guy… however his driving resume does ZERO to promote new fan interest in the IICS The 100 fans that know him are already life long gear-heads.

Excuse me if I wish the HUNDREDS of junior open wheel drivers competing in this country (on the “ROAD to INDY”) a shot at the big time. Bruno had his shot… now its time for the sport’s FUTURE to make their name

Most of Bruno’s CART years were spent in weakened fields… Newman Haas was literally the “Ferrari” of CART/ CCWS @ the time. If it makes you feel better, Bourdais’ 4 championships don’t really impress me either (these two had the best team & cars) However, the IICS could still market a Sebastian Bourdais (due to his N/A championships…)

Rookies are not magically set up to be an owner’s nightmare. Bottom line is hire ANYONE thats (1) younger & (2) someone who will provide a lil’ SAFE “drama” for the national media to get excited about. That’s why Indy is an afterthought to many of the sports press… QUIET & UNEVENTFUL drivers, putting their car into the show in a equally BORING manor

1) I think most of the slamming last year was directed at Eric Bachelart. I don’t think Tags had much to do with the decision to kick Bruno out. Not that he probably protested, but he was not the car owner, hence, not his ultimate decision. And, I think that some people did hammer Derrick Walker back in 1992, but I can’t really remember because A) it was 18 years ago and B) there was no internet on which to complain.

2) Dude, come on. Yeah, I get it, Bruno (in your eyes) is a “never was” because he never sealed the deal on a CART championship. Most of us remember that he finished 2nd in the championship three straight times. I fail to see where the shame is there. He’s clearly a very good driver, even if he failed to attain superstardom status.

3) Alex was supposed to hire a rookie? Who would probably destroy his second car and put making the rest of the races for the rest of the season in jeopardy? Instead, he decided to put somebody in the second car who will A) likely get the car in the show with little drama and B) bring the car home in one piece, thereby allowing the team to make a profit for the month. This is Alex playing the percentages. He’s not looking to find the next superstar with this move, he’s interested in the survival of his team. I can’t kill him for that.