However, how we get there needs to be able to change with the times. There’s no reason to have all of the cars on-track for a whole month – they’ve been running the same car/tire/engine package for 10 years! There’s nothing experimental going on. There are no new technologies to shake down. I hope the day comes where there’s a need for the month-long format to return. I also like the Fast 9 and anything that brings more interest to qualifying.

However, I agree with Scott that some of the changes put the small teams at a disadvantage. First, even if a small team makes the Fast 9, they are not going to be able to go all-out, especially if they only have one car. Notice this year that Rahal, Carpenter, and Mutoh didn’t even try to push it in the Fast 9. They were so happy to be in the first three rows that they didn’t want to risk wadding up their cars and screwing themselves for the race. The better-financed teams have more leeway. To rectify this issue, if a car puts up an excellent time in the 1st round of qualifying, they should have the right to sit on that time and use it for their Fast 9 time. Anyone who runs in the Fast 9 has the opportunity to beat it. (Here’s the rub, you need to choose to sit on your time prior to the start of the Fast 9. If you choose to sit on the time, you waive your right to run in the Fast 9).

Second, the fact that there is no on-track activity between the end of qualifying and Carb Day really hurts small teams that just made it into the race. When do they have time to work on race setups? I’m thinking about the Junk-man – he’s going into the race on 7 laps on Bump Day and whatever he was able to do in the hour of Carb Day. Also guys like TK who changed cars (again) and Saavedra who had to have his car put back together. How much benefit are they really going to get out of Carb Day? To rectify this, they need to open the track for practice at least one day between Bump Day and Carb Day.

*The periodic re-building of the Pagoda structures.

*Allowing Nascar, F1 and MotoGP tp run at Indy (and to allow motorcycles to be parked on the backstretch. And F1 prima donnas land their choppers on the golf course for entry and egress).

*When IMS added extra turn to the turns to square them off to slow down the speeds.

They need a life.

I’ve got just one dislike of the fast 9, and that is the fact that it reduces the chances for the underdog to grab the pole. When you have to guess the perfect time of day to run, have your car set just right and miss the unlucky gusts, the underdogs chances decline as each car has more chances to run. Forcing them all to go in the same 90 minute window really closes the door on the underdogs.

I can live with that because in the end they will, more often than not, put the fastest pole day car on the pole. If, however, the fastest time of the day came earlier in the day and nobody bested it after 4:00 I would have a big issue. I also dislike how sensitive to weather this format is.

My larger issue is with the ability to pull and requalify a car that is in the field on Bump day. I am truely bitter that the rules in place since 2005 can create a field that excludes any of the 33 fastest qualifiers.

In my mind there should be 2 hard and fast rules: 1) the fastest pole day run is awarded the pole and 2) the fastest 33 cars make the race. Use any gimmick or twist you want, but don’t deny the 500 these two basic tenets. I know I complain a lot, but surely I’m not asking too much with here am I?