Comments on: The Ever-Changing Driver Lineup

By: Savage Henry

Savage Henry — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 02:40:39 +0000

I think it comes down to money, but I’m not going to blame the dreaded ride-buyers – they are a symptom, not the problem. If sponsorship dollars were more stable and plentiful, teams would be able to pay drivers rather than vice-versa. Under that scenario, teams would have the opportunity to find and develop drivers. They could give them a couple years to learn how to be successful at the top level.

Guys like Lloyd, Matos, Mutoh, etc., all Indy Lights and/or Atlantics champs, have shown that they have the talent to compete. However, its hard to come in and immediately be successful against top-level drivers on top teams like Dixon, Fanchitti, Castroneves, and Kanaan. None of those guys set the world on fire when they first came up. They needed a couple of years to grow and mature (and earn better rides) before they were ready to win. The young drivers of today (at least those without famous fathers or significant sex appeal) don’t get that chance.

I think that there is a big risk here for the series. All of the drivers who have won a race in the last 3 years (except Wilson and Hunter-Reay) are on the wrong side of 35. They aren’t going to be in the series for that much longer. Who is going to set up and fill the marquee roles? For all practical purposes, Rahal and Andretti have provided nothing more than name recognition so far. Hopefully that will change soon. Danica is probably off to NASCAR after this year. Indycar needs to figure out who they are going to be promoting in 2014 or 2015 and start investing in them now. If they don’t they are going to have a series full of silver-spooners or no-names.

Sounds like 1996 all over again, doesn’t it?

By: Thesmartestguyintheroom

Thesmartestguyintheroom — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 18:00:12 +0000

I disagree with dylan-no surprise there as I disagree with almost everything he writes, but I also disagree with Jake as well. When INDYCAR was at its nadir, it featured some of the best domestic talent with some of the best international talent. Where I do agree with Jake and everyone else is that stability in the driver lineups is crucial to the series regaining it’s footing in the world. How that can happen in such an unstable environment is something I can’t answer, but it does the series no good to have 1/3 to 2/3 of the drivers in one season gone the next.

By: noname

noname — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 08:28:48 +0000

Im pretty sure that CART pre 1995 was that popular the F1 types were getting nervous. In that year there was only 9 full time Americans. But at this point CART was the best racing series in the world. I think what made it good was the fact that there were so many different chasis,tyre and engine manufacturers.

By: Jake LaMar

Jake LaMar — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 00:59:20 +0000

We do need the sport to be mostly American again, George.

It was that way in the 50′s, 60′s, 70′s and 80′s. And Indy Car was important and the Indy 500 the biggest race in the world.

When it became a F1 Junior Series in the early 90′s, Indy Car’s popularity started to head south (pun intended). Then “The Split” happened, and it really went down the toilet.

Get the sport back where it should be…(American road racers against American oval racers with SOME foreign involvement) and the sport will have a chance again. And keep them in stable rides for a good number of years.

You can’t build anything, if your drivers keep shuffling and drivers bounce from team-to-team. Continuity in teams/drivers/driver numbers MATTER.

By: dylanpt24

dylanpt24 — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 21:42:32 +0000

That’s cool, but when the Atlantics, Indy Lights, 2003 CART, 2005 Indy500, ect. ect. winners are rideless, I can’t really say I care much. Now if Vettel, Riakkonen, Alonso, or Hamilton want to come over, that’s different, becuase they’re F1 champions. But I can’t say I care much about a Forumla Renault winner.

By: NaBUru38

NaBUru38 — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 18:16:08 +0000

dylanpt24, I believe that fortunately we don’t have Milka Dunos any more, just that the back half of the grid could be improved a little. But how you dare include Bertrand Baguette into the nobodies class? We has Formula Renault 3.5 champion. That category has seen as champions drivers like Fernando Alonso and Robert Kubica and title fighters like Justin Wilson, Sebastian Vettel and Pastor Maldonado.

By: Cowboy Racer

Cowboy Racer — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 17:00:43 +0000

I would agree that the split and ride buying have both helped create the constant change of drivers over the last 10-15 years and it bothers me also, to a certain extent. What you have to also realize is, that in order for drivers to be brought up through the feeder series and into the big league, there has to be a certain amount of change on the lower end of the talent pool. What should be happening is that over time the best of the newbies stick around for the long haul, while the drivers that seemed to excel in the feeder series and don’t in the big cars are dropped from the series. It is the natural order of “The strongest will survive”. I hope now that we have a unified series and a good feeder series foundation we will see this trend of a constantly changing driver line up correct itself over the next few years.

By: Steve K

Steve K — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 16:23:21 +0000

It was the split. There is a generation lost to other forms of motorsport. The likes of Marco, Danica, Dixon, and Briscoe off the top of my head have to be nearing the ten year mark, right?

By: dylanpt24

dylanpt24 — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 15:51:36 +0000

Losing Wheldon hurts, but I’m all for trading in Mutoh, Matos, Moreas, Buagette and even Lloyd for Bourdais, Tracy, Hildebrand, Kimball, Rahal, ect.
But I agree, the series need’s more stability in it’s driver lineup. Things like what happened between TK and AA are the exact opposite of what the series needs.

By: Mike Rice

Mike Rice — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 10:54:52 +0000

Matos should resurface somewhere. He’s a talented driver who struggled with the primarily single-car effort of Luczo Dragon/DeFerran. As was noted in other articles, if they could find a way to get a second car funded for him, pairing him with TK could completely revive his career. Wheldon, on the other hand, while a 500 winner/past champion (obvious talent) has shot himself in the foot with good teams due (apparently/alledgedly) to how difficult he can be to work with in terms of demands and a prima-donna attitude. Lots of talented drivers have gone by the wayside in this business, for a multitude of reasons. But in the final analysis, I’d bet the vast majority went away primarily due to funding now that it’s become so bloody expensive to run a car. Once upon a time it was all based on talent alone…