Wheldon is going for the $5 million!

[numanoid]

Indy 500 winner Dan Wheldon eligible for IndyCar's $5 million bonus | The Indianapolis Star | indystar.com (http://www.indystar.com/article/20110912/SPORTS0107/110912011/Indy-500-winner-Wheldon-eligible-IndyCar-s-5M-bonus?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|IndyStar.com)




Indianapolis 500 champion Dan Wheldonhttp://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/mag-glass_10x10.gif (http://www.indystar.com/article/20110912/SPORTS0107/110912011/Indy-500-winner-Wheldon-eligible-IndyCar-s-5M-bonus?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CIndyStar.com# ) will have a $5 millon bonus opportunity at next month's Izod IndyCar Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.Many of the details are still to be worked out and unveiled -- a news conference is scheduled Tuesday --but if Wheldon wins the Izod World Championships on Oct. 16, he'll garner $2.5 million for his team and $2.5 million for a fan.
IndyCar went with the Wheldon option because no driver outside open-wheel racing stepped forward to participate. IndyCar wanted a competitor who could attract attention, and Wheldon, who has not competed in an IndyCar race since May, offers the best chance for that.
Wheldon, the 2005 series champion, is a two-time 500 winner. He has won 16 IndyCar races.

I think he has a chance at it, too.

[FIAT1]

I have to repeat my self one more time in asking why not 5 mil for credible championship where people like Will Power who races his heart out every race and is amazing to watch has opportunity to get paid for his skill. Nothing against Wheldon but this type a money is wasted on one event and one person. My opinion.

[Chris R]

hmmm, not a bad plan - a bit (ok, alot) gimmicky - but in some ways better than the original.... the key here is winning the $2.5 million for a fan..... now THAT ought to get some attention.... where do I sign up?? (or perhaps it would be better if my wife signs up??!!) the other key is, it really could happen whereas the original plan was pretty much pie in the sky (which is one of the reasons nobody signed up).

As for why not to offer it to the season champion - might be a good idea to tie a fan to a driver for the season - but if you did that you would DEFINITELY have to deal with the payday - because someone would win - with this scheme you can afford to offer a big prize because the odds are still pretty good that he won't do it....

I would like to add, this scheme might work for a new version of the triple crown too.....

[00steven]

Wait... does this make Buddy Rice eligible as well? Indycar better watch out because Dan has a good shot at the money.

[DBell]

I have to repeat my self one more time in asking why not 5 mil for credible championship where people like Will Power who races his heart out every race and is amazing to watch has opportunity to get paid for his skill. Nothing against Wheldon but this type a money is wasted on one event and one person. My opinion.

I agree with you, but the thing is that they would actually have to come up with 5 million to add to the championship. My understanding of the gimmick is that they took a insurance policy for 5 mil and if one of the guest drivers where to win, then it would pay out. Not likely to happen. But adding 5 mil to the championship would be a sure payout and that would have to come from IndyCar itself. I don't think the Hulman- George family are interested in forking out their own money to make that happen.

[DBell]

Wait... does this make Buddy Rice eligible as well? Indycar better watch out because Dan has a good shot at the money.


I think if it looks like Dan might win, then Barnhart will call one of his "discretionary" penalties and put Wheldon a lap down. ;)

[SarahFan]

Instead of just one fan why not $100 for each fan in the stands ...the crowd will likely be in the 25k range

[downtowndeco]

Make it so the fan has to be there in attendance or call within 15 minutes to win. In other words, if Weldon wins, & they pull Larry Jone's name from Boise ID. out of the hat, he needs to call within 15 minutes or he loses the prize. That should bring up the ratings. Either that or he needs to be there in person, and since Vegas is a town filled with gamblers, it would help fill the stands.

[NickFalzone]

I hate to be the bringer of negativity to this thread, but Wheldon, the 2011 500 winner, should already be in a fulltime ride, not the "celeb guest driver" for this special event. That he is not, says a lot of crappy things about the series right now. Secondly, as much as I like him, he brings very little as far as new eyes to the Vegas finale. I can't believe that racing in 2011 has come to this. $5 mill and not one guest driver that wants to give it a shot. Scale it down to 1/5th that, 20 years ago, and you'd have had drivers from all over the world giving it a shot.

[00steven]

I hate to be the bringer of negativity to this thread, but Wheldon, the 2011 500 winner, should already be in a fulltime ride, not the "celeb guest driver" for this special event. That he is not, says a lot of crappy things about the series right now. Secondly, as much as I like him, he brings very little as far as new eyes to the Vegas finale. I can't believe that racing in 2011 has come to this. $5 mill and not one guest driver that wants to give it a shot. Scale it down to 1/5th that, 20 years ago, and you'd have had drivers from all over the world giving it a shot.

Amen! That's straight up truth.

[SarahFan]

Couldn't agree more nick....

Bottom-line is this does nothing to move the needle... Period

[anthonyvop]

Indy 500 winner Dan Wheldon eligible for IndyCar's $5 million bonus | The Indianapolis Star | indystar.com (http://www.indystar.com/article/20110912/SPORTS0107/110912011/Indy-500-winner-Wheldon-eligible-IndyCar-s-5M-bonus?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|IndyStar.com)



I think he has a chance at it, too.

I thought the whole point of the $5 Million award was to invite driver's from outside the series to bring attention. How is Wheldon eligible?

[harvick#1]

no one is gonna participate because the majority of the racing series' are racing that week, I dont see a Nascar driver whos ever stepped into an indycar is gonna go try, not with the Chase drivers, I believe F1 has a GP that weekend, so thats a big no.

I guess they could do this next year to try and get Danica to be the 15 minutes of fame again :laugh:

[DBell]

no one is gonna participate because the majority of the racing series' are racing that week, I dont see a Nascar driver whos ever stepped into an indycar is gonna go try, not with the Chase drivers, I believe F1 has a GP that weekend, so thats a big no.

I guess they could do this next year to try and get Danica to be the 15 minutes of fame again :laugh:

I don't think it mattered whether those series are racing or not. Nascar races just about every weekend anyway. But even if they weren't, I don't see any of the big owners giving their star drivers permission to race in an IndyCar race. What's in it for them, besides risking that their driver gets hurt? F1? Even if they were off instead of in Korea, none of them were going to be here. They wanted a driver to "move the needle". That means they need Hamilton, Button, Alonso or Vettel. Or Schumacher. No way would their teams would allow that even if they wanted to. And I seriously doubt any one of them would want to. With Kubica's accident earlier this year, I doubt you'll ever see a top, contracted F1 driver race in another series while he is still in F1.

I thought this gimmick was rooted in wishes and dreams from it's announcement, definitely not in the reality of the modern racing world. Back to the drawing board Randy.

[Lousada]

This is nothing more than a lottery with some cartainment at the side. If people talk about this race, it won't be about the championship battle, nor the race it self, nor Dan Wheldon, but only about the fan that might win the money. How will that help Indycar I wonder?

Whatever happens, people will scream the whole deal was fixed. For example, he has to start last:
AUTO RACING - INDYCAR: Wheldon, Fan To Vie For Las Vegas $5M (http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/indycar-wheldon-fan-to-vie-for-las-vegas-5m)
Yet they can't afford Wheldon tooling around behind James Jakes and EJ Viso half the race, so are they going to give Wheldon "The Call"?

[mac miller]

bahaha! geez! Doesn't the ol' buckaroo know when to give up on a bad idea?

[Anubis]

I hate to be the bringer of negativity to this thread, but Wheldon, the 2011 500 winner, should already be in a fulltime ride, not the "celeb guest driver" for this special event. That he is not, says a lot of crappy things about the series right now. Secondly, as much as I like him, he brings very little as far as new eyes to the Vegas finale. I can't believe that racing in 2011 has come to this. $5 mill and not one guest driver that wants to give it a shot. Scale it down to 1/5th that, 20 years ago, and you'd have had drivers from all over the world giving it a shot.

Whilst I don't disagree with the sentiment, how much of the lack of interest is down to drivers in other series being seriously locked down by their contracts? I'd love to see some F1 guys having a crack at this, but even if they wanted to, I very much doubt any would be allowed. I'd love to see a world where drivers run in multiple series purely because they want to, but beyond sportscars, I think those days are more or less gone.

[Mark in Oshawa]

Whilst I don't disagree with the sentiment, how much of the lack of interest is down to drivers in other series being seriously locked down by their contracts? I'd love to see some F1 guys having a crack at this, but even if they wanted to, I very much doubt any would be allowed. I'd love to see a world where drivers run in multiple series purely because they want to, but beyond sportscars, I think those days are more or less gone.

I agree...those days are done...and if 5 million doesn't make someone come along to take a run at it outiside of a guy who runs Indy only, then it truly is dead. Stick a fork in this idea, it is DEAD...

[Lee Roy]

If I were the rest of the Indy Car drivers I think I would be insulted by all this of effort to offer someone else $5M that I never had a chance for, but the 5 ringers and now Wheldon. Talking about being taken for granted?!?!?!

They should all get together and let Wheldon win, and let it be well known before hand. Let Bernard explain that to the insurance company who is backing this prize.

[Chris R]

no matter how ill conceived the idea is (and I am not convinced it is as bad of an idea as many here seem to think) I would hope the drivers and team would understand this is a legitimate effort to bring some attention to the series with the goal of increasing exposure so that everyone might have better luck getting sponsors etc.... Sure, they might feel a bit put out at first - but hopefully a little consideration of the matter would lead most of the drivers to understand....

On the other hand - I would hope Randy etc. would appreciate that while they came up with the best solution they could to the dilemma of offering a huge prize to outsiders that they might come up with a better scheme next year to attract fan attention by offering a shared prize while also offering the shot at a big payday to the regulars in some manner... I think some sort of triple crown (like the original Winston million right??) centered award might do it..... you could really sweeten the pot by making the value of the prize inversely proportional to their point standings or something like that (i.e. - a small team that pulls it off gets rewarded better than Penske or Ganassi pulling it off)...

Overall, I think the original challenge was more than a little "pie in the sky". This version is a little more workable and saves as much face as possible but I would hope for a better version in the future.....

[DanicaFan]

I hate to be the bringer of negativity to this thread, but Wheldon, the 2011 500 winner, should already be in a fulltime ride, not the "celeb guest driver" for this special event. That he is not, says a lot of crappy things about the series right now. Secondly, as much as I like him, he brings very little as far as new eyes to the Vegas finale. I can't believe that racing in 2011 has come to this. $5 mill and not one guest driver that wants to give it a shot. Scale it down to 1/5th that, 20 years ago, and you'd have had drivers from all over the world giving it a shot.

I agree with this completely. It does bring a negative side to the sport by saying the Indy 500 winner cant even get a full-time ride. I like Dan too but this is just another gimmick by Randy again. And they should let him qualify and start where he qualifies at, not at the back.

[ArrowsFA1]

"We set out to prove that we have the best drivers in the world and putting Dan at the back of a 30-plus car field to weave his way through traffic at speeds in excess of 215 mph will certainly prove that."
Dan Wheldon to race in IndyCar season finale at Las Vegas - IndyCar news - AUTOSPORT.com (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/94542)

How :confused:

[Jag_Warrior]

Does anyone remember when Grand Am got some of the big name NASCAR drivers to the 24 Hours of Daytona? This was three or four years ago. The first part of the race was on Fox and ratings were up something like 60% across the broadcast. Bernard had the same idea for this. But the difference is, Grand Am didn't announce anything until deals were in place. Bernard is gaining a reputation as a guy who talks things up and then it doesn't come to fruition. The speed record at Indy this year... uh, maybe he should have actually gotten Penske, Ganassi or someone else on board before talking that up... cause the car owners weren't on board and it didn't happen. Same here. He should have had QUIET discussions with Stewart, Montoya, Gordon, Johnson or some other bigger name drivers (and some of the IRL team owners, since they'd need cars to drive!!!) and gotten some buy-in before saying ANYTHING. If they'd said "no", then he could have let this die quietly. But instead, it now looks like that even for a chance at $5 million, no one outside of the IRL will strap in and race.

The IRL needs a Steve Jobs type turn-around artist... QUICK! But instead, Randy Bernard is looking more & more like a Steve Ballmer type goof-up. Instead of magic in his pocket, he has egg on his face. The Indy speed record thing was a flop. The much awaited body-kits are now being delayed - back to spec racing. He can't bring himself to fire the much hated Brian Barnhart. The Lotus engine now appears to be still-born... and several teams don't have engine deals for next year. And now this. Instead of bringing the promised fashion model to the prom, he's having to take his cousin Zelda (Wheldon).

[SarahFan]

Anthony S has an interesting article up at IBJ

I'm posting from my phone if some someone can link it that would be great

IMO he nails the situation

[DBell]

Here you go Ken.

IndyCar CEO, team owners not on same page | 2011-09-14 | Indianapolis Business Journal | IBJ.com (http://www.ibj.com/the-score/2011/09/14/indycar-ceo-team-owners-not-on-same-page/PARAMS/post/29524)

Big surprise about Penske and Cheapster. They have never cared about the good of the sport, only their wallets. But I agree with Jag, Randy needs to get things in order before he announces these grandiose ideas.

I'm wondering when we start a pool for when the Cowboy either quits or is fired, opening the door for TG to make a return.

On a side note, when looking at the comments I see that Defender has taken the name Disciple of IndyCar. Probably so he could get into the chat forums again. Defender or Disciple, that fat fool is still a broken record.

[Marbles]

So many good points!

It wasn't a bad idea. It didn't work out. A slam to to the regulars to think some interloper could make more money in one day than they've made in their career. Dan Wheldon, the official test driver of the new Indycar is not, under any circumstances, going to win this race. If I could bet on that I'd lay down 5 million dollars.

[SarahFan]

The thing is marbles.... It didn't just 'not work out'

Randy didn't do his due diligence on the promotion......not making sure rog and chip were committed to running a car his a major gaff....

The race will be a huge money loser as tickets are essentially free ..... And the elusive .8 isn't going to happen

Randy returning in 2012 isn't very likely imo

[Marbles]

The thing is marbles.... It didn't just 'not work out'

Randy didn't do his due diligence on the promotion......not making sure rog and chip were committed to running a car his a major gaff....

The race will be a huge money loser as tickets are essentially free ..... And the elusive .8 isn't going to happen

Randy returning in 2012 isn't very likely imo

Another good point!

[numanoid]

So many good points!

It wasn't a bad idea. It didn't work out. A slam to to the regulars to think some interloper could make more money in one day than they've made in their career. Dan Wheldon, the official test driver of the new Indycar is not, under any circumstances, going to win this race. If I could bet on that I'd lay down 5 million dollars.

Vegas sport book is accepting bets on the championship.

[SarahFan]

I didn't watch the prerace.....

But as far as ai remember not a singles tip of the 2.5 million a fan can win.

I say good, increases my odds

[call_me_andrew]

I have to repeat my self one more time in asking why not 5 mil for credible championship where people like Will Power who races his heart out every race and is amazing to watch has opportunity to get paid for his skill. Nothing against Wheldon but this type a money is wasted on one event and one person. My opinion.

If I could put forward a possible scenario: Randy doesn't have $5 mil! If Wheldon wins he could finally bankrupt INDYCAR.

[garyshell]

If I could put forward a possible scenario: Randy doesn't have $5 mil! If Wheldon wins he could finally bankrupt INDYCAR.

Do you REALLY think $5 mil would possibly bankrupt the folks who actually own Indycar?

Gary

[Mark in Oshawa]

It is an insurance policy...they wont pay..they paid a premium and the insurance company is betting Wheldon or some other interloper wont win...