No CCWS drivers in the 500 next year. [Archive]

View Full Version : No CCWS drivers in the 500 next year.

ChicagocrewIRL

21st September 2007, 19:09

Jonesi

22nd September 2007, 01:25

If that bothers you, what happens when you find out the Laguna Seca CC race is on ABC at the same time as the final hours of Indy bump day are on ESPN2? ;-)

john2112

22nd September 2007, 17:34

If that bothers you, what happens when you find out the Laguna Seca CC race is on ABC at the same time as the final hours of Indy bump day are on ESPN2? ;-)

ABC would have to "bump" the NBA playoffs for that to happen.

-John

Mark in Oshawa

22nd September 2007, 18:27

IF CCWS is on ABC, well then someone got out a bigger check book than the one they got out to put CCWS on ESPN Classic...

Of course, no one watches Bump Day either, because THAT fine tradition is for the most part gone...

mark123

23rd September 2007, 03:06

bump day tv coverage can be summed up in a 30 minute highlights package that night. really, i think that the days of 100,000 people attending qualifying are gone. people are too busy these days. And the CC teams can barely finance their own season let alone the 500, so they probably weren't going to be there anyway. I have no issue with cc running in May

indycool

23rd September 2007, 12:51

At this point, we don't know who the CCWS drivers are. And it's pretty doubtful ABC will sell its Indy qualifying time to CC for Laguna Seca because ABC uses that as promotion for a race that it PAYS for.

Komahawk

23rd September 2007, 23:24

*sniff*

Man I was hoping for Gommendy and Clarke and all those other great charismatic drivers to come over...

jimispeed

24th September 2007, 04:42

The IRL doesn't need Champcar drivers to race Indy anyway, they already bought them!!

luvracin

24th September 2007, 18:37

Looks like the possibility of CCWS drivers participating in the 500 took a serious

body blow by the official announcement of the Laguna Seca Race May 16-18.

So?

I can't think of anyone in the CCWS roster that you would want running an OW car on a Superspeedway other than Bourdais(going to F1) and Tracey.

And I don't say this neccessarily as criticism of the others, but because they have no oval experience anymore they're no better than the other one-off Indy500 entries anyway.

DanicaFan

27th September 2007, 09:17

I love bump day. Im down at the Indy track everyday its open in the month of May down in the garage areas. There is nothing like it.

F1boat

27th September 2007, 18:37

Not a big loss. Two series are too different now.

weeflyonthewall

27th November 2007, 08:12

Isn't Legge scheduled for a Rookie test?

MAX_THRUST

27th November 2007, 12:22

F1 BOAT, really has hit the nail on the head. The two series really are completely different now!!!. Ok appart from all the pollotics that has gone over the years and the obvious differencies between the two series. Now more than ever it is clear, both are going there own ways. The IRL remain North American and CCWS tries to conquer the world, which it could have done as CART but not as it is right now.

Also how many drivers from the old CART series are now left in the IRL???

Kanaan, Helio......I can't think of any others. Manning did one race under CART with Dale Coyne, any others. Which means Indy will be run by IRL drivers, bar a couple. If that doesn't clearly seperate the two series nothing will. Would still like to see TRacy give it ago again, but it aint happening.

CCFanatic

27th November 2007, 21:53

Kanaan, Helio......I can't think of any others. Manning did one race under CART with Dale Coyne, any others. Which means Indy will be run by IRL drivers, bar a couple. If that doesn't clearly seperate the two series nothing will. Would still like to see TRacy give it ago again, but it aint happening.

Manning ran a whole season with Team Australia in 2003, with no impressing runs. Tracy thinks he won the 2002 500, so unless they remove Helio's face off the trophy and place his, he will never return.

CC drivers took a step back from the 500 after Bruno had his devastating injury that nearly cost him his racing career.

Lee Roy

28th November 2007, 04:31

Looks like the possibility of CCWS drivers participating in the 500 took a serious

body blow by the official announcement of the Laguna Seca Race May 16-18.

There is still a slight possibility some teams and/or drivers may run Indy but it

looks doubtful. Maybe CCWS will cancel like they do a lot of their events.

Without the CCWS teams at Indy, how many cars will the Visions team have to run to make 33 cars this year?

JasonD

29th November 2007, 01:08

So?

I can't think of anyone in the CCWS roster that you would want running an OW car on a Superspeedway other than Bourdais(going to F1) and Tracey.

And I don't say this neccessarily as criticism of the others, but because they have no oval experience anymore they're no better than the other one-off Indy500 entries anyway.

Tagliani
Dominguez
Rahal
Junqueira
Servia
Philippe

and with Tracy and Bourdais that makes 8 guys.

JasonD

29th November 2007, 01:10

CC drivers took a step back from the 500 after Bruno had his devastating injury that nearly cost him his racing career.

Granted that might be a small part of it but its more likely sponsorship, team resources, money and loyalty that is preventing CC guys from showing up.

mark123

29th November 2007, 02:26

Old3Fan

29th November 2007, 19:18

Sure they will have 33 cars and drivers. Just like Nascar has 43 cars and drivers. The problem is half or more of the field are backmarkers and just clog up the field and IMHO cause safety issues and wrecks and excesssive yellow flags to name a few detractions from the event.

mark123

29th November 2007, 19:49

old3fan - you make a good point.

i guess the top 3 teams are so much better then the rest and that has caused the disparaty. would it be safe to say that before the big 3 teams jumped over from cart, that the quality of the irl was a lot lower then it is today?

OWChicago79

12th December 2007, 10:45

Maybe graham rahal if if if his dad stays in the IRL

RyanBriscoe#6

13th December 2007, 00:16

Maybe graham rahal if if if his dad stays in the IRL

I hope so. Maybe Bobby can get Graham out of his contract with NHL, so he could race in the car Scott Sharp has abondoned. Maybe then Patrone will stay as a sponsor. Imagine the TV coverage with Graham and Marco. Graham and Ryan Hunter-Reay on the same team as well. A big smack in the face to ChampCar.

nitromaniac

6th January 2008, 11:33

there was an open invite this year and no one turned up - and word was that even if there was a free engine lease from Honda, they still wouldn't turn up unless they had set up sheets from TCGR or Penske, in the same way that the Indy teams would get beaten if they made a one off appearance at Long Beach.

Has anyone given thought to the possibility that the CCWS teams might not want to run Indy?

I for one don't care either way. Indy will have 33 runners whether the CCWS teams turn up or not.
Key word here is "runners" not real racers. You may even get Billy Boat and Arie's kid to show up and take a starting spot. Probably Al Jr. if they can catch him on a sober day. Ya that will be one hell of great field! The truth is you will have about 20 or 22 regular series teams and drivers,if their is that many left, and the rest will be one time wonders or has beens just their to make sure they have 33 starters. By lap 50 the car count will be down to 20 or so due to attrition and then a few that will drop out at the first pit stop and collect the starting money and go home. The 500 has lost much of it's one time luster.

analyst20

6th January 2008, 18:43

weeflyonthewallIsn't Legge scheduled for a Rookie test?

I understand there is interest from the IRL with Sarah Fishers team mentioned as a possible full time ride for Kat.

ChicagocrewIRL

9th April 2008, 04:28

Looks like the possibility of CCWS drivers participating in the 500 took a serious

body blow by the official announcement of the Laguna Seca Race May 16-18.

There is still a slight possibility some teams and/or drivers may run Indy but it

looks doubtful. Maybe CCWS will cancel like they do a lot of their events.

Wow this was back when Laguna Seca was announced and I was so bummed that none of the teams was going to run Indy. Now it looks like mostly everyone will be there. I'm not so sad anymore.