Since no one's talking about it, I thought I'd get a thread going--throw some stuff out there, links, whatever, like what's the over/under on Kurt Busch running every lap in both races... This was kinda cool, saw it on yahoo: The Ten Craziest Engines Of The Indy 500
My take on Mr. Busch is that he's likely to be over his head in the car and under most every driver's skin before the day is over....
He laid down a very fast time though. I agree he probably won't make it the full 500 miles, but man, if he manages a top 10, that would be damned impressive. I got Power FTW, Marco Andretti is the odds on favorite in Vegas.
Has anybody named Andretti ever won Indy (at least since old man Mario did it back in the 1960's ) .? As a family, they seem remarkably able to turn certain victory into third place !!
LOL true that. Mario one it once. But what I remember the most is 1981, when he lost, then won, but then lost again. (Bobby Unser won, was penalized, Mario was declared the winner, Unser appealed, and was reinstated as the winner for those of you who are lucky enough to be young enough not to have seen it). Micheal's luck was horrid too; at least his father got a win though. Marco can't win unless by an act of God.
Me too, bigtime. My grandpa built a car A.J. Foyt raced in Springfield, Illinois (dirt track) back in the 50's. Foyt was up and coming, starting to make a name for himself; my grandpa was a mechanic, and built dirt track racers (midgets)way back when--their driver sucked, they pretty much did it for fun. Foyt wrecked his car earlier in the night, and asked if he could drive their car for the night--started from the back of the field, and finished third in a low budget racer (the short track dirt races are short races, I guess way back then it was pretty impressive). As a kid (long after the 50's), I remember going to that track, sitting low in the turns, and holding up plywood boards so as not to get hit in the face with dirt clods as the midgets drifted around the turn.
I'm a close follower of NASCAR and when it comes to Kurt Busch I remember my mother's words: "If you can't say anything nice, say nothing at all".
Kurt Busch, if he'd ever grow up, like his brother, has the talent to win multiple championships--he can just flat out drive. What he did last year with a second tier organization was one of the most impressive seasons I've ever seen in NASCAR--he singlehandedly carried that team and a second rate car into the chase. But you're right; he's his own worst enemy--nothing worse than wasting your potential, especially when you have so much of it. Look where Furniture Row is one year later with Truex.
Great race!! Awesome last four laps--and Busch did better than expected, did a fantastic job of running within his limits, and managed a few nice adjustments to stay out of trouble when the wrecks started at the end.
Really enjoyed the race. I felt bad for Carpenter he was driving a smart race. Wonder how things would have shaken out had he not been taken out. Kurt Busch surprised me. He dd well.
Yes, that was a tough break for Carpenter; he had nowhere to go with Bell and Hincliffe not giving an inch. Nice pics--announcers said it was the second closest finish in Indy history. I posted a YouTube video of the Indy Lights finish in Steve's old thread--another great finish, although nothing will ever top last year's.
I seem to remember the closest finish for Indy cars being Al Unser Jr's win over Scott Goodyear. Although I'm old & could be mis-remembering.
Random thoughts on that list: 20 drivers on the lead lap, that makes what Busch did finishing 6th even more impressive. The guy really drove a great race--didn't seriously challenge for the win,but more importantly, didn't do anything stupid (he saved that for practice)--for a rookie with not much recent time in an open wheel car, he proved he belonged there; that wasn't a fluke. He's not my favorite, but he's got a ton of talent--I always thought his brother was the better driver, but now, I'm rethinking that--I don't know if the shrub will ever mature enough to be a champion, and I don't think there's a snowball's chance he could pull the Indy thing off; the elder shrub has already pulled off both. The lack of yellow flags for over 1/2 of the race was crazy (in a good way). Where did Sage Karam come from? I didn't see much about him pre-race, but he did a great job too.