Indy 500

Just watched the starting lineup and reflected on the past.

When I was a kid the race ran on Memorial Day.The only way to keep up with it was on the radio.(Unless you were there.)It started in the morning and lasted until late in the afternoon. And you didn't get to see it until the next Saturday on The Wide World Of Sports.

And you read and pronounce all the drivers names.

Everybody have a safe and Happy Memorial Day.

Two cars out and they haven't got through the parade laps, yikes...... That has to be disappointing, bad prep in the garage.

Paul

Though an Indiana resident, I lost all interest in Indy racing when they regulated the series to slot car status (same with NASCAR).

Gone are the days when you could just about run what you brung.

I fondly remember the NOVI with almost twice the HP of anything else on the track coming out of turn 4 at, maybe 150 MPH, blue smoke rolling off of the front tires as it blasted past the Offys down the front straight only to be passed yet again in the turns by the lighter, better handling Offys.

I find Indy racing boreing these days. NASCAR is even more boring.

Dean

@ midpoint top 7 places were chev powered. First place in constant change between 5-10 drivers.
Leaders running unbelievable 220 mph.

I used to be a huge racing fan. I hate to say it but now I agree with all your points.

It is a natural evolution of racing, start with a friendly lawn mower free race, and 3 years later someone has a snowmobile engine souped up and shoehorned into a lawnmower..... And so the regulations have to start, and they only punish those wanting to have fun, the fellas with the snowmobile engine come with a bored out something that fits the rule but not the spirit, and so the fun fades away.

Just the nature of racing.

But I certainly know what you mean, Indy blew up upon itself just when it split into 2 different series, they won't ever have what they had when Unsers and Andrettis and older guys were duking it out and then they throw the fan base away by splitting into 2 groups, sheez.

Nascar lost it when the car of tomorrow came out and they all looked the same. No personality left. And they can't change a rule and get that back, they killed themselves, stick a fork in it.

F1 is losing it to the dictator that is running that show, and needs ever bigger bribes to fund his party lifestyle of excess. He's cut some long standing events because they didnt bribe him enough, and has threatened to cut the older tracks like Monaco. Sheez, talk about full of oneself....

I get excited about racing today, as its the big events on all 3 series; but it is no where near what it had been in the past.

Paul

I use to watch all the racing groups. Now I could care less.

WHILE I WERE A BOY, BILLY VOUKOVICH WENT OVER THE WALL & DIED, ON RADIO, OFFY 4-CYL FRONT ENGINE ROADSTERS...REMEMBER 1ST YR SPEEDS WENT OVER 150 M P H...IN VIET NAM,
STAYED AWAKE TILL3-4 AM 2 LISTEN TO SUMPIN THAT WUZ RACING, 66, EVEN THOUGH I'D LEFT THAT BEHIND 4 SPORTS CAR & FORMULA RACING...PARTNER ON FORMULA VEE, 63...FORMULA
ONE/LE MANS NOW JUST UGLY CARS...
DO U ALL MEMBEER WHEN JOHN COOPER BROUGHT FRONT REAr=ENGINE 2 INDY???NEXT CAME COLIN CHAPMAN W/ JIMMY CLARK IN LOTUS...REST IS REAR-ENGINE HISTORY...
ALL OLD ROADSTERS WERE 'DEAN VAN LINES SPECIAL, ETC, ETC, STP NOVI SPECIAL...
BE BLESSED, GRATEFUL, PREPARED, NIK

Just to keep this thread tractor oriented, here is a pic of a JI. CASE Indy car. (about 1914)
I wonder where Cyrus MCormic an John Deere were.
Loren, the Acg.

I second that, if I'd write a response it would be just like this. Ever car looks like the rest, where's diversity?

Went to Indy from 1961 till 1967. Saw that first rear engine car in '61, Saw jimmy Clark win in rear engine in '65.

I agree. There's absolutely no place for creativity in racing any more.

Back when I was racing late models, if someone began blowing the doors off of everyone else, it was up to you to figure out how to compete with him. Now they just make him detune his car so everyone else can keep up.

I did kinda want to see Truax win the NASCAR race, though. 78 was my old number.

Dean I 100% agree with you. I can remember the Indy 500 being a big deal. All the local radio stations would have up dates even if they did not live broadcast the race. Now I bet that maybe one of them even said anything about the race. Then when they had the fall out on what type of race and all it just drove the final nail in Indy for me. There are no real names in it anymore. It seems like a European race that has little interest for me.

NASCAR is much the same way too. I remember when cars where different and they had character now they all are just cookie cutter cars. They all look the same and the restrictions are a JOKE. They are supposed to make all the cars the same???? WHO wants cars all the same. I want cars that are better then the others so the whole field tries to go better the next year. Now it is a sleep inducing event.

Then you have inflated drivers. Very few of today's drivers have any "real" creed to me. They are mostly a publicity department creation. Look at Danica Patrick. She is all the rage with many and has not won a single major race. How the heck is she a major draw then??? I would love to see a woman winning the big NASCAR races. I just loved to watch Shirley Muldowney crush the men when she was the top dog drag racing.

(quoted from post at 22:17:41 05/24/15) I would love to see a woman winning the big NASCAR races. I just loved to watch Shirley Muldowney crush the men when she was the top dog drag racing.

Click to expand...

Cha-cha and a pink top fuel! Always liked drag racing better, the original "run whatcha brung".

The Silver Crown race on the one mile track at the Indiana State Fairgrounds the Thursday before the 500 was a lot better race. And it was American drivers.

I like the look of the newer nascar cars. The old "twisted sister" was so tweaked for aerodynamics that it barely resembled a car once you got up close. Grill over in front of the left tire, greenhouse sitting half sideways on top, rear panel was way offset, behind the right tire.

They have a pretty tight box to work in yet there's always a car or 2 (or in that one race, 6 of the 8 that come out of that one shop) that can drive around then drive away from the rest.

Technology is at the point today they have to make a pretty tight box for the teams to work in. If not they'd have cars in the stands every other time one got backwards. That's why they put restrictor plates in this year. They were running 220 into the corners at Michigan the last couple years. Rusty Wallace tested an unrestricted car at Talladega 10 years ago and was hitting nearly 240. The cars don't like staying on the ground once they get up near 200.

They do need to slow them down and take away some of the aerodynamic downforce. It would stop some of the 1-car runaway on some of the mid size tracks.

Goose- if I remember right, you're from around Omaha, correct? Did you run latemodels at Sunset?

Yep. Me too.