>>>Just noticed PK wrote the lead story on Indyracing.com.<<<
Wrote the sidebar, Q&A, upcoming quote sheet and handled the layout and design of the package, too. The whole deal is at indianapolismotorspeedway.com or indy500.com.
Been a bit brisk at the plant yesterday and today! Burnout 3 online will be perfect tonight, as I need a stress reliever.
Take care,
PK
"You know why I love boxers? I love them because they face fear. And they face it alone." - Nick Charles
"First on the throttle, last on the brakes." - @MotoGP Twitter signature
Talent? Yeah, maybe in 1996-97 in a superior car he showed talent. But when the car was a dog, he did little to bring it to respectability. Button was better than JV in 2003, Button's first year with the team and JV's fifth. That speaks volumes.
Villeneuve may have skilled hands and feet, but he has a fifth-class inflated opinion of himself that eventually will cause him to be a scourge upon any team stupid enough to hire him.
I don't buy JV's contrite act one bit. He'll be a problem child the minute something goes wrong for him if he signs with a team for 2005.
Dickhead. I hope Alonso makes him look like Christian Danner.
But I'd love to see Hakkinen back in an F1 car. He's the only guy with the speed to threaten Schumacher consistently right now.
Take care,
PK
"You know why I love boxers? I love them because they face fear. And they face it alone." - Nick Charles
"First on the throttle, last on the brakes." - @MotoGP Twitter signature
No doubt. But let's suppose JV sets the F1 world ablaze in the next three races -- where does he go in 2005?
Ferrari -- full. McLaren -- full. Williams -- supposedly full, if the Contracts Recognition Board lets Sir Frank keep Button. Renault -- full. Toyota -- supposedly full if Trulli has signed.
BAR is the only viable outfit left. Autosport already has reported that JV has been on the phone with David Richards, patching up their relationship.
I can't see JV driving his guts out for a Sauber or Jaguar ride. Any contract he signs for 2005 will be heavily incentive-laden, but I can't see Ford funding even an incentive-laden contract for JV considering how it's looking to cut funding from the F1 program. Plus Jag is in deep sh*t next year funding-wise because it lost HSBC to the tune of $25 million per year, and Ford's support is tenuous.
So JV is driving his balls off the next three races for a BAR ride or nothing, and that's assuming Williams can keep Button. I think Sato is safe at BAR. He's done a good job this year, and the Japanese connections with Honda are too tough to sever.
I agree that JV's entrance in the final three races will be the highlight of the end of the season. I also hope he fails miserably so a deserving young driver like Gary Paffett, Vitantonio Liuzzi, Christian Albers or Anthony Davidson can get a ride instead of a retread like JV.
Take care,
PK
"You know why I love boxers? I love them because they face fear. And they face it alone." - Nick Charles
"First on the throttle, last on the brakes." - @MotoGP Twitter signature
Damn, I don't know if I like those qualifying changes, but I am willing to give it a chance. I fall on the "traditionalist" side of things, however, as much as I love the month of May at Indy, I do think it is no longer necessary to dedicate the whole month to it and it kind of hurts the continuity of the series championship.
Funny thing is before the split, I actually was all for eliminating the two weekends of qualifying and just reducing it to one. That, the USGP, and the Brickwayd 400 are about the only things I will ever give TG any props for. However, since its implementation in 1996 came at the time the race was being blown to bits, the new qualifying was not much of a positive for me, to say the least.
Anyway, I guess I am willing to see how it goes. Can't get any worse. I was actually looking at some old pictures from qualifying back in the 70's a couple weekends ago. The stands were absolutely packed. Sure there was less seating back then, but it almost looked like race day.
Regarding JV, I agree he is a whiner who has left his best days behind him, but he had a pretty good drive in winning the 1995 Indy 500. People always think that Goodyear just gave it to him, but the guy came from 2 laps down due to a penalty and a couple bad pitstops to still be in contention for the win.
Thanks. Now at the risk of sounding like a PR shill (which I am!), here's my response to this comment:
>>>Anyway, I guess I am willing to see how it goes. Can't get any worse. I was actually looking at some old pictures from qualifying back in the 70's a couple weekends ago. The stands were absolutely packed. Sure there was less seating back then, but it almost looked like race day.<<<
True. Qualifying crowds are down.
But how much of qualifying was televised in the 70s? How much Live Timing and Scoring was available on the Web? How often were the Indiana Pacers in the NBA Eastern Conference Finals or in the NBA Finals? Was NASCAR as big? Was there satellite and cable TV with 400 channels?
There are more factors to the decline of qualifying crowds than just the supposed decline of the event.
Take care,
PK
"You know why I love boxers? I love them because they face fear. And they face it alone." - Nick Charles
"First on the throttle, last on the brakes." - @MotoGP Twitter signature
No, you are absolutely right. For once, my comment about the difference in crowd size had no undertones or bias whatsoever. Just lamenting how big a deal it was back then compared to now. I was actually really stoked for qualifying this year, but as with many years, rain did not help the excitement level. The Indy 500's of the last few years have been just as exciting for me, if not more, than many I watched or attended in the 70's and 80's.
