-

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Team Owners Want 500 Start Time Moved Back

According to Curt Cavin, during yesterdays Indycar Series team owners meeting, moving the Indianapolis 500 start time was at the top of the list of things to discuss. The issue was brought up by Roger Penske's right hand man, Tim Cindric, who had this to say: "It's worth one (ratings) point, at least"

Coincidentally I'm sure, if the start time is moved back 2 hours from 1pm to 11am, the possibility of Sam Hornish jr. coming back to run the double for Team Penske immediately opens up. It would also allow Indycar vets Robby Gordon, Tony Stewart, and John Andretti to duplicate what they have done in the past with running 1100 miles in a day.

16 time Indy 500 starter Michael Andretti also supports the idea, saying "I always thought it was something to talk about. It created a little more buzz."

14 comments:

Good. Should have never screwed with the 11:00 start time to begin with. Probably another "brilliant" idea that Joie and/or Angstadt concocted that failed.

The Indy 500 needs more marquee/interesting drivers in the event. And yes, that means Cup drivers.

I think the trade of Tony Stewart, Robby Gordon (who was very close to running Indy this year anyway), Sam Hornish Jr and Dale Earnhardt Jr (who the National Guard would LOVE to have in the race) for Hideki Mutoh, EJ Viso, Robert Doonrbos and Milka Duno would be good one for Belskus and Company.

11:00 is fine if you're at the track or anywhere else in the eastern time zone. However, that works out to an unreasonable, F1-ish 8AM start on the west coast. They could tape-delay it, obviously, but I don't know enough about west coast TV to know if that's reasonable. I would rather they moved the NASCAR race...except in 2011, when the 500 needs to be held Monday.

I still don't understand why anyone wants to lose two races in the same day. Nobody who's done the double has won Either of them. And if I were a NASCAR owner, I'd be very unhappy if my driver showed up already exhausted from a previous race. Doesn't matter that they get IVs in the Learjet as they shuttle over; it's mentally and physically exhausting.

I'm surprised by the proposal by the owners, considering the conventional wisdom is that to get better ratings the start time needs to be later - rather than earlier.

Also the two teams the article references is Penske and Andretti - I can't see either of those teams fielding extra cars for NASCAR drivers.

On an unrelated note: Grand Am cars are testing on the IMS road course this week. You never know, someday we may see lights at the Speedway after all...

Actually, I could see both Penske and AGR running a stock car driver.

Penske's obvious potential driver would be Sam Hornish. As for AGR, if they lose there 4th car like expected and run 3 full season, it leaves a great competitive seat open at Indy for a possible double.

And I'll be at IMS this Thursday, so be sure to check back for photos and info on the Grand Am test

I am also a fan of this idea - there's a lot of positive buzz to gain from this, and face it - NASCAR drivers are better known right now.

Since Tony Stewart is now running his team, there is now nothing stopping him from trying to achieve one of his biggest dreams. I wouldn't be surprised if he eventually starts his own IndyCar team, and this would potentially jumpstart that process.

I would love to see Juan Pablo Montoya and Robby Gordon give the 500 another run, too.

As others have stated, Hornish would be perfect to do the double, and I'm sure there are some other big names who would want to do it.

Now that Richard Petty has had a taste of Indy, would he let one of his drivers do it? I honestly don't even know who drives for him anymore...

I can get with AGR, maybe. I can't see Roger Penske letting Hornish do the double. No one has ever come close to winning either part of the double, and Roger comes to win. Every time. So I'll concede half the point... :-)

I'm looking forward to the Grand Am pics. I think it'd be awesome to see a Grand Am/Indycar weekend event on the road course at IMS. I've been to Mid-Ohio for ALMS/IRL and it was a.w.e.s.o.m.e.

Did you go to the MotoGP event this weekend?

Yea, I'm really looking forward to Thursday. I've never seen a Grand Am car on track, so it should be pretty interesting.

The latest rumor about the Grand Am situation is it could just be a 1 time 12 hour race in 2011. Sometime in the fall with an off weekend for Indycar and stock cars, allowing for all the best drivers to compete. It would probably be held from 6am-6pm..could be interesting.

Unfortunetly I wasn't able to make it out to the MotoGP race this weekend, but I definetly hope to go next year (could be the last year). I was however able to go to the MotoGP tire test last summer, and they were SWEET!!

How about those aforementioned nascar drivers just end their 'fabulous' taxicab careers and come back to Indy permanently regardless of start time? They know they want to be here. They know they should be here...

(>fingers crossed< I hope it works this time)

This is a no brainer. IndyCar has more to gain from having N-word drivers running one off's in the 500, than they have to lose.

Ratings will improve, casual fan interest will increase, field size will increase, and heck, who doesn't want to know how Stewart, Busch, Johnson, and Gordon would stack up against Castroneves, Dixon, Franchitti, and Kanaan?

Bring it on!

that too much racing in a day move the 500 to saturday nascar driver are not going to come they are chicken that why they change time in first place and its better have stand alone day haHAHA irl race on indy road coarse is stupit ir focus should be to get rid dumb under card road track off the schedule hahahahahaha i am tan

Here is how I see potential links between NASCAR Cup Drivers/teams and Indy Car teams for Indy 2010:

Montoya with Target Ganassi. Could run a retro Target scheme. Its the 10th anniversary of Montoya's Indy 500 win next year. Was also Chipper's 1st Indy win as a sole owner.

Robby Gordon with Vision. Came very close to entering this year with another owner. Tie with John Menard makes this one easy to figure. Gordon would be a lock to be back.

Tony Stewart with Andretti. Stewart could co-enter a car with Andretti's team providing equipment. Sponsorship would not be a problem.

John Andretti with Petty/D&R. Happened in 2009 and would likely happen again in 2010.

Kevin Harvick with Panther/Childress. Harvick has legit interest. Childress has entered cars at Indy before and almost did again this year. Obvious sponsor link with Shell/Pennzoil and Panther's history with them. Dale Jr could also be a possible here, with the National Guard link.

Allmendinger with Gillette/Sarah Fisher Racing. Allmendinger has never been in a Indy 500 and desperately wants to be in the race. SFR. George Gillette has interest in the race and the series. SFR has built a very nice team in a short period of time and will likely look to run a 2nd car at Indy in 2010.

Hornish with Penske. Easy one. Sam loves Indy. RP loves winning Indy. He has a Indy 500 winner, who never got to defend his title. Mobil One would be the sponsor.


That is 7 combos, that it doesn't take too much of a "stretch" to see happening.

First of all, the anon post just above mine is plain stupid.

Second, move the start back to 11:00 and make the announcement ASAP. Personally I don't really care if any cab drivers come or not. My concern with the later start has always been the weather.

no its not hahahaha this is stupit terry angstadt aka bikeman hahahaha i am oval

Post a Comment