Tony Stewart to sub for Franchitti

[rabbit]

So says Robin Miller (http://espn.go.com/rpm/irl/2003/0419/1541501.html)

ESPN.com has learned that defending NASCAR Winston Cup champion Tony Stewart will replace Dario Franchitti on Andretti's team for the 87th running of the Indianapolis 500.

Stewart, who will run alongside rookie Dan Wheldon, Andretti and Tony Kanaan (if he's healthy enough), will start testing one of the Andretti-Green Dallara/Hondas this Wednesday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

[Ed_Severson]

Wow.

Quite possibly the second and third biggest arseholes in motorsport, uniting in an effort to win the biggest one's "race."

What a thrill.

[pchall]

So Stewart gets the Honda ¥¥¥ for the glamor event. Which poor smuck risks his back for the Month of June?

[Napoleon]

I heard this on a local sports talk show this morning. It had just come off the wire. I should have posted it. anyways the host basically read it and said something like "so what"

[racer2c]

I can't believe Tony's NASCAR team owner will let him to this!?

[RTKar]

Wouldn't THAT be great for the irl :p Tony Stewart takes the cake, drinks the milk and then goes back to napcar. It would be almost as good as when the CART guys cherry picked the thing. Come to think of it, I'd just as soon see him win as anyone except for the team he's driving for.

[Cam]

I am in absolute disgust.....:rolleyes:

[JSR]

I hope it is true. :)

[Railbird]

Honda was willing to pay for a name and it appears that they may have one.

Given his most recent Indy performance I don't think he'll be a threat for the win unless circumstances play his way, but the sponsors will surely get their bang for the buck just from the novelty.

The humor I have already taken from Dario's unfortunate screw up has been all the banners and stand-ups distibuted here locally that have him in his most People Magazine pose as the lead man for the Budweiser deal.

[RTKar]

Originally posted by racer2c
I can't believe Tony's NASCAR team owner will let him to this!?

Wait a minute, doesn't he drive a Chevy in napcar? and Andretti's wankerwagon is a Honda...How is this possible when Chevy has irl cars?

[Railbird]

Wait a minute, doesn't he drive a Chevy in napcar? and Andretti's wankerwagon is a Honda...How is this possible when Chevy has irl cars?

I've wondered the same thing.

[Chief]

Anything's possible when you have enough $$$ and your great race needs publicity. Let's hope Tony doesn't get bit doing it.

[Joe in LA]

Originally posted by Railbird
Wait a minute, doesn't he drive a Chevy in napcar? and Andretti's wankerwagon is a Honda...How is this possible when Chevy has irl cars?

I've wondered the same thing.

Maybe Chevy figures its better to have "Chevy driver" Stewart win the race, than to have Stewart drive a Chevy and lose? I do wonder about this. It seems like a bit of a conflict. Could Chevy be returning the favor from Honda allowing Helio and Gil run Chevy's in 2001?

[pchall]

Originally posted by Joe in LA
Could Chevy be returning the favor from Honda allowing Helio and Gil run Chevy's in 2001?

A quid pro quo instead of the triumph of Yen over marketing dollars? Or is Chebbie just getting ready to fold again?

[Wheel-Nut]

Originally posted by RTKar
Wait a minute, doesn't he drive a Chevy in napcar? and Andretti's wankerwagon is a Honda...How is this possible when Chevy has irl cars?

Maybe Chevy will pay Honda to rebadge the motor as a Chevy!!

[pchall]

Interesting thought.

Honda made noises about doing their own beefarter for 2004. Maybe GM Motorsports gets the messy leftovers from Ilmor?

[cart7]

We can put this one to rest.

BAKERSFIELD, Calif., (April 21, 2003) - Reports that have defending NASCAR Winston Cup Series champion Tony Stewart competing in the 87th running of the Indianapolis 500 on May 25 are false.

The following is a statement from Stewart regarding the rumor.


"It's flattering to know that my name still comes up this time of year as someone teams want to have in their car at Indy. But as I've said from the beginning of the season, I am not going to compete in the Indianapolis 500, and my reasons are still the same.

"I need to take care of what I signed up to do here with Joe Gibbs Racing. There are 200 employees at Joe Gibbs Racing, making all sorts of sacrifices to provide me with everything I need to go out and win races. And when you go back and forth between Indy and Charlotte, it puts a strain on the entire team. As much as my heart wants to do it, I can't justify putting my personal ambitions ahead of the sacrifices made by my race team.

"I don't have to prove I can win that race. I want to win that race really bad, but there are a lot of guys that haven't won the Indy 500. I always had the feeling that if I never won that race it was going to be a void in my career. I don't feel that way anymore. I'm pretty proud of what I've accomplished in 24 years of racing. If I get a chance to go back someday and the circumstances are right, I will. But I think it's about priorities. I'm not going to say I'm getting wiser as I'm getting older, because I'm not sure that has ever been the case, but at least I'm trying to take care of the people who are working hard for me each week."

[pchall]

I'm sure this fits into the Vision, too.

[Treeface]

:rolleyes: There are still delusional indy-centrics who think the France mafia will act to help the IRL to succeed. Does the notion of NASCAR helping a competing series seem even remotely plausible?? There is no way NASCAR lets a top driver show up at the 500 again.

[Don Quixote]

This is great. :laugh: I wonder if another meltdown is occurring at Beechlerforum.

[Ziggy]

What about the Meria guy? He's an American, correct????

Ziggy

[mapguy]

Looks like this was another peice of disinformation from Freak Nation in a desperate attempt to salvage any ratings. Here is a quote from an article on Autosport.com (http://www.autosport.com/newsitem.asp?id=22644&s=18)


"It's flattering to know that my name still comes up this time of year as someone teams want to have in their car at Indy. But as I've said from the beginning of the season, I am not going to compete in the Indianapolis 500, and my reasons are still the same."

So since the beginning of the year he had no intention to run the 500. They are getting pretty desperate at 16th/Georgetown.

[JSR]

Originally posted by mapguy

They are getting pretty desperate at 16th/Georgetown.

Didn't Robin Miller report the story about Stewart running Indy?

[mapguy]

Originally posted by JSR
Didn't Robin Miller report the story about Stewart running Indy?

Robin Miller reported it to ESPN. Someone started the rumour. Guess who?

[JSR]

Originally posted by mapguy
Robin Miller reported it to ESPN. Someone started the rumour. Guess who?

How do you know who started the rumor?

[mapguy]

Originally posted by JSR
How do you know who started the rumor? Inside source or something?

I am speculating that it was Freak Nation or someone else in the irl 'brain'trust that planted the seed. Fred Nation has a reputation of leaking false information to the media in an effort to pump up the irl or put another nail in C^RT's coffin.

[JSR]

Originally posted by mapguy
I am speculating

That is what I thought.

[Hot Rod Otis]

Its quite posssible that IMS is getting desperate for some publicity, ANY publicity, any "buzz", so to speak, to push the low car count issue off the front burner. Once again, more evidence of what a fine job Tony did in saving the "integrity" of the Indianapolis 500.

[mapguy]

Originally posted by JSR
That is what I thought.

While I am speculating I am pretty sure that it was Nation or someone in his office that started this. Tony Stewart has said at the beginning of the year that Indy was a no go. He hasn't talked to anyone at AGR. No one at AGR knew about this, AFAIK. Who stands most to gain from this rumour?

The Indy 500.

[JoeBob]

Here's something to keep in mind. Athletes do the big teary eyed thing all the time when they have ulterior motives.

Heck, just last week Michael Irvin went on National TV and said that a few years ago, he called a press conference in Dallas and announced (with tears in his eyes) that he wanted to spend more time with his family, and wasn't sure that he wanted to play football anymore. It turns out that he absolutely wanted to play football, and just wanted more money from the Cowboys (which they paid him.) Deion Sanders said he was laughing out loud when he saw the press conference, because he knew exactly what Irvin was up to.

From what I've heard, this Tony Stewart thing is somewhat similar. If he had no interest in driving in the Indy 500, why has he been negotiating with teams to drive in the race? (And, he obviously got close enough with AGR that word started to spread about the deal.) The AGR deal would be a tough one to swing because of all of the sponsor conflicts, (Chevy/Honda; Coke/Pepsi, Jim Beam; 7-Eleven/Home Depot) but he's worked those out before. (But, The Chevy/Honda and Coke/Pepsi are a lot tougher to work out than Home Depot/Target were, since they don't compete directly)

I wouldn't be shocked if he ended up with Ganassi again when all is said and done. (I also wouldn't be shocked if he ended up nowhere.) But, remember that he issued similar denials the year him and Vasser ended up taking over for Bruno and Nic Minassian. I think the story then was that he loved Home Depot, and wouldn't promote Target.)