View Full Version : Team Menard No More?
Word on the street says Team Menard shut their doors today. The stuff goes to Panther, the employees go to the unemployment line.
It wouldn't shock me to see Menard become a sponsor rather than the owner. That might help him avoid more problems with the IRS. http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2003/1006/048.html
sundaydriver
10-24-03, 10:32 AM
I think he'll still do the County Fair 500 but I've read he's done. I think Crackforum has all the details.
Racewriter
10-24-03, 11:36 AM
JoeBob - rumors are accurate.
JLMannin
10-24-03, 12:36 PM
Menard, along with Hemmelgarn and Foyt, enjoyed being the biggest fish in the pond with the influx of wanker teams that made the former wanker teams look great.
Now that all the old CART teams are back, it's time for Hemmelgarn and Menard to step back to Indy only teams, as they have proven time and time again that they cannot compete with the top teams in US based formula car racing.
Classic Apex
10-24-03, 01:42 PM
"Oh now that's a shame."
:D
Methanolandbrats
10-24-03, 02:32 PM
Originally posted by Brian Ericson
"Oh now that's a shame."
:D Ya, I'm pretty choked up about it.
Originally posted by JLMannin
Menard, along with Hemmelgarn and Foyt, enjoyed being the biggest fish in the pond with the influx of wanker teams that made the former wanker teams look great.
Now that all the old CART teams are back, it's time for Hemmelgarn and Menard to step back to Indy only teams, as they have proven time and time again that they cannot compete with the top teams in US based formula car racing.
This reminds me of one of my favourite C^RT/irl quotes in forum history, made by our very own DaveL, or was it Mike Kellner? "Pole Day was C^RT day and Bump Day was USAC day". How true that has become now.
TKGAngel
10-24-03, 07:20 PM
I've read that Menard is selling his equipment to Richard Childress/Robby Gordon. I think it was on jayski, but don't remember, since it was a while ago.
Simply a shame that another one of the guys that the IRL was formed to support has gone out of business. Long live the vision. :rolleyes:
As dog-ring sez: "Not there. Not there. Not there. Not there..."
Originally posted by pchall
As dog-ring sez: "Not there. Not there. Not there. Not there..."
or
Unemployment worker - previous work skills?
d-r - I was a spotter for John Menard Racing formerly in the IRL.
UW - John who of what?
d-r - John Menard mam, he owns the lumberstores.
UW - Oh yeah, my husband got some warped lumber there once. What does a spotter do?
d-r - I can say, pit now! debris yellow! still there, still there, still there! and what's your name again? in both English and Portuguese.
UW - I'm sorry, anything I'd have would be a reach for you.
Originally posted by mapguy
This reminds me of one of my favourite C^RT/irl quotes in forum history, made by our very own DaveL, or was it Mike Kellner? "Pole Day was C^RT day and Bump Day was USAC day". How true that has become now.
That was one of Kellner's.
How much money says if Menard would have been able to compete for wins after the IRL allowed the Chevworth, rather than run in the back with the rest of the original IRL teams, that he wouldn't be folding? And the Chevworth also means that he can't build his own engines anymore, it's lease-o-rama time in the IRL so that's one more reason for him to not bother anymore.
I'd be curious to know if any Lemmings now realize that the reason why Foyt and Hemelgarn were backmarker CART teams had less to with the unavailability of good equipement and more with the fact that the teams just plain suck.
cartmanoz
10-24-03, 11:12 PM
Yep, this grand vision of Tony's sure is working wonders. Good to see those Americans drivers and American teams dominating...:rolleyes:
Originally posted by DaveL
That was one of Kellner's.
How much money says if Menard would have been able to compete for wins after the IRL allowed the Chevworth, rather than run in the back with the rest of the original IRL teams, that he wouldn't be folding? And the Chevworth also means that he can't build his own engines anymore, it's lease-o-rama time in the IRL so that's one more reason for him to not bother anymore.
I'd be curious to know if any Lemmings now realize that the reason why Foyt and Hemelgarn were backmarker CART teams had less to with the unavailability of good equipement and more with the fact that the teams just plain suck.
I'll give Menard some credit for having the pioneering spirit in trying to keep the long dead Buick V6 program going and going and going with nothing more that a 3rd place finish at Indy for all those years to show. Then again, since he was fudging his numbers all that time with the IRS, I can see why he kept that loser out there.
Originally posted by cart7
Then again, since he was fudging his numbers all that time with the IRS, I can see why he kept that loser out there.
Maybe now he'll be able to say "Hi" to Larry Curry.
How much credit can you give Menard when the rules were constantly revised to favor his engine program over the course of almost a decade all he could manage were a couple of poles and a 3rd place at the late, great Indy 500?
:shakehead
Menard gets credit for being an idiot. The money he spent on the Buick V-6 program whould have been better served elsewhere. Where? Like an entire season of running with CART. Menard only wanted to do the Indy 500 every year, as a sportsman with something a litttle odd. The rules where fudged in order for the play teams to purchase an engine and fill the grid. It was an interesting sideline for the fan... but the Buicks record speaks for itself. Crawford, Sneva and even the highly touted Brian Bonner (!) ran the ten mile wonders to outrageous speeds.
Not since the days of Lewis Welch has a man wasted more money on a barren idea.
Ziggy
RaceGrrl
10-25-03, 02:08 PM
Originally posted by Ziggy
Not since the days of Lewis Welch has a man wasted more money on a barren idea.
Of course, you're not including Tony George in that characterization...
Originally posted by Ziggy
Menard only wanted to do the Indy 500 every year, as a sportsman with something a litttle odd. The rules where fudged in order for the play teams to purchase an engine and fill the grid.
You raise a good point. Back then IMS could fudge the rules for the little guy to fill the field at Indy. Nobody called them on it until they finally went too far and Penske made them look like the Gomers they are.
That way of keeping the hobbiests involved to fill the field worked specifically because Indy ran under a different sanctioning body and a different set of rules than the rest of the CART season. Now with one set of rules for the full season there are no three year old chasis with school bus engines to fill the field.
So now Tony George is more dependent than ever on big teams to fill the field at Indy.
Lizzerd
10-25-03, 06:36 PM
Originally posted by nrc
Now with one set of rules for the full season there are no three year old chasis with school bus engines to fill the field.
Roger Rager, 1980. He found the Chevy V8 block in a junk yard, rebuilt it, and ran the entire month of May with just that engine.
Originally posted by Lizzerd
Roger Rager, 1980. He found the Chevy V8 block in a junk yard, rebuilt it, and ran the entire month of May with just that engine.
Hey, my drag racing buddies from HS were always on the lookout for somebody's grandmother's Nova with a small block. Of course, it was everything they put in and on that block that made it a good for a drag car.
Originally posted by Ziggy
Menard gets credit for being an idiot. The money he spent on the Buick V-6 program whould have been better served elsewhere. Where? Like an entire season of running with CART. Menard only wanted to do the Indy 500 every year, as a sportsman with something a litttle odd. The rules where fudged in order for the play teams to purchase an engine and fill the grid. It was an interesting sideline for the fan... but the Buicks record speaks for itself. Crawford, Sneva and even the highly touted Brian Bonner (!) ran the ten mile wonders to outrageous speeds.
Not since the days of Lewis Welch has a man wasted more money on a barren idea.
Ziggy
Don't get the intention of my quote wrong, the Menard V6 was as hapless an engine as the Buick it was born from. The millions Menard wasted on that engine over the years would have allowed him to field a competant full time Cart effort.
Oops..
Let me rephrase that line as well, in the right hands, the millions he spent on that effort would have allowed someone other than HIM to field a competant Cart effort. :D
Does this mean it's okay for me to shop at Menards again ?
Originally posted by TRDfan
Does this mean it's okay for me to shop at Menards again ?
Only for Rachel's Potato Chips. :p
For decades, even during the EVIL CART years, there was always a (relatively) low buck option for a small team to run Indy with. Thanks to The Vision, that's gone which is more than a little ironic considering The Vision was supposed to be about controlling costs and levelling the playing field for the Little Guy.
Railbird
10-27-03, 09:54 PM
Menard is rolling in with Panther thus explaining the "two or possibly three Panther entries" schtick emitting from some circles.
car counts?
Paging Brian Barnhart......
Methanolandbrats
10-27-03, 10:07 PM
Originally posted by TRDfan
Does this mean it's okay for me to shop at Menards again ? Oh sure, you go right ahead. All they sell is junk. Had a friend rebuild his bathrooms with Menard's junk and the exploding three way valve collapsed the ceiling in two bedrooms....enormous water damage. My parents bought a kitchen faucet that also blew up and flooded the house. I bought electrical tape with no glue on it. Ever sort though the twisted, green sticks they call lumber? Had to sort through 100 railings to find a straight one that was'nt cracked for a buddy. Nothing but do-it-yourself hillbilly cobblejob sheeit at Menards. Stay far, far away.
chop456
10-28-03, 12:12 AM
Agreed. I needed just a few 2x4's to frame out a new door opening. It took me 15 minutes to sort through the pile just to find some reasonably straight ones with no wane. I ordered french doors which came in wih big gouges in them. I ordered 7K worth of cabinets from them and they screwed the design up so that the refrigerator door won't open after assuring me that it would be o.k. It took 3 months and 3 REORDERS to get the corrective pieces because they kept losing the orders. I swore them off after that crap. And all that was over a span of 2 months.
I go to Home Depot now, which is about 10 miles farther. I just dropped almost a grand there today, but I'd rather finance NASCAR than John Menard's defense fund. :D
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