Hemelgarn pulls out of Indy 500

[Hot Daug]

From the Indystar


Two of the Indy Racing League's founding teams will not compete in this month's Indianapolis 500, team officials confirmed Tuesday.

PDM Racing, which launched Sam Hornish Jr.'s career, is sponsorless and has ceased operations. Its assets are for sale.

Hemelgarn Racing, which won the 500 in 1996 with driver Buddy Lazier, doesn't have a sponsor either, and general manager Lee Kunzman is working on an alternative that could lead the team to the Champ Car series this summer.

"If you can't do Indy, it's really difficult to fill in (a program) just for the other IRL races," Kunzman said. "We're in the racing business, so if I want to keep my (crew), I've got to find a place for them to race.

"What I'm looking for is survival."

Ron Hemelgarn's team also won the 2000 IRL championship with Lazier, who was released at the end of last season. Lazier is looking for a ride in the 500.

The PDM and Hemelgarn teams, which each had hoped to field one car in the 500, are based near each other on the street known as Gasoline Alley south of Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Neither has competed in any race this season. Neither has missed a 500 since the IRL was created.

Formed in 1984, Hemelgarn's team has fielded as many as three cars in the 500 in a given year. It had a total of 106 entries in eight IRL seasons.

The team will continue to field a car in the IRL's Infiniti Pro Series. The driver is Paul Dana.

PDM, owned primarily by veteran mechanic Paul Diatlovich, has epitomized the saga of a small team in a big-money business. On either side of Hornish's stellar 2000 season are stories of financial struggles.

PDM gave chances in the IRL to drivers such as short-track stars Jack Hewitt and Cory Kruseman, but it also missed the equivalent of every other race during its eight seasons, participating in 54 races with 14 drivers.

Diatlovich said the perception during the winter that the team had signed British driver Ben Collins to a sponsored program contributed to the current financial problems. The Collins deal fell apart and potential sponsors went other directions, he said.

"We lasted (eight) full years in an industry loaded with piranhas," Diatlovich said. "We had a lot of good times. There's no regrets and no tears here. We gave it our best."

The loss of Hemelgarn and PDM makes it more difficult for the IRL to deliver the traditional 33-car lineup for this year's 500.

There were 26 cars at last week's open test at the Speedway, plus the one reserved for Tony Kanaan, who skipped the event to test at Texas Motor Speedway.

Beck Motorsports has a Chevrolet-powered car, but it doesn't have a driver or a final sponsorship package. That would be the 28th car.

To get to 33, the 500 will need additional cars from at least five teams. But only Panther Racing and Mo Nunn Racing have publicly expressed a desire to cooperate.

Last year, the race had exactly 33 cars and no bumping in qualifications. The low participation earned the event negative publicity.

"It will be close," Panther co-owner John Barnes said of reaching 33 this year. "Times are tough, and it's not getting any cheaper (to participate)."

The financial strain at the Speedway stems from the fact engine leases cost between $350,000 and $475,000 for this event alone.

[SteveH]

I wish I knew what rock HWC/E Stand/Northshore has climbed under. I'd like to 'discuss' with him how well the series that was to save open wheel is doing. He would list all the sins of CART and how the hapless IRL was going to bring open wheel to the masses. But like the original vision he seems to have vanished.

[KLang]

Is there anyone left over there that isn't funded by engine company $s?

[Cam]

The truth (http://www.pccruisers.com/RMsoundbite.mp3) hurts. :rolleyes:

Facts are facts. Can't change them.

[Madmaxfan2]

The worm has turned on the IRL

[devilmaster]

Facts are facts. Can't change them.

No, but you can blissfully ignore the facts........




look at TF.
:D
Steve

[indyfan31]

The truth (http://www.pccruisers.com/RMsoundbite.mp3) hurts. :rolleyes:

Facts are facts. Can't change them.

Ouch! No wonder the TF'ers hate him so much.

[cart7]

No, but you can blissfully ignore the facts........




look at TF.
:D
Steve

Uhhhh... go take a look at TF and the Hemelgarn thread. Even fender/Hooter/Morgan is having a mini-meltdown.

[devilmaster]

Uhhhh... go take a look at TF and the Hemelgarn thread. Even fender/Hooter/Morgan is having a mini-meltdown.

Nahhh.....


Already showered once today. :D

Steve

[Madmaxfan2]

I will go into the rants of all rants. We have all discovered how good open wheel racing in 1995, be it road racing fan or USAC dirt oval fan. CART was waiting for IMS to finally throw USAC out of the Indy 500 , and truely unify the series. USAC dirt fan wanted the Indy 500 to strengthen it's USAC roots and rid itself from being depend on CART on supplying the participants. No was content with the situation. TG sided with the USAC types, not really all that suprising, given his background. He started the IRL as on all oval series but coyly worded his statements in case it did not work. CART realized that it was never sanction the Indy 500. TG wanted the CART teams but not the CART philiosophy. The war broke out. TG went with his USAC gomer fans and soon found out that CART initially was not buying in and in fact ran a protest race the same day as his first IRL Indy 500. Add in the USAC scoring diaster at Texas and the poor response to the original vision, the vision began to change. CART tried to reconcil with TG, but ego and pride kicked in. Roger Penske began to side with TG silently. Chip soon followed. Chip beat RP as having an IRL entry. ThE USAC gomers began to realize the original vision was leaving. Then began CART II, aka the IRL with the old CART teams. Thus begins the search for what I call the neo CART fan base, which is practially non-existant. It is that phatom fan base which is what the Indy 500 and the IRL must now base it's growth on. TG is to blame, plus the old guard TF USAC gomers who started this whole mess. I do not feel one bit sorry for those old gomers that the Indy 500 is not what it used to be. To Roger, Chip, Michael, Bobby, at el, I will not become a neo-CART fan, IRL road racing is not good racing no matter what you think. I am a real CART fan, I remember how this went down and how you sold out your original fans. Yes, I do not like what has happened to the Indy 500, but you old CART owners have gotten what you wanted, a shortened month of May to reduce your costs, a smaller field ( less that 33) to compete with, with engine manufacturers paying for the engines, you lack only crapwagons on road courses. Fans? You care about them? Privately concerned with the lack of fans along with your sugar daddy TG, who has revised the vision to fit your desires. USAC gomers, TG. CART II team owners, you have made this bed, lie in it! :mad: :mad: :mad:

[Napoleon]

Where is that Miller bit from? He gives it to the faithful with both barrels.

[devilmaster]

Where is that Miller bit from? He gives it to the faithful with both barrels.

This past monday's "The Truth' radio show....

Steve

[Mike Kellner]

"engine leases cost between $350,000 and $475,000 for this event alone"

I thought they had to sell the same engines, with the same parts, to all who wanted them for $75K. Has there been a new vision?

mk

[Napoleon]

Has there been a new vision?

mk

I think we are on Vision Version (c) 10.11

Just checked in over at TF. Those people are pathetic.

[Madmaxfan2]

Why bother numbering what version of the vision. There will be 20 versions created in this month of May alone.

[DaveL]

Kinda puts a whole new meaning to the circa 1996 mantra, "If it wasn't for the IRL I wouldn't be here".

[Sean O'Gorman]

I think we are on Vision Version (c) 10.11

Just checked in over at TF. Those people are pathetic.

You disappear for 5 months and think you are up to date on the vision? "33 is just a number" alone pushed it to 28.45.5! Maybe they should change from version numbers to year number, or name. Vision 2004, Vision 2005, Vision Me (very fitting), Vision XP, etc.

[Napoleon]

You disappear for 5 months and think you are up to date on the vision?

So maybe I was winging it a bit.

[Jay]

I'm just getting sick of hearing the word "vision" - it was pretty obvious what the "vision" of Tony George's league was, and those who bought into it must live with it.

This isn't a good thing for Champcar either - TG aside, the Indy 500 is probably the easiest open-wheel race to get sponsorship for. If they can't even get a car there, there is almost no chance they will be coming to Champcar....unless OWRS wants to fully fund them, and I can't see why that would be.

[4wheeldrifter]

"It will be close," Panther co-owner John Barnes said of reaching 33 this year. "Times are tough, and it's not getting any cheaper (to participate)."

The financial strain at the Speedway stems from the fact engine leases cost between $350,000 and $475,000 for this event alone.

[In my best Marlon Brando voice from the end of "Apocolypse Now"]:

"The irony..... the irony".

:shakehead

[indyfan31]

You disappear for 5 months and think you are up to date on the vision? "33 is just a number" alone pushed it to 28.45.5! Maybe they should change from version numbers to year number, or name. Vision 2004, Vision 2005, Vision Me (very fitting), Vision XP, etc.

Good idea. And, also in the same tradition, issue a monthly patch for the current vision to correct any screwups made in the previous visions.

[pineapple]

It doesn't seem to matter what version of the vision TG's is on, after all, it's only a number. The goobers have been blinded by that bad batch of kool-aid flavored 'shrooms, but sheesh, even a blind man can tell when he's walking in the sun.

This should have had some of the stalwarts fuming, or at least frowning in confusion:

"...plus the one reserved for Tony Kanaan, who skipped the event to test at Texas Motor Speedway."

Is this giving AGR an advantage with the new motor? Maybe he's testing the new full-body wicker's anti-flight capabilities on a banked superspeedway. Things to ponder on a rainy day.

[Jerry23]

why couldn't PDM and Helmelgarn pull resources together and field one entry?

[JoeBob]

why couldn't PDM and Helmelgarn pull resources together and field one entry?

I don't like to answer questions with questions, but this one time a basic math problem illustrates the point well:
What is 0 x 2?

[nz_climber]

I don't like to answer questions with questions, but this one time a basic math problem illustrates the point well:
What is 0 x 2?

:rofl: :thumbup:

[lone_groover]

Ah yesss......the Billy Preston Theorem.

:)

[Skater_36]

Kinda puts a whole new meaning to the circa 1996 mantra, "If it wasn't for the IRL I wouldn't be here".

The "Indy only" teams were always fun to watch, a variable that could add excitement to the process. The Buick or Menard engined cars with drivers that only drove one race a year were unpredictable and sometimes candidates for the pole. These teams are being forced out by the latest incarnation of the IRL.

I remember a tearful Joe Gosek saying "CART stole my hopes and dreams" after he qualified for an IRL 500. CART was vilified by the IRL and it's teams and drivers with claims that grass roots teams and drivers were locked out by CART's business practices. Now the IRL is feeling the effects of engine manufacturers manipulation of engine supplies and many of the old spear carriers of the IRL have disappeared from the radar screens.

Tony George has done irreperable damage to Indycar/Champcar racing in my opinion. The only question in my mind is how far is he going to ride it in to the ground?

[Mike Kellner]

"Tony George has done irreperable damage to Indycar/Champcar racing in my opinion. The only question in my mind is how far is he going to ride it in to the ground?"

All the way to the grave. Any year now, Tony will announce that NASCAR running the Indy 500 was always part of his plan to save traditional American Open Wheel Racing.

mk

[Madmaxfan2]

"Tony George has done irreperable damage to Indycar/Champcar racing in my opinion. The only question in my mind is how far is he going to ride it in to the ground?"

All the way to the grave. Any year now, Tony will announce that NASCAR running the Indy 500 was always part of his plan to save traditional American Open Wheel Racing.

mk

After the loss at the hands of Judge Otte, Tony hasn't said too much about being able to save open wheel racing. If the above comes true, Freddie Nation will blame OWRS and Tony disappears to take his token position on the ISC board.

[Skater_36]

"Tony George has done irreperable damage to Indycar/Champcar racing in my opinion. The only question in my mind is how far is he going to ride it in to the ground?"

All the way to the grave. Any year now, Tony will announce that NASCAR running the Indy 500 was always part of his plan to save traditional American Open Wheel Racing.

mk

The sad part is you may not be joking. Things are going so badly now that anything could happen.

[oddlycalm]

FTG used the same tired old political tactics that work every time (those that have followed TF over the years know exactly how well). First he identified an enemy (CART) and explained how everything the fans hold dear had been attacked and defiled, he said that evil foreigners were taking away something that belonged to those born in the US, and then he wrapped himself in the flag, cued the John Melloncamp music and painted a rosy vision of how great it was going to be when US shops tinkered with the engines and US drivers drove the cars. Classic tactics, and the chuckleheads went for it hook line and sinker, just like they always do, leaving FTG free to gradually adjust the vision at will.

My only question for the FTG supporters is whether they will wake up when the 500 becomes a sedan race, or whether they will swallow that one whole as well. Open wide now, here it comes, just say ahhhhh....

I suppose that those of you that live in the Great Lakes area are fortunate that all FTG wanted was to take over running the series racing at his own race, and not to invade your state and take all your stuff and your women. You gotta know that the lemmings would have signed up for that just as easily, and you'd all be speaking Gomer now... :gomer: :D

oc

[racer2c]

My only question for the FTG supporters is whether they will wake up when the 500 becomes a sedan race, or whether they will swallow that one whole as well. Open wide now, here it comes, just say ahhhhh....


oc

Our resident Indy residents can speak on this better than I, but I suspect that the reason for the dramatic loss of attendees at the 500, is due to the 400. Heck, I remember being very surprised when I was seeing more NASCAR t-shirts at CART races, than CART t-shirts back in the mid-90's.

[Railbird]

If Indy is a racing town at all nowdays it's a Nascar town.

[Spicoli]

Our resident Indy residents can speak on this better than I, but I suspect that the reason for the dramatic loss of attendees at the 500, is due to the 400. Heck, I remember being very surprised when I was seeing more NASCAR t-shirts at CART races, than CART t-shirts back in the mid-90's.

Its really become quite the joke here anymore. The "Mini-Marathon" (anbody can do it- 1/2 a marathon from the downtown circle to IMS and back - walk or run) gets way more ****-chat than the race does.

I still say if you went downtown and asked 100 people to name 3 probable drivers for the I497.5, you wouldn't get more than 20% being able to answer.

Its a shame.

[Turn7]

The 15K dollar entry fee bounced for both entries. If they can't come up with 15 grand a piece, what makes you think that collectively they would be able to run a program?

:D

[Spicoli]

The 15K dollar entry fee bounced for both entries. If they can't come up with 15 grand a piece, what makes you think that collectively they would be able to run a program?

:D

no ****! That's TFF. Hilarious.

they can keep FatRon for all I care. Even if he brings Memo.