Who's Gone First?

[mnkywrch]

Based on St. Pete, I'd say there are four guys who just don't belong on the grid.

As we've seen in years past, those guys frequently don't make it to the end of the season.

Which one of the following will be the first to drop off the 2003 CART schedule?

[Spicoli]

How upbeat. I respectfully decline to vote.

[racer2c]

I'll play. I vote Lavin because I love the look of that Corona car and want it up front!

That said, They may not be super quick, but they have a race under their belts with no bone head mistakes.

The biggest mistake was the N/H pit call.

[tantra]

After their first race and already someone wants to puff up a cloud of d&g over some kid's career?

I was there, you were not.
If you had been there, which you were not, you might have a larger of picture of these young drivers and what they accomplished this weekend.

Each of the drivers on your list had numerous challenges and each performed well considering what was going on with their team and equipment.

[patm]

yea Monkeywrnch. One race into a season the D&Gers said wouldn't happen (ok I was concerned too) and you are already writing off drivers? This would be better posted on TF with the list of wankers that won't be around after Indy. And based on their paltry 22 entries for Homestead they may not have 33 for the sacred yard of bricks 497.5

I think we've had enough of this defeatist attitude to last us a while. Wouldn't you agree? Why not list the rookies and ask which one impressed the most and why. Or who was the biggest surprise. I'd give that to Emmo's driver followed by that Camathias guy.

What say you now? Oh, I won't be voting.

patm

[mnkywrch]

Originally posted by patm
yea Monkeywrnch. One race into a season the D&Gers said wouldn't happen (ok I was concerned too) and you are already writing off drivers? This would be better posted on TF with the list of wankers that won't be around after Indy. And based on their paltry 22 entries for Homestead they may not have 33 for the sacred yard of bricks 497.5

I think we've had enough of this defeatist attitude to last us a while. Wouldn't you agree? Why not list the rookies and ask which one impressed the most and why. Or who was the biggest surprise. I'd give that to Emmo's driver followed by that Camathias guy.

What say you now? Oh, I won't be voting.


Once again, someone else drags the IRL into the discussion.

Forgive me for not being rah-rah 24/7 for some of you.

If you'd like to start a thread about most impressive rookie, go for it.

Since patm asked, I wasn't surprised to see Bourdais do so well (based on his testing results), was slightly surprised to see Haberfeld run as well as he did (sans the Chin Chop move he made on Bruno), and I was stunned to see Emmo's boy do as well as he did, considering he had so little seat time he could be excused if he ran 19th all weekend.

Manning & Hunter-Reay did about as well as I would have expected from them.

As far as writing off drivers, I'd love to write off all four of them and put Gidley, Barron, Papis, and A.N. Other in those rides.

[Gurneyflap]

OK, all well and good, but some guys just don't have it...and CART has a few. So what ? That's what competition is all about. How many of those 43 in NASCRAP really don't belong? We have a "move over" flag, don't we? Besides, you guys said you wanted to see more passing!

[patm]

Once again, someone else drags the IRL into the discussion.

Only because you have earl leaning tendencies. Your motives are questionable at best.

patm

[JoeBob]

Replacements will have nothing to do with talent (or lack thereof). These guys are all in their rides because of money/connections. If the money dries up, thats it for them.

For that reason, Gonzalez will be the first to go. He was barely in the ride in the first place. From the sounds of it, the 2nd Coyne car will have a variety of drivers this year.

[devilmaster]

Originally posted by patm
Only because you have earl leaning tendencies.

That just sounds wrong. Like a bad disease. (I know, it is!) :D

Steve

[mnkywrch]

Originally posted by patm
Only because you have earl leaning tendencies. Your motives are questionable at best.


So my motives were questionable when I said the St. Pete circuit was an awesome circuit?

Ooookay.

:rolleyes:

Anyone else want to tell me what I'm thinking?

[KobySon]

I believe Lemarie has the highest expectations to live up to. The Mika Salo rumors may be putting an added bit of pressure on him. To this point, I would also say he is the biggest disappointment of the season.

Then again, he is good buddies with his team owner.

[Axel]

y would you put a guy like Lavin in this list..

When they said that they were going to put a team together that the year was to learn

and get better race after race..

He has done really well. But i dont expect him to be on the same pace as the Viet's or be as fast a some wonderboy rookie..

Corona is a great sponsor for Auto racing and has has a great paint job.. Maybe the best in the field this year.. And they will be gone
before they put Barron in the car for the year..

I need to have cars late in the race for the leaders to pass to clump the leaders together and put more drama in the final laps.

Hiro the moving chicane isn't around anymore and drivers are applying for the job :D

[Dr. Corkski]

Originally posted by Axel
y would you put a guy like Lavin in this list..

When they said that they were going to put a team together that the year was to learn

and get better race after race..

He has done really well. But i dont expect him to be on the same pace as the Viet's or be as fast a some wonderboy rookie.. That's why they have Driver's Ed. Lavin should go learn to drive there instead, drivers go to Champ Cars to race. Lavin spent 5 years "learning" (or getting beaten over and over and over and over and over and over and over again by less experienced drivers) in CART feeders, so I don't see him suddenly getting better when he moves on to a harder category. I mean, he actually did the impossible and made Roberto "not so speedy" Gonzalez look fast, who I would only call him a wonderboy because I have no idea how he can be so slow!

That said I think Gonzalez will be the first to pull a Deletraz.

[RacinM3]

I don't see the problem here. I was wondering the same thing during the telecast and I hardly have "Earl-leaning tendencies". I can't vote yet, though, 'cause I don't know after only one race yet.

[JLMannin]

Originally posted by RacinM3
I don't see the problem here. I was wondering the same thing during the telecast and I hardly have "Earl-leaning tendencies". I can't vote yet, though, 'cause I don't know after only one race yet.

Yes, you might have been thinking it - but you did not run out and post a poll in an attempt to dredge something up negative about CART after a very positive weekend where CART not only answered the bell of a new season, but staged a really good event and drew a very respectable croud that met or exceeded the expectations of the race organizers.

This is where the legacy of the earl leaning tendencies comes from - always finding the grey cloud in every silver lining.

[DaveL]

Wrench is no more anti-CART in this thread than a NASCAR fan is writing a post about the ineptitude of Larry Foyt and the stupidity of his car owner.

Let's not try to read into things that which isn't there.

Personally, I'm not going to bother myself with the weak back third of the grid this year. This is a rebuilding period and we're going to have some wankers who never would have had a prayer at a CART ride in the past. I'm instead going to concentrate on the real drivers. They gave us a very good race last weekend, and I expect Monterrey to be just as good.

Look at it this way, we finally have some lapped traffic for the leaders to deal with and we get to see who deals with it the best.

[patm]

Earl-leaning tendencies

does not necessarily equate to Anti-CART. It is what it is.

patm

[JLMannin]

Originally posted by DaveL
Wrench is no more anti-CART in this thread than a NASCAR fan is writing a post about the ineptitude of Larry Foyt and the stupidity of his car owner.<snip>

That is the tricky part of your past actions - they tend to follow you around. A couple of months of posting by the "new Wrench" would leave this past legacy behind.

$0.02

[mnkywrch]

Originally posted by JLMannin
That is the tricky part of your past actions - they tend to follow you around. A couple of months of posting by the "new Wrench" would leave this past legacy behind.


I haven't changed, nor will I. So, no, I don't feel like I have any "past legacy" to renounce. Sorry if you got your hopes up.

As far as "running out to dredge up something bad about CART", the poll was made two days after the race. It's not as though I made it 50 laps in the race - though, in all honesty, Lavin deserved it by the halfway point of the race.

I'll credit CART & its owners & drivers when they do good and I'll knock CART & its owners & drivers when they screw up.

Of course, I do the same for the IRL, NASCAR, F1... if you feel otherwise go dig my stuff up on 7G or TF. I have nothing to hide.