Watched the last 40 minutes or so of the the IRL farce and was
surprised at what I saw. First look at the seats and compare that
with a tape of 95. Gee that vision of saving open wheel racing sure
has paid off. They did have a real bump. Trouble is that is was from
a team that shouldn't have even had a chance in the first place, and
they didn't. Kite out there at 214 would have been a hazzard to
himself and the fellow competitors 10mph off the pace of the leaders.
The early wreck didn't help, but the last minute adjustments said
volumes. Even I know you don't ADD front wing with a car that's
pushing in the corners. They were talking about a big push, yet added
wing. Scott Goodyear picked up on that right away. I thought no
wonder they are so lost. Then I heard the story of the team owner
mortaging his home to go to Indy. I do hope he can make it work, but
its sad to see someone lose so much money. The owner was the ultimate
in class and fell on the sword for the driver. It wasn't just his
fault. You win as a team. You miss the show as a team. Its that
simple. Its clear he thinks the world of Jimmy.

Yet look at past performance. Everyone bragging about what a great
race driver he is, and that he can't make the show. Well he hasn't
been at Indy in years, and has no recent experience in aero cars.
Maybe he's done well in sprint cars, but that won't teach you how to
set up and Indy car. Limited funds and time, a driver that has to get
up to speed and cars with no notebook to refer to, is a set up for the
poor results.

Honda must be cost cutting. Teams running engines too long must have
been damaging the cores when they got them back. Mileage limits only
re enforced the fact that they must be running plow mules at the
derby. Either they are not wanting to come up with enough engines to
let the teams run what they want. Fact is that the teams that are one
offs are usually the ones that need to run the most. It was the same
for everyone, yet mileage limits just mean that there is no reason to
be there the whole month in the first place. Or that is the only way
Honda would bring engines with the pitiful TV numbers.

Speaking of numbers, the only thing lower than the speed at the backof
the field is the number of people in the stands. If there were 5000
there Id have been shocked. There probably were more team and crew
members there than fans. Share the vision and thank God for Tony
George.

The real moment of courage didn't occur on track. It happened on pit
road when PJ realized that there was no way that car was going to go
fast enough to make the field. It took far more guts to get out of a
car that had no chance, had run its miles (stinking mileage limit) yet
still was so ill handling that no one could have driven it. PJ has
done the Methodist thing before. He knows the risk. Rather than push
the car over the limit, tear up an owners race car, and injure
himself, he made the wise decision to get out of the car It would
have been far easier to get in the car and try rather than to unstrap.
PJ made the right decision, yet it still took more courage than any I
have seen at Indy in a very long time.