that was racing, congrats Ryan Briscoe.
a blanket could have covered the top 4 finishers. .08 of a second margine of
victory
an average of over 200mph.
and no faked NA$CAR cautions.

On Aug 1, 10:07*pm, "Ray O'Hara" <raymond-oh... (AT) hotmail (DOT) com> wrote:
It was a thrilling race to the end. I am not usually a big oval fan,
but that was stupendous. That is the way an oval race should be run.
I was drawn to the IRL by the races in Texas where it was such a
thrill to see those guys run so close and fast and it seems like it
will be back after a snoozy oval year.

On Aug 3, 6:08*pm, "just bob" <kilby... (AT) aol (DOT) com> wrote:
Hey Bob, if you really want to embarrass the IRL race at Kentucky,
mention that Special Ed was challenging for the lead??

"Lenny" <jameslong001 (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote

On Aug 3, 6:08 pm, "just bob" <kilby... (AT) aol (DOT) com> wrote:
Hey Bob, if you really want to embarrass the IRL race at Kentucky,
mention that Special Ed was challenging for the lead??
\


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

regardless , it was a clean and exciting race.

On Mon, 3 Aug 2009 15:51:10 -0700 (PDT), Lenny
<jameslong001 (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote:


Ever see Carpenter run in USAC? He was pretty impressive. Now that
Vision has figured out how to make their cars run, we should see a lot
more of him at the front.

Ken Plotkin

You know I read a few race reports and the driver quotes from those creaming
all over themselves about what a great race it was an how oval racing is
exciting again - sorry I did not even know there was a race last weekend
until I saw the winner on the front page of Autosport.com the next day - and
even though my DVR even recorded the race I have no interest in watching
because its such a joke that they made slight car changes and suddenly the
IRL is transformed.

Shouldn't putting really fast cars on a circle track by default be
interesting to watch? The whole idea of oval racing is to pen up a bunch of
race cars to heighten the excitement, no? See NASCAR: they don't need any
push to pass and (for some reason) millions of people love their oval
racing.

I hated when CART had the Hanford device and the IRL's so-called glory days
of oval racing because the cars were constantly passing until passing was
boring to watch. They don't do that in NASCAR and yet millions of people
......

What used to make OW oval racing different from NASCRAP was the speeds were
constantly going up and new things were being invented at nearly every
race. Penske was building his own cars, you had Lola and Reynard fighting,
Goodyear vs. Firestone, Porsche, Chevy, Mercedes, Buick, later Honda vs.
Toyota.

When are these guys going to understand that spec cars going around in
circles at the same speed they did 20 years ago in cars which look the same
as they did 20 years ago - but twice as large and none of them unique - is
not interesting, no matter how many times they pass for the lead and no
matter how many wins by hundredths of a second. Never, ever.

These teams and drivers can - and probably will - collect enough from their
sponsors to keep doing this forever - getting paid to do this makes them all
feel think they are doing something special and making their mark in racing
history but save for the occasional crash and newsworthy item, nobody cares
because the product is incredibly boring to 99% of the people in his country
with a pulse.

Thanks to TG or whoever, they not only killed open wheel road racing in this
country they also screwed up their beloved oval racing and drove away most
of the fans who once cared.



"Lenny" <jameslong001 (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote

On Aug 3, 6:08 pm, "just bob" <kilby... (AT) aol (DOT) com> wrote:
Hey Bob, if you really want to embarrass the IRL race at Kentucky,
mention that Special Ed was challenging for the lead??

"just bob" <kilbyfan (AT) aol (DOT) com> wrote

NA$CAR races have become unwatchable.
the annoucers are clowns, they treat the audiance like fools, every race
they explain everything like no one has ever seen a race before.
and attendence and the TV viewing audience has been dropping steadily for
the past five years.
a lot of fans ddressed as empty seats at the recent brickyard.

Lowes, a major track and race sponsor has just said goodnye.

no doubt the IRL has a lot of work to do, but they have improved the
on-track product and things are looking up.

and they don't need phoney debris cautions to keep to field bunched for a
manufactured "close finish", they let the cars race.

On Mon, 3 Aug 2009 22:37:47 -0700, "just bob" <kilbyfan (AT) aol (DOT) com>
wrote:

[snip]
The original idea behind oval tracks was that fans could see the whole
track. That it turned into a special kind of racing was a bonus. But
cars running in tight packs is relatively new.

They do that in NASCAR. Restrictor plate races are extreme, but it
happens in other places. Everyone running in a tight bunch, winner
decided by drafting partners and momentary air patterns. The first
IRL pack race at Texas was fun, but after that they were just scary.

Hanford device! Remember the Michigan race when Michael Andretti
maneuvered to use a lapped car to thwart Montoya as they approached
the finish, but the lapped car's Hanford draft sucked Montoya ahead
for the win?

[snip]

If only they could make them look like they did 50 years ago...

Ken Plotkin

On Aug 4, 2:13*pm, "Ray O'Hara" <raymond-oh... (AT) hotmail (DOT) com> wrote:
Did you watch the pitiful Boredyard 400? It was another example of
ESPN's patented overproduction. It seems like they would show about 5
laps of racing then a special about Kyle Petty's new dog. Then it was
20 commercials followed by a yellow flag special.

ESPN will ruin race coverage just like they have other sports. It's
time for a breakaway sports channel.

On Thu, 6 Aug 2009 02:35:50 -0700 (PDT), Lenny
<jameslong001 (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote:

Versus!!