As expected, the field of 33 drivers was filled today. Despite the doom and gloomers at the Indy Star telling us all month that there was no way there would be a full field this year, Greg Ray, Buddy Lazier, Jeff Simmons, Richie Hearn, PJ Jones, Marty Roth and Robbie McGehee filled the field.
And a guy named Stewart and Foyt showed the world just how gullable the media can be. For 4 hours during a rainy Sunday afternoon, the media fell all over themselves as Tony and AJ played a joke to the hilt. The interesting thing, is seeing just how much Indy means to Tony Stewart. I have no doubt he will be back next year with a program to run Indy!
Can't wait until Sunday!
Final Starters:
Outside Row 9
Greg Ray
Car# 13
CET - G/H/F
Speed - 216.641
Access Motorsports
Inside Row 10
Buddy Lazier (W)
Car# 91
CET - D/C/F
Speed - 215.110
Dreyer & Reinbold/Hemelgarn Racing
Middle Row 10
Jeff Simmons (R)
Car# 21
CET - D/T/F
Speed - 214.783
Pioneer Mo Nunn Racing
Outside Row 10
Richie Hearn
Car# 33
CET - G/T/F
Speed - 213.715
Sam Schmidt Motorsports
Inside Row 11
PJ Jones (R)
Car# 98
CET - D/C/F
Speed - 213.355
CURB/Agajanian/Beck Motorports
Middle Row 11
Marty Roth (R)
Car# 25
CET - D/T/F
Speed - 211.974
Roth Racing
Outside Row 11
Robby McGehee
Car# 18
CET - D/C/F
Speed - 211.631
PDM Racing
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2 comments:
My brother and I made our annual trip to bump day. We were fortunate enough to have pit and garage passes and got to see the Stewart circus up close. We felt like we even fed the rumor. After almost being run over by Tony's golf cart(he wasn't driving), we watched him go into AJ's garage. We pointed him out to a clueless ESPN person and told him that we heard Tony was going to drive for AJ. Within minutes AJ had hundreds around his garage and my brother was walking around telling everyone he could that Tony was going to drive. The next thing we know Tony was taken over to the IRL offices so he could "pass his physical."
The joke had some interesting effects. I didn't tape the ABC coverage so I'm not sure how everything was covered. But from what I could see there were obviously some winners and losers to this media stunt.
Winner-AJ Foyt and Conseco. They received some camera time that they couldn't receive outside of an awful crash.
Robbie McGehee- If there was no chance of getting bumped he wouldn't have received any publicity.
Losers- All of the other drivers. Nobody else could get a camera turned on them. Sarah Fisher was sitting on pit lane watching the circus and people weren't even coming up to her for autographs. Larry and Anthony Foyt were smiling but you could tell that they were trying to get in on the action but nobody cared they were there.
I love open-wheel racing, but it was obvious that race fans in America are in love with the superstars. Unfortunately they are all in NASCAR.
Looking forward to a great 500, Mike Kyle
Mike... you and your Brother Rule! That is outstanding. I didn't make it to the track on Sunday, but I was watching the goings on from home. It was hilarious. Tony and AJ were milking it for all it was worth. You are spot on... the publicity for Tony, AJ, Conseco, Craftsman and the IRL/Speedway was phenomenal. ABC/ESPN kept interviewing Cary Agajanian, Tony's agent, and 3 times in the garage, he stated that Tony was just having fun and winked at the camera when they asked if he would go out. Twice Cary talked about PJ Jones back in the Curb Records 98 car... taking advantage of the camera time to promote his team. I thought it was great. You could tell Tony wants to race their so badly and I really think he will be back next year and the next 20. Exactly what the 500 needs... smoke brings instant interest in Indiana and nationwide with the NASCAR crowd. That along with stability among the drivers which I think they are going to start getting in the next 5-10 years. There are some young guns that really want to race in the IRL... Hornish, Wheldon, Taylor, Carpenter, Foyt IV, Simmons and I wouldn't be too surprised to see Jay Drake making a hard push for the IRL after his run in the IPS last week. His quotes sounded like someone who just got bit badly by the Indy bug ;-)
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