Indianapolis 500 - A Uniquely American Tradition

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ocdart

ocdart

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I grew up listening to the Indy 500 race coverage on the radio hearing names like Johnnie Parsons, Bill Vukovich, Roger Ward, A.J. Foyt, Parnelli Jones, and of course, the Unser brothers.
I well remember the 'British Invasion' of the early 60's when names like Jimmy Clark and Graham Hill first became associated with the 500, and when the rear-engine Lotus created such a stir as the design started replacing the famed Offy-powered roadsters with names like Kurtis-Kraft and Watson.
Today I'm watching the television coverage and see only 15 of the 33 drivers are from the United States. And on top of that NBC has a Brit lead announcer doing race coverage.
What's happened to all the talented American drivers? Are they all going to NASCAR?
 
I have nothing against the Brits but to me the Indy 500 is pure Americana. Having him as lead feels like a slap in the face to me no matter how few Americans are in the race. I couldn't watch it.
 
Sorry, but while it is a purely American event...it doesn’t matter who enters. We host it and it is our show and our rules.

I really don’t care where the drivers or teams come from, they are here in our heartland competing in our event...and that’s what really matters.

To ignore Global competitors is like holding the Olympics for the host country’s athletes only.

A winner under those terms is kinda like being the finest hockey player in all of Egypt.
 
Don't forget the internationality of the Chinese owned Chevrolet engines in some of those Race Cars too.
They used to have those USA commercials that said see the USA in a Chevrolet. Now they can say see China today in a Chevrolet since the Chinese government owns 71% of it.
The hits just keep on rolling
 
Jadaharabi said:
Don't forget the internationality of the Chinese owned Chevrolet engines in some of those Race Cars too.
They used to have those USA commercials that said see the USA in a Chevrolet. Now they can say see China today in a Chevrolet since the Chinese government owns 71% of it.
The hits just keep on rolling
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Hits? What hits? American companies doing business in a global economy?

The US isn’t a freaking island.
 
Ddaddy said:
Hits? What hits? American companies doing business in a global economy?

The US isn’t a freaking island.
Click to expand...

An American company taking 8 billion US Dollars that's mine and your money partner and then selling out to China because they didn't have enough sense to restructure and save their own asses.

Call it global economy all you want to but it's being sold down the river is what it is.

As I said the hits just keep on rolling.
 
Oh yeah, and remember where Chevrolet came from...

On November 3, 1911, Swiss race car driver and automotive engineer Louis Chevrolet co-founded the Chevrolet Motor Company in Detroit.
 
In the true American fashion and in the spirit of the Indy 500.

You'd gripe if they hung you with a new rope.
 
Jadaharabi said:
An American company taking 8 billion US Dollars that's mine and your money partner and then selling out to China because they didn't have enough sense to restructure and save their own asses.

Call it global economy all you want to but it's being sold down the river is what it is.

As I said the hits just keep on rolling.
Click to expand...

8 Billion is less than the 14 Billion that is going to farmers to replace the income lost due to mis-guided tariffs.

If you notice it's ALWAYS the little guys like us that gets the screw job...
Been like this since the beginning of time.
 
odcics2 said:
8 Billion is less than the 14 Billion that is going to farmers to replace the income lost due to mis-guided tariffs.

If you notice it's ALWAYS the little guys like us that gets the screw job...
Been like this since the beginning of time.
Click to expand...

At lease the Indy 500 is still in America. And hopefully the 14 mill for the farmers is to.
Don't the farmers still have their grain? Just not sold yet?
Don't know if the tariffs are misguided or not but china is involved agin I believe.
 
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I, too, grew up listening to The 500 on AM radios in my brothers '55 Chevy or '55 Jaguar.

The race just doesn't interest me anymore and hasn't for 30+ years. Too many buy-a-rides and too much money.

Same for NASCAR... started keeping track of those guys in '58 in Motor Trend or during the news "shorts" at the Saturday movie matinee. Brian France screwed up a good deal.... listened to the 600 for a bit yesterday... I could barely identify 1/3 of the drivers... and I used to have the home phone numbers of Waltrip, Martin, Schrader, Earnhart and a few others.

Now I prefer my Saturday night dirt track car fights.
 
Come on, if we're that great we should beat the competition hands down.

>Truth< is, there are a lot of great people from all over, and hang on to your hat, sometimes they are better than us at what they do. Would you have the Kentucky Derby JUST for American bred horses, or US Open tennis or golf championship just for U.S. competitors. If we're that "GREAT", lets get the chance to prove it to the world.
 
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The Indy style road race to me is more of European design anyway. I have not watched it in years, nor NASCAR or hardly any big drag events. I don't relate anymore, to anything that involves that much $$ and BS

Lets face facts, America's economy was sold out for the $$ to China. But that has nothing to do with Indy.
 
44070dart said:
Come on, if we're that great we should beat the competition hands down.

>Truth< is, there are a lot of great people from all over, and hang on to your hat, sometimes they are better than us at what they do. Would you have the Kentucky Derby JUST for American bred horses, or US Open tennis or golf championship just for U.S. competitors. If were that "GREAT", lets get the chance to prove it to the world.
Click to expand...
They are spending F1 money at Indy.... 100 million to fund an F1 team for one year. It's cubic dollars and the US teams don't have drivers lining up to write those checks.
 
Then I guess we're not the best, are we. WE will figure it out, we always do. That is what makes people great. Given a challenge that seems impossible. If your old enough to remember going to the moon for the first time, after Sputnik handed us our ***. Man up.
 
If I’m going to watch an oval race it’s going to be on dirt. If I’m going to watch a drag race it’s going to be on a radial tire. NHRA, NASCAR, and Indy don’t get my attention.
 
Actually it's 6 of the first 8.
And 22 of the 31 races since the American driver streak ended in 1988 have been won by non-US born drivers.
Just to clear any misconceptions, I wasn't bashing non-US born drivers in my initial post. My question in my initial post was "What's happened to all the talented American drivers? Are they all going to NASCAR?"
But regarding the lead announcer for the race last Sunday, I'm sure there are plenty of talented US announcers capable of calling the race.
 
ocdart said:
Actually it's 6 of the first 8.
And 22 of the 31 races since the American driver streak ended in 1988 have been won by non-US born drivers.
Just to clear any misconceptions, I wasn't bashing non-US born drivers in my initial post. My question in my initial post was "What's happened to all the talented American drivers? Are they all going to NASCAR?"
But regarding the lead announcer for the race last Sunday, I'm sure there are plenty of talented US announcers capable of calling the race.
Click to expand...

It's like the sales ads on TV they have to have somebody to sell their kitchen knives with an Australian accent. Must make the knife sharpener or something.
 
I only watched the last 10 laps just by chance. That kid drove his *** off trying to stay out front. He has my respect. I met Parnelli Jones when he was racing the "Big Oly" Bronco in the desert. :D
 
diymirage said:
how many of the founding fathers were US born?
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48 of the 56 signers were born in America. Two were born in England (Button Gwinnett, Robert Morris), two in Ireland (George Taylor, Matthew Thornton), two in Scotland (James Wilson, John Witherspoon), one in Northern Ireland (James Smith), and one in Wales (Francis Lewis
 
Jadaharabi said:
48 of the 56 signers were born in America. Two were born in England (Button Gwinnett, Robert Morris), two in Ireland (George Taylor, Matthew Thornton), two in Scotland (James Wilson, John Witherspoon), one in Northern Ireland (James Smith), and one in Wales (Francis Lewis
Click to expand...
really, that many?

well, there goes my point that something can be ran by foreigners and still be "uniquely american"
 
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