Quote:
Originally Posted by WyldStallion
Maybe so, I guess the race cars now are so much more reliable. In the 90's you had to deal with much more fragile machines which I liked a lot actually. A bigger speed disparity from the front to the back of the grid too.
Here is a claim I am going to make: "The 500 was less predictable the 1990s than it is today." Change my mind?
As a whole I enjoyed the race so much more than now. I think the last 500 I watched from start to finish was probably in the late 2000's. Since then its just the last 10 laps.
Another thing that has changed is the length of career of drivers. When I first got into the Indy 500 I was lucky to get to see guys like AJ Foyt, Mario Andretti, Emerson Fittitapldi, Al Unser Sr, Tom Sneva, and Gordan Johncock race. If they had all retired when they were 42 years old. That would not have happened. Seems to happen less now. Hope that changes. J.P. Montoya, Helio, Kanaan, Jimmie Johnson, and Dixon SHOULD NOT consider retirement until the 2030s!
|
I'm not sure how young you think those guys are.
Helio is 45
JPM is 45
TK is 45
JJ is 45
Dixon is 40
AJ's last Indy race he was 58 but dropped the car for Robby Gordon. But was not competitive for years before that.
Mario's last race he was 54.
Big Al's last race he was 51, but again almost a decade since winning
Not sure how you worked out another 10 years for anyone but Dixie and he's not retiring yet.
Would you rather have the names running around in non-competitive cars just to be there? Seems pointless to me and the guys are pushed out now cause they're not as fast or can't find a ride. Without tobacco money and the huge cash of the 80s and early 90s they all would have been out as well.