The Last of the Old Guard

[Liz]

This afternoon I was amusing myself by imagining how Widdle Al will look if Gil wins the championship for Penske this year ... and I realised that except for Roger Penske and Mikey, there are none of the Old Guard left in CART.

Are there? Rahal's gone, as is Gurney, UnserJr., Robbie Gordon, Vasser ... who else?

Is this a sea change for CART? Should we be frightened? Or should we all just learn to speak Portuguese?

[bella]

as a fellow brazilian fan, i think it's great! only funny yanks are much use. in motorsport, all the rest seem to do is whinge.
i do feel sorry for you guys and losing the american ness in cart, but hey. our f3 series is about as big at the moment in terms of fans, and we think of these foreigners as broadening our sport. you can only benefit.

just don't get me started on foreigners in football, yeah?

i don't think the sport needs mikey. it might make a difference for all the rednecks who think themselves sophisticated new man types cause they like cart, and of course, all his fans. but in general, as it spreads, you may lose the tradition, but look what we found! oriol servia, kenny brack, nicolas minassian, and more besides. you may lose the old favourites, but you bring in a whole new bunch of guys who can teach us lots.

or so it seems.

[Nuvolari]

You know age is creeping up when you start thinking of Gil, Jimmy and Paul Tracy as 'the Old Guard!'

[Crash Test]

Robby Gordon? Was he ever in it? I mean he had his first race in '93, and we havent seen to much of him in a fair while...

How about Newman and Hass?
Barry Green has been in it for a long time, so too has Forsythe (albeit with a rather long break in the middle).

Who else?

[Airhead]

I didn't mind Robby Gordon, had a large amount of Paul Tracey in him. Exciting to watch. Christian seems to be around for a while and on results if Jimmy goes why not Christian?

[bella]

*holds a baseball hat to amoffat's head*
please do not mention my driver in the same sentence as 'go', and 'around for a while'. and don't even think of suggesting he goes and plays with other 'toys' (as he puts it). he is too young for sportscars.
and besides, what would us girlies look at?

nuvolari - i know what you mean. and i'm only young (as rachel is no longer here, i reckon i'm near the youngest). i remember when gil won rookie of the year.


in my day....

[Liz]

I like the way CART is developing and I don't really miss those old guys - who are younger than me, most of them - but it just struck me odd that all the old Indy drivers were gone to other playgrounds.

I have a nice photo of Gil in his Jim Hall Racing suit and he looks less rugged and about as portly as he does now.

P.S. I didn't realise Fernadez was 35. Somehow I had thought he was a whole lot younger than that!

[Airhead]

Christian,

needs an act of God to win unlike his Uncle and Father.

I don't mind the beating (especially if it's a hat not a bat)

Who in their right mind could give three s..ts how he looks.
Give us results, or race NASCAR

[bella]

ah well. everyone has their opinions. i agree it's time he showed the worl what he's about. ut hey. he's outqualified mikey so many times this year, it's just been a few dodgy incidents that have put him out.

once he's got some good equipment (like mikey had until he said he was leaving this year), then he'll work it out. he's too fast to ignore.

i do apologise for my spelling. it's cold in this room, and i can't feel my fingers well enough to be able to type properly. the bloody double glazing isn't working, and there's a force ten gale blowing.

and please, no nascar. he showed he's no good at racing sheds in itc.

[Airhead]

Bella,

I hold Christian no menance. But he needs results badly. It is 25oC here - i'm in a T-Shirt and shorts at 11:40 at night (so much for the study eh?), can;t complain. There may be may thihgs wrong with Australia, our treatment of our Aboriginal first inhabitants among them, but it is not a bad place to wonder around.

[bella]

ah, another reason to dislike you. it's warm. swine...
i agree with you about the results, but leave the family out of it. it wasn't their fault he got bored of tennis and wanted to be a race driver

hey, when it's winter over there, it's....erm......uh....'summer' here. i heard it reached 27 degrees in august. wow.