Running 2023 Motorsports thread

Harvick exeunt.

 

I believe he is the last full-timer who raced under the Winston banner.

 

Last full-timer born before 1980, too.

 

Kyle Larson racing the Indy 500 with McLaren and Hendrick.
Kyle Busch and Childress, your move.

 

Two of the ringleaders were among the first to defect to the IRL. One of those guys now owns the IRL and IMS.

 

I'm not the guy to do it, but there should be a prequel written linking the death of Tony Hulman, the plane crash that killed most of USAC's executives and Penske's famous "White Paper" that led to the CART-USAC split in the first place.

25/8 was only the first shot to begin the final battle in a long-simmering war between the Hulman-George family and Roger Dodger and Co. The Useless 500 -- and the ensuing chaos at Michigan -- only made it clear nobody was going to win.

So many missed opportunities to share in the growth, but egos got in the way. The Hulmans didn't want anything to overshadow their primary investment (not counting Clabber Girl). The car owners thought they could somehow run a series without infighting and backstabbing and then made the fatal mistake of trying to go public to where profits mattered more than the product.

The fact that Roger owns the whole thing 40 years later is head-shaking.

The only reason NASCAR didn't de-evolve the same way was the original CBS/ESPN TV deal, which made Bruton Smith rich. And he was bright enough to know going head-to-head against the Frances was a fool's errand, even though he could be the literal prick under their saddlebags all the time.

 

Ah, the U.S. 500. We hardly knew ya.

 

Yeah, that was a good read. Thing is, if Oreo had made up the whole story and called it a piece of fiction, everyone would have believed him because how could a group of adults be so collectively stupid, over and over?

 

Not Z-Max or whatever it’s called?