| But that was years ago. Why you ask? Because | | | | were 250 to 300 thousand people on-hand for the |
| of the Indianapolis 500 for Champ cars and The | | | | first day. |
| World 600 for Stock cars. | | | | NASCAR as they now call it runs 1957 technology |
| The Indianapolis 500 | | | | with live rear axles and carburetors. Starting next |
| 'The Greatest Spectacle In Racing', where we | | | | year all teams will be running The Car Of |
| could see all types of exciting and experimental | | | | Tomorrow. Same old technology, but now they'll |
| technology in use. 13 different years I went to | | | | all have the same bodies. The only difference |
| the time trials and three years to the race itself, | | | | between a Ford and a Chevy will be the decals. |
| just to see what was new and to see the guys | | | | Don't get me wrong ... both of these racing series |
| that built it. | | | | have made racing safer and I'm sure that some |
| The World 600 | | | | of that knowledge will get to us. But man ... it's |
| The longest stock car race there was and is. | | | | just not the same. I would probably feel better if |
| Stock Car is the key phrase here. A Dodge was | | | | they said to the Indy Car teams, "Okay, boys |
| a Dodge, a Ford was a Ford. The same was true | | | | (and girls) you're running 500 miles; here's your 25 |
| with the Chevys, Pontiacs, Oldsmobile and Buicks | | | | gallons of fuel, or to the NASCAR teams, you're |
| and we knew our everyday cars would benefit | | | | running 600 miles; here's your 30 gallons of gas". |
| through this racing. | | | | That's 20 miles to the gallon. |
| Today they're both relegated to Spec racing. | | | | I can here the teams and the fans both |
| Everybody at Indy is running basically the same | | | | screaming at the top of their lungs ... IT CAN'T BE |
| chassis and all of them are running the same | | | | DONE! |
| engine. How sad it was to turn on the TV to see | | | | But if you turn those fertile minds that reside in |
| a couple of minutes of the first day of qualifying | | | | both series loose you'd see better fuel mileage |
| for the pole. Man there was nobody there. The | | | | and high speed become a reality. And that's |
| seats were empty. There was a time when there | | | | something we could all benefit from! |