I really, really like this.

Bump day is an Indy tradition. I’d hate to see it go away. There was a time when just practice and qualifying took up most of the month of May, and was well attended. Since the split the attendance declined greatly for the pre-race happenings in the weeks leading up to the race.

Mostly on point, just missing a smidge of info on the history when you started getting into the split stuff... er, well, there were two splits, really.

I’m actually a couple years younger than you, but was already voraciously consuming most everything in C/D and R&T from ‘96 on through the mid 2000s. R&T in particular had very good motorsports coverage back then. I’d watch races where I could, but didn’t have cable so I could only see what ABC broadcast, which was…

I haven’t. I haven’t been reading either of their columns as religiously as I once did when CART was at its peak. Was never the same to me, but I keep tabs on things enough, I just don’t absorb every possible thing I can about it like I used to.

Found Miller’s article. He’s spot on and kind of feeling the same I do... kind of giddy. And Miller put more historical perspective to it to back up his opinion.

Can’t recommend the book enough. The book was well-written from his point of view and you can get a very, very good sense for who he was and how he operated, his own personal moral compass, even. All around solid, highly intelligent guy who kind of doesn’t give himself as much credit as he’s due for the early Penske…

Going to find Miller’s article now, thanks for the tip.

Slightly unrelated, but good reading on the formative years of team Penske and the driver who was one of their first and virtually became a partner in the business, look up “The Unfair Advantage” by Mark Donohue.

I’ll also add a paraphrasing from “The Unfair Advantage,” when the author was first asking Roger for advice on racing, Penske responded “either go racing first class or don’t do it at all.” Of course, Roger also had the advantage of his first wife’s father basically buying him a car dealership or two in order to…

Probably right on Tony’s heart being in the right place.

Judging by Tony George’s choking up while he was giving his opening thoughts, he clearly is personally attached to the speedway and IndyCar. I think it might be his sisters that were more interested in cashing out than he was, but he doesn’t have the money to buy them out. Either that or there’s other financial issues…

As a long time open wheel fan, this engine was a big pivot point for a lot of what happened in open wheel racing for the next 15 years.

Shades of Schumacher. Some fans kind of hate Lewis just for being dominant. Others because of skin color (you’d think we’d be past that now, but there’s always that one asshole somewhere....).

I got a reply. They're getting hooked up with a AAA membership free tow and thanked me for the offer to help anyway.

Well, at least Bottas is doing his part to try and drag it out one more round.

Message has been sent, no reply yet.

Don’t have a dolly, but could tow them with the Touareg. They’d just have to pony up for the dolly rental and fuel.

Red Bull definitely benefitted from Honda already having years of development and banging their heads against the wall with McLaren, and one solid season with Toro Rosso.

I mean yes, but Honda was pretty atrocious, and the last seasons of Alonso’s and Button’s F1 careers were mired back to mid pack at best thanks to Honda taking several seasons to get upto speed.