A great rebuttal, a masterclass in how you right a...

2011-09-22T11:39:03.809-04:00

A great rebuttal, a masterclass in how you right a /proper/ rant. :) You can't really compare development/junior series in the way he did because every series has champions who amount to nothing (often through little fault of their own). And you can't take guys from the last 2 or 3 years and compare them to storied legends who later went on to greatness simply because there hasn't been enough time yet.

I don't like Tony George or what his actions did to racing and I'd happily stand in line to kick a steel toe-capped boot up his backside, but this wasn't a bad decision from TG, once his own series was established he was absolutely correct to start its own development formula to bring on talent.

It is sad to see frontrunners not being picked up in the main series, or not for long. That's down to the teams and their sponsors.

Lights does have a weak field and that needs addressing. That isn't necessarily the fault of Lights - there are plenty of junior series with a field size problem due to the economy, including Formula 3 and nobody can argue F3 is a bad proving ground. Lights does need.. shall we say a 'less agricultural' car and I hope that will attract more drivers (and sponsors). Once the main series car gets sorted I hope this is the next priority for the technical staff.

Vernay raced for Signatech-Nissan in LMP2 at Silverstone's ILMC/LMS round, they were leading until they had to make repairs.

By the way, I stopped paying attention to Knight some time ago, back in the midst of the Twitter PR boom when he dismissed it as a passing fad rather than a valuable tool to get your PR message directly to fans who want to listen, bypassing the middleman. As a long-time PR man himself I was amazed he could be so short-sighted and that made me question his wisdom.

Also he doesn't allow comments which makes me believe he doesn't want or like to be questioned.

And his blog is bright orange.

And now, the roles are reversed!!! But really, you...

2011-09-21T17:04:47.399-04:00

And now, the roles are reversed!!! But really, you're right. Indy Lights isn't that bad. Lloyd and Cunningham are good drivers and Pegeuot has picked up Vernay so he's doing alright. Hinch and Hilebrand are successful and Pippa made the 500 ahead of RHR or Conway.

Although I can't say it's a strong field or a lot of fun to watch either, we need it to succeed. It's a lot better to get Lights graduates into Indycar than random GP2/GP3 drivers. On the plus side I think Hinchcliffe, Hildebrand, and Simona (I know she's atlantics) can help justify American Open Wheel Feeder series. I mean, all three are talented and all three are able to get good results. But they need a better car and they need some real sponsors. The fact they're getting TV time on Versus again should help a little.

It's also a little hard to expect Indycar to be too focused on Lights while the main series is in the state it's in.

Comments on Grab Bag Sports: Knight Turns Out the Lights

A great rebuttal, a masterclass in how you right a...

And now, the roles are reversed!!! But really, you...