Stewart Says “No” to Indy While Keselowski Says “Yes”
By Lou Modestino
According to reports bandied about including those on the Speed Channel, Tony Stewart nixed an offer given to him by team owner Roger Penske to race an Indy Car at IMS on Memorial Day weekend. The reason given was that he has too much on his plate at this time. Besides having his hands full in the NASCAR wars, Tony felt that it would not be easy to come in just for the 500 and pull off a win. “It may have been like that in the past, but now it’s a different story,” he said. “Those Indy Car guys work on their strategy year round.”
Stewart claims that even though he’s got his ear to the ground on all things Indy, he feels that the other Indy Car teams and drivers are very much on top of their game. However, he did leave the door open for a run at the 500 sometime in the future. He elaborated more on the subject later on the Speed Report. “When I decide to go to the Indy 500, I really want to make a serious bid to win it, not just to be an also ran.”
Yet reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup champ Brad Keselowski, racing within the Penske camp, was quick to jump at it. “I’d like to race in the Indy 500. If I ever get the opportunity, I’ll do it.” Like Stewart, Keselowski has developed a huge NASCAR following. Brad did most of that via the social media. Reportedly, he has 300,000 fans receiving his messages via Twitter! And about next year, even though the Penske Team will be switching from Dodges to Fords, Brad stated on the Speed Report, “I really want to do this again in a Ford. I would like to prove that this year was not just a fluke.”
Every time we read something said by Bernie Eccelstone of the F! Constructors Assn. ( FOCA), it’s always about bad mouthing someone or something. The latest is he thinks that the USA is big enough to host two or three F1 events a year, yet he’s quick to spout negativity about our race tracks, fans and the lack of home-based sponsors in this country. Also he said in a recent report that he does not think that some European countries deserve to have one of his races! Over the years, he’s said similarly ridiculous things and has never failed to amaze us. (Although we have to say that this European-based series has always been on the bizarro side.}
Also the F1 sanctioning body, the FIA, have had their cast of crazies as well. Take for instance Jean Marie Balestra and Max Mosley. Both have made ridiculous statements and have acted strangely at times. One report we read had the late Balestra strutting at one of his venues with his very young girlfriend who was – of all things – on roller blades. He was subsequently replaced by Mosley who defended F1 from detractors on the lack of passing on the track. Mosley retorted with “overtaking is boring!” Later photos surfaced showing him dressed in a NAZI uniform with scantly clad women dressed in the style (that’s stylish?) of S&M. That, among other things, resulted in Max getting dumped by the FIA and being replaced by current FIA head Jean Todt. Good luck, Jean.
A year ago racing journalist Bones Bourcier sat down with Parnelli Jones, the Indy 500 winner often referred to as America’s most versatile race driver. And it was quite the conversation. This week motorsports publisher Coastal 181 announced the release of its latest title, “As A Matter of Fact I AM Parnelli Jones.” In the book, Jones and Bourcier track Parnelli’s wild years on the infamous California Jalopy circuit and his rise through Sprints, Champ Cars, Midgets, NASCAR Grand National, Trans-Am, and Baja – smack into 20 domestic and international racing Halls of Fame.