I agree with some twitterers that have interpreted Ryan Hunter-Reay's comments as suggesting that Ed Carpenter's car is getting a speed treatment that his isn't. But it's borne out by the evidence: Hunter-Reay, a solid oval driver last year with mid-quality Rahal equipment, was embarrassingly slow at Kansas and hasn't looked any better at Indy.
And it seems like it's got to be more than lower-quality oil. Both Foyt cars made it into the field today while Hunter-Reay simply had to wave-off his attempt. What does Foyt have that Vision doesn't?
One year ago, I thought Vision was a team on the rise. But today when their cars have such a vast performance disparity, I'd say they've taken a huge step backward.
Weekend Update
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Well, as expected it was a busy weekend, and I ended up spending a few
hours yesterday working on some music that I had to finish. To be fair, I
also ma...
1 year ago
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4 comments:
Two words: Larry Curry. When Vision was a team on the rise (and they were), it was right after Larry Curry came on board. Suddenly, they were on the front row at Homestead. Then they got caught with a tech violation, and Larry was let go. From there, they managed to maintain the gains they had made for a little while (a few races), but slowly slipped. After Indy, the slip quickened. I completely understand why a team owned by the series principal needed to let Curry go - appearance of impropriety and all. But Vision did not improve as the season went on.
That's a great point, Tabernerus. I figured with RHR bringing his engineer from Rahal, that would somewhat make up for Larry Curry. So far I've figure wrong.
First off, how in the world did "My Name Is IRL" become a tag? That's embarrassing.
But to your point, Tabernus: I don't think Larry Curry had anything to do with this, because the issue isn't Vision being noticeably slower - it's Ryan being so much slower than Ed.
My guess - and that's all it is - is that Ed gets premium parts, but Ryan, who still doesn't have a fulltime sponsor on his sidepods to pay for his racing, is getting a lower grade oil, shocks, suspension parts, or who knows what. He may even be using an old repaired Dallara chassis while Ed has a newer one.
My point is it could be anything relating to money since Ryan isn't bringing much of that to the team. Again, that's just wild-ass speculation, but his frustration would make sense if he came to the team expecting equal treatment.
Hey Jeff, any time I link to someone as important as you -- you are sharing a room with PressDog, after all -- the tag goes on the post as well. Just accept your fate.
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