Can Dan Wheldon win big in Vegas?
- This topic has 5 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 12 years, 6 months ago by Mikemat5150.
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- 8th October 2011, 15:14 at 3:14 pm #130239Joel HollandParticipant
Brilliant oval driver, brilliant oval team in SSM and, on another note, he has the shiniest teeth in the history of American open-wheel racing. But can Dan really win from the back of a 34 car grid in Vegas?
8th October 2011, 17:35 at 5:35 pm #180358IcthyesParticipantWith the right strategy and full-course yellows, why not? i don’t think it will happen though.
8th October 2011, 21:23 at 9:23 pm #180359GuelphParticipantThat’s the thing – he wont win it on outright speed, it would have to be something crazy like this year’s Indy 500.
So just by starting there’s a chance, but very slim.
9th October 2011, 9:15 at 9:15 am #180360mrgrievesParticipantIve followed indycar all year but am lost to how this prize works, how is it only Weldon that can win it
I herd Jean Alesi might have done it to try win the £5m
9th October 2011, 15:07 at 3:07 pm #180361Joel HollandParticipant@mrgrieves They initially pitched it as an ‘if any non-Indycar driver can turn up and win we pay $10m.’ Unfortunately they failed to get any big names offering to have a go: they wanted a Juan Pablo Montoya, they got Scott Speed (who couldn’t even qualify at Indy). A few others were interested but none would have ‘moved the needle’ enough, so they ditched that and went with this half-baked Wheldon idea. What really spoils it for me is that they let him race Kentucky too. If he’d just done Indy and then rocked up at Vegas and won it that would have been cool, but running a warm up race kinda of sucks.
Crazy Jean is doing Indy next year, if he can qualify in whatever backmarker car Lotus end up sticking their underdeveloped engines in. Don’t think he ever expressed an interest in Vegas (and in all honesty he’s nobody to the people Indycar is looking to reach, so what would have been the point).
10th October 2011, 1:23 at 1:23 am #180362Mikemat5150ParticipantWell they didn’t really plan for Wheldon to do Kentucky. I think they were a bit pissed, that’s why they sent him to the back of the grid.
As for the prize, if Wheldon can win the race starting from the back of the pack (Pos. 34) and win the race he and his team split $2.5 million and a fan gets $2.5 million.
The three drivers that series was banking on getting were Zanardi, Kasey Khane, and Travis Pastana I believe. Two got hurt and Zanardi only wanted to run with Ganassi and they were going to focus on Dario winning the championship. The series kinda got put between a rock and a hard place but with 34 cars on the grid it should be an exciting race.
If it comes anywhere close to the last 15 laps of Kentucky I think we’ll all be in for a treat.
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