which one would you take?

[Shadowfax 10]

If I won the lottery, I have a silver mini cooper with a Union Jack on top of the car.

 

[tartanterrier]

I'd rather have a Shelby Mustang

 

[nelmes69]

I would take the Bugatti Veyron. Then promptly kill myself crashing it. :thumbsup:

 

[jasonk282]

1972 Chevell SS blue with black racing stripes OR 1970 Oldsmobile 442.

 

[IAmRazorBlade]

Well I'm a Swede so I can't go with anything else than Koenigsegg CC as it's a Swedish car on the way of buying SAAB

 

[pornfanmx]

I love the beauty of all Ferraris

 

[Rey C.]

I hope you're not besmirching "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing." I've been to every Indy 500 since 1986 (4 yrs. old) and 1995 was not the last real race. The talent level might have dropped off for a few years, but they have some great drivers in the series now (Danica doesn't count). Plus IndyCar is at least taking steps in the right direction. I mea, c'mon, there's a Rahal and an Andretti in the field and they just signed a title sponsor. Now, if they can spread the wealth around and make more than just a two team series, they'll be back in business in no time.

My brother and I are the masters of Indy 500 trivia. We've memorized previous winners dating back to 1971 and can recall them on command. Just looking at the picture you posted, I can tell that you that Jacques Villeneuve drove that car to victory in 1995 after Scott Goodyear passed the pace car with 12 laps to go (roughly). Villeneuve also finished 2nd in his first 500 behind Al Unser Jr. He never returned to the Speedway and thus lost his chance to tie Al Unser Sr. for the best finish in a driver's first three Indy 500s - 1st, 1st, 2nd (since tied by Helio Castroneves).

Sometimes I wonder what useful information I could memorize if I didn't fill my brain up with junk like this...

Guilty as charged.

Sounds like you're still really into the race... and that's a good thing, that you've stuck with it. The IRL and IMS needs more fans like you.

I'd been an Indy 500 fanatic since the early 70's, but I was never able to get a ticket when the race was still a must see event. The company I worked for was a major associate sponsor with Team Rahal. So we had a lottery every year to see who would get the free tickets and passes. I never won. After '95, we were out, as we stuck with Rahal and CART for a few more years. But including Charlotte, Richmond and Atlanta, I've been offered free tickets to IRL races over the years and never bothered. If I was going to watch racers I didn't know or really care about, I took the opportunity to go to Star Mazda and Atlantics races. Generally speaking, they've provided some of the absolute best and most exciting open wheel formula car racing in North America over the past 10 or 12 years, IMO.

Now, Indy is what it is. It's just a fact that the ratings and popularity went off the cliff after 1995, and the decline in ratings hit an all time low this year. I'm not saying that there aren't some good drivers in the IRL now. There are a few that are world class. But gone are the days when the race could attract top shelf drivers from all over the world of racing. Look at the year when there were 7 World Driving Championship titles in the Indy 500 ('93?): Fittipaldi, Mansell, Andretti and Piquet. If the split hadn't taken place, I honestly believe that we'd be talking about Kimi Raikkonen, Robert Kubica, Bruno Senna, Jarno Trulli, Scott Speed and probably A.J. Allmendinger being at Indy next year. If it hadn't turned into what it is now, there's even a chance that ol' Miguel Shoemaker might have come on over for at least a test, as the great Senna da Silva did. It bothers me that up until '95, pretty much the best of the best in the world felt the NEED to come to Indy. Now even NASCAR drivers (other than Tony Stewart) give it not much more than a passing thought. That's not right and I hope it changes sooner than later.

But don't get me wrong, it's good that Izod has come on board as the title sponsor for next year. That, and the hope that Comcast might put some IRL races on NBC in a year or two (if this deal goes through), might help the 500 and the series rebuild itself. I mainly just go to ALMS races and watch F1 now. But who knows, maybe if the IRL can get things straightened out and stop with the All Danica, All the Time foolishness, I might start going to some Indy series races again. But it's very hard for me to take a series seriously when its biggest "star" has won only one auto race in her entire life.

But on the question of cars... yeah, if I had to choose between (future WDC) Villeneuve's Reynard 95I and Buddy Rice's Panoz, it wouldn't be a real tough choice at all. But you know what I'd really like to have? The Penske-Chevrolet PC22 that Ayrton Senna tested at Firebird.! :bowdown::bowdown::bowdown:

 

[Rey C.]

There is well over a thousand miles of great deserted back roads in California, some twisty, some straight for miles. Some of us even know the state highways that the CHP only patrol once a week. Once I was traveling mid state at a leasurely 110mph when I spot a red Ferrari coming the other way, we passed about six feet apart at a speed difference of over 250mph. I have a friend who goes on runs with the LA Ferrari group (although he just has one of them kit cars). One chilly Jan 1st morning they were taking a break up in the mtns, when Jay Leno pulls over to chat, in that 16 cylinder monster he had built.
Years ago another friend was out in the S Cal desert, trying out the Cobra he had just inherited from his father. While going over a 100, another Cobra catches up to his and signals to pull over. Upon stopping the old guy driving tells him to pop the hood, which he does. After checking the VIN plate, he turns to him holds out his hand and said: "Ok it's one of mine. I'll talk to you. Hello, I'm Carroll Shelby!".

I understand. And that's cool. Of course, you're taking a chance anytime you take a car to its limits. But I prefer to do it on a race track where there's a safety crew to cut me out and take me to the hospital in case there's a FUBAR moment.

Plus, quite a few years ago, a judge questioned me about whether I preferred walking or driving. I said, "driving." So he gave me the date of the court mandated driving school, I sold my Porsche some time later... and I've been (relatively ) good ever since. I have done some incredibly stupid shit on public roads though. I'm not proud of it. In fact, I'm just happy that I didn't hurt myself or anyone else. I still go for runs on mountain roads, but I've had experiences with deer, dogs and tractors, among other things. If you've got a car that'll do the do, the race track is the place to do it, IMO.

 

[BDwestcoast]

A Saleen s7 isn't a kitcar with a truck engine.
And it pretty much shat on every car on that list when it comes to real racing.
Before they stopped production there weren't that many made a year.